Love Hartzell's. It's my go-to whenever I crave for an icecream. They have so many amazing…read moreflavours. I personally love Dusty bean and Chocolate lovers. The seasonal flavours are delicious too. They have the best service and ambiance too. Sweetest people.

We spent a day walking around campus and the girls wanted something cold as we were all sweaty. I…read morethought the ice cream was good... I wouldn't go out of my way or wait for it but it's convenient and had a number of fun flavors to enjoy.

Spudshacks has all of my favorites, done well! I have been going back at least one a week. The…read morepotatoes, with bacon and/or brisket are my favorites. They recently added delicious ice creams to the menu too. Of course I must have Turkish coffee with everything. I never liked Turkish coffee before, but I am a big fan now (larger portions and less strong)! My wife likes their chicken, soup, salads, desert and Turkish coffee. Spudshacks staff makes us feel at home when we visit!

Updating review to 5 star from 4-the owner immediately responded, super helpful and nice. Will be…read moregoing back asap! What a fun, unique spot for food! The potatoes are ginormous, even the small so bring your appetite. You order easily on a kiosk at the front and the items are brought to you. Cooked perfectly and quickly. I got 3 cheeses, butter and ranch dressing but it needed more butter. That is my only issue and it was minor, will absolutely return. Very nice staff, super clean area.

Really liked it. I believe it's mostly, if not all, vegan. I know they were experimenting with some…read moreitems with dairy a while ago but I did not notice any non-vegan items while I was there, so not sure if that's still a thing. Anyway, it is a little out of the way. It's walkable from downtown but not really in the downtown core. Pretty quiet when I was there, but the atmosphere felt approachable. Some of the chairs were like school desk chairs (adult-sized, of course) that I haven't seen since I was in primary school which was kind of funny. The guy at the counter was cheerful and friendly. They looked like they had run out of some of the hot savory items by Saturday mid-afternoon, but there was still a wide variety of sweets. I believe the current owners are Indian, and you see some of those flavours featured. I got: Samosa handpie: Good, not mind-blowing, but good. Nice flavours. If you like a flaky crust, this is not it, but I liked the rustic pastry crust. Pistachio cardamom donut: Loved it. Before I moved to Bloomington, there were a few bakeries that offered vegan-GF cake donuts that I loved, and this was the first thing I've gotten here that reminded me of that. Pleasant texture and strong cardamom flavour, not too sweet. I think these are baked donuts, so they're a little different from regular fried donuts, but in a good way IMO. Rose dream latte: Milk with rose syrup topped with coconut whip and nuts, no espresso. Tasted great, but more of a dessert drink than I was expecting. The coconut whip was quite thick. The concept could probably use some refinement, because the whip was too thick and rigid to drink without a straw, but the nut pieces were too big to go through a straw, and so I couldn't figure out the best way to drink it. From what I understand, there are some longtime fans of this place who feel like the quality has dropped since the most recent change in ownership, but as someone who had never been here before, I really had a good experience. I get why people would be upset when something changes, but if you are considering trying this place for the first time, I wouldn't be too put off by the negativity around the change in ownership. There's no other place specialized in vegan baking in Bloomington, so I think it's good to support what they are continuing to do here, and even though I am partial to vegan food I wouldn't say that if it wasn't also GOOD. They also had some refreshingly unique options for baked goods.

Rainbow Bakery sits off of 4th street west of the IU campus. It's all vegan, and we had a chance to…read morestop by and get two donuts and a cookie. The inside is cute and whimsical. The owners, a Sikh family, gave us their cardamom donut for free. The samosa hand pies were out. I would rate it 4/5. The decor was nice, and the owners were friendly. We were told that the staff is limited, and the owners themselves are thinking of selling this location and hoping to restart it in Greenwood, where they currently live and actually drive down to Bloomington every day. The matcha latte was fine. Everything was fine but not great. The vegan chocolate chip cookie was good, but could've used more chocolate chips.

Wonderful, local coffee shop! Clean restaurant, friendly…read morestaff and a good variety of teas/coffees. They offer food as well, I did not order but will order next time-menu looks great tho! Seating is fantastic-outside tables, inside by the bar area and a decent room to the back with lots of outlets if you need to plug in.

One of my favorite coffee shops in Bloomington…read more Couple of things that make it stand out: 1. The ambience is great. It's easy to go there and work if you like the noise to keep you focused. 2. Drinks AND food - and both are great. All day breakfast - need I say more?? 3. The staff is incredibly friendly. I've never had a bad experience with the staff. Highly recommend you pop in for a drink to go, or sit and enjoy the atmosphere.

