Over the last 15 years or more I've been to this establishment maybe 4-5 times; each time I go, I…read moreremember why it's been years since my last visit and I tell myself it wasn't worth it to return when there are so many other options available. This place is incredibly expensive for what you get with regard to the food and the service (or essentially lack thereof). At this time, full simple sandwiches are $12-14 with no sides included (think typical ham and turkey with cheese, tomato, and lettuce with mayo on it that you can make at home), and soups are nearly $8 for a cup and $9 for a bowl. The sandwiches (and "Mexican" fare) have fresh ingredients, but are very mediocre and bland tasting given their simplicity--not remotely worth that price. The high pricing isn't to cover wait staff/cleaning staff or maintaining the facility itself. Orders are taken at the counter and you await to hear your name called to get your food yourself, then rid of all your waste yourself before leaving. The entire dining room was dirty with crumbs on all tables, chairs, and the floor. The trash was full, and the bathroom toilet and urinal both had unflushed waste in them. The place was not busy as it was later afternoon; there were plenty of staff available to keep an eye on the dining room to ensure, at the very least, that the tables and chairs were clean and the trash wasn't full. The building itself is old with a lot(!) of unfinished and inaccessible areas, basic/old tables with cheap "decor". So for over $52 today my spouse and I had two very basic sandwiches, two bowls of semi-warm soup, and two large drinks in a dirty basic dining room after ordering and retrieving the food ourselves. With that price, you'd think the place would be minutely updated and certainly should be cleaner, there would be wait staff, and the food would have much more flavor with much more to it. There are several other places in Monticello to get great tasting food with included sides, cleaner facilities and wait staff, all for less than the price of a basic sandwich that you get here. I love to support small businesses and the staff were certainly friendly so I feel a bit guilty for this review, but this needs to be said about this incredibly overhyped place. This time I won't forget why I infrequent this establishment and won't be back.

Thanks to Yelp, I found the Brown Bag Deli in Monticello while there for visit to Allerton Park one…read moreSaturday, and enjoyed our lunch there. First off, there is a bit of a wait for your order, but trust me, it's worth it. We were there at a prime Saturday lunch hour and the wait was a bit long but I have to tell you, these are REAL 'sandwich artists' that work for this great little place, and they take great care with your order. Plenty of sides to choose from, drinks and homemade pie for dessert, too! I do not order Tuna Salad out bcz I'm always disappointed but I took a chance here at the BBD, and wow did I enjoy my meal. White bread, Tuna Salad, onion and pickle...SO DELICIOUS!!! I was very full after eating the sandwich too. Hubs had the Dagwood Special and totally enjoyed it. Bypass the fast food across the street and visit this great little diner in downtown Monticello. You will be happy you did!

Fantastic service! The smoked turkey was great. We'll be back when we're in the area again.read more

Hole in the wall BBQ place that also randomly sells dim sum and egg rolls, but honestly it works…read moreout perfectly for my husband to get BBQ and for me to order Asian. Food was delightful and the waitstaff was great.

Martinellis is such a cool place for Champaign to have. I love that it's a cafe, bakery, store…read more There's nothing there that isn't good or well crafted here and it's made fresh! It can be a little bit pricey but I definitely think it's worth what you're paying. They have a great outdoor idea to sit in if you have a dog with you and the staff is so friendly. I love seeing their specialty items in their grocery section as well. They clearly pick those items with a lot of thought!

I usually really enjoy visiting Martinelli's: they have fun snack aisles for one to browse through,…read morebread samples, yummy dessert options and a freezer full of goodies. Its got a lot of natural light, plenty of seating and has a really nice ambiance for a quick lunch or coffee date. We stopped by for their delicious foccacia pizza but were informed that they don't serve it after 1:30 pm. We settled on the tuna melt but were disappointed by that; cold tuna salad, greasy soft bread (ie not toasted enough), and a slice of unmelted cheese. It really didn't work. We also ordered a few baked goodies but were disappointed to see a bug flying on the cookies. I'm giving them 3 stars for the overall vibe of the restaurant and past experiences. I'm hoping that today they were just having an off day.

The food is good. It came out very quick. One of the menus is AI. Very friendly staff.read more

Super fun decor, great food and friendly service! Lots of large booths to sit at (or the bar)…read more Thoughtfully decorated with old time diner feel. Stopped here on a drive along Route 57. Highly recommend!

Ordered a $10 chicken salad on white bread....i got chicken salad on two pieces of white…read morebread....no lettuce, no tomatoes no nothing. I should have known as I was the only one in the place at lunchtime today, July 16, 2024. I should've gone to Subway.

This place is mid. We stopped coming back from Chicago since it had good reviews…read more The lady at the counter was nice. Our food took a pretty long time to come out considering we got sandwiches. When we did get our sandwiches, one was completely wrong. We decided it wasn't worth waiting another 15-20 minutes for a new one. The sandwiches themselves were fine. Nothing amazing, nothing terrible. Personally I didn't love the environment. If you don't like nonstop Christian music and groups of women loudly cackling in the corner, this probably isn't your place. They did have cool snacks in their store and the desserts looked good but we didn't try any. Edit to add the bathrooms were really clean and they also had Narcan in both the men and women's which I think is a really cool way to keep an eye out for your neighbors.

