I was referred to the Propylaeum as a wedding venue by someone else who had a wedding there. Â
I, too, highly recommend! Â I couldn't have asked for anything more for my January wedding. Â The carriage house made for a lovely ceremony, and the reception in the main house was exceptional. Â Karin, who catered a delectable menu, also helped with the coordinating, down to the last detail. Â The staff were very friendly. Â The ambience was beautiful, the food delicious, and the budget--surprisingly reasonable, especially in comparison to other similar venues in the area. Â
The Propylaeum is the perfect place to create lasting memories. Â Once again, highly recommend!
Our night began with a self-guided tour through the propylaeum with instructions to pay special attention to the bathroom in room #4. Why? Because someone was murdered in there, and we were about to sit down for dinner at a table full of possible suspects. Â It was time for a "Death in the Dark" murder mystery dinner. We had no idea what to expect. Â We certainly weren't prepared to act out the characters in the game, but that turned out to be the best part.
The murder - clevery planned. The mystery - intriguing. The role playing - hilarious. The dinner - horrible.
We went thanks to a 50% off Groupon, which I would highly recommend using. While the experience as a whole is fun, it's not worth paying full-price for. Â Would I do it again? Â Of course! Â We solved the mystery, and now I'm itching to solve the next one!
This is EXACTLY what I sent to the mgmt/ownership group on Occasions Divine website! DO NOT GO HERE EVEN IF YOU GET A GROUPON/LIVINGSOCIAL.
My wife and I brought our two children to the Magic show event you had on Saturday evening. Let me start by saying that Craig Stone was amazing and put on a great show for all ages. i was very impressed by him. Now to the ugly! The other person (Taylor I believe) was revolting. He was sweating very bad as he was coming from table to table. It was digusting as there was food on the table. In addition, he had fingernails that were very long and unappealing. It was actually somewhat creepy. These are just some of the issues we encountered. The service was very friendly but it was honestly lacking. Our LivingSocial deal included wine I believe that we were never offered. I had water on the table, but the server did not offer us tea until we already had our main courses. Not sure what the problem was here? Also, when we entered we were told a choice of pork OR honey mustard chicken. When the chicken arrived for my wife it was a spicy BBQ sauce. HUH? Did you run out? I ordered the pork and it was over cooked big time. Very small portion and very dry. The potatoes that were served were not done and they were still hard. Now for the worst part. The kids meals. What in the world were you thinking serving jalapeno mac and cheese to kids? This is unacceptable. There is not one excuse for this what so ever. It is wrong and just poor planning. The chicken fingers were spicy as well and they were soggy on the outside and not warm inside. I really don't know what was going on Saturday night, but I can assure you that we will never return. I am very upset by the entire experience outside of Mr. Stone.
We got a dinner and magic show deal for a family of four. The price was an amazing $35, so no complaints there.
Dinner:
To say that the food was ordinary would be an unwarranted compliment. If they had brought out White Castle sandwiches it would have been an upgrade over what was served.
The adults got spinach salad, pork with apple-based sauce, some mixed vegetables, and something else that escapes me because it was unmemorable. The food was entirely superfluous and they should have just skipped to the magic show (see below) and gave everyone some popcorn.
Magic Show:
First, the magicians go around to the tables during dinner to perform tricks close-up. They are obviously very skilled and experienced at what they do and improvise well with the audience. The close-up show at the table is treat.
The after dinner magic show is excellent. No, it's not as fancy as the Vegas shows (I have seen almost all of them), but you sit very close to the performers in a very small room. And it costs literally about 1/10th that of the Vegas shows - keep things in perspective.
Saw the "Dinner and a Makeover" advertised as "...A lovely three course dinner followed by professionals making you a NEW you. Everyone will get made up and hair suggestions. Â Became a new you with a new look. We will even give you a before and after shot to see the results!" Â Ok, people, this is a MARY KAY PARTY! Â So deceiving!! Â First of all, $40? Â For dry mass-produced chicken and a Mary Kay Party? Â Everyone will get made up? Â No, you make yourself up. Â Hair suggestions? Â Not a single one. Â Before and after pictures? Â You get a before picture which you see on a laptop screen and NO after pictures. Â Just a giant sales pitch and very disappointing. Â Shame on the Propylaeum for billing this as a fun girls night out event. Â It's a Mary Kay party, let's call it that.
