Visiting South Bend (Indianapolis, Bloomington, Muncie: apartments, condos, hotels)

[EscAlaMike]

Greetings,

I'll be staying overnight in South Bend over the summer, and I'm looking for recommendations for getting a true South Bend experience. I'm definitely going to check out Notre Dame's campus as I'm a huge college football fan. I'm mainly interested in where to eat. Is there an iconic South Bend place that everybody knows and loves?

Thanks!

[Veniceman]

I can't recommend any specific restaurant in South Bend but if you can find a place that serves the giant breaded tenderloins that Indiana is famous for I'd recommend getting one. There's a place in Huntington (probably an hour south of South Bend) that serves them.

https://www.10best.com/awards/travel...oin-in-indiana

[luckyscrn]

Jesus and Portillo's (Chicago chain) in Mishawaka is great. Also Lauber, Render, and Barnaby's in South bend are places we like to eat. Have a great time!

[ColdAilment]

LaSalle Grill is one of South Bend's oldest and fanciest steakhouses. Fat Bird serves great southern styled chicken meals, very high quality. For Irish food Fiddlers Hearth in downtown has been the go to Notre Dame Irish fanfare for decades. Bantam Chicken and Seafood has some very unique new American foods. Jesus Latin Grill in neighboring Mishawaka is built out of an old library and boasts South American cuisine. JCLauber us built out of an old sheet metal factory and has great pizza and new American Food. There is Bru Burger next to Notre Dame, a gastropub chain based out of Indianapolis.

Quite a few eclectic bars and cafes in downtown South Bend. The downtown area has really transformed over the past 10 years. Hope this helps.

[eddie gein]

Originally Posted by EscAlaMike

Greetings,

I'll be staying overnight in South Bend over the summer, and I'm looking for recommendations for getting a true South Bend experience. I'm definitely going to check out Notre Dame's campus as I'm a huge college football fan. I'm mainly interested in where to eat. Is there an iconic South Bend place that everybody knows and loves?

Thanks!

Notre Dame's campus is really stunning however it is kind of in an odd location. You would expect a grand old campus to be in the middle of town but Notre Dame is further out. It is clear for a lot of it's existence it was actually a bit out in the country. Not what I was expecting. Still it is nice in that it has a lot of room and green space. It's funny though that you have the immaculate Golden dome sitting there and just a few blocks west you have your typical midwestern 1950s suburban neighborhood with strip malls and the like.

As far as tradition goes, just off campus is an old dive bar called the Linebacker Lounge. Great burgers and I like their Rueben as well. It's sort of like the Houndstooth in Tuscaloosa as far as a game day bar. But unlike T town, there isn't much else there within walking distance of the stadium of your old traditional bar and restaurant type places.

Also, take a walk around the lakes on campus. The Dome is so cool when you look at it from across the lakes. It glistens in the sunlight off the water. Just an amazing sight.

[EscAlaMike]

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Is anyone familiar with Rocco's? It has very good ratings on both google and Tripadvisor.

[ColdAilment]

Originally Posted by EscAlaMike

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Is anyone familiar with Rocco's? It has very good ratings on both google and Tripadvisor.

I have never eaten there, I haven't heard anything especially negative though.

The top local pizza places would be Barnaby's, Bruno's, Tony Sacco's in neighboring Granger. But Roccos has been around for awhile.

[ColdAilment]

Originally Posted by eddie gein

Notre Dame's campus is really stunning however it is kind of in an odd location. You would expect a grand old campus to be in the middle of town but Notre Dame is further out. It is clear for a lot of it's existence it was actually a bit out in the country. Not what I was expecting. Still it is nice in that it has a lot of room and green space. It's funny though that you have the immaculate Golden dome sitting there and just a few blocks west you have your typical midwestern 1950s suburban neighborhood with strip malls and the like.

As far as tradition goes, just off campus is an old dive bar called the Linebacker Lounge. Great burgers and I like their Rueben as well. It's sort of like the Houndstooth in Tuscaloosa as far as a game day bar. But unlike T town, there isn't much else there within walking distance of the stadium of your old traditional bar and restaurant type places.

Also, take a walk around the lakes on campus. The Dome is so cool when you look at it from across the lakes. It glistens in the sunlight off the water. Just an amazing sight.

When was the last time you visited Notre Dame? Eddy Street Commons is like its own mini city and directly across the street from the campus. It has over a dozen bars, restaurants, and shops with apartments and condos ontop, 2 hotels, and a very upscale brand new set of townhomes next door.

I do agree besides Eddy Street Commons and the Linebacker and a few other places, there isn't a whole lot of walkable areas. South Bend developed on the river, so that's where the downtown is. The University is older than the city, and it is several miles from downtown, but still well within city limits. Most of the development around Notre Dame occurred in the 1950s and later.

[eddie gein]

Originally Posted by ColdAilment

When was the last time you visited Notre Dame? Eddy Street Commons is like its own mini city and directly across the street from the campus. It has over a dozen bars, restaurants, and shops with apartments and condos ontop, 2 hotels, and a very upscale brand new set of townhomes next door.

I do agree besides Eddy Street Commons and the Linebacker and a few other places, there isn't a whole lot of walkable areas. South Bend developed on the river, so that's where the downtown is. The University is older than the city, and it is several miles from downtown, but still well within city limits. Most of the development around Notre Dame occurred in the 1950s and later.

Eddy Street Commons was actually going in the last time I was there. But it wasn't open yet. But that design is pretty typical of developments that are going in to college areas everywhere. So yeah, that certainly is different than the neighborhoods and strip development to the east. And it obviously offers more options for students and faculty and visitors to Notre Dame.

But my only real point is that ND's campus just seems out of place for the neighborhood. And the newer developments actually accentuate that. OTOH, I really like it from the standpoint is that you have a glorious central campus and plenty of open green space. In that respect it is similar to many campuses that are located in suburban parts of town.

But you darn sure aren't going to find a suburban campus that is as old and as grand as that of Notre Dame.

Since this is an Indiana board I guess I was expecting Notre Dame to be similarly located in the city as IU is in Bloomington if that makes any sense. More adjacent to the downtown area and the older nice early 20th century neighborhoods. IU is beautiful as well.

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

Actually, South Bend is more like Muncie than it is Bloomington. Both are former Rust Belt industrial towns with a mid size university compared to the population of the city, Although Ball State is nearly twice the size of Notre Dame, enrollment wise. Bloomington was and still is, I suppose, pretty much a full blown college town. It wasn't all that many years ago when Muncie was close to 3 times larger than Bloomington and South Bend was close to 6 times larger than Bloomington. Bloomington was pretty much a 1 horse town, with IU and not much else.