What a gem! Visited for lunch with my daughter and her boyfriend and enjoyed everything we ordered…read more The sandwiches are huge. Split an eggplant parm sandwich with my vegetarian daughter, and it was still too much for us to eat. Tasty and not greasy. We also tried the porchetta, also top notch and easily enough for two. Broccoli pasta salad (more broccoli than pasta) was a surprise sleeper hit. We really enjoyed the cannoli for dessert. Do note it's not super sweet. That's our preference, but could see how others might want more sugar. Good selection of gelato. The peanut gelato was more peanutty than peanut butter. Gelato has a great texture. If I lived in UC, would be here multiple times a month. It's a better Italian deli than we have in Washington, DC.

I've dined here several occasions and locations. They did a pop-up kitchen in Stone Grove when it…read morewas at Old Farms. I think I was pregnant and demolished two sandwiches: porketta and the other escapes me. If they offered a dessert, I probably got that too and enjoyed it. I recall great service and food. Located at Lincoln Square, the nonprofit I managed had a gig for another organization. Nothing to do with the food, but communicating an appropriate place for us to set up and perform was difficult. In the current location, my friend and I ordered pizzas for lunch. We probably could've shared one and split a salad. It was generous. We asked for take home boxes and were provided a box of foil. We wrapped up our pizza slices and the lady who took our order marched over and demanded the foil back. When she saw we had pizza she said she should've given us boxes. Maybe I'll give it a try again in the future and it won't be weird.

Traveled over 30 miles on a Saturday to patronize a small independents business for lunch. Big…read moredisappointment, it was 12:30 in the afternoon and the place was closed. On line hours said it should've been open. Dont waste a trip for this place.

Excellent BBQ and beverages. The service was great. Everyone was very helpful and friendly. The…read morebuilding has an old salon feel. We were there on as Saturday during lunch.

Checked out this lively bar and grill in Chenoa. It certainly is one of the few happening places in…read morethis town. Brown Jug is where the locals get their drinking and eating on as well as watching games. Maybe it looks pretty ramshackle from the outside, but be assured it's also like that on the inside. The menu is mostly booze, but there's also burgers and various fried stuff. Basically it's one of the places in this town to gather. It's actually a lot nicer than many other places around here. That's not saying a lot. Of course it's possible to get some okay things to drink and eat. Pretty okay prices as far as things on the menu. It's got a lot of drink specials, and one was $3 for vodka so that was cool. Lots of fried and greasy food on the menu. It's about $6 for the Pretzel Bites. These might be the healthiest things to get here. Of course there's also burgers. There's also wings and meaty fried items. Even if it's nothing fancy it's a good place as far as around here. It's open late for around here at least. This is located on Cemetery by the tracks.

My son lives in the area and we always have to come here when we visit him. We love this bar. It…read morereminds us of Cheers!! Always great bartenders and wonderful service. Prices are excellent and the food is always amazing. Keep in mind it is bar food but it is very good!! We recommend pretzel bites, jalapeño poppers, fried mushrooms and chicken wings!! The bar is roomy, everything is very clean, and the clientele is very friendly!

There was quite a wait on a Sunday morning, however, the food made up for the wait. The decor and…read morevibe are really cool. The location is a little unusual, being part of an old mall turned into an artsy shopping hub. There is a door outside of the mall to access the restaurant directly. Two notable dishes from our visit were the breakfast quesadilla (soooo good!) and the biscuits with mushroom gravy. The service was slow, however, it was a Sunday. We loved the place so much we booked a reservation for our next visit down to see our son at U of I. The restaurant also has a coffee bar where you can get special coffee drinks, and some random handheld foods. The seating area is eclectic and inviting. As you can tell, I think this place is pretty great!

Found this place via google and it was a great find. I didn't realize this place was also…read morevegetarian and vegan so I was a little worried, but they have the meats! I gotta give great praise to their Iced Tea. It was not sweetened, but wasn't bitter. Good amount of ice as well (which I know sounds weird). I got the fluffy egg sandwich which was good, but I was hoping for a little more flavor in the sausage. I added choula sauce to my second half and that seemed to do the trick. Sausage aside, it was cooked perfectly and presented wonderfully. The breakfast fries were also pretty outstanding. Crispy outside and soft inside with a perfect amount of seasoning. Those usually get left on the plate by me, but I ate it all. My dad got the Everything Bagel Sandwich. I slightly liked his sandwich better and will be what I get next time. I have to mention that the service was top notch. I think we had a new server, but she was witty, nice, and helpful. She really sold the place! I highly recommend this place! Great find!

Great Food & Service! Will definitely be back! The bartender was very sweet and informative when we…read moreasked questions about the menu.

We stopped in looking for an out of the way place to get a quick bite and get out of the heat. It…read morewas a fairly standard bar menu of appetizers and sandwiches. The bar is very typical of a small town. There was plenty of seating since we were the only ones not at the bar. The bartender/server was polite and friendly. She took our order quickly and checked on us often. The food was fresh and hot, the Philly cheesesteak was huge. Prices for the entire menu were very reasonable. The only reason I didn't give this place 5 stars was the country music and uncomfortable stares from the locals.