Review Source:Went back to the Propylaeum for a LivingSocial deal I had purchased. It was a family centered dinner and art event.
We got there early and were invited to take a self-guided tour of the house. It was beautiful. The tour may have been our favorite part of the evening.
The event was supposed to start at 6:30pm, but salads weren't served until 7:15pm. When meals were brought out I discovered that the two children in my party were served adult entrees instead of the children's meals they were supposed to get. Thankfully they were both so hungry at that point they didn't even bother to protest. The food was okay, but the lunch I had on my first visit was better. The Cesar salad was bland and the chicken tasted strongly of lemon and was dry, the rice blend was okay, and veggie medley was overcooked and under-seasoned. Dessert was a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of a ring of pineapple, which was almost frozen and practically inedible. Adults got rum sauce drizzled on top.
Also, the family sharing our table were vegetarians. The 'vegetarian' meal they were served in place of our meal consisted of mixing the vegetable medley in with mac and cheese. I kid you not. And it took them an additional 10 minutes to get their meal after we did. I could not believe how poorly they were handled by the staff.
It was well after 8pm before the 'art' portion of the event got started. I had figured the painting part of the evening would be done on little canvases, but I was wrong. When sheets of paper were brought out that we were supposed to trace...well our group lost interest and went home.
My major issue with this event was that it was advertized as a family outing. Yet when I called to make a reservation the only available times were all on school nights. It seems like a complete lack of common sense to have an event that runs so late when young children are encouraged to attend. We weren't the only ones who left without completing the art portion of the event, the family sharing our table left, as well as other groups.
Overall it was a big disappointment and I'm glad it wasn't something I paid full price for.
The ambiance and setting were nice. The food was not at all anything to rave about. The soup, salad and pasta were good. Once we got to the quiche, it was downhill from there. The goat cheese was overpowering and not the best choice for this super eggy quiche. The fish was so over cooked, you could not cut it with a fork or knife. The wild rice was not fully cooked as it was crunchy, and not al dente crunchy but dry crunchy. The pork was dry and the stuffing was overly salted. Overall, I was not impressed with the wine pairings  but it could be that the food was so sub par, nothing could save it. The setting was nice and the tour was nice but the chef has a long way to go to make this worth the price. I also felt that the hostess tooted her own horn too much that it sounded pretentious. I think she was trying to show her qualifications but saying stuff like "all my friends own wineries" and "Ray Cortopassi is my good friend" is not the way to do it.
Review Source:Copy of my review for "Occasions Divine" Â Since it seems all negative reviews are being filtered. Â
4/21/2011
Horrible. I've never posted a negative review. Maybe it's my fear of bad karma? Â However, this has to be written.
This was one of the worst dining experiences I've had in a long time! Â Look, I'm not a food critic by trade but I am a trained chef and I would put any of my friends home cooked meals up against the "food" we were served!!! Â They don't salt their food? The owner literally told us that. First rule in culinary school...SALT your food! Â I realize that we were taking advantage of a coupon deal but wouldn't you want to showcase your establishment to new clients that may be dining with you for the first time? Â That was obviously not the case here. Â The wine was only decent and the incessant chatter if the owner (over a microphone) was completely unnecessary. Â As with a previous reviewer, we had been to tea at another of this owner's establishments and were sorely disappointed. Â Had we made the connection between the two we would have saved our money. Â Even if it was only $35.
Never again. Â Take my advice and skip it...Coupon or not
Sooo fun. Â
Dave and I bought a groupon for an 8 course meal and wine pairing. Â I was under the impression this was going to be more about the food than the wine, but I was completely wrong. Â
The food takes a back seat and the entire night is about the wine. Â This evening is really more of a class. Â The level 1 sommelier (sp) guides you through basics of wine tasting and how to pair wine with food. Â Some of the useful things I learned were that to take the sweet out of a wine, pair it with sweet food. Â I also learned to decipher different undertones and heard plenty of fun anecdotes. Â All in all, the woman knows her stuff. Â
The food was good. Â It wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but for the price (even the original price that we didn't pay, because of the groupon) it is a great deal. Â You receive very generous pours. Â Our 8 courses were:
feta/spinach/sundried tomato tart
salad with strawberries and house made raspberry vinigarette
pasta with artichoke and bacon
mushrooms with garlic and herbs
tilapia with lemon curd (hands down one of the most amazing things I have ever tasted)
herb encrusted pork with green beans
chicken (the night started getting fuzzy about here..)
