Airport’s ‘Indy 500 Grill’ food mediocre, but Georgio’s Pizza is delicious

This month, we’re breaking our traditional restaurant reviewing format and offering a four-part look at the eateries at Indianapolis
International Airport. We hope
you find it useful whether you are coming, going or just waiting.

First stop, the spacious Civic Plaza, the pre-security gathering place designed to accommodate
food-court-style diners, grab-and-go flyers, and sit-down-and-be-served travelers who have a bit more time.

The racing-themed Indy 500 Grill is geared, so to speak, to the latter. Make your way past the storefront bar and its sideways
Indy car and you’ll find a dining area decked out in IMS trappings. Alas, the "A Century of Speed" and "Anatomy
of a Pit Stop"
wall hangings are impossible to read without climbing in the booths of other patrons. And the food itself, while eschewing
gimmicky names (no tacky Buddy Lazier Burger or Danica Dumplings here), didn’t offer much memorable on our visit.

We passed on the more ambitious appetizers — including Spicy Crusted Ahi Tuna with Avocado — in favor of a tavern
basic, chicken
wings. 500 Grill offers Asian Sesame Wings and Buffalo Wings ($9.99 for 10). We asked, and were granted, a plate with both.
They were better than decent but shy of memorable.

The Spice Crusted Pork Tenderloin ($16.95) sounded promising but arrived undercooked and free of the "aromatic spices"
it
was said to be coated in. Maybe we weren’t looking hard enough. Side fries were fine, but for this price, would it kill them
to throw a vegetable on the plate?

We asked for a veggie to replace the fries that came with the Pepper Steak Sandwich ($12.99 — no sandwich here is less
than
$9.99) and were told by our pleasant but
seemingly inexperienced waitress that they didn’t have much … (we waited patiently) … just asparagus, peas or green beans.

OK, fine. Thankfully, we weren’t upcharged for the ample pile of asparagus, bland as it was. As for the sandwich, well, let’s
just say the artisan baguette was the highlight. There was certainly more of it than any of the promised ingredients: marinated
hanger steak — topped, inexplicably, with melted cheddar cheese — and sauteed peppers and onions.

While the Civic Plaza is short of dessert offerings to cleanse the palate, it does feature Giorgio’s Pizza, where we found
the same quality of by-the-slice goodness that we know and love from downtown. A New York-style piece will set you back $3.05-$3.20
if you want an ample covering of crumbled sausage or another topping.