Great place for Smoked / Barbecue food and drinks. The staff was good, the service was good, and…read morethe meal was great.

Love the nachos from their menu, we regularly order a turkey at Thanksgiving as well that is so…read moregood.

Holy smokes! Smoked meat that is. We were so thrilled to find this gem of a place…read more We actually headed here because folks told us it was Celiac friendly, but you won't notice the difference whether you're eating gluten free or not. The ribs were *beyond amazing*. No joke. I know they serve other things, but do NOT miss the ribs. All of their sauces are GF so you don't have to worry about what you're eating. And for those of you craving carbs that aren't diet-restricted, the Cheddar Jalapeño Corn Bread was delish. Located in an old train station, it has a HUGE gorgeous bar that is the statement piece within the restaurant. But feel free to sit outside when the weather is good.

I found Black Dog to be really good barbecue. The brisket was perfect. I like the sauce choices…read moretoo. I had the Chicago Hot and a monthly special called Kansas City Firecracker. Both were hot and sweet, my favorite type of sauce. The red cabbage coleslaw was delicious and plentiful. The green beans and tomatoes were awesome. I wish they had greens too , but no. I also tried the polish sausage because somebody on Yelp said it was secretly the best thing on the menu. It was very good, but I'd say the brisket was better. Lots of nice craft beers available - some local. The service was nice and friendly. Nicole was my bartender/server. I enjoyed hearing about her favorite menu items. As you'll see from my receipt, everything has an itemized cost, so the place is a little pricey. But still worth it to me.

We saw good reviews, so we hopped off the interstate and checked this place out for dinner. They…read morewere moderately busy, about 1/3 capacity. That was not the problem. The food took over 30 minutes, which wouldn't be a deal breaker, if it was hot. The fries were cold. That's a death sentence in my opinion. The burger was fine, though not hot, at least warm enough. Sorry, maybe impressive for some, but not for this guy. I would have been happier at the BBQ joint across the street.

What an incredible discovery! We were driving from Iowa to Ohio, which is mostly a culinary…read morewasteland. My copilot found this gem. It sounded too good to be true, but it's true! Though it looks unremarkable from the outside, inside, you'll find a wonderful restaurant where the staff is highly invested in making sure you have a great meal. My companion enjoyed a lovely Old Fashioned to start. I ordered the Turkey stroganoff, while he had the shrimp and grits. When the plates came out, I thought the veil was finally about to slip. They were well-plated, but huge. And yet...the veil didn't slip. It was haute-cuisine comfort food goodness in what looked like a converted warehouse space. Unreal! Though turkey is often too dry, my stroganoff was moist and succulent. The sauce was much more than just cream of mushroom -- lots of flavor and not too much salt. We had a time of it. I'd happily come back here again and again.

Our first time there and we would go back. Our party creates some challenges with a party of 10, 6…read moreof whom are kids 10 or less. I believe the only thing keeping them from a higher ranking is staffing. The young woman who was our waitress was taking mobile orders over a mobile phone as well. If you ever go to a restaurant with six kids of this age group (youngest is 2) you want food and drink in front of them as quickly as possible. So I ordered two appetizers of chips and cheese as soon as I could. I believe it could have been delivered sooner if they weren't so short staffed. I was also surprised that the bar has no setups, so essentially if you want a drink, it is straight booze. As for the food, everyone enjoyed their meals, I had the Reuben sandwich and it didn't blow my socks off, but it was a good representation of a Reuben. As for ambiance, they recently reopened after a fire, I can only suggest it is stark.

Ate there for the first time since the fire. Inside is awesome and the food was great as always!read more

To Go order…read more Hostess was efficient. Kitchen was efficient. Not too loud. High tops, low table and a bar. Chicken sandwich is okay.

Beers are plentiful in this action packed bar and grill in Champaign. It also has pretty okay food…read morebut people really aren't coming here for it. Aspen Tap House is a great place for watching any games. Has tons of TVs around and there's a party atmosphere usually going on. The prices are okay for portions. A location away from the campus craziness but it still can get loud. It's close to a few hotels, so it's a great place for travelers. The menu has about what one should expect, with shit tons of beers and many of these are local as well. Got a few good ones. It's about $7 a pint. Best we had of these was the White Oak Brewery selection #CharmingAF. This was refreshing and smooth. It's about $12 for the cheapest burgers. We each got the Black Bean Burger, which comes with guacamole, pico de gallo, and sour cream but I left off the last one. Also gets a choice of a side, so okay value for it. I got it with a salad. A lot of other meaty options available. They have tacos and the Impossible meat is an option. For sure it pretty much seems like Applebee's or some generic polished sports bar and grill but it's okay to be honest. It's located on Neil Street to the south of the campus stuff. There's meaty things as well as options for vegans and vegetarians.