layered dessert
The wines included 4 whites, a white zin, and 3 reds. Â I'm not much of a wine person but I REALLY enjoyed this. Â The people we were placed with were wonderful. Â I really had a fantastic time. Â It frustrates me when people give events like this awful reviews. Â They only do these events to keep the historic house open. Â For their means and the relatively low price, this was a phenomenal experience and I would love to go back for the beer dinner.
I hate to rate this one star, because the building itself is very impressive. That said, it appears this Yelp page has become a place to rate the events put forth by Occasions Divine. So, here goes...
Anybody have the number for Columbo? How about Jessica Fletcher? Hell, I'll even take Magnum, P.I. and his awesome Hawaiian shirts, mustache, and Detroit Tigers hats. A lady has been found dead in her bathtub and it's going to take a group of sleuths to solve this one.
We recently went to a mystery dinner put on by Occasions Divine and tried our hand at solving the mystery. We were seated at a table with four others and everyone played a part in the production. I got to try my hand at a cajun accent and that might come in handy in the future.
The mystery/story was kind of all over the place. When we were told who the murderer was at the end of the night, I had the feeling some things were left out and I didn't hear all of the evidence. It just wasn't very well done.
The food? Horrible. The meal started with a decent celery soup but it was all downhill from there. Apples in bleu cheese dressing is apparently what passes for a "salad" around there. The main course featured bland, dry grilled chicken breast, and dessert was dirt pie. Seriously? Dirt pie? What are we, eight-year-olds with a budget of fifty cents?
Oh, and this was supposed to be the "cajun" menu. Does any of that above sound cajun to you? It didn't to me either.
The wine pairing was a joke. Two sample pours of bad wine.
The host for the evening was a bit condescending and lectured everyone about the proper way to hold a wine glass and fold the napkin. Again, seriously? Ettiquette lessons and dirt pie. I guess she does think we are all eight years old.
It was an OK evening overall but I won't be rushing to return, even with another Groupon.
Purchased a groupon with several friends to go to a Belgian beer pairing with a 5 course meal here recently. I will start by saying I am a huge beer enthusiast and know a fair amount on the subject, but I have never been to a dinner like this so I was looking forward to an evening of fun and learning.
The night started with a self-guided tour of the house. If you like old historic houses this will definitely be right up your alley. It is a beautiful old home and has a very nice design, some of the modern updates do hurt the look and feel of the building though. Unfortunately this was the nicest part of the evening.
After taking the tour we return to the downstairs for a beer reception. The reception consisted of about ten different beers being opened and approximately 2 ounces poured each time you passed through the line. MAYBE 1/3 of these beers were Belgian, the staff had no information or opinion on them, and they were served in whatever order they were grabbed which made tasting difficult as no water or bread was provided and going from a double chocolate stout to a blonde ruins your palette. The tasting line wound through the old house with no order, huge bottlenecks, and was served by a staff with no personality or sense of humor.
After spending an hour standing to receive approximately 10 ounces of beer we were called to sit in the dining room and given a run down of the history of the house and encouraged to come to a wine pairing class. We were then told by owner Karen Glass that she didn't care for beer because it tasted terrible and their dinner was thrown together(which showed). The first course comes out and consisted of a piece of bread with cheese on it and was paired with blonde. So far so good, but unfortunately this was the best part of the meal. The beers were served in 2 ounce pours while anybody that requested wine got full pours into a bottomless glass. From the beginning they made it apparent they favored wine and even at a BEER dinner we would still be treated as second class. The second course comes out and it's a brown rice mixed with salad and vinaigrette(was someone drunk in the kitchen?) It was a horrible combination of blandness paired with a cherry ale(the ale was delicious, but again 2 ounces and you're cut off). Time for course three, muscles. The muscles were flavored well, but were served colder than my room temperature salad rice mixture and paired with more of the cherry ale(at least with a second 2 ounce pour I got to try a little more).
