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Best Seats at Lucas Oil Stadium
Walk up to Lucas Oil Stadium for the first time and it doesn’t read like a football stadium. Red brick, exposed steel, glass — the architects built it as a deliberate nod to the old high school gyms Indiana treats as sacred ground, and the effect is a basketball palace that happens to have a football field in the middle of it.
Get inside with the north window open and the downtown skyline sitting framed in the end zone, and it’s one of the best views in the league. Under a closed roof the noise has somewhere to go, and a fourth-quarter defensive stand here is genuinely loud, even if this crowd stays Midwestern-polite right up until it matters. Below is how the seating chart reads, where the best seats are at every price, and everything else worth knowing before you go.
Seating Guide
Four levels of seating ring the field, and they’re grouped by concourse rather than by number. Street Level holds the 100s and 200s and is the level you walk in on. The Club/Loge Level holds the 300s and 400s. The Terrace Level up top holds both the 500s and the 600s — and that distinction is the single most useful thing to know here. When you come up the tunnel on Terrace, the 500-level sections are below you and the 600s are above.
Sightlines are clean almost everywhere; this is a modern bowl with no pillars and no obstructed-view junk. What separates a good seat from a bad one at Lucas Oil isn’t obstruction, it’s angle and elevation. The lower bowl sideline runs roughly 110–116 on the east side and 139–145 on the west, with the end zones filling the north and south ends. Get outside those sideline ranges in the 100s and the geometry turns on you fast.
Best Non-Premium Seats
The 100-level sideline, 110–116 and 139–145. Straight-on views from field level, close enough that you’re watching the game and not the video board. The catch is that the sections nearest midfield in both ranges carry club access and price like it, so a normal sideline ticket usually lands you nearer the 20s than the 50 — still the best plain seat in the building.
The 600-level sideline center, 611–615 and 638–642. Genuine midfield elevation for a fraction of the lower bowl, and the sightlines up here are among the better upper decks in the league. Rows into the twenties are a real climb, so buy low and check the row before you commit.
The 500-level sideline, 507–519 and 534–546. Every 500-level section has five rows or fewer, which means you walk off the concourse and you’re basically there. You’re high, but you’re never more than a few steps from a bathroom, a beer, or the exit.
Best Value Seats
The low rows of the 500-level sideline are the smart-money buy at Lucas Oil and it isn’t close. You pay upper-deck prices, you sit at the front lip of the terrace with nobody behind you kicking your seat, and you skip the entire stair climb that makes the 600s a chore. Give up the intimacy of the lower bowl and you get a view of the whole field developing at once.
The 600-level corners, 604–606 and 631–633, are the other value play. The angle is off-center but the elevation flattens it out more than you’d expect, and these price well below the sideline sections a few numbers away.
Cheapest Way Into a Colts Game
The 600-level end zones and the terrace corners — 504, 506, 520, 522, 531, 533, 547 and 549 — are the floor of the market. Cheap for the obvious reason, and the honest downside is that the deep end-zone angle turns anything on the far 30 into a guess. The video boards in the northwest and southeast corners are 53 feet tall and you will be leaning on them.
There’s also a standing-room option: the Moon Drops Distillery Landing behind Section 533 on the southwest terrace, a 21-and-over rail area that has run in the fifty-to-seventy-five range with a concessions credit built in. Availability shifts game to game, so treat it as a check-first, not a plan.
Our Pick
The low rows of the 500-level sideline — 534–546 or 507–519 — is what I’d hand a first-timer. Five rows means every seat in the section is effectively a front-row seat, and the concourse is directly behind you.
What to Avoid (and What’s Worth Trying Once)
The deep 100-level end-zone corners. They look like a deal because they’re lower-bowl seats at end-zone prices, but you’re sitting low and looking down the length of the field, which is the worst combination in football. The 600-level sideline costs less and shows you more.
The top rows of the 600s. There are as many as 28 rows in those sections and the last handful are a genuine hike from a concourse you’ll want to visit at least twice. If the listing doesn’t show a row, assume the worst.
