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    Jack's Cafe

    4.2 (128 reviews)
    Closed 7:00 am - 9:00 pm

    Jack's Cafe Photos

    Business Info

    JACK'S CAFE ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Moderate noise
    Good for kids
    Good for groups

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    Recommended Reviews - Jack's Cafe

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    Beef and barley soup. Wasn't sure what to expect but I enjoyed it!
    Rachel W.

    This was a great stop while passing through town. We had really friendly service and you could tell a lot of the guests were regulars. The food was some delicious home cooking like you'd get from your grandparents. My husband got the pork tenderloin manhattan and I got the country fried steak and we thought they both were amazing! The portions were huge and we were in and out in under an hour. There were some really great looking dessert options as well but we were just too stuffed to give any a try. Anybody who is traveling through the area and wants a delicious sit down meal that is nearly as quick as any of the usual fast food or gas station stops should definitely come here and they won't leave disappointed! If we lived closer this would be one of our go to spots.

    Outside
    Antonette B.

    Food is good, must try their half fried chicken. Delicious & juicy. Service is great from everyone, most especially Isac, kind young server/bartender. Thank you for your magic Isac. Ambiance great. Place is clean- thank you. Highly recommended. I also won some money from the machine. Love this type of cafe, homemade. Glad I came and stop by. Visiting from California. Pic's

    Wanda H.

    Maybe it was what I ordered (though it was listed as a FAVORITE), but it seemed good without tippin' over to the great rating. I barely noticed the flavor of the gyro meat in my Greek Skillet, though the feta was more flavorful. The Bloody Mary also was good, but not great. Service was good. Pretty quick, which was nice. Had a touch of truck stop ambiance to it, which I don't consider a bad thing. Would be willing to come back and try other menu items.

    Dining room
    Theda B.

    Always good food at Jack's. Today one of the specials was a roast turkey dinner with stuffing/dressing, mashed potatoes, the veggie I chose was green beans. This meal was delicious. It was bread stuffing and not cornbread, which was part of the reason I ordered it. The turkey was a large portion and was really tender. The stuffing was delicious, beans were tender. The iced tea was good, service was great, as usual. I left stuffed. If you are in the area, stop at Jack's for great food.

    Fried chicken with potatoes and gravy
    Doug L.

    Just a wonderful small town and family style restaurant that has great food and service. We drove about 20 miles from Bloomington to try it out and will definitely go back for more! The fried chicken was so good! Homemade bread!

    Walk over to Jack's for breakfast kind of a haul from the truck parking lot but I'll get there
    Kevin D.

    #50/2023 Jack's Cafe They're second location opened up in 2008. Original was further up the road that was shut down in Fisher Illinois when he moved this location here in the farmland in McLean county just outside of Bloomington Illinois by about 20 minutes on interstate 74. Jack originally from Macedonia who immigrated to the United States in 1974. He opened another location and Tremont Illinois just south of Peoria and 2015 which is currently staffed by his daughters. Jacks is a very well-known local place it does get hit up by some travelers because it does have a bar inside so people that stay at the Holiday inn Express behind the Love's Travel center will sometimes go over there as will truckers. I've seen this place for years the problem is it's quite a bit of a walk for my bad legs from the Love's parking lot to Jack's usually I go across the highway to good old Woody's fifties diner cuz you can park right there at the truck stop however on the 4th of July they opted to close. Jack was running limited hours between 7:00 and 2:00 that day. And as usual I was hungry what else is new. I wanted breakfast Woody's was closed I thought about going over to Arby's at the Love's but then I thought you know what I think I might try the hike over to Jack's I've never been there let's see what it's like. And the journey over begin for me a little bit of a walk and some little distance can't park a truck inside Jack's. Walking in the first thing you notice like many places in Illinois now they have video slots and they have a bar room. This is not an all night club or tavern it just has regular business hours and shuts down but for happy hour here in a hard-working farm area you can come in have a burger and a beer steak and a beer etc. Also you find in this one you can also get some bloody Marys and I think mimosas in the morning too it's listed on the menu as I post it. I came in it wasn't too crowded yet I sat down I noticed when I got ready to leave though they were seating people it was really getting slammed in there. I ordered up some cawfee and took a look at the menu. Had a great choice is available I definitely will come back here again I think if my legs feel like making that walk. I opted for a good old fashioned ham and cheese omelette with hash browns and raisin toast. The ham and cheese omelette was nice it wasn't a great big large size but it was really good the hash browns were very tasty the only thing I wasn't too fond of was the raisin bread. It's fresh homemade sliced raisin bread but to me it just didn't toast that good it had kind of a funky taste but it's all good anyway though I ate it just had to make note. Other than that when I proceed to pay the bill it wasn't bad at all and you paid the server and all in all for first visit it was pretty much just average across the board there was nothing that really stood out but there again there was nothing that really was behind or noticeable for the most part either. Now that I know what it's like and I do decide to walk over there definitely for a dinner and a beer sometime if I'm going to shut her down right there at the loves and sleep that night the review hopefully will improve as I get some more meals thrown down the gullet into the belly.

    Creamy chicken and rice soup
    Sarah L.

