The best bang for your buck in campus town. Solid options and super quick lunch service. read more

Evo Cafe - Lunc Special: spicy young chicken, cumin pork and beef broccoli - Chinese Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

went for the weekend special. Lacking options when i went. The food was so terrible like genuinely just go eat panda its like basically the same price. Lady was nice ig but rushed me fr. Indoor looked poor. read more

Evo Cafe - General tso, fried tofu, COLD chicken, Spicy chicken fried rice - Chinese Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

Nothing beats an EVO lunch special. At under $10 (with tax) for a 2 entree meal, the quantity and taste is just right for the everyday college student. I usually get the spicy young chicken and green pepper chicken. They rotate their lunch special menus every day (ends at 3 pm) and a dinner special too. The service is nothing special and the ambiance of the place is just a place to get a quick bite with a bang for your buck. Would highly recommend for a cheap college meal. read more

Evo Cafe - Dinner Special: Rice with Crispy Pork, Eggplant and Green Bean Stir Fry, and Bean Sprouts. - Chinese Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

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This is a great spot for quick and delicious food on campus. It's authentic and cost efficient. If you want to have a nicer sit down meal, this is also a great place though too. The owners are really nice and friendly, and definitely can recommend food if you need help. The restaurant is large and has upstairs seating too. Overall, this is a staple Chinese restaurant in the community. read more

Evo Cafe - a meal in a styrofoam container - Chinese Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

I loved my experience here! Came for the first time and got the coconut shrimp with general tso for the dinner special. It's for sure a bang for your buck, the workers make sure to fill the plate to the brim. The workers are so nice and friendly. Not to mention that I love the upstairs seating area, it's very calming. read more

There's a lot of great things about this place but this time I'm going to start with the cons. 1) They put too many onions and peppers in their food. I ate 1/4th of a plate of hot peppers before I started picking through searching for the meat and rice like I was on one of those hunts for what didn't belong in the picture. There were so many peppers, I was on the hunt for non-pepper items on my plate. It was like they had a pepper harvest and were worried that they'd go bad so they had to use them all at once. My family members ordered separate dishes and all of their food was full of either onions or peppers. Keep in mind the photo posted doesn't account for the peppers I ate. Yea, it was that many lol and I can't believe I kept trying to eat it. I like spicy food but if you think it's hot going in imagine what it's like coming out? Ha ha ha No, I am serious. Welts on your colon hot! 2) You ask for water and they bring you a tiny plastic cup of water. You just fed me a plate of hot peppers and I have to wait 10 minutes for one 8 oz cup of water? Why did I have to ask for it? Shouldn't they water be included with the food? When we asked for refills it was an even longer process. They had to go into several rooms behind closed doors and boom you got a 8 oz cup of water again. It's going to take more than 8 oz to put this fire out in our mouths. We went to the car while eating to get bottled water that's how hard it was to get them to give us water! If it's tap water I'm confused as to why it's such a chore. Finally when they saw us exiting to get our own water they brought over a pitcher of water. Should not take that to get free tap water when you ordered $50 worth of food. Pros 1) Parking in front, yay! 2) The food is good but you need to tell them at the time of your order that you want light onions, light green peppers, and light hot peppers. Those things are cheap, and it's so easy for them to add extras of those to decrease the amount of meat, noodles, and real veggies. 3) Great prices. It's a college town and the prices are appropriate for the area. This food in a different area would be a lot more expensive. Ignoring the excessive peppers and onions the quality of meat that you get and seasoning is excellent. Hell yeah, I would go here again and you should too. 4) It's fairly clean and the staff members are nice. Sure they didn't understand when we wanted water but their intentions were good. 5) We tipped the average amount we would 25% and the waiter was so happy. The food is not that expensive so the tip wasn't that large I was glad that he appreciated it. We will be back. read more

Evo Cafe - It doesn't look like it's great from the outside, I know but try it. - Chinese Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

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Evo offers an amazing deal for lunch--6.99 for rice/noodles/fried rice and 2 entrees (they do offer 3 entrees for a reasonable price, but I'm not entirely sure off the top of my head). They also provide free soup as a side as well as a water bottle! Not only do they offer an enormous amount of food for the price, but the dishes are also authentic and is reminiscent of a true lunch experience in China. During busy days you might even see a line out the door, but service is extremely quick and you'll never need to wait extremely long. For an experience that is close to a genuine Chinese college-cafeteria-style lunch, definitely try Evo! read more

Evo Cafe - Lunch bento box - Chinese Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

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It's a great place for dry hot pot. I love love love it. I can eat a high level of spicy food but even their medium-level spicy is too hot for me. But I'd eat it again in a heartbeat. The dry hotpot is wonderfully flavored, with a whole bunch of tongue-numbing chilies and oil, but I am told that's what makes it authentic Chinese and I believe my Chinese friends. Don't forget to put in a bunch of quail eggs, tofu skins, bok choy and potato in the hotpot. Also, lunch menu is great, even though it doesn't have a lot of variety. I love the spicy chicken, and beans with pork. At $7, with a free water bottle, I think it's great value for money. This place would be great if the servers and the menu are more international-friendly. It's hard to order anything, if you don't have your Chinese friends with you because most of the servers don't really understand English and the menu is almost entirely in Chinese. This is not the place to order bubble tea from. Go to Kung fu tea two doors down. read more

