We couldn't resist stopping by Thirty-Thirty on our way out of town for our anniversary.
Our overall rating was 4.36 (out of 5 stars).
Here's how that breaks down:
Family Friendly: 4.5 Stars
Coffee: 5 Stars As a friend of ours has said: You forget how good 30/30 coffee is until you're drinking it.
Food Choices: 4 Stars Anything we've tried tastes really good, although there isn't a ton of selection.
Restrooms: 4 Stars
Atmosphere: 5 Stars
Probably one of the coolest coffee shops we've ever been to. Watch out for the bear!
Service: 4 Stars
Ethical/Sustainable: 4 Stars Good grades on the coffee here. Everything else is an unknown however.
Pricing: A small drip coffee will cost you $2. Pricey but good.
We'll be back. In fact, we try to swing through anytime we're in Peoria.
After a crazy adventure trying to find a Walmart in the Starved Rock area, we needed a hearty snack to lift our spirits. We stumbled upon the Country Cupboard Ice Cream Shoppe in Utica, Illinois.
Our overall rating was (3.14) (out of 5 stars).
Here's how that breaks down:
Family Friendly: 5 Stars
Menu: 3 Stars The menu had too many choices and was too random.
Taste of the Food: 3 Stars We both got a bowl of chili that was pretty mediocre. The ice cream, however, was a rockin' 5+ Stars. It was seriously delicious.
Appearance of the Food: 2.5 Stars There were big drips of chili and cheese down the side of my bowl.
Restrooms: N/A
Atmosphere: 3 Stars
Service: 3 Stars
Ethical/Sustainable: 2.5 Stars There was no information on the sourcing of their ingredients, and only a few things were even possibly made from scratch. But the napkins were 100% recycled.
Pricing: The (very full) single scoop ice cream cones were $2.50.
On our way through Eureka we stopped by Mika's Coffee House to celebrate our 8th anniversary over a cup of coffee and a great conversation.
Our overall rating was 4.83 Stars (out of 5 stars).
Here's how that breaks down:
Family Friendly: 5 Stars
Food Options: N/A
We're being a little generous here. There wasn't hardly any food out at all, but we also were there in the mid-to-late afternoon and close to closing so we'll give Mika's a pass this time through.
Coffee: 5 Stars
Restrooms: 5 Stars
Atmosphere: 5 Stars
They've done a great job keeping the "cool old building feel" while also incorporating the Eureka community into the decor.
Service: 5 Stars
We ordered one decaf coffee. And since it was nearly out and cold, our barista offered instead to make us a decaf Americano. It was good as well!
Ethical/Sustainable: 4 Stars
There coffee is great. The food is made-from-scratch, although I'm not sure on the sourcing of the ingredients.
Pricing: A cup of coffee runs about $2 with tax.
We wish we could get to Mika's more often!
For our anniversary, we did some hiking in the Starved Rock area. Since we had worked up quite an appetite, we headed to Mickey's Massive Burritos in LaSalle for lunch. We're already trying to think of excuses to head back that way so we can go there again!
If you're not up for the drive, apparently Mickey's makes the rounds to some of the bigger fairs in Central Illinois. So you too, can get in on the messy goodness!
Our overall rating was (4.56) (out of 5 stars).
Here's how that breaks down:
Family Friendly: 5 Stars
Menu: 5 Stars
Taste of the Food: 5 Stars
Appearance of the Food: 4 Stars To be fair, a great burrito is hard to make look pretty!
Restrooms: 5 Stars
Atmosphere: 5 Stars
Service: 5 Stars
Ethical/Sustainable: 3.5 Stars Their website calls it "Quick Food from Scratch!" From scratch is always a good thing, however there isn't any info on the source of their ingredients.
Pricing: The massive burritos were $7 and were extremely filling.
My friend and I met for lunch at Kelleher's Irish Pub & Eatery in Peoria. The lunch was good and the conversation was great.
Our overall rating was 4.14 Stars (out of 5 stars).
Here's how that breaks down:
Family Friendly: 4 Stars
I'm sure a pub wouldn't get this high of a family rating on a Friday night. But a Thursday lunch time? It was fine.
Menu: 4.5 Stars
There was a lot of things I wanted to try, especially the Irish fare section.
Taste of the Food: 4 Stars
Appearance of the Food: 3.5 Stars
Restrooms: N/A
Atmosphere: 5 Stars
Cool old building.
Service: 5 Stars
Our waiter was great. Kept up with everything perfectly.
Ethical/Sustainable: 3 stars
Literally nothing to go on here. I'm assuming/hoping they're making their food. But I just can't tell.
Pricing: Lunch cost me $10
To celebrate our anniversary, we went to Uptown Grill in LaSalle.
Our overall rating was (4.13) (out of 5 stars).
Here's how that breaks down:
Family Friendly: 3.5 Stars We didn't actually have our kids with us, but it seemed like they could have accommodated children fine. However, the music was playing very loudly and dropped a couple of inappropriate words.
Menu: 4 Stars
Taste of the Food: 5 Stars
Appearance of the Food: 5 Stars
Restrooms: 4 Stars
Atmosphere: 4 As mentioned earlier, the music was rather loud for an otherwise classy restaurant.
Service: 5 Stars
Ethical/Sustainable: 3.5 Stars Like usual, not much to go on. Most items seemed to be mostly made from scratch. However, there was no information on the sourcing of their ingredients.
Pricing: A very wide range of prices. On the dinner menu, there were sandwiches in the $7 range, entrees in the $15-20 range, and steaks/seafood entrees in the $25-40 range.
I just met a friend for breakfast at Woody's Family Restaurant in Groveland.
Our overall rating was 3.64 (out of 5 stars).
Here's how that breaks down:
Family Friendly: 5 Stars
Menu: 3.5 Stars
The options on the breakfast menu are great, albeit a bit pricey for the quality and quantity of what you get.
Taste of the Food: 3.5 Stars
Appearance of the Food: 3.5 Stars
Restrooms: N/A
It's probably good for their overall ratings that I didn't visit the bathroom this trip. Previous trips it has not been great.
Atmosphere: 3 Stars
Service: 5 Stars
I had (and have had) quick and excellent service.
Ethical/Sustainable: 2 Stars
Not a lot to go on, but they don't even have real butter, which is definitely a strike against them.
Pricing: For breakfast you can expect to pay between $6-10.
I met a friend for lunch in Morton this week and we decided to eat at Firehouse Pizza.
Our overall rating was 3.29 (out of 5 stars).
Here's how that breaks down:
Family Friendly: 4 Stars
Menu: N/A
We at the lunch buffet so I didn't even see a menu.
Taste of the Food: 3 Stars
It wasn't bad, but neither did I have a "wow-this-is-good-pizza" moment.
Appearance of the Food: 3 Stars
Restrooms: 4.5 Stars
Much higher than I expected.
Atmosphere: 3 Stars
The firehouse theme is cool. I personally dislike the TVs in each booth, but it was nice that most of them were off.
Service: 3 Stars
Ethical/Sustainable: 2.5 Stars
Not a lot to go on here.
Pricing: The lunch buffet was $9. A bit pricy, but it did come with a drink and salad bar.
