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    Reality Bites

    3.5 (171 reviews)
    Closed 11:00 am - 10:00 pm

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    Business Info

    REALITY BITES ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Loud
    Trendy
    Good for groups
    Outdoor seating

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    Menu
    Luke W.

    The low ratings make no sense. This is my new favorite hot spot in the Bloomington area. Amazing atmosphere and date night vibes, simple and well thought out menu, vibrant collection of enticing eats and drinks, and in tune staff, I first noticed a higher class aura than expected. The dirty downtown drags all down. Frontman asked if I had a reservation, worked out well as I didn't anyway, was seated and awaited my buddy celebrating his cake day. I quickly sampled two brews and went with a delightful salty fresh beer. There were gorgeous cocktails too but have to note all quite light and sugar forward. They really need some balanced and more raw options. Wished we were more hungry, skipped appetizers, straight to sharing a burger and wow what a fix it was! The Butch. burger tingled all tasted with that meat crowned with pineapple. Few burgers have done so much for me. My buddy's Ex Boyfriend cocktail was perfect for the pink diabetes. Easy to drink and quickly disappeared, wondered around the dessert menu a second, we went for the pumpkin cheesecake. And again what an amazing treat, I had plenty of amazing cheesecakes in my time but this trounced most of them. This is one gorgeous food spot. I cannot wait to come back!

    Cheesecake
    Gimhani A.

    The service and the ambiance of this place was amazing. Ordered a mocktail which turned out pretty tasty. However, the food was alright. The chips that came on the side of my chicken sandwich were way too salty.

    Shrimp Pasta

    I drove in from Urbana and my brother and his wife drove down from Peoria and we met in Bloomington for lunch. What a great relaxing spot to catch up with each other. We started with the Italian beef egg rolls which were unique and crispy with just the right amount of jardinera. I had an amazing shrimp pasta and my brother and his wife really enjoyed their meals. The service was good although the server could have been a little more attentive on drink refills. Would definitely go back.

    Salmon Donuts
    Atha W.

    I will admit the name is like Oh this sounds like an okay place to eat! When actuality This place should be called Fantasy Bites! The food is so amazing, that you want to say slap me I must be dreaming. It is most certainly worth the drive from Champaign to Bloomington. The staff is on point and this place actually stays pretty busy. We have come here twice so far!! Not only that Bloomington's Downtown area has a lot going on. I want to come back during the day so I can eat and then walk it all off visiting the local shops!! Bravo Reality Bites Bravo!!

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    6 months ago

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    11 months ago

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    1 year ago

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    1 year ago

    Overpriced. Food was mediocre at best , lacking in flavor. Customer service was terrible. Definitely wouldn't recommend.

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    3 years ago

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    1 year ago

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    3 years ago

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    3 years ago

    The food here is some of the best in BloNo. Good service, great patio, and I always enjoy downtown.

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    3 years ago

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    4 years ago

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    3 years ago

    All of the nicest spots in town! Excellent staff and food! Best place to pick up middle aged divorced women!

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    2 years ago

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    8 years ago

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    3 years ago

    It was all so wonderful. Food is sooooo great. Fun cute atmosphere. They really take care of you. Can't wait to go back.

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    2 years ago

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    6 years ago

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    4 years ago

    Great vibe and great food. This place had such a great feel to it. The food was very good and nice cocktails too.

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    8 years ago

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    4 years ago

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    6 years ago

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    3 years ago

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    3 years ago

    Server was great. Food was better than expected from a college town establishment. Drinks were a little pricey, but not too bad.

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    7 years ago

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    4 years ago

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    19 years ago

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    15 years ago

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    Page 1 of 5

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    Anju Above

    Anju Above

    4.2
    (453 reviews)
    0.2 mi
    $$

    What an elegant night I had here for my husband birthday. food was good . A time was had go with…read moregreat people and laughter and you will al have a blasts .

    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!

    Photos
    Downstairs - different restaurant but you can order from their menu upstairs if you want
    Downstairs - different restaurant but you can order from their menu upstairs if you want
    Fried veggie dumplings
    Fried veggie dumplings
    Yellowfin Tuna handroll

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    Yellowfin Tuna handroll
    The Rock Restaurant

    The Rock Restaurant

    4.2
    (464 reviews)
    1.9 mi
    $

    The rock has one of the best burgers in central Illinois! The fries are also really good!…read more The owners are awesome! Ordered carry out by phone for Saturday lunch. Ordered 1 half lb, 2 6 oz cheeseburgers with 2 medium fries and 1 small hummus with pita. The price difference between a 6 oz and 1/2 lb burger is only a dollar. I'll remember that for next time. The burgers come with cheese, lettuce, onion, tomato, pickle, mustard, ketchup and mayo. Next time, I'll order the burgers with just cheese, pickle, lettuce and onion. My wife doesn't like mustard and tomatoes. I forgot these burgers come loaded with everything. Everything was hot and fresh! One of the owners even gave me an extra fry! I have been coming here since high school! I've been a customer for 30 plus years!

    Friendly, helpful, casual, relaxing vibe. I've only had the Mediterranean side of the menu and I've…read morebeen stopping in for years. It is delish. Consistently good. From the Rock Salad to the hummus, grape leaves or baba ghannoush, whichever you're in the mood for, they come with pita (pillowy and warm). I've also had the falafel and gyros, it's all worth it. Also enjoyed the baklava and lady fingers with pistachios at various times for dessert. Easy street parking near the restaurant or in the deck on Mulberry/College Ave a block away. You can easily pick up & take out with the special walk up window inside or order and eat in with a view from the tall windows, comfortable seating and chill atmosphere. When the weather's nice, definitely choose the outdoor seating.

    Photos
    The ceiling. Just had to take this.
    The ceiling. Just had to take this.
    Elementary chicken gyro and baklava
    Elementary chicken gyro and baklava
    The Rock Restaurant

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    Baxters American Grille

    Baxters American Grille

    4.0
    (230 reviews)
    4.4 mi
    $$

    We had eaten at Baxters before and really enjoyed the atmosphere and wonderful pasta dishes. But…read moretoday we wanted a good steakhouse steak dinner. We started off with shrimp cocktail. It was fine, though the cocktail sauce could have used a little more horseradish. The basket of warm bread and whipped butter was great. And The salads were excellent (we went for a standard greens salad and a Caesar salad). For the main dish, we each ordered a bacon wrapped filet, medium rare, with Brussels sprouts. The filets were prepared as directed, but seemed dry, tough and flavorless. Disappointed. But worse was the Brussels sprouts (one of our favorites). The sprouts were hard, woefully undercooked and crunchy. Not in a good way. The flavor was lost in the rough texture. Very disappointed. The staff seemed a little flustered too. Brought a side a sautéed onions when we'd ordered mushrooms. Too bad, as we had enjoyed our pasta meals before and had expected a steakhouse to perform better.

    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.

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

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    Reality Bites - newamerican - Updated August 2026

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