Worth it once: the north end, when the window’s open. The skyline framed in that opening during an early-season afternoon game is the one thing this stadium does that no other NFL building does, and it’s a better view from the end than from the sideline.
Premium Seating & Clubs at Lucas Oil Stadium
There are more than 7,000 club seats here, split between the sideline sections on Street Level and the Loge Level above, all feeding into two enormous club lounges — one on the east side, one on the west, each running roughly 30,000 square feet across two floors. Premium serves a small slice of the building, so here’s the short version.
The Best Premium Experience
The sideline club seats on Street Level, between the 25s. You’re in the best geometry in the stadium with padded seating, expedited entry through the east or west gate, and lounge access a few steps behind you. The lounges themselves are the draw — real bars, made-to-order stations, and enough television that you’ll watch three other games before kickoff. The tradeoff is atmosphere: this crowd is corporate and it’s quieter than the terrace.
Best Value Premium
The Loge Level club seats in the 300s and 400s. Same lounge access, same wider seats and shorter bathroom lines, at a real discount to the Street Level clubs. You’re one level up, which for football is arguably the better view anyway — the whole field fits in your eye line. If you want the club experience and you care more about the game than the address, this is the call.
Other Premium Options
Eight field suites sit about ten feet off the south end zone at Event Level, which is a novelty view more than a good one. The Quarterback Suite on the Upper Suite Level in the south end holds 200 people and functions as a party space rather than a luxury box. There’s also a Caesars Sportsbook Lounge near Section 132 on Street Level if you want somewhere to stand and watch the board.
Suites & Group Options
The stadium has 139 suites — 77 on the lower level, 57 up top — ranging from mini to super, all catered by Sodexo Live! and all with club lounge access. Corporate groups and milestone parties are the buyers. The Colts handle suite sales directly; brokers are worth a call for one-off games because they’ll often price under the team and handle the catering order for you.
Lucas Oil Stadium Capacity and Seating Chart
Lucas Oil Stadium holds just over 67,000 fixed seats and expands past 70,000 for basketball. You’ll also see 63,000 quoted for the Colts’ football configuration — both numbers are real, they just count different things, and the football manifest is the smaller one.
The one thing that trips people up reading this chart: the 500s and the 600s share a single concourse, and the 500s are the lower group despite the higher-looking number. A 507 ticket and a 607 ticket are stacked on top of each other, and the 507 is the better seat. Numbering also skips in the corners — there’s no 505, 521, 532 or 548 — so don’t assume a missing number means a missing section.
To explore the seating arrangements and secure your preferred spot, refer to the Lucas Oil Stadium Seating Chart available on their website.
Tickets to Indianapolis Colts Games
Indianapolis is a soft resale market by NFL standards, and it behaves like one: outside the divisional games and whatever national-TV date lands on the schedule, single-game seats routinely sell under face in the last week, and the terrace floor drops hardest on Saturday night. The exceptions are the visiting fanbases who travel — Green Bay, Kansas City, Pittsburgh — where the building fills with the other team’s colors and prices hold. Season tickets aren’t a wall here the way they are in Green Bay or Kansas City, so the official channel is worth checking first for a normal game before you pay a resale markup.
Get your Indianapolis Colts Tickets Here! Through our partnership with Vivid Seats you can get tickets to any event at Lucas Oil, The Big 10 Championship, Final 4s, The Pacers or Fever, Indiana, Purdue. Just about any event on the planet.
Lucas Oil Stadium Bag Policy
One clear plastic, vinyl or PVC bag up to 12″ x 6″ x 12″, or a one-gallon clear freezer bag. You may also carry a small clutch about the size of your hand. Fanny packs are not allowed — that one catches people every week. Bags with medical devices and supplies, including breast pumps, are exempt from the clear-bag rule but get screened at the gate. Diaper bags are not exempt; carry diapers in a clear bag. There’s no bag storage anywhere on site, so anything that fails goes back to your car or your hotel. Bag sizers now sit outside the gates so you can find out before you’re in line.