At this point we discuss leaving, but thanks to terrific company at our table we decided to make the most of it and to stick it out. The fourth course comes out and it includes an overcooked pot roast mush mixed with salad(Really more salad?) and a shot of doppelbock. At this point we try requesting more beers and we're informed that there was wine available if we wanted something else to drink. (Thanks, I thought I paid for a BEER dinner.) And we move on to the fifth and final course of the night(Thank goodness, I can't wait to go get a pint and something that resembles food). Karen informs us that she would have liked to have served waffles(obviously this is the extent of her knowledge when it comes to Belgian food) but instead decided on an overcooked and rock hard butter cake that was no doubt left over from one of her MUCH more sophisticated wine dinners that none of us simpletons would appreciate. It was paired with a shot of raspberry lambic and we were promptly given our checks for taxes and gratuity.
In summary this may be a nice place for a wine dinner(or a beer dinner where you'd rather have wine) and you don't care about the quality of food or the friendliness of the staff. For what I paid I could have had a fantastic dinner at any number of restaurants in Indy and spoken with a much more informed waiter regarding my choices in beer without having judgement passed on me. Steer clear unless you enjoy disappointment.
Went back this time for Beers around the world- 5 course dinner - Belgium Beer tasting night... and overall, not very impressed, again...
The night started with beer reception 6-7pm of which was very disorganized and running out of Belgium beers and not enough servers (only one!) and running out of tasting cups and people trying to form a line but not knowing where/how and others sitting at tables and then instead of waiting in line to get another taste, as everyone else was doing, they would just jump up to the table and grab!?! So this was a little jumbled and confusing... not to mention not feeling like you want to hold up the line to ask about what you were tasting or ask to see the bottle... so you are nearly tasting blindly, too!!
So then we sat down for dinner... coursed paired a little better and warmer than when we were here for the wine tasting dinner BUT there were even more guests (probably about double (300 instead of about 100-150 at wind tasting) so why these meals could be warm and at wine tasting weren't I Don't know!?!)
Course 1: We had a piece of fine cheese and slice of baguette with a slightly bitter Belgium beer. This cheese was GREAT and balanced out the slight bitterness of the beer!
Course 2: Then we had a salad that had rice and a asian type vinaigrette which was paired with a bitter Chiamy Belgium beer. The salad was GREAT and the vinegar and sweetness of the salad also balanced well with the beer.
Course 3: Muscles and another Belgium beer (don't remember what it was) But muscles were cold instead of hot.
Course 4: Beef Stew which is very tender and juicy shredded beef over a bed of salad greens with corn and green beans mixed in. This was with a Belgium beer with a cherry taste to it. Â Didn't think it would pair all that well, but it did! And this course was served very warm and it was delicious!
Course 5: Was a shortbread type dessert that we were warned was made of lots of butter and could cause a heart-attack!?! Ok, so the MC (Karin Glass) is very funny (she was also the MC for the wine tasting) but went a little overboard on telling us HOW bad this dessert is for us... I DONT want to hear that!! This was paired with a Belgium beer that taste more like cranberry juice or cherry juice than a beer. I thought it was a very fun/good beer but definitely couldn't drink much of it!
Negatives: Beer tasting this time was ONLY tastings (about a double shots worth) which was a bit disappointing when the wine tasting had plenty to taste and more in which to pour yourself if you chose to/like the wine. There were no extra 'tastes' served here! Also the bottle of each beer was suppose to be left on each table so we could see what we were tasting and review the bottle... we only saw 3 of the 5 bottles.
And again, the MC is a pretty good MC and she is funny, too. BUT I believe she shouldn't be the MC if she not only doesn't know much about the beers but doesn't even like the beers (she is a wine girl and she does know her wines and talked all about them and answered many questions about them at the wine dinner). I would have liked to hear more about them of the PA. Instead they had the beer man, Grant, walking around to the tables and answer any questions. Problem was we saw him at about beer 2 and didn't have as many questions at that time as we did later, but by then he was still making he way around and spending much time at some tables... Would have been nice to hear him talk about each beer and describe it to us!?!
