HopCat

I really like the large beer selection at HopCat but I always feel like their is something missing from the whole «HopCat Experience.» The inside feels like a cooler version of a TGI Fridays and the food is right on par with that as well. By no means is the food bad, it’s just kind of… boring. Their famous crack fries are pretty tasty but I would much rather recommend the pretzel nugs. I really like how HopCat gets involved with local events and does great beer takeovers. I think this place a great staple for the Broad Ripple community and will hopefully bring more in to the strip!

Just had lunch. Service was great, food was great and it’s true, the CRACK FRIES are addictive! What was really cool was the build your own bloody Mary bar for Sunday’s brunch. What a concept!!! We will most definitely be back.

HopCat is… a sports bar. A classic, timeless, wonderfully average, somewhat dark, friendly & inviting… sports bar.
Atmosphere– Great décor. The walls are lined with famous musicians, and there are plenty of TV’s for watching ball games.
Food– Nothing to write home about. The menu is pretty typical for a bar… burgers, wings, fries. The over hyped crack fries were a disappointment, as they were string thin and oily.
Beer– One of the best places in Indy for a beer, hands down. Over 100 taps, and even some that exclusive only for HopCat. Prices were reasonable at $ 4-​$ 6 per pint.
I’d come back for a ballgame… I’d come back for the beer selection… I’d eat at home beforehand.

Well, I am not sure how I hadn’t noticed this place the last few times I was in Broad Ripple [I apparently never look across the street] but I am grateful to have visited it now!
It is definitely bigger than you would except compared to a lot of other businesses that I have visited in Broad Ripple.
First off, I really dig the décor and the MUSIC! It stood out to me which made me realize that I don’t typically note this when I visit an establishment, so it was extra impressive that I noticed.
We were able to get a table right away and our server greeted us quickly. She was patient as we explored the giant menu of beers and even gave some incredibly detailed tips on the first beer I considered, seriously impressive. She was excellent throughout the whole meal. I love the variety of the beers on tap, especially with how many come from Indiana! There’s something for everyone, even a New Day mead, mmm.
We started off with a couple appetizers, the poutine and the standard pretzel bites, both were very good, I would eat both again. Only complaint was that some of the chucnks of onions on the poutine were a bit large, I would have preferred they be a bit smaller/​cut up.
I decided to go with the Supper Club sandwich and the crack fries. The fries, as everyone has said, were great. My sandwich was good, but I didn’t love it, which is strange, because I love sandwiches. It was the next day while eating the second half of the sandwich that I realized the «egg salad» that was on the sandwich had chunks of pickles in it. I hate pickles sooo that was probably it. Otherwise, it was a solid sandwich, and if you like pickles, you’d probably love it! But I’ll opt for something else next time.
I am very glad my friends and I picked this place for a meal/​drinks and I am looking forward to visiting again! [Even if just to get some beer and crack fries!]

It had been a long time since I’ve been back to HopCat. A friend and I came here on their 1 year anniversary day. It was pretty busy, but luckily we got a bar top table as soon as we walked in.
The décor is fun. They have a lot of musician paintings up. There are plenty of tvs to watch games on as well.
I love that HopCat has a variety of beers to choose from. They even have some breweries make exclusive beers just for HopCat. On the menu these beers are marked in red text. I wish the menu had a key to tell you that the red text is exclusive beer made for HopCat and they also mark the gluten free beers in green.
Each 5ounce pour ranges from $ 3-​$ 6. I like trying a variety of beers because they always have so many to choose from! I really really wish HopCat had a designated flight price.
The service was really good in the beginning, but then after awhile our server seemed to have disappeared. That was a bummer.
The food was pretty good. I ordered the grilled cheese that came with some soup and crack fries. No matter what you order, I would definitely get some crack fries with cheese sauce. I didn’t finish my sandwich or soup and asked for a to-​go box. The server only gave a box for the sandwich, but nothing for the soup. Another bummer.

I love the Hopcat.
I love the warm ambiance, the dim lighting, the musical décor hanging on the walls. I love it all. And my god, those crack fries with that cheese sauce. Mmm!
And that’s just the beginning. I don’t recall how many craft beers are on tap, but it’s a lot. A LOT. So many it’s (understandably) impossible to keep up with their beer lists. I had a full meal there once, we had burgers and they were pretty good as well. But as far as a place to grab a few apps and drinks, you can’t beat The Hopcat. Highly recommended.

