Review Visit: June 10th, 2015…read more Carl's Ice Cream.... Home of the Creepy Ice Cream Cone. Those eyes. Those ice cream eyes still haunt me to this day. They will never leave my memory. Nor will the decent ice cream served here. During one of my many trips to explore Bloomington-Normal, I decided to start trying out the ice cream shacks in the dual city. Twin cities. Hyphenated names. Whatever you want to call them. I used some Google-fu to look up places to grab the sugary snack and Carl's was one of the first results. My girlfriend at the time said that it was good enough for her, so we punched the address in to the GPS and headed that way. Upon pulling up, I was startled by the feeling that I was being watched. After getting out of the car, I had to look around and see what was causing that feeling. It was then that I locked eyes with Carl. The incredibly creepy ice cream cone on a pole that is staring down on you. Trying to ignore that, we shuffled to the front of the building and looked over the menu. Looking at their current online menu to help refresh my memory, I am surprised to see them offering only ice cream and ice cream-style treats. Most ice cream shacks offer not only a ton of different frozen dessert items but also a multitude of food items as well. Not Carl's. They just have ice cream and ice cream-related products. We eventually figured out what we wanted and placed an order. I remember getting my usual (peanut butter malt/blizzard/shake) and being just slightly disappointed in the flavor and lack of a wow-factor. Not but a year later, we ended back here by some stroke of luck and I got a cone of ice cream. It was mutli-colored (as seen below) and I remember enjoying that more than I did with my 2015 choice. Back to 2015, I remember us standing our and enjoying the nice snack after a long day of exploring. I just couldn't help but feel that Carl, the ice cream mascot, was looking down on us. Like a chef watching a VIP eating their signature meal to see their reaction. All in all though, the place was pretty good. More-so the second time around. The second trip would've scored a 4.75/5. I am still surprised they don't offer non-ice cream options, but maybe The Carl doesn't allow them to serve anything but ice cream. There is a second location in Normal, Illinois. They seem to have a 'muffler-man' statue that was repurposed in to a man holding ice cream. I have yet to visit that place but hopefully his stare is less soul-piercing than Carl, the Ice Cream Cone's.

Love Carl's! My fave is the "Almond Joy" - coconut ice cream packed with almonds and chocolate. But…read moreall their "hard ice creams" are good and they have lots of flavors. They also have the soft serve, sundaes, and other novelties you'd expect. There's something for every family member and the prices are reasonable. The servers have always been nice and fast, even with a crowd there.

I personally love this Dairy Queen location. It's on the south of Main Street and I live closer to…read morethis location so I come here all of the time. The workers are nice to me every time and they never have messed up my order!!! Good place for a regular.

I am allergic to dairy and ordered a dairy free dilly bar through the drive-through and got a…read morereduced sugar dilly bar. I ate half of it and thought it tasted weird and saw it had dairy. I went inside and stood at the counter and multiple employees just walked right past me and didn't say anything to me just looked at me and walked away. I finally got to talk to an employee and he just said "sorry" and I had to ask for a new one he only said sorry. I am disappointed I got given food I'm allergic too when I asked for that was dairy free.

This location had a young crew on hand and they were on top of their game. The drive through was…read morequite busy so I went in to order. I was greeted and my order taken. You're provided a number. I had my order in no time! Quite an efficient crew! My deluxe double basket with fries and sweet tea was just the meal I needed after coming back in the country. Nothing like a good ol' beef burger seasoned to the T! The lettuce, tomatoes and pickles were so fresh and made sure to reposition them in my sandwich to eat!

This place is not quick. Almost 30 minutes and no food yet. Not what we'd expect from Culver's…read more Don't waste your time coming here.

This place was really good but my judgement all the way until we got our food was mixed. Very good…read moreYelp reviews but we were able to walk in and be seated immediately on a Friday night. The menu was several pages but only one page with food, drinks were the remainder. We got the dipper appetizer and I had the Sassy Chicken Thighs. Both were good and the thigh was boneless. My wife had the loaded potato salad, asparagus, and broccoli which she enjoyed. My son had the Steak Sliders with the potato salad which he really enjoyed. I suppose when the chef can master a menu there's no need for multiple pages. I misjudged and would definitely come back if I'm in town again.

