Tippecanoe Place Restaurant

Great experience! Absolutely breathtaking mansion and very good food. They treated us so well - after being treated not so well by some newer places across from Notre Dame. The servers were great - lots of ghost stories, very attentive, happy to help us, all very cool! We can't wait to come back next year. If you eat here - make sure you tour the whole mansion .

I really want to like Tippecanoe...and I keep trying, but it just seems to continue on a downward slide.  

Tippecanoe is truly unique for it's historical significance, yet continues to feel dusty and dated when it comes to their service and food.

I have been too many times to count - brunch, lunch, dinner, pre-fix dinner events, cocktails and most recently the Downtown South Bend Wine Walk.

They do a large brunch; however, the food fails to impress.  Average omlet station, traditional breakfast sides, fruit, etc.  Desserts are appear and taste store-bought.  Brunch is overpriced and 18% gratuity is added regardless of your party size.

The lunch menu is nice, but again just mediocre food.

Dinner tends to be a little pricey for the quality, but it does appear they are trying to be a little creative with specials and other events.

My most recent visit was for the Downtown South Bend Wine Walk on July 11, which doesn't even warrant the two stars.  We weren't even greeted when we walked in and had to ask where to go for the wine walk and were directed to the second floor bar / lounge.  The area was full, but they weren't too busy as several parties were heading out.  There were three bartenders / servers yet no one acknowledged us, said hello or offered to serve us.  We waited a short time and then left.

On our way out we stopped at the hostess stand to let the General Manager know we were leaving since no one was available to serve us.  To her credit, she did follow us out and ask if there was anything she could do, but we decided to move on.

Hopefully they will address their issues and provide a much needed rejuvenation to the place.  For now, visit Tippecanoe for a tour and history lesson and find another local establishment to dine.

This was my second visit to Tippecanoe - the first being about three years ago. It was even better this time than I recall it being in 2009. EVERYTHING was simply superb: the setting, the service, and, especially, the food.

Both my business associate and I started with the French onion soup. It was among the finest that I have ever had. Hot & cheesy. The dinner roll was spectacular - fresh and piping hot. I had the spinach side salad with my entree. It was delicious; the spinach was fresh, the dressing delicious and there was just the perfect amount of dressing.

Now to the aforementioned entree: I generally do not order prime rib since I will not eat fat. But since it is a house specialty, I went for it. Am I ever glad that I did. Since I do not eat it often, I am not a connoisseur of prime rib. But I cannot imagine enjoying a meal more. I ordered my prime rib "medium" since I do not like it blood-red (do not like it overcooked either). It was just the PERFECT combination of tenderness and doneness. And I was able to eat almost all of it since it had very little fat. I ordered the medium-sized cut (I forget what they call it). But I was flat-out blown away by the overall experience.

The waitress (I mean, "server"), Stephanie, was superb, also. She was very attentive without being overbearing and she kept my coffee cup filled (the coffee was excellent, also). My only complaint was that they fed me so well that I was unable to find room for dessert. And the dessert cart looked like it was packed with all sorts of goodies.

Here's a bonus: Although it is, by no means, cheap, it is not THAT pricey. Not at all, really, considering what you get. Two of us ate well, my associate had a drink and, including tip, it came to less than a hundred bucks.

The next time that I am in South Bend, you can bet that I am going to visit Tippecanoe again!