Other Key Policies
The stadium is fully cashless. Every concession stand, bar and retail outlet takes cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay only. Cash-to-card kiosks at Sections 105 and 129 convert cash to a prepaid debit card with no fee.
There is no re-entry. Once you exit the gated perimeter at a Colts game, you’re done. Smoking is allowed inside the gates but outside the doors — step past the perimeter for a cigarette and you’ve ended your day.
No outside food or drink. Bottles, cans, coolers and hard-sided containers are all out. Blankets and seat cushions are prohibited too, which is unusual and worth knowing for a December game. Small compact umbrellas are fine.
The building is fully accessible by ramp, elevator and escalator on every level, with accessible seating marked by a “W” after the row number, and it’s certified sensory-inclusive — there’s a sensory room in the southwest corner of Street Level and sensory bags available from any Guest Services kiosk.
The Colts have a pretty good A to Z policy page if you want to see the full list.
Getting to Lucas Oil Stadium
The stadium sits at the south edge of downtown, close enough to the hotel core that walking beats driving for most visitors. If you’re coming in from out of town, park once somewhere downtown and stay on foot.
Lucas Oil Stadium Parking
The Colts don’t operate any lots — every space around the building belongs to a private operator, and ParkWhiz is the team’s official partner for buying in advance. The closest options are the South Lot at 601 S Capitol Avenue, the Horseshoe Lot at 345 W McCarty, and the IFA Lot at 650 S West Street. A few blocks further out, the Rolls-Royce Garage at 25 W Henry, Lot A at 303 S Missouri, and the Government Center Garage at 42 S Missouri all cost less and get you out faster. Lots open five hours before kickoff.
The move most visitors miss: park north or east of the stadium rather than south. Everyone leaving the South Lot funnels toward the same interstate ramps, while a garage eight blocks north puts you on the grid instead of in the queue, and the walk is ten minutes through downtown. Downtown Indianapolis is also in a long construction cycle with rolling closures around the stadium, including work on Capitol Avenue — pull the city’s road closure map the morning of the game rather than trusting your navigation app.
Public Transit
IndyGo runs the local bus network and the Red Line bus rapid transit through downtown, and it’s genuinely useful if you’re staying along the corridor. It is not a system built to move 60,000 people at once, though, and it won’t be your postgame answer. Check routes before you rely on it.
Rideshare
All Uber and Lyft pickups and drop-offs happen on northbound Illinois Street, one block east of the stadium. The stadium sits inside a geofence, which means you cannot even request a ride until you’ve walked out to Illinois — trying from your seat just wastes ten minutes. Postgame, walk further: get four or five blocks north toward Georgia Street and the surge drops noticeably. There’s also a taxi lane on the west side of Illinois south of South Street. Two drop-off points exist for cars: the southwest corner off northbound Missouri, and the northeast corner on Capitol by the Pro Shop.
Walking & the Downtown Skywalk
The Indiana Convention Center is linked by climate-controlled skywalks to twelve downtown hotels with over 4,700 rooms, offering more skywalk-connected hotel rooms than any other city. It also connects to Lucas Oil Stadium via an underground tunnel, allowing you to walk almost the entire way from your room to the stadium in December without a coat. Public access to the tunnel varies by event, so expect to walk a block outside on a regular Colts Sunday. Bike racks are available outside the Pro Shop on Capitol and near Gate 5, while scooters must be parked by the convention center at Capitol and Georgia.
Insider Tips for Lucas Oil Stadium
Indianapolis does gameday the way it does everything else — competently, without much fuss, and with better food than you’re expecting. The building is easy to navigate, the crowd is friendly to visitors, and the whole thing is walkable from a hotel room. These are the details that make the difference between showing up and knowing the place.