    My boyfriend and I stopped on our long road trip from Wisconsin to Georgia. We were planning to just go to a chain but saw Jack's and decided to do a sit-down local lunch. I got the chicken cordon bleu sandwich which came with soup automatically. We upgraded to get fries as well. The soup was okay - very creamy but the chicken seemed pretty processed. The sandwich was very good and large! Fries also hit the spot. I only ate about half of each after the filling soup. My boyfriend got the fettuccine Alfredo and also ate some of the fries. He enjoyed the also large serving of pasta. The best was the service. Our waitress was super attentive and kind and I can tell this is one of those neighborhood/family favorites - many folks knowing other parties dining or the employees themselves. It was good to see. Not remarkable food, but a solid, filling, and happy spot for a weary traveler.

    Italian beef sandwich
    Michael B.

    Listen when travling across Illinois through Leroy you must stop and try this amazing diner style restaurant. You get a cup of soup with every order. The bread is made in house you get an amazing basket at your table. Deserts that are the bomb. Our family had burgers, Turkey dinner special and I had the Italian beef sandwich. Little note when ordering the fries are al cart the portion is large and delicious. Stop and enjoy the amazing food.

    Southwest chicken wrap

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    4 months ago

    Good atmosphere. Wonderful service. Down home cooking. Family style. Small town atmosphere. Nice Spacious. Good seating.

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    9 days ago

    very slow service! Waitress entered wrong menu item when ordering special. waited 40 minutes left without food

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    1 year ago

    Good home made food and portion size well worth the price. Worth the walk accross the street from the Loves

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    9 months ago

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    2 years ago

    Just what we wanted at the time. Cages looked good. Reuben was good. Iced tea was good

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    2 years ago

    Nice small town restaurant. Good food and friendly attentive servers. There are any choices on the menu. Great place for breakfast!

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    2 years ago

    Love all of the food, I love that there is breakfast and lunch all day everyday,it's a very clean looking place and the food taste amazing

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    3 years ago

    Easy highway access. great service. Excellent Italian beef sammy with au jus, served with choice of soup.

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    3 years ago

    Good food and service. Stopped by when traveling and was really friendly. They had the food out quickly.

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    Page 1 of 4

    Ask the Community - Jack's Cafe

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    Baxters American Grille - Butter cake. Very thin slice that is slightly gooey. But great flavor.

    Baxters American Grille

    (229 reviews)

    $$

    We went to celebrate our anniversary we both had steaks they were cooked as we requested the…read moreservice was very efficient

    So we've been coming here since it opened and in fact had been to its predecessor in St. Louis…read morebefore that. We're pretty familiar with what they used to, and are trying, to be and while we have come to expect lofty goals, it seems like the longer in the tooth this place gets, the more they lose focus. Our most recent Valentines visit reinforced this with some disappointing bar service and a 'special featured' appetizer that took our disappointment to the next level. I get that on a busy night like Valentines, stuff happens, but in this case it was still relatively early (5:30 pm) and they had more than enough employees, it's just that those workers constantly stepped on each other, ignored customers for lengthy stretches, and missed a few details that used to come naturally at this place. Combine that with food delivery confusion and a complete fail on the supposed special feature of "sealed scallops with risotto" app and it left us feeling unfulfilled on what should have been a romantic visit. The next time they offer the scallop app, we strongly suggest they actually do more than wave one side of the scallop over a lukewarm-warm pan (nothing that resembles a 'sear') and figure a way to cut the greasiness of the garlic rice dollops without covering everything in pea tendrils such that you don't notice the lack of sear marks and oily pooling. We give the place three stars based on the still modern and comfortable decor, nice ambiance, robust cocktail & beer selection and the execution of the Tuna Tartare - still one of the lady's favorite bites in town. Perhaps it's just a management/training issue, but it touches both the kitchen and the floor and will hopefully be addressed before our next visit.

    Epiphany Farms Restaurant

    Epiphany Farms Restaurant

    (499 reviews)

    $$$

    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.

    The Ribeye

    The Ribeye

    (176 reviews)

    $$

    I've had better steaks at waffle house. No flavor, no seasoning! Don't know how they are cooking…read moretheir steaks but it is SO bland! Salad bar is like Golden Coral only worse and the only vegetable they offer is broccoli. The cocktails were like Applebee's but not as good! If you're going to call your restaurant a steakhouse then please provide an experience for the prices you are charging.

    I've ate at steakhouses across the nation and this was hands down the worst of all of them…read more If you want a dated version of something that died in the 70's, this is your place. Steaks come out on hot, cast iron skillets, so your steak is literally cooking still as you eat it. The salad bar reminded me of something from Wendy's back in the 80's that stopped because it's a cesspool of bacteria. Even reaching down into this broken cooler(I believe) to grab a hot plate, not cold, that definitely needs addressed. Find it hard to believe the health department allows the mishaps that salad bar is rocking, but I'm sure foodborne illnesses is a common theme for it. Hard to justify $170 meal for two on something as mediocre as this restaurant is slinging. I've had better steaks and cheaper at Longhorns and that's a corporate chain. Only redeeming quality of this place was the service, which I'm sure they have worked here since it has opened, cuz they got it down pat. Will not recommend even to someone I don't like and I will never be returning.

    Jack's Cafe - steak - Updated May 2026

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