About Livery
Livery occupies one of the most atmospheric addresses in Indianapolis — a restored 1890s brick building on the north end of Mass Ave that once housed working horses and their carriages. When the Cunningham Restaurant Group took the space in 2017, the mandate was to preserve the industrial bones and fill them with the flavors of Latin America. The result is a room with exposed timber beams, tall arched windows, and a two-level rooftop deck that opens Indianapolis's warmest months into a genuine all-night scene.
The menu travels widely. Argentine grilled skirt steak, Peruvian causa, Spanish-style paella for two, Cuban-rooted ropa vieja, and a ceviche program that rotates with what's in at the market — the kitchen's deliberate ambition is to cover a continent without pretending to master any single part of it. What the food consistently delivers is generosity: portions are sized for sharing, plates are built for photographs, and the combined effect of guacamole made tableside, charred octopus, and a wood-fired whole branzino is exactly the kind of dinner that raises a group's mood within twenty minutes of sitting down.
Livery's tequila and mezcal program is the most serious in the city. The back bar holds more than a hundred agave spirits, pours are honest, and the cocktail menu uses those bottles for something more than margaritas — though the house margarita, built on a smoky mezcal base and served in an actual stone cup, is the drink guests order most and photograph first. Sangria is available by the pitcher. Wine runs heavily Spanish and South American and is priced with restraint.
What makes Livery work as a Kings-level recommendation is the coherence of the experience. The building carries the evening. The rooftop, on the right Thursday night in May, is as good a place to be in Indianapolis as any. And the kitchen turns out food that is seasoned confidently, plated attractively, and sized for a table of four to stop checking their phones.
Why Livery for a Team Dinner
Livery is the table to book when your group is eight people and the goal is for everyone to leave happier than they arrived. The sharing format removes the awkwardness of individual ordering — one paella, one whole fish, a round of ceviches, and every team member is participating in the same meal. The rooftop deck, weather permitting, creates the rare team-dinner setting where people actually want to stay for a second round rather than check their watches. Private-dining buyouts are possible for full team offsites.
What to Order
Open with the tableside guacamole and a ceviche sampler — the kitchen's short list of same-day preparations is reliably the most exciting part of the menu. The Spanish paella for two, built on bomba rice with chorizo, shrimp, mussels, and saffron, is the dish most tables are photographing and the one most worth ordering. Skirt steak with chimichurri is the best of the grilled options. For cocktails, the smoky house margarita earns its reputation; for something more serious, ask the bar for a mezcal flight and let the bartender choose.
The Occasion
Livery operates at the volume of a genuine night out rather than a quiet conversation, which makes the occasion fit specific. For team dinners, birthdays, and first dates where the goal is energy and atmosphere, it is exactly the right call. For a business-close or an anniversary where the room should stay silent enough to hear each other, book Vida or The Meridian instead. Livery is a weekend restaurant that does weekdays well. The rooftop makes the case on its own.