The Roof, the Window, and Whether It’ll Be Open
Plan for an indoor game. The roof stays closed for the large majority of Colts games — it takes nine to eleven minutes to move each of the two 2.5-million-pound panels, and the operators default to closed unless the weather is genuinely perfect.
The window opens far more often than the roof does. The big operable window at the north end frames the downtown skyline, and it’s common to get the window open with the roof shut, which is most of the effect for none of the risk.
Roof status gets posted on gameday. The Colts announce it on their social channels the morning of the game rather than in advance, so there’s no way to buy a ticket knowing — check the day of.
Arrival Strategy & Best Gates
Gates open two hours before kickoff. That’s the stadium’s standard for Colts games, and it’s an hour earlier than a lot of guides still claim.
Use the Verizon East Gate if you’re carrying nothing. It has newer open-gate screening technology that walks you through without emptying your pockets, and the express lanes for bagless fans move at a completely different speed than the general queue.
Get to Touchdown Town three hours out. The free fan zone outside the North Gate on South Street opens three hours before kickoff, needs no ticket, and is where the drumline, the cheerleaders and the tailgate tent all set up.
Lucas Oil Stadium Food & Drink
Skip the generic stands and find Clutch Kitchen. MasterChef winner Kelsey Murphy’s stands at Sections 118 and 132 on Street Level are open to everyone, not just club ticket holders, and the Cuban sandwich at 118 is the best thing in the building.
Get the pork tenderloin sandwich at least once. It’s the Indiana state food and it’s available all over the building — 121, 151, 306, 320, 333, 506, 520, 533, 547 and the grill stands on both club levels. It hangs over the bun by three inches. That’s the point.
BBQ Heaven is at Section 322 on the Loge Level. A genuine Indianapolis institution since 1952, and worth a level change if you’re up top.
Local beer lives at the Cornerback Craft stands. Sections 110, 145, 152, 307, 516, 525 and 543 pour Sun King, Metazoa, Mad Anthony and Four Day Ray. The macro-domestic stands are everywhere; these seven are where the Indiana beer is.
Buy in the second quarter, not at halftime. Same food, a fifth of the line. Walking to the opposite concourse from your section works even better — everyone clusters near their own seats.
Refill your water for free. Bottle filling stations are at Sections 116 and 143 on Street Level; 318, 335 and 345 on Loge; and 510, 516, 536 and 543 on Terrace. Bring an empty bottle and you’ll save eight dollars a head.
Colts Traditions & Gameday Culture
The Striking of the Anvil is the one to see. A guest or Colts alum swings a hammer at a Colts-branded anvil before every home game — past strikers include Pat McAfee, Tyrese Haliburton and Mike Woodson. It moved to Lucas Oil Plaza at the north end a couple of seasons back specifically so more people could watch, so get there before gates if you want a spot.
The Herd plays the lots first. The Colts’ drumline works the tailgate lots and Touchdown Town before moving inside, which is a better show outside than in.
Pyro fires during the anthem, on every touchdown, and after a win. It’s loud and it’s close. Bring ear protection for small kids — the team recommends it and they’re right.
The crowd is Midwestern-loud, not hostile. Visiting jerseys are common and nobody cares. If you’re bringing kids to their first road game, this is one of the easier NFL buildings to do it in.
Exit Strategy
The north end empties toward the good stuff. Lucas Oil Plaza and the North Gate put you on South Street pointed at Georgia Street and the bar district, which is where you want to be anyway. The south and west exits point you at parking lots and interstate ramps.
Don’t rush the concourse. The Terrace Level stairwells jam for about fifteen minutes and then clear completely. Sit through the stadium’s postgame reel and you’ll walk out faster than the people who left at the two-minute warning are driving out.
Best Photo Spots at Lucas Oil Stadium
Shoot the north window from the upper terrace on the opposite end. That’s the frame that says Lucas Oil — the skyline through the opening, the field in the foreground — and it needs elevation and distance to work.