This and Siam House are both great. Can't go wrong with any dish and it's a nice vibe.read more

Really liked it! I really chose this place for dinner because I wanted bubble tea, and the bubble…read moretea was good but the food was the highlight. The menu is very vegetarian-friendly since you can choose tofu as a protein for most entrees, and even vegan-friendly since they have nondairy milk options for drinks and some entrees can be easily customized to be vegan (order with tofu/no meat and remove egg). I got a matcha latte with brown sugar crystal boba and the Pattaya pineapple rice. Matcha latte: The matcha was decent - it had the flavour of matcha latte mix rather than pure matcha, but it wasn't unpleasant, and it was strong. I like the brown sugar crystal boba as a topping - the flavour is very similar to brown sugar tapioca boba, but it doesn't sit as heavy. It's a different kind of chewy than tapioca, but it's close enough that it basically gives the same kind of experience as regular tapioca boba in a drink. Pattaya pineapple rice: Really good! The rice was well-seasoned and the pieces of juicy pineapple and raisins added some sweetness that contrasted very nicely with the curry-spiced rice. They have 5 spice levels (mild, medium, hot, extra hot, Thai hot). I usually went for medium heat when I lived on the west coast, but since this is the Midwest, I tried "hot" and found it had a bit of a kick, but the heat was still secondary to the other flavours, so it was the right choice for me. Very good service. The waiter was very friendly and attentive without hovering - he came by at just the right times. My drink and food came out not too long after I ordered. The place is nice. Like the other restaurants in this area, it's situated in a small house-like building. The atmosphere feels down-to-earth. There were lots of things on the menu that caught my interest, so I'll definitely be back!

We have enjoyed time at Cardinal Spirits twice recently. The first visit was fantastic (and…read moreprompted us to make reservations for Mother's Day for the second visit). The second visit was okay. First, the best parts: the cocktails were delicious and I loved trying a few of the different spirits when our server brought us samples to try. Also, the patio atmosphere was lovely as the weather was perfect for both visits. The bingo was also a lot of fun! Overall, the food was good, but on our second visit the service was incredibly slow. Our server told us that the kitchen was running behind, but our friends were at the table next to us (with a different server) and they ordered when we did and had finished eating before our food even arrived - and I had to go find someone to inquire about it as our server never returned after dropping off drinks. She did apologize and take an item off the bill and hand us a few drink coupons which was appreciated, but the experience had put a damper on our enthusiasm (especially after we told the rest of our party how awesome the place was). Will I go back? Yes, but maybe with tempered expectations.

Pretty impressed! Decided to come here for Saturday lunch with my family and made a reservation…read moreonline at the last minute, but we would have been able to get in without. Without the patio open though, I can see it filling up easily. The atmosphere is fun (board games!) and bright but somewhat industrial with the distillery next door. The staff was friendly and very enthusiastic but just a little overbearing for me. The samples they brought around of two of their spirits (a gin and amaro) were very good and much appreciated. As appealing as the cocktails sounded, I didn't feel like drinking, so I got the Last Call mocktail. I couldn't pick up much 5 spice, but it was still a pleasant and refreshing light drink. I had a sip of my parents' old fashioned and Smokin' in the Girls' Room, and those were both really good - I was really into the lapsang souchong tea-infused rum in the Smokin' in the Girls' Room and would've ordered it for myself if I'd been drinking. To eat, I had a mushroom melt (the veganized version with vegan cheese) with the OMG fries. I really liked the sandwich; I loved the giardiniera and the jus, and you usually can't get that sort of thing in a vegetarian or vegan sandwich, so I was really happy to have it here and thought it was done well. The OMG fries were also really good. I don't like fries if they're plain, but these were heavily seasoned with a delicious spice blend. The vegan version of the fries omits the truffle aioli that they normally come with, but they were plenty flavorful with just ketchup. We shared a Thai tea creme brulee for dessert. I am crazy about Thai tea so I expected to like this, and it was everything I hoped for. The tea flavour was nice and strong, and the tapioca pearls were a nice little enhancement. They do an auto-gratuity of 20% no matter the party size, which I'm not completely opposed to, but I think if you're doing that you at least need to have a note on the menu rather than have the waiter tell you as they're giving you the bill, or better (in my opinion) to just raise the prices by 20% and sell yourself as a no-tipping restaurant. But it wasn't a huge deal in this situation; our waitress was good and we would've left a good tip anyway.