The Courier Cafe

Patricia D

2024-05

Scrambled eggs and bacon were fine - typical for a family restaurant. Steak was not good. French toast was not good. Service was poor. And my meal was overpriced for the quality and quantity.Disappointing. I’d love for them to be successful but it’s just not good food.

Rising Rose Events

2023-11

The food and service is absolutely one star. The waitress lack’s urgency and friendliness. After waiting 20 minutes for a waitress, she didn’t introduce herself or go through the pleasantries. I finally asked her name once she tried to walked away mid request. Lilly should quit while she is ahead since she clearly doesn’t have the capacity or ability to service others. We ordered 2 medium well steaks and both came out raw, took 10 minutes for butter and syrup. ON THE OTHER HAND AZIA was absolutely delightful.

Heather Nightlinger

2024-04

I went to The Courier this morning for breakfast. I got coffee that was so watered down I asked the waitress for tea instead. My waitress took my order, the food came quickly, but she never came back to the table during my meal. If I needed anything, I definitely wasn’t getting it. I started watching the clock and I ended up waiting a full 20 minutes, AFTER I finished eating, for her to come back with the bill. It’s a bit expensive too. Basically $2 per slice of bacon. The French toast had a metal taste. I heard so many good things about this place. I’m very disappointed in the experience I had.

ketra mathis

2024-02

Went for lunch and was beyond disappointed! Nearly $15 for a single sandwich with no side is ridiculous.I went for a quick bite to eat on my lunch break expecting to order a half sandwich and salad. After being seated for some time, I was informed that the salad bar was not available. That would've been nice to know before I waited for my server to take my order. In times past, once you're seated you would be greeted, told the specials and any other pertinent information. That did not happen. So with the limited time I had left on my lunch break, I ordered the turkey croissant. Upon the FIRST bite, I knew something was wrong. The sandwich meat smelled and tasted off. I could not even finish the food. For a sandwich that doesn't come with a side, not even chips, to cost nearly $15 your customers at least deserve food that is not rank! I WILL NOT be back! I would suggest that anyone thinking to choose this place for lunch reconsider.

Dean Plumadore

2024-04

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Mo Scher

2024-02

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Nicole Woloszyn

2024-02

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Jaz Wulf

2023-05

Our first time sitting down and eating here and the visit was phenomenal. I had the main street cheese burger with Swiss and fries and my partner had the bayou burger with slaw and both dishes were super fresh. The atmosphere was amazing, very cozy. Feels like home a little. Service was great too, Miranda was super friendly and quick and accommodating.

Debra

2024-02

This has been my favorite restaurant for over 20 years. I'm not sure what happened today but I was so disappointed and not sure I will return. We were a party of 4 and only 1 person was satisfied with their meal. The recipe must have changed for the chicken noodle soup. It used to be delicious and a family favorite. Today it tasted like I bit into a bouillon cube only I didn't. I then asked if I could get the salad bar because the soup was gross. Salad bar was closed. I then asked for a couple sides. They tasted ok but we're cold. Huge disappointment today. Got a few cookies to take home and the were so hard that I had trouble breaking off a piece. Another thing that is normally terrific. I hope this isn't the new normal.

Violeta Rodriguez

2024-02

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Dina Seifert

2024-04

With all the varied dining options in the Champaign Urbana area with wait staff who at least appear to enjoy their job I can honestly say I will not be returning to this establishment. The food was mediocre at best. Had the Dagwood sandwich which had an off taste to it so didn’t eat it. the salad bar—nothing note worthy. The basic lettuce and a couple of additional items. The server didn’t crack a smile once while taking out order and never came back to check to see if everything was ok. Had to wave to ask for the check.

Bradford Ogata

2024-04

Service was a little slow, but kind and attentive.I highly recommend the almond French toast for a unique take on a classic dish.Portion sizes are great.

S Hays

2024-02

Visited Friday evening around 3pm. Place had about half a dozen customers.Service was slow, was finally able to place our order with a stringy headed young girl with dirty nasty tennis shoes who clearly wanted to be somewhere else.The food arrived in somewhata reasonable time. The reuben was actually cold and the cheese had only started to melt. The fries were barely warm, as was the beef sandwich .No longer my favorite place. $20.00 is way overpriced. So sloppy.The Courier is surviving only on the superiority of the previous owners.I will not return. It is not the same place in any respect.