HopCat, you have a few things going for you. First and most importantly is your beer selection. It is pretty out of this world. I love the wide variety you offer and it always makes it a tough choice to decide which to order. However this leads me to what I don’t like about you. How on earth can you charge people $ 1 to taste a beer? I understand that some people can overdo it but why are you punishing all of us? I don’t want to spend $ 1 to try a beer but I also don’t want to spend $ 5 to order a beer and then not like it. Perhaps consider a smaller tasting glass? I really only need a small drink or two to decide if I like it. Save yourself from irritated customers by getting rid of the tasting charge and offer smaller tastes. Then everyone will be happy. And isn’t that what you really want.

This is probably the best place for appetizers in Broad Ripple. Honestly guys. The crack fries are insane. Our table ordered one to share. They came out quick and were demolished in minutes. Before our food came we ordered another one! Truly, these are some of the best fries I have ever ate. The beer selection is awesome as well!
The atmosphere at Hop Cat is stellar! In the heart of Broad Ripple, it is a killer place for a first date or drinks after work! I will be back for sure!

HopCat is a great place to grab a quick beer or two. They have many different draft selections to choose from. I love to visit on Wednesdays due to their local 30 are 3.50 a piece. The only downfall of the HopCat is the service when the restaurant is busy. I have visited on several occasions where I have to wait 20 min for a drink after a 40 minute wait to be seated. Overall my visits will continue but maybe during the week to avoid the long wait times.

OooOooOoohhhh !!!
I’m gonna dive right into these crack fries, just like I did when they were sat in front of me at the table. What the heck is in those things!!! They are GREAT !
Whatever the seasoning that they put on these fries, I want it bottled and sold to me. I want to dash some and sprinkle some more on just about everything and while doing that, I would also like to be eating crack fries. I’m sure I ordered something else besides those fries.
A long island! I usually don’t order those, but I did this night and it was great. I had a nice buzz from it that made me think perhaps it was flown in from Long Island, NY for authenticity and if that joke wasn’t funny, then scroll to the next sentence where I shall go back to the crack fries.
Both me and my date ordered our own crack fries,
and we had an appetizer…
of crack fries.
This entire review is basically about crack fries. Call me a crackhead? No… nevermind, don’t do that. I don’t like the sound of it. Call me a Crack Fry Lova ! Yes. That works!!!
We ate soooo many of those things that I really don’t know why I have done myself the disservice of having never been to Hop Cat until that day we went. My date ordered the spicy chicken sandwhich and I opted for the BLT. We were supposed to switch halves of sandwiches because we both wanted the others. That didn’t happen. We ate our own sandwiches on our own like little piggies on a farm of crack fries. My blt was ok. I like the aioli mayo that was on it and the bacon was perfect. What I didn’t like was the bread. It was so hard that it scratched the roof of my mouth, but not a hard like OLD-​Hard bread. THey toasted it like that. So I will never order that again because of the bread, but I will definitely be back to try some of the other many items on that huge menu!
Everything looks great and although I do not indulge in beer, I must say their beer options blew my mind. They have so much beer, that underground beneath the restuarant, I do believe there is beer making crew going 24 hours a day to crank out 100 of tap beer !
But even if I’m wrong about that,
I’m 100% right about the crack fries. Soon I will have more to add by way of dishes I’ve tried from them. All the pictures look like all the food is Eatmazing! Yeah, I typed that. I know. Please don’t judge me too hard.
Just look at making up new words that may or may not make sense might be caused by eating up a potato field worth of crack fries !! Thank you Hop Cat. See you again,
REAL soon !

Huge beer menu, fun rock décor, great service. I’m a fan of Hopcat.
It’s a nice upscale bar. If it’s not horribly busy it’s good for groups. They have huge picnic tables for groups as well as tables and booths.
My favorite right now is the grilled cheese and soup. It comes with the crack fries and the cheese sauce is totally worth the extra dollar. It’s gooey, delicious, and is a little ramekin of smiles for me.

Had a business meeting and we decided on hopcat for lunch, obviously others are comfortable drinking while doing biz, me, not so much. My last time here was for booze as others have pointed out the draft beer selection is probably the best in the local area.
Ordered the barnyard which was a cheese lollapalooza all on texas toast, (nice move) messy to say the least and slightly salty was delicious nonetheless. Obligatory crack fries on the side, really were quite good, not addictive as crack however…
Place is huge, a little too thought out imo almost looking chainish in the layout, hipcat is definitely doable before a show, I like this place but can’t get overly excited about it for some reason.

Soooo many bears on tap. It’s the reason for coming into a bar that’s famous for beers, duh. What i like most is having clean glass. They have these really cool final rinse systems just under the taps to ensure there are no water marks or whatever in the glass. Now that’s great service!
Even though I didn’t eat food, looking at the menu makes me want to come back for some eats.

