Our Indy Coffee Club met up at Gather 22 for brunch one Saturday. When I arrived at Gather 22, parking was a bit of a challenge since it is downtown, but I was able to find a space on Talbot Street. There are parking lots available for parking across the street from the restaurant I found out later, and they have a small parking lot in the restaurant. Be prepared to fight parking when you come to Gather 22. I went into the restaurant and the manager told me my group was in the indoor patio in the back. I went through the back and into the indoor patio room and was impressed with ambiance. The indoor patio room was beautiful and decorated with what looked like Christmas decorations with green balls hanging from the ceiling and trees decorated all over the room. Our group had a large table in the back next to the window, and I sat down at the end. Apparently, we only had one server for our group because it took about 20 minutes to get the server's attention and for me to place my drink order. I did not see any water pitchers on the table because I wanted to have some water while I waited. When the server finally arrived, I gave her my drink order which was a matcha latte. I did order some water as well. When I received my matcha latte, I placed my food order of the sweet potato hash. The matcha latte did arrive within 10 minutes, but it took a while for me to get my water. The sweet potato hash arrived within 15-20 minutes. The matcha latte was perfect and wonderful. The sweet potato hash was amazing and tasted fabulous with the perfect combo of flavors and spices. It is very spicy with the chorizo sausage, so if you order this dish, make sure you have a glass of water handy because your mouth will be on fire. I did not have my water handy, so I was suffering, but it was Ok. The negative side of my dining experience was the service was slow and it took a while to get a glass of water and to get a refill of water. If there were water pitchers or carafes of water on the table ahead of time, this would not have been a problem. It was obvious the restaurant was not prepared for our group, and the server was overwhelmed and did not have the help she needed for taking care of our group. But nevertheless, the server did her best and was professional and nice with our group, so I do give her an A for effort. I would advise the manager to be more prepared for large groups coming to the restaurant if they know in advance they are coming for brunch. On a positive note, the food and beverages at Gather 22 are excellent and highly recommend ed. The sweet potato hash was delicious. The matcha latte was fantastic. Everyone loved the food and the beverages! I would come here again for dinner or brunch when they are not so busy just to get a better experience. The staff just missed the mark on this particular day. I would not steer anyone away from Gather 22. It is worth giving it a try for brunch. Hopefully you will have a better dining experience that I did.
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