Evo Cafe - Dry hot pot - Chinese Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

super cheap chinese food, what more could you ask for in a college town! service was super quick! i definitely recommend coming for lunch and sitting in the upstairs area. menu changes every day so you'll never get bored of it! read more

Not sure about the other items on the menu, but EVO cafe has always gotten my back with their lunch special! Hands down they have the best steamed egg that I ever tried in my life. I also really like the spicy young chicken. Sometimes, the noodles/fried rice is severely under seasoned, but more than generous portion size for your bucks!! would recommend the lunch special for when you need a quick and affordable meal! read more

The dry hotpot is the best you will get in the whole world! I am from chongqing and I lived in Chengdu for 3 years. These two places are the places for spicy food, but I still stand by my first statement. The dry hotpot is THE best in the world!!!!!! read more

Evo Cafe - a plate of stir fried chicken - Chinese Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

We ordered spicy oil fish, twice cooked pork, stir fried green beans, eggplants, cumin beef, dry chili chicken, and pan fried noodles. All were delicious. Didn't realize it was all pretty spicy. Had friends with me that eats mildly spicy. Only the pork and green beans were mildly spicy. These dishes tasted just as good as some of the Sichuan restaurants in Chicago. Would go back and dine here when I am in town. Food took awhile to come since they cater to college students, fast food style. So it's a great place for college students that wants to grab a quick bit before heading back to class. Not much of an ambiance for dinning in. read more

There were no fortune cookies included which made me a little sad. I usually look for simple Chinese places with the most basic order of orange chicken and fried rice and this place didn't really deliver that basic-ness. The orange chicken was a little too eggy tasting for some reason and was 18 dollars bruhhhh maybe i ordered during an expensive time but no orange chicken and rice should cost more than 12 bucks imo. The people there are extremely nice!! Not my favorite basic Chinese food spot. read more

Very dirty restaurant ...... Both myself and my friend found hair in the food. I showed it to the female boss but she did not admit the problem and argued with us. read more

This place is awesome. I had the dry pot. It was bomb!!!!! So authentic and I got the exact flavor I expected. It was spicy, a little oily but totally acceptable. You can get a lot of asian veggies there. But the seaweed cold dish and the bubble tea tasted weird. So far my favorite Chinese restaurant on campus. Authentic Chinese food, just a little bit oily and salty read more

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No NEW review since 2020? This is typical sichuan food. Some might be very spicy and some might have looooots of chili oil(greasy). But regardless, overall scrore of this restaurant SHOULD BE 4 STARS OR UP. (maybe the ownership had changed, but among chinese food, this one is good) read more

Food was bland Too sweet to be honest Staff was confused about the menu Ended up ordering some dish which was not my first choice read more

Evo?! The biggest fighting game tournament of the year? No, doesn't look like it. Instead, it's a fast food Chinese joint. I have to say that their lunch special isn't a special at all since the amount of food you get is equivalent to any other Chinese fast food joint at the same price. However, I will say that what makes them unique is that they do serve tofu and a scrambled egg/tomato dish which I've never seen before in the myriad fast food Chinese places I've been to. It's also neat that the water bottles are free too. read more

Evo Cafe - Chinese Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

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Came with my friends in a Sunday evening. Waited an hour for fried noodles. Bad attitude. Taking way more orders than their capability. If you eat dine in here, you are going to wait till them finish cooking takeout or pickup orders before they cook yours. read more

Was a regular at the place, but recently when I asked about the price of a certain dish and expressed my surprise on the expensiveness, the female restaurant owner commented that if you cannot afford to eat here, then do not come. What the actual heck? What kind of attitude is this... Would never recommend it... read more

Five Star Bubble Tea. Ok, everyone is right about the food. However, that is not the prize at Cafe Evo. Now listen, I recently moved here from Oakland, CA. The Bay Area knows alot about killer bubble tea, with tapioca pearls. No one can challenge this. But let me tell you something, Cafe Evo is the only bubble tea within a two hour drive to Chicago that is worth finding. I recommend Banana, Taro, or Coconut and you have to order it as "banana snow with pearls." Shake it up before you plunge the straw in, and try not to suck it all down in the car before you get back to work. I for one, have always devoured the whole thing before I can get five minutes back across town. Pitiful, but incredible. Oh, and don't expect them to be nice. read more

The bubble tea here is simply amazing! I am from California, where they have tons of bubble tea places. However, Evo Cafe supplies the most amazing bubble tea I have ever ingested! They have a wide variety of bubble tea ranging from milk tea to slushies. They also have boba and many different types of jellies to go with your drink. This place has become one of my favorites to get my milk tea fix. read more