Lucas Oil Plaza is the exterior shot. Thirty thousand square feet of brick and glass at the north end with the stadium name above you, and it’s the one place the whole facade fits in a frame.
Best light is a 1:00 p.m. kickoff with the window open. Natural light floods the north end for the first half and dies after that.
Lucas Oil Stadium Tours & Off-Season Visits
Public tours run Fridays at 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., excluding holidays and event days. Tickets go on sale two weeks ahead through Ticketmaster and the stadium ticket office, and they sell out for a building this size more often than you’d think.
Private group tours are bookable around the event calendar by calling stadium operations directly — worth it if you’re traveling with a group and the Friday slots don’t fit.
The Pro Shop doesn’t need a ticket. Enter from Capitol Avenue at the corner of South Street on non-game days. It’s open year-round, Monday through Saturday, and closed Sundays outside of games.
Colts App, Wi-Fi & Tech
ColtsWiFi is free and has no password. The system is being fully replaced for 2026 in a seven-and-a-half-million-dollar overhaul, its second rebuild in seven years, so it should be among the better connected stadiums in the league.
Your ticket lives in the Colts app, not your wallet. Screenshots don’t scan. Download it and load the ticket before you leave the hotel, because gate Wi-Fi is the worst Wi-Fi in the building.
Portable chargers rent from kiosks at Sections 116, 129, 135, 152, 303, 330, 510 and 531, plus both clubs.
Bringing Kids to a Colts Game
Kids 24 months and under are free on a guardian’s lap.
Get the first-game button. Guest Services kiosks at Sections 121, 330, 519 and 545 hand out commemorative buttons and certificates for a first Colts game, plus birthday buttons if the timing works.
Touchdown Town is the actual kid draw. Face painting and sign making at the Toyota Corner, giveaways, and enough space to burn energy before you ask a seven-year-old to sit still for three hours.
Umbrella strollers are allowed and can be checked at any Guest Services kiosk. Mamava nursing pods are near Sections 108/208, near 132, and near 518/618 on Terrace, with a mother’s room on the Loge Level near 307/407.
Register kids at Guest Services for a wristband. The Lost Parents program takes two minutes and is worth it in a 65,000-person building.
Autographs & Player Access
There are no designated player autograph areas. The stadium doesn’t run them and can’t process requests — anything you’ve read about staking out a tunnel is wishful thinking.
The cheerleaders and alumni do sign. Before every home game at Touchdown Town, Lucas Oil Plaza and the Huntington West Gate, starting about two hours out.
Get in when gates open for warmups. The lower bowl corners near the tunnels are the only real proximity you’ll get to players, and that window closes about 45 minutes before kickoff.
Tailgating at Lucas Oil Stadium
Lots open five hours before kickoff, but tailgating rules are set by each individual lot operator rather than by the team — call the operator before you plan a full setup.
The cash lots south of the stadium along South and McCarty are where the real tailgating happens, particularly for college events, and they fill early with RVs and tents.
Reserve oversize parking through Denison if you’re bringing an RV or a bus. Those spots are finite and they go weeks ahead for big games.
Big Ten Championship & Neutral-Site Events
The Big Ten Championship is contracted here through 2028, and it’s been played at Lucas Oil every year since the game began in 2011 — eighteen straight seasons by the end of the deal.
Expect a thinner concession lineup at neutral-site events. The specialty vendors and local stands are largely a Colts-game operation; for championship games and concerts the building often runs a reduced menu. Eat downtown first.
Third-party hospitality passes are the value play for the title game. Convention center ballroom packages with food and open bar frequently price below what a comparable pregame would cost you in the bars, and they’re a two-minute indoor walk from your seat.
Buy your tailgate supplies before you get downtown. Liquor stores near the stadium get cleaned out on championship weekend, and Indiana’s alcohol rules are looser than they used to be but still not what most out-of-state fans assume.
The NFL Scouting Combine runs here every February, using the stadium for on-field work and the convention center next door for everything else.