Great atmosphere, and great food at Mystic Kitchen tonight. A couple things that you really need to…read moretry for yourself. The spiced apple Margarita was delish, tasted just like apple pie. The Salty Caesar Flatbread was exceptional, romaine, herb chicken, bacon, tomatoes, mozzarella, and parmesan all piled on a flatbread, you just have to try it. The Shaved steak sliders were topped with a horseradish aioli and really didn't need the au jus but it was a nice addition. And leave room for dessert because the Blueberry Cobbler was also something that you have to try. Served perfectly warm with just a small scoop of ice cream. Kitchen was a little slow with some of the dishes but it was a great meal and a great experience.

If you like (and can eat breaded (and fried) foods, then this is the place for you! That King…read moresandwich (breaded steak, I believe) is ginormous and looked AMAZING! It was HUGE! As a celiac, my options were limited to the Grilled Chicken Salad and the Chicken Wings. I went with the healthier option and enjoyed my salad! Service was friendly and informative and everything you expect from small-ish town in the Midwest! I also am not able to enjoy beer any longer, so I was grateful that they offered some cider options. Delish! Would I go back? This place would be a dream if I did not have a restricted diet. So yes, if this is where my group wanted to go, I would... and I would try the wings and get another salad. Gluten-free rating: **TWO STARS** Overall rating: ****FOUR STARS****

I really enjoyed my visit to Schooner's Friday night. Set up in a house with outdoor seating in…read morethe back yard, with lots of greenery and ivied trees to enjoy. A beautiful wood bar greets you when you walk in, with some booth seating off to the side. We sat outside for dinner and enjoyed the space. Waitress was attentive with our beers and our dinners were great. We had to order the pork tenderloin, which was incredible. Moist pork within a beautiful fried coating. This kitchen knows how to fry their food. My chicken was a deep golden brown with a moist chicken breast within. YUM! I will definitely stop back in when in Bloomington. Thanks Schooners!

Our late night visit to Epiphany Farms/Anju was exceptional! A huge drink menu welcome us and we…read morehad the Beyond jalapeño cornbread for a starter, which proved to be quite yummy and not hot at all. We decided to go with the rustic pizzas that were delicious and unusual: harmony, Korean, chicken and loaded supreme. The crust tasted like it was from a woodfired oven and the Korean chicken pizza was so unusual and tasty with kimchi and pickled shiitake. The fresh from the forest mushroom side dish they gave us a special treat to us was quite a delicacy. Even the farm to table items they have for sale when you walk in to take home are a treat, Especially the homemade marshmallows! Ended with dessert of a fresh orange olive oil cake with just tremendous flavor and blood orange on the side and orange marmalade on the cake. It served exquisitely with a side of homemade ice cream that was to die for. We can't wait to come back! Our waitress, Lupe, treated us like family and was incredibly personal and warm. Put this on your must visit List.

There's a lot to like about Epiphany Farms. The menu is interesting New American farm-to-table. You…read morecan get Asian cuisine, pizza, steaks, chicken, seafood. We started with the sashimi plate. The fish was fresh- including tuna, salmon, shrimp- placed over small celery bites. A variety of sauces were dotted around the plate's edge. The dish would have benefited from some ginger and more sauce. Our entrees included Pork Coppa Ramen- which was a solid dish- strong beef broth flavor and the sambal (chili sauce) -a few cents extra- added a good depth of flavor. The fish bowl- tuna, salmon- with rice, pickled veggies, and gim (Korean seaweed) was tasty. It was even tasty the next day cold out of the fridge. Our server Jack did a nice job- we sampled their roasted carrots- and they were actually our favorite bite. We also had the potato graten and they were tasty- but could have been easily skipped with our Asian dinner vibe. The restaurant has a great eclectic historical vibe and was busy on a Friday night, but still felt spacious. The drink menu is a good selection- we enjoyed wine with dinner (a solid Pinot noir). I would definitely go back to have the pizza- which looked delicious at a couple of the neighboring tables. This is a great date night venue or girls night out.