I've given Evo Cafe far more chances than it deserves. The food is hardly considered passable. The last time I was here, there was a piece of metal in my food. The bubble tea is alright, but most of them are made from powder anyway. The only things that are probably keeping this place going are the prime location and wide menu selection. read more

When my fiancee and I went to U of I, Evo was one of our favorite restaurants. We would go there all the time for delicious bubble tea and Chinese food. I was especially found of the House Fried Rice. You would think fried rice tastes the same everywhere but the spices that Evo used and the gigantic pieces of chicken and shrimp made it out of this world. Fast forward to a few weeks ago. We took a trip to see the campus and made sure to stop at Evo. Something has really happened to the quality of the food. Except for the bubble tea, nothing really tasted the same as when we last went to Evo, and we were pretty disappointed. If we still lived in the area, we would still go to Evo for bubble teas and the occasional meal but it would not be the regular restaurant-of-choice that it once was. read more

The bubble tea is pretty good. I'd often stop here after class and grab one to bring back home. Food-wise, they're average for what else you'll find around in Champaign/Urbana. That being said, unfortunately the service here leans toward poor/fair if you're white. There, I said, it. I'm not taking it back. I've been here multiple times with my buddies and we were ignored or hardly waited on. That would be understandable if we were loud or obnoxious, but we were 4 quiet white guys. One time we went in, were seated, and nobody came to take our order. I went up to the counter after about 15 min to ask if we could order. In broken English I was told that someone would be there to take our order. After another 5-10 minutes of waiting we decided to just up and leave. Awesome. read more

EVO seems to have gone downhill, but there is one thing they're doing right. The last time I went, I tried their spicy dry hotpot (ma la xiang guo). If you don't know what it is, try it. If you know what it is, order it. It's amazing, delicious, and about $22 a serving (good for 2 people). I've tried it at other Chinese restaurants on campus and EVO's is by far the best. read more

I don't get the low ratings for this restaurant?! what is wrong with people?! Get the guizhou chicken, young spicy chicken, sliced pig feet, water boiled fish, or any damn sichuan dish, you'll be blown away...I promise. Come on people support a good place to stay in business. Protip: I will tell you what this place is not for: General Tso's chicken, Orange chicken, Sweet and sour chicken and all the generic (terrible) dishes you get at the Panda Express. read more

I always get the almond bubble tea and it never lets me down. I really like their chili chicken dish too! The service isn't great, but what do you expect in a chinese restaurant haha.. read more

I've never had the food here, but the smoothies are tops. The cappuccino is my favorite, and though I LOVE tapioca in my smoothies, this is one time I'll skip it just because it distracts me from how amazing the flavor is! I always order before I see the sign near the counter advertising peppermint... It sounds pretty bizarre, but still, I'm intrigued. read more

Food was okay. The smoked tofu with celery and pork shreds was okay, but underseasoned. The spicy boiled beef was also just okay. Not terrible - we ate the whole thing - but nothing to write home about, either. Not thrilled with the obvious clumping from excess corn starch, either. They do have lots of space, and can be good for groups, and their milk tea with boba was good. I'd go again, but it's not worth going out of your way for, by any means. read more

The food is extremely greasy and not well cooked at times. The only decent dish amongst all the below average ones is the Kung Pao Chicken. i have mostly gone to eat here for its cheap price lunch combo (2 entrees) meal. The ambiance is a little unhealthy, with a air of greasiness. I would suggest to sit upstairs, which is comparitively more spaced than downstairs. read more

much better than panda Express or 又一村, seasoning may be too strong for someone but totally ok for me. Gonna be here a lot when forget to cook lunch read more

Alright food, alright drinks. Not really a place I'd stop by for gourmet food but still pretty okay. I'm not a fan of making drinks from syrups or powders but it is challenging to keep a full stock of fresh fruits and vegetables when smoothies aren't incredibly popular in America yet. read more

Lunch special pricing is at $6.99. Good Chinese food, and decent for the price range.

I loved this place!!!!!! the food was great & the bubble tea is to die for!!!!!!! I highly recommend this restaurant. Good wait staff excellent food. The staff are very friendly & have a great personality even to the NON-asians & if you start singing kung fu fighting they will start dancing. read more

Very mediocre food but absolute rude attitude. Went once with bunch of friends and went upstairs. Waiter silently threw down the menu and walked away. Has to call like 3 times for them to show up again to get the order. read more

I do like the friendly people here. We went for my birthday and we only had to wait for two to three minutes. I went with Amber and Bret along with our pal who was also our driver as well. read more

In the recent few months, the taste of the food has become awful. Sometimes you have to wait for ~10 mins. One of the waiters is so rude.

I really love the dry hot pot there!!!!! It's the most spicy food I taste in this area, and I think of a little spicy next time I order it. Would definitely eat again. read more

Even as a Chinese student, I never feel the staff have basic courtesy at all. Every day they serve you with their disgusting faces as if you never pay for your bill. When I see their faces I feel no appetite. This is the Chinese restaurant that I have WORST impression. When friends ask me to go eat Chinese, I must ask whether they are going to EVO. If they say Yes, I say No. read more