I can’t decide whether to give HopCat 3 or 4 stars. HopCat does have large variety of beer. Samples aren’t apparently free, although I did get a couple free samples the night there was a «Tap Takeover». What that is is (ha) a brewery gets to feature all of their beers. They give out free samples and special items. I got a nice glass for ordering a pint of one of their beers.
The food is good. Nothing spectacular, but good American bar style food. Their crack fries are indeed amazing. They deserve to brag about them.
The inside is very large, and also very loud (because it is a bar…). It is a pretty cool set up, and very cozy.
The staff is always very nice each time I’ve been there.
Overall, good place to hang out.

I love this Hopcat just as much as I love all the rest. My personal favorite is still the OG in Grand Rapids.
I moved from Indy to Denver about 3 years ago, so i am used to being around a wide range of amazing beer all the time. I was impressed with HopCat’s selection of local craft beer. There were a number of breweries on the list I had never heard of and must have been new since the time I lived in Indy.
The location is great. The corner of broad ripple ave and college used to be bare and wasted space. I only wish the HopCat had been in Indy when I was living just down the road…

This weekend marked my 5 – 6 visit to HopCat. I think I’m finally able to render my opinion. Let’s be honest, the main reasons for me to come back more than once is the ever-​rotating beer selection & the Crack Fries. I have decided the rest of the food is just «meh,» but the consistent deliciousness of the fries makes it worth a repeat visit (I just need to remind myself to just eat fries for dinner & stop trying the sandwiches & what-​not). This weekend I tried the «Vladamir Poutine»…and I found it had way too many onions, the gravy was gross, and it was pretty skimpy on the bacon & cheese curds. Plus, loading stuff on fries & calling it «Poutine» does not make it poutine, they are loaded fries… Poutine is a specific type of loaded fry, and shouldn’t be messed with. I should have just gone with the plain fries…
Our service experience here has been pretty hit or miss. Sometimes it’s great. Sometimes, like this weekend, it is comically bad. Yet somehow, before hockey games or when meeting up with friends last-minute…we find ourselves back at HopCat. We’ll be back, I’ll inevitably decide to try something else to eat, and again, I’ll probably just regret I didn’t have just beer & fries for my meal.

I recently came here with my mother before seeing Martin Sexton play at the Vogue… We were early to the area, felt like a snack, and thought there couldn’t be a better way than going to the place right across the street.
We didn’t order any entrees, but we did have pretzel bites (bacon, jalapeños, sauce, and some other stuff) as well as the giant tots with a cheese dipping sauce. We were both impressed. Tots can be a let down without being sufficiently cooked through, rendering them a modern day travesty. That was not the case. These were perfectly toasted and the sauce was great. As were the pretzel bites.
I picked a local beer (1 of 30), and was happy. They had a nice selection of beer styles, ranging from Light to dark, hop to malt. With that kind of list I could belly up here until I needed wheeled out. All the while I would probably be picking away at some delicious snacks too.
While I don’t end up in this area insanely often, I most certainly will be back here. I saw some food and beer i would like to have; as well as a friend scolded me for not having the crack fries.
Oh well, lesson learned and an excuse to go back. That’s fair enough.

Had an AMAZING time at Hop Cat last week. I’m not a beer drinker, but I do love good pub food. I highly recommend the mac and cheese, grilled cheese, and crack fries. All very nom nom!
What made this last visit even better was the incredible service by bartender Fergie! He was attentive, funny, and provided excellent suggestions. Like I said, I don’t drink beer, but Fergie was determined to find a brew that I would enjoy. He managed to find two that were better than decent. I’m not going to call myself a beer drinker just yet, but I’m more open to trying them now.
I suggest sitting at the bar. The bartenders are a fun bunch and will treat you well. And MAKE SURE YOU ORDER CRACK FRIES! They really are amazing!

This place is huuuuge, and I love that it’s basically attached to the parking garage. So many TVs inside, so many beers, Food Network famous «Crack Fries» and plenty of other food options. They even have some off-​menu items.
I went in Oct and got a GermanFest themes entrée which was awesome!

I think I may need to visit again during regular hours so that I can experience the full menu. We went on a Tuesday night at around 10:00, so we were only privy to the late night menu. I had a ‘beertail’ and loaded crack fries. I feel gypped of the full crack fries experience because mine were kinda lukewarm so that detracted from the taste. I would’ve preferred the losing of my crack fry virginity to have been a little hotter and steamier, but alas, it was a quick, frigid semi-​disappointment.
The service was great, however, and the magazine covers as wallpaper in the bathrooms were pretty cool.
I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt and give it another go. Hopefully I’ll be able to just go with, «My first time doesn’t count.»
Woo me next time, Hopcat!