Final Four at Lucas Oil Stadium
Indianapolis is second only to Kansas City in Final Fours hosted, and it’s the only city still adding to the total. Michigan beat UConn here in April 2026 for the men’s title — the city’s eighth time hosting, after 1980 at Market Square Arena, four turns at the RCA Dome, and 2010, 2015 and 2021 at Lucas Oil.
Two more are already awarded. The 2028 Women’s Final Four moves here from Gainbridge Fieldhouse — the first time the women’s championship has been played in a football stadium since 2005 — and the 2029 Men’s Final Four returns to Lucas Oil for a ninth Indianapolis hosting.
This is not a rotation Indianapolis falls off. The NCAA’s national headquarters sits at White River State Park about ten minutes’ walk from the stadium, the city has the hotel and convention infrastructure the tournament needs in a single walkable block, and the committee has said as much every time it hands the event back. Assume Lucas Oil is in the mix for whatever gets awarded next.
The building expands past 70,000 for basketball, with the court at field level and temporary seating filling in around it. It’s a completely different room than a Colts Sunday — the sightlines that make the terrace a bargain for football turn into a long look at a very small court.
Stadium Quirks Worth Knowing
Alcohol sales stop at the end of the third quarter everywhere except the club lounges and suites, and it’s two drinks per transaction.
The 200-level is not the club level. It’s the upper rows of Street Level, which confuses people coming from stadiums where the 200s mean something fancier.
There is no bag storage and there is no re-entry. Between those two rules, most of the gate problems at Lucas Oil are self-inflicted.
Things to Do in Indianapolis
If the game isn’t the whole trip, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway museum and track tour is the genuine article and about twenty minutes northwest. The NCAA Hall of Champions sits at White River State Park, ten minutes from the stadium on foot. Mass Ave, northeast of downtown, is where the galleries, theaters and better bars are. Newfields, the art museum and gardens, is a half-day and worth it if you have one. And of course the Indianapolis Zoo if you have kiddos.
Hotels Near Lucas Oil Stadium
Staying downtown is the whole trick in Indianapolis — the hotel core, the restaurants and the stadium are all inside a fifteen-minute walk, and the skywalk network means you can do a lot of it indoors. Big convention weekends and the Big Ten Championship sell the downtown blocks out months ahead; for a normal Colts Sunday, three or four weeks is fine.
Best Areas to Stay
The convention campus — the blocks along West Washington and Georgia Street — is the answer for most visitors. You’re five to ten minutes from the stadium on foot and connected to the skywalk. Wholesale District, just north around Meridian and Georgia, puts you in the middle of the bars and the steakhouses with a slightly longer walk. Mass Ave, fifteen minutes northeast, is the better neighborhood if you’d rather have the city than the stadium and don’t mind a rideshare back.
Hotel Recommendations
JW Marriott Indianapolis is the splurge and the most connected room in the city — direct indoor skywalk access to both the convention center and the stadium, which in December is worth actual money. It’s an enormous convention hotel, so it feels like one.
Conrad Indianapolis is the better hotel if you care more about the room than the walk. It sits on Washington near the Artsgarden, ten minutes from the gates, and the location puts you closer to dinner than to kickoff.
Le Méridien Indianapolis shares the Marriott campus with skywalk access but has more personality than its neighbors and a good bar of its own.
Hyatt Regency Indianapolis is the comfortable middle. Skywalk-connected, its own restaurants on site so you’re not committed to going out, and it extends east toward Circle Centre.
Bottleworks Hotel on Mass Ave is a converted Coca-Cola bottling plant and the most interesting building you can sleep in downtown. It’s a rideshare from the stadium, which is the trade.
Omni Severin faces Union Station and splits the difference on price and walk — about twelve minutes to the gates, right in the middle of the pregame bars.
Budget Options
Fairfield Inn & Suites Indianapolis Downtown is the cheapest way onto the skywalk. Same indoor connection as the JW at a fraction of the rate, and the rooms are exactly what the sign says.