We also had a groupon for this dinner making it half price... I don't believe this meal/event was worth $80 per person... After the lack of beer served and lack of knowledge learned about the beers being served, I almost wonder if it was worth $40 per person this time!?!
Our table had great interaction and this made the dinner a whole lot of fun! Had it not been for great camaraderie among us, would have been very disappointed!?!
Will we go back??? Not sure... Definitely NOT withOUT a Groupon!!
We attended one of the 8 course wine dinners, and were somewhat disappointed. Â Yes, it was inexpensive, but the quality was at least equally low.
The food was mediocre overall, although there was one very good dish. Â Nothing that should have been served hot was. Â Portion sizes were proper for a tasting menu, so no complaints there. Â
But the wine was a problem. Â Six of the 8 wine pairings were from the same producer (Canyon Road) and were industrial quality wine of essentially no interest. Â While there are many fine and interesting wines at bargain prices, they were not on display here. Â If you're looking for cheap white zinfandel with the desert course though, this is your place. Â
While we were very disappointed in the wine and somewhat disappointed in the food, we had great fun. Â Nice folks at our table, and we were all in the mood to have a great time in spite of what we were served. Â But at $50+ per person after tax and mandatory tip, this was not a good value. Â (And at the "list" price of $95 per person, including tax and mandatory gratuity, it's not even close to a good value.)
PS - I saw another reviewer state that his bill included a mandatory gratuity calculated on the "list" price rather than on the actual price, making the mandatory gratuity 36% rather than 18%. Â That was also my experience. Â While I typically tip on the full amount rather on the discounted amount when using a coupon, in this case the coupon rate seems to be the price that everyone pays. Â Based on the value received, a 36% mandatory "gratuity" just didn't seem appropriate here, and the way is was calculated seemed sneaky to me. Â Contrary to the other reviewer's comment though, I believe we were charged a sales tax only on the amount actually paid.
I saw the Groupon for their 8-course dinner with wine pairings and thought that $35 (originally $75) for a great deal for this package, so I purchased 5 certificates to take my family. Â The "8-course dinner" was very misleading because the helpings were sampler/small plates in size. Â Even more misleading is the use of the phrase "wine pairing". Â You were given enough for wine tasting, but certainly not wine pairing for an 8-course meal. So basically, you got to "taste" 8 types of dishes and "tasted" 8 types of wines paired with the dishes for $35. Â Okay, that's fair. Â But here's the real rub. Â We were given an event calendar and saw that they offer these 8-course dinners/wine pairing for $35 ....not the $75 that they said was the value in Groupon. Â So Groupon wasn't a discount after all. Â The real kicker though is that they added 18% gratuity and 7% sales tax on the $75/per person price! Â They were charging taxes on the other $40 that was never a sale! Â They eventually took $20 off my final bill, but the other 150 diners without a doubt overpaid. Â The wine was nice, but the food was not consistent. Â There were two dishes (sample plates) a beef burgundy and chicken with rosemary that could have been an MCL cafeteria selection. Â So for the evening, I paid $250 for 5 people to have 8 sampler plates and 8 tastes of wine. Â Take that money and head for Fogo de Chao
Review Source:Beautiful house; definitely have to stop in for tea and a tour. Michael filled in as a tour guide and wedding planner in a pinch on my first trip in - he should be used in that capacity full time! He sold the place 100%.
Elegant and flexible; attention to detail. A very unique and elegant place to hold an event.
This is one of my absolute FAVORITE buildings in the city! Â But, I don't think yelping is about architectural reviews...yet. When that happens, I'll be back to that topic
You can actually have lunch here. 11-2 Mon- Fri. The menu is limited, but decent. This is a place to go for tea or salad or a little dessert with anyone who loves the surroundings of yesteryear. Or, if you just want to surprise someone--this just isn't a place you think to go for lunch, yet every now and then I just want to go somewhere completely offbeat and this fills that urge nicely. I also understand they do a "Tea on Tuesday" from 3-5 on Tuesday with the traditional scones, tea and all. I look forward to trying that sometime soon. If only May Wright Sewall could join me...
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