Best natural foods market in Bloomington. Green Top Grocery might be the only one of course. It has…read morea lot packed into this kind of small market and store. Has a lot of things grown locally. The prices are kind of high, which is the only bad thing. A lot of all natural and organic food and items. It's got some pretty interesting things and you can even order a hot meal. The selection isn't as good as something like Whole Foods, but it's locally owned. Has a lot of the things you can find somewhere else cheaper. That's the bad thing about it, so if you're just looking for good prices they won't have these. Even so, there's a few things that aren't bad. The staff is fairly knowledgeable. Comparing to other stores, it seems best as a complement to other places to get groceries. Its worst thing is the prices. The good things include locally grown products, and plenty of options for vegans and vegetarians.

This is by far one of the best health food stores I've ever been too in the state of Illinois. It's…read moreway better than anything too in Chicago nearly 3 hours away! This place offers so much to guests, it's a newer, very clean and well kept store. The selection of what is offered is comprehensive. Amazing health food that is great for my wife who is on gluten free diet. Their soups are absolutely delicious. Great deals and best of all, there's hard to find products I've never seen before! They have an eatery upstairs, they offer classes too! They're always promoting local happenings in the area on the bulletin board by the restroom. Staff here was a pleasure to be around. They even encourage everyone to become an owner too which really isn't much. They have over 6,000 owners and after my experience here I might consider becoming one too! Free boxes! My wife was really happy about how they sort out their trash here too! This is the standard bearer of what a health store should be. I don't come to Bloomington much but I highly suggest visiting this place! One of the best health food stores I've been too!

Love how they share a kitchen so you get to pick your dining atmosphere while not having to choose…read morewhich menu to use!

I may have gone into this with too high of expectations because of what I heard about the epiphany…read moregroup and that may have been unfair of me. But that being said there were a lot of GREAT things about this restaurant so I'll start there. The restaurant itself it's so moody and vibey I LOVED it, was such a good place for a date night, our waiter was so attentive, helped with all of our questions and a very patient with us as we worked through the menu. 10/10 service! We got the dumpling and pork bun appetizer and both were AMAZING, seriously the pork bun?? I could have eaten 1000 of them. Next was the sushi, I got the Atlantic hand roll and another member of the table got the rainbow roll, both were very fresh and flavorful, highly recommend. Next was the entree, I got the pork belly ramen, as a huge ramen fanatic I was SO excited, especially following up our appetizers, the bar was set high and unfortunately I was so disappointed. The broth was not very good and everything so extremely salty, I couldn't even eat the mushrooms in the bowl because they soaked up so much of the broth and it was like a salt bomb in my mouth. The pork belly was cooked well and I did really enjoy that, but for a $20 bowl of ramen, it really fell flat for me. I also got the sweet heat cocktail, and it also wasn't for me, cocktails are so personal so it's not that I wouldn't recommend someone try it, it's just that I didn't hit for me, and that was the general consensus of the table. While I had a great night, I would probably try a different restaurant for Asian food before I came back to this one!

A hot take. Must try venue in town - and when you go, make…read moresure you experiment and get out of your comfort zone. Try some Korean drinks, get the soju flight, do the grilling experience, get more drinks (try a soju bomb), and don't forget to save room for desert! It's really hard to mess up ordering here to be honest. For desert, go for the warm bread with ice cream. The larger your group, the more fun you'll have here guaranteed! Service is top notch and will even help you with the grill if you ask

This is a high 4. Probably 4.5. We were in town for a…read moreconference and saw this was part of the Epiphany Farms group (which we've been to previously). It seems like a unique concept for this area. The service and decor is so... intentional and earnest. Like they realize educating their patrons is part of the experience. (There is a how-to guide on soju on the placemat). Our group has had some experience with Korean BBQ. We ordered the Harmony combo and the Gangnam combo. The meats were very good and you could definitely distinguish the wagyu from the ribeye. I also got the pork belly ramen - which stands out with the inclusion of kimchi in it. Very nice. The prices are in line with steakhouse prices, which can seem high if you're coming from an AYCE perspective (this is not that, btw).