Sean Murphy

2023-10

This place is AMAZING for breakfast/brunch. We received phenomenal service from the entire team. Aziyiaha greeted us warmly and seated us immediately in a beautiful and comfy booth, and Veronica made sure our waters were constantly filled and our table was clean. Holly walked us through the menu and told us her favorites. She recommended the Rancheros Rarebit, a burrito with scrambled eggs, and she advised we add jalapeño and bacon. One bite and my hubs said, “This should be on the menu.” It was SOLID. We split an order of the biscuits and gravy, which was also delicious. I used the leftover gravy on my burrito; along with a healthy dose of Cholula, this was an epic breakfast.Delicious from start to finish, adorable atmosphere, but the staff is what set this place over the top. Don’t miss The Courier Café!

Nikita

2020-05

Came here with my boyfriend for a quick lunch. My boyfriend ordered the Buffalo Chicken wrap and house fries. I ordered the Turkey club and house sweet potato chips. We both really liked what we ordered, but did not enjoy what the other person got. To each his own, I guess! The buffalo chicken wrap was very flavorful though!Loved my Turkey club which was nice and light, and the sweet potato chips were delicious. We left full and happy.

Craig Curry

2023-11

This place is sort of like a diner but more upscale. We usually order their milkshakes, the salad bar, and the pesto sandwich. All of those are terrific! My friends have ordered other things and I have heard no complaints.I love the dark wood in the place and the old-time decorations. The prices are pretty reasonable and the service good.Vegetarian options: There are vegetarian sandwiches and the salad bar is terrific.

emily r

2024-04

the service here has become terrible. do NOT waste your time.they took over an hour to get us our food. waitress thought she could be rude to us when we tried to say something. we wanted to leave at that point but then she brought us our food? at that point, I lost my appetite. she snarkily said "iS tHeRe a pRoBLeM?" once I didn't allow her to continue being rude, she backed down real quick. if you decide to go here anyway, just stand up to her, all bark, no bite (no bite for us either because they didn't bring us our food).management tried to gaslight us that our food just takes a long time to make.I am not stupid, I've worked food in the past, that food was under a heat lamp. it's a basic breakfast that could've been made in 10 mins. people who arrived 30 mins after us and ordered more complicated food got theirs before us.I told manager that, then she said "we're understaffed", "it's Mom's weekend", "we'll take care of it", a flurry of excuses with zero accountability, and took everything back. at this point, we were unsure if we could leave or not. snarky server still brought us a shake we ordered more than an hour ago, and I just got up and left at that point, because we clearly stated we no longer wanted our food.sad to see the steep decline and likely the beginning of the end of a once wonderful food establishment.edit: forgot to mention, we ended up going to Cracker Barrel instead of this joke of an establishment. we were in and out of there and treated like humans in under an hour. food was out in like 10 mins. and half the price. this place is an abomination at this point.ALSO, if you're too broke, greedy, and cheap to run a business to where you understaff it with the most unprofessional people who will probably take the lowest wage possible to try and make ends meet...MAYBE you're in the wrong industry. 🤔 we have an excess of lackluster business owners, we really don't need courier coming down with it. the bar for expectations was quite literally on the floor and even so, it was far from attainable for y'all.the morale among your staff is non-existent and it's severely disappointing.my friend got food poisoning with their take home order, so I'm also curious about the health codes and food safety of this establishment.

Peter Basica

2023-07

A gem in Urbana-Champaign Illinois. The last Courier newspaper delivered in 1979, but the Cafe carries the name well.The Beef Stack with Blue Cheese is excellent.Hand-made malts and Green Rivers take you back

Pam Vannelli

2024-02

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Tykiecia- Shavell

2024-05

Getting off work at9am and eating a meal that I didn't cook was the goal. The host has a broken foot, which I didn't need to know. I just wanted coffee or mimosa while i waited on my food to-go and she claimed she couldn't help me because of her foot, but a server could help me. She didn't even tell a server that I was interested in a beverage. I waited for my food to go and vowed to never go back.

