Restaurant Review: Bagger Dave's

It  turns out we can’t go ANYWHERE without ending up on some train-related adventure.  Take this last Saturday.  After going to see a local theatre production, we decided to stop at Bagger Dave’s  (map) at 86^th and Michigan Indianapolis for lunch.  We’d never been there before and our good friends Brad and Brittany had heard good things about it.  Bagger Dave's is a chain with locations in Indiana, Michigan, and Missouri. 

When we first walked into the restaurant, a giant old train signal greeted us.   Score!  As we looked around, the wall was adorned with old black and white photos which included pictures of trains.  A stained glass window had a nice train image that got the kids' attention.    The train theme was further extended into the children's coloring place mats and stickers.   And the best was yet to come.

After we sat down and ordered, it wasn’t long until a model train chugged by over our heads!  Similar to the arrangement of the Whistle Stop in Monon, IN, this place has a model train on an elevated track that moves by quietly right over your head!  It circles around the room before disappearing briefly into the bar area and then emerging in the dining area just a moment later.  I couldn’t tell you what size train it was, but it was a large model train, larger than our O scale Lionel at home.  The kids went wild when they saw the train.  As the train moved around the two rooms, the kids would eagerly follow it.  In the above picture, you can see my son in the lower right corner, eyes glued to the train.

The dining experience was so-so.  The French fries were great, but the burger was not exactly memorable.  I could not bring myself to spend $5 on the milk shake.  They also offered micro-brew sodas rather than your standard commercial fare, and my root beer was fine but not memorable.  For our dinner for 3 (the kids split a meal), we spent about $40.

In the end, I would give them an A for good service, A- for train friendly atmosphere, a B- for food, and a C for the price.  You can get better train action at Pizza King, better burgers at (that place downtown, look it up), and better prices for similar quality with a Hardees ThickBurger (not to mention a Steak-N-Shake for half the price of burger and almost half price for shake).  Oh, and they get an A for being child friendly. Nice wide aisles allowed our kids to roam and follow the train, combined with spacious handicapped restroom stalls with changing table (which facilitated recovery from a potty-training incident ).

 

Train-friendly atmosphere: A-
Food Quality:  B-

Service:  A

Price:  C
Kid-Friendly:  A

Changing tables:  Yes

 

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"All Aboard!" exhibit at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis

As the oldest and one of the best children’s museums in the country, The Children's Museum of Indianapolis has an amazing variety of temporary and permanent displays and exhibits to delight children of any age and amaze the adults that join them!  As you drive by and notice dinosaurs “escaping” from the building, you'll know you’re someplace special! 

Not surprisingly, the Children’s Museum’s "All Aboard!" exhibit is a dream for little train-lovers.  Perhaps the coolest part of the exhibit is the Reuben Wells, a 55-ton steam engine that once pushed cars up the steepest segment of railroad track in the United States --  Madison Hill in Madison, Indiana.  Every hour or so, the Reuben Wells “fires up.”  The engine lights up and you can hear it start to puff.  Other highlights of the train exhibit include:

• A model of the Reuben Wells working its steep hill.
  
• A real “tool car” (looks like a caboose, but isn’t!) that you can board.  Thanks to cleverly used screens at the windows, you feel like you’re on a real train ride!  It also shows short movies about trains.  On our most recent visit, our 3-year-old O spent an hour here, deep into pretend play.  He jumped on and off, pretending to stop the train and then repair it.  He was so happy – this will be a treasured memory for me!
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• A miniature train station, including a ticket booth that is great for pretend play. 
• Train tables.  They aren’t anything out of the ordinary, but still a magnet for your train-lovers!
  
• A model train display, featuring a tunnel and pop-up window where kids can get a nice close-up look at the model trains as they roll by.  This has been disappointing lately, often with just a single engine running through it.  I hope this means it’s getting revamped soon!
• Overhead track with more model trains. 
• Many glass cases displaying vintage toy trains.  These have a few buttons to push to light a light or blow a fan on a flag, but nothing too exciting here.  
  
  
  
  
• Computer stations, with games that allow you to create your own railroad or race trains.  These are not great – I have trouble figuring them out, so there is no way my 3-year-old could do so.  Plus, they look pretty clunky compared to some of the train apps we have on our smartphones now. 

Adults may notice that the All Aboard! exhibit is a little dark and dated.  It’s in the basement of the museum so there are no windows, and the walls are painted dark colors.  The older parts of the exhibit (like the vintage train toys in glass cases) probably date to my own childhood in the 1980s, but they have done a nice job of adding newer, more hands-on features to the exhibit.  Despite the many other cool things to do in this museum, our little TL always wants to head here first! 

Admission price:  $18.50 for adults, $13.50 for children 2-17, and free for kids under 2. 

Food:  The last time our family (2 adults and 2 small children) ate lunch in the food court, we spent about $30.  They have a variety of typical American fare.  They do allow you to bring your own brownbag lunch. 

It's also worth noting that The Children's Museum now has a really great area for nursing moms.  Inside their Playscape, they have three private rooms for nursing moms.  That area also has two nice family bathrooms, including deluxe changing stations and child-sized potties.  Kudos to them for making this area much easier for families with young children to use!