Holiday Inn Indianapolis Downtown is a four-minute walk to the stadium — nothing about it is memorable and it doesn’t need to be at that distance.
Bars and Restaurants Near Lucas Oil Stadium
Indianapolis’ downtown area comes alive on game day with several distinct districts offering the perfect pre-game atmosphere for Colts fans. Georgia Street serves as the official epicenter of pre-game festivities, hosting live music, food trucks, and organized events right in the heart of downtown, while Massachusetts Avenue (Mass Ave) to the northeast provides a vibrant entertainment district filled with craft breweries and upscale dining options. However, the real action for serious fans happens in the blocks immediately surrounding Lucas Oil Stadium along South Meridian Street and Illinois Street. Here are some great options:
Tavern on South: Located in the shadow of Lucas Oil Stadium, this locally owned restaurant features seasonally inspired cuisine, regional craft beers on draft, and a second-level deck with downtown skyline views – perfect for catching some sun over lunch or dining on beautiful Indiana evenings.
Slippery Noodle Inn: established in 1850, this is Indiana’s oldest bar. Whether you want to soak in local history, listen to live blues, or enjoy a cold beer, this legendary establishment offers an authentic Indianapolis experience.
Brothers Bar & Grill: Located near Lucas Oil Stadium,, this is a convenient spot to visit before or after a Colts game with a lively sports bar atmosphere, multiple TVs, and great place to soak up game-day excitement.
Kilroy’s Bar and Grill: This spot is popular for its stuffed breadsticks, long island iced teas, and large screens – a go-to sports bar with lively atmosphere perfect for game nights.
The Whistle Stop: offering classic sports bar fare with proximity to Lucas Oil Stadium.
Outstanding Restaurants
St. Elmo Steak House: This legendary establishment, founded in 1902, offers the best steaks in town. Their world-famous shrimp cocktail is a must-try, but be warned – it’s spicy!
Harry & Izzy’s: An independent, upscale, classic American Grill in downtown Indianapolis with sophisticated ambience. This sister restaurant to St. Elmo shares classic dishes including steaks and the famous shrimp cocktail, while offering more menu variety.
Iozzo’s Garden of Italy: Originally established in 1930, this is the newest oldest Italian restaurant in Indianapolis, featuring traditional Iozzo Family Italian fare with a modern twist, located at 946 S Meridian St.
Shapiro’s Delicatessen: Located at 808 S Meridian St, a staple since 1905 serving classic deli sandwiches and Jewish comfort food, known for its iconic pastrami and matzo ball soup.
The Eagle: Situated on Massachusetts Avenue, this is where you want to go for soulful Southern cuisine. Their fried chicken is legendary!
Bluebeard: A modern American restaurant set in a renovated 1924 factory, offering a menu that changes daily based on local ingredients.
Tupelo Honey: Located at 320 S Alabama St, known for Southern-style dishes with creative twists on comfort food classics, including shrimp and grits and honey-dusted fried chicken.
Why You Should Go
Lucas Oil Stadium is the most frictionless big-event venue in American sports, and that’s a real compliment. Everything is within walking distance of everything, the building itself is handsome in a way most modern stadiums aren’t, and the city has spent twenty years getting good at hosting people. Come for a Colts game and you’ll have a fine afternoon; come for the Big Ten Championship or a Final Four and you’ll understand why the NCAA keeps giving Indianapolis the keys.
Check out all of our NFL Guides. If you’re headed over to Gainbridge Fieldhouse to see the resurgent Pacers or the Caitlan Clark led Fever we’ve got a guide for that as well as these regional gems:
Notre Dame, Indiana and Purdue
Wrigley Field and Soldier Field
Written by Brad Richards. Founder of Gameday Guides. This guide includes insights from personal visits as well as updated info from team sources, fan forums, and stadium policies. We aim to help you plan with confidence — enjoy your gameday. If you have any tips, if we missed anything or you have a question, don’t hesitate to shoot us an email.