Mr. Gutter Masters Siding

2024-03

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Hvob Train

2024-03

Absolutely horrible. order 2 blts, both came with 2 peices of bacon each, mega tomatoes, and a skimpy peice of lettuce. I ordered "fries". i recieved 10 potato wedges. i ordered a "side Cesar salad". i received a tiny container of a few pieces of lettuce, cucumbers, carrot shavings, and get this, it was completely dry! not a single speck of cesar dressing. i go back inside and ask for cesar dressing, they confess they do not have any dressing. mind you, i would not have ordered it had they let me know beforehand. i spent a grand total of 35$, 30 minutes, and the cost of my dignity. I will not even comment on the attire worn, although it felt a little unprofessional. do not go here. I am deeply disappointed.

SAM OESTERREICH (Oesfreelancing)

2023-06

Great service. Delicious almond french toast. Great price too. My new favorite breakfast spot when I'm in the area..5/16/2023I think there was a miscommunication on both mine and the waitresses part! My lunch partner and I just ended up getting the salad bar so not to be sitting another 30 minutes without any service. The salad bar was fresh and delicious!

Greg P.

2023-11

The coffee is okay, but their food was quite lack luster. My partner and I both had the sausage biscuits and gravy (a staple food in the midwest and parts of the south, and something I grew up eating). I have never had such clumpy, bland gravy before. The biscuits were good, but I had to add a good amount of salt and pepper myself. At least it wasn't too oily.The service was also terrible. They had one server in charge of 16 tables, and it took me 20 minutes just to order coffee. They asked me what I want when I first sat down, but I made the mistake of asking to look at the menu. I wouldn't have been so bothered if the hostess hadn't been sitting in down in the booths,d drinking Starbucks coffee, and taking pictures with patrons. When I asked her if she would take my order she told me to be patient with my server and went back to chatting with other customers in the booths.Truly rough first experience, will not be going back again.

Randall Hull

2024-02

After an Illinois basketball game my brother's and me stopped in for dinner/lunch (5:30 pm); we had eaten at the Courier two previous times and were very satisfied with service an the variety of food we ordered. Now it is under new management so we ware hoping we would experience the same. We did!! I had the Lazana dinner, one had the meatloaf dinner and another brother decided the steak and eggs breakfast wiuld be his choice from a breakfastmenu. Salad bar was not up and running; they informed us they were bringing in new equipment; but will have it up soon. WIth that said they fixed us very nice salads of our choice!! Everything was exceptionally good, service was terrific and from someone who owned his own restaurant in The past, I don't say this often. The environment was historic and nice. Very clean including the bathroom! We come from Indianapolis, Geneseo and the Quad Cities,, and we will definitely make this our restaurant (Courier cafe) part of our future visits.we are looking forward to the salad bar . Great job newowners.

Luke

2024-02

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Dominique Hansberry

2023-11

The waiter was very rude, super rude. I don’t know who pissed her off but we most certainly felt all of it. Our cups weren’t refilled unless we asked. My mother asked for butter for her pancakes and it took her 15 minutes to get it. The waiter never even told us her name, and would walk off on us(several times) in the middle of making request. My steak i ordered medium well… it did not arrive as such. Save your money and go somewhere else, Lily ruined our experience here

Steve Seaney

2024-04

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Beth Anderson

2019-05

Best salad bar and light fixtures in the country. Always have to stop by when I'm in town because their milkshakes are to die for. Much of their salad is locally sourced from a garden just behind the restaurant, and it's always hopping no matter what time of day I come, but there's never a wait. It's a magical place, and you should go!

Ryan Roark

2024-04

UPDATE. Updating my review to one star. I had this place at five stars for years. New owners can rot. You jack up the prices astronomically, especially on the salad bar. Now you take away unlimited trips for the salad bar when you eat in for the salad bar, the plates are tiny or it, nah you can rot. and when I went in today for the first time in a while, the salad bar was absolutely tiny and had very few options. Won't be back ever unless you get it together back to the way it was. At least the salad bar. Way to lose a years long loyal customer.