Alright, this one is for my late, older brother, Matt, who rolled his bones in NYC for the…read morelongest and was a restauranteur out there. This place is a gastropub that exceeds the expectations of any other restaurant concept of 217. Been here countless times and you walk in to this old diner energy and then your senses go on tilt from the smells and the look and if you aren't pulled in by that, something is seriously wrong with you cuz this place screams Manhattan 2000's when the culinary scene and celebrity chefs were on ! So super chill vibe with old 50's neon and the menu tonight and specials are beyond amazing! So let us begin... Give me a Chicago handshake to start.... Malort on tap and tall boys of Old Style that tells you the owner is Chicago all the way! This place was nothing like what was popping up in Chicago of the super late 90's and early 2000's with Trotters and Tramoto, been to both, battling the culinary scene and this newer guy, Grant Achatz, of Trio, comes onto the playground and changes everything... This place is special because it's what Keith McNally was successful with on restaurant concepts of this time in NYC and soon to follow nationwide. Menu specials shown and the Chef in command, Conner, definitely showcased his abilities o the end. Start with the morels and they were little bites of spring with the spritz of lemon balancing the bitterness of the garlic that makes you wanting to grab another! The salad and duck fat fries are next... Salad has a great vinaigrette that will cleanse your palate with the pickled red onions and some fresh greens. Duck fat fries: if you never experienced these, highly recommend. They will be the best French fries you ever tasted.... Anyone knows will tell you that Duck fat is a game changer. Then Conner brings out the main course- this 25oz strip steak aged for 45 days and at this point I'm transported back to David Burke and Jose Garcias restaurants that featured dry aged steaks: my kyptonite. Service by Aliyah was superb and this place never misses! Thank you for transporting me back to a memory of my late brother who completely opened my eyes to much more in the culinary world! Great meals=lasting memories

First we came it and only 2 tables had customers. After 20 minutes only us. Ok next we waited…read morequite a bit for our server to give us warm not even cold without ice. Not off to a good start here. Appetizers came timely and were very good. It ends there. Took a very long time getting our entrées . Order the "pawn" paste dish. What a joke it was. Only 2 small pieces of shrimp in a bed of pasta that did not taste good and most of the pasta pieces stuck together and tuff for the nice price of $30!! Also 18% is automatically added to your bill for a tip even if the service was not good. With all the good restaurants around just do yourself a favor and go somewhere else.

Had great stuff at this Southern themed restaurant in Champaign. It has a lot of chicken but also…read moreplenty of vegetarian choices if avoiding meats. Watson's is one of the cleaner and shinier hangouts but it still has some campus vibes. A lot to choose from. The prices aren't bad for portion and quality. Coming in the first time it wasn't that busy. It's a lot crazier when school is in session. This has been around for a while now but it's still a pretty cleaner looking kind of place okay to bring families of students or whatever. A lot on the menu. There's shit tons of drinks and we got a few of these. It's about $5 to get a slushie which hit the spot because outside it was hot. There's a few flavors to choose from which rotate. Among the cocktails are a few that are cool looking. I got one of the seasonal specials, the Campfire Mule. This was made with ginger beer, lime, and whiskey. It's about $12 for the cheapest entrees. She got the Tofu Basket, which was big enough for a meal. This was panko breaded tofu triangles and waffle fries, with a choice of a sauce. I got the Watson's Po Boy. This comes with a choice of protein and I got tofu. Comes topped with lettuce, onions, and a choice of sauce and got it with the vegan remoulade. Great stuff. Also has plenty of choices for chicken. They got the hot style. Got to say it has lots to choose from. It's closed Mondays and Tuesdays. There's chicken of course but also plenty of things for vegans and vegetarians.

i am not sure what happened to this place, but ever since they expanded to more locations, this one…read morehas suffered immensely. I am here for Ebertfest and it has now taken over an hour to get drinks, food, and dessert. I am trying to flag down my server because I was worried about the amount of time it was taking. She apologized and took off the dessert, but she seemed to be the only one working. I was near the back so I got to see all the other servers "yucking" it up and just standing around while this poor lady was doing laps. I am from the service industry and only 40 so I'm not being a Karen. This server deserves a huge raise and probably a better job. Pair that with them cutting down the menu, this place went to a "must see" in Champaign to a maybe. What I ate was tasty, but the rest of Champaign has caught up and starting to leave them behind.

Food was fabulous very disappointed that we didn't get the special that was posted in the window…read morewhich I have posted. The waitress said that it was for Mother's Day. We are in November. I told her she should take it out the window because it's still considered false advertisement the place is wonderful no complaints other than not getting the special that was advertised.

The food is always great and amazing when ordered here. My favorite is the seafood boil -…read more 1/2 Shrimp, 1/2 Crab, 1/2 polish sausage, potatoes with garlic and hot spicy sauce. Yummy