Apartment Living - Downtown vs Mass Ave vs Broad Ripple

[masters1]

I live in downtown Carmel in the Carmel City Center building and would recommend it. Most of the clientele is either young professionals or folks 50+ like myself. The building has 4 restaurants in it.The Monon Trail runs behind our building and the Palladium Performing Arts Center is behind us as well. A few blocks away is the Arts District which has several restaurants and is a fun walk down the Monon to get there. In between is the new mid-town area which includes some bars and restaurants. Many new buildings are going up in this area. They are also building a new luxury hotel behind us as well. A lot of construction currently but it will be nice when it's done.

[CollegeMover]

Carmel seems amazing if I were looking to settle down.

But considering I'm only going to be here for 2 years, I'm definitely looking for somewhere a bit more exciting and social. Maybe I'll consider Carmel for my second year here if I want a bit more of a relaxed environment.

Right now I'm leaning downtown though - particularly the Mass Ave area. I'll keep doing research and I'll be touring in a week or so.

If anyone has any specific suggestions please let me know!

[WestsideMac]

Restaurants on Mass Ave that I've always enjoyed -- I know you can only hit up so many, but in order of MY favorite top to bottom if I'm eating out on Mass Ave only.

1) St Joseph's -- brew their own beers, have good food especially the Meatloaf Bison Burger, and cool setting being in an old Catholic Church
2) Chatham Tap -- Very limited seating, soccer on as much as possible, most of the beer from the local breweries, and English style food -- still a cool atmosphere
3) Yats -- Creole style food -- cheapest option on this list, but eccentric setting probably more casual than the others, but the food is to die for
4)Rathskellar -- Their beer garden and concerts is TOP NOTCH (don't know if they are open in that regard yet for concerts and stuff due to weather, but summertime is a blast there). The food is quite pricey and good if you like authentic German foods like sauerkraut, sausage, etc
5) MacNiven's -- Scottish style food like Bangers and Mash -- like most listed here has good beer selection, especially local Indiana beers
6) Ralstons' owned by same as St Joseph and Chatham Tap but different atmosphere and food from the others.
7)Livery or Bakersfield -- tie they both are Mexican cuisine and good, but for some reason they are similar in my mind and I just like the other places slightly better.
8)Mimi Blue Meatballs -- You wouldn't think they could flavor or make the meatballs better but they find a way. Seating is very crammed together but food surpasses that.