DESTIHL Restaurant & Brew Works
| Address: | 301 N Neil St, Champaign, IL 61820, USA |
| Phone: | +1 217-356-0301 |
| Site: | destihl.com |
| Rating: | 4.4 |
| Working: | 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–11PM 10AM–11PM 10AM–9PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 8
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Tony Nowikowski
In town for Memorial Day weekend. Wanted to go someplace slightly fancy for dinner Saturday night. My wife picked DESTIHL, and she definitely chose ... wisely. :-) We made reservations for 7PM. Got there at about 20 til. (Wed taken a Lyft from the hotel, because we didnt want to worry about how much we had to drink, and it got there, and got us to the restaurant, much quicker than expected.) The hostess actually apologized for not having a table ready for us, and gave us a buzzer. So we headed into the bar to wait. Bar service was quick and cheerful. My wife had a shot of a very nice rye (Whistle Pig); I went with one of their many interesting beers, the I Believe You Have My Stapler red ale, which was a little hoppier than optimal for me, but clearly well-made. Before we could finish our drinks, the buzzer went off, and we were off to the dining room. Service was prompt but not rushed, attentive, and both friendly and professional. We both went with items from the "Signature Dishes" section of the menu. My wife got the stuffed poblano pepper, with chorizo, I went with the pork posole soup. My wife was very pleased with her entree. I was completely blown away by mine. It wasnt a large quantity of food, but it was an IMMENSE quantity of TASTE, Every spoonful was packed with goodness. With our dinners we had a bottle of Robertson Pinotage. We were both amazed to see this fairly obscure varietal on their menu, and pleasantly surprised with how well it paired with both of our meals. After dinner we went ahead and split one of their wild sour berry tarts for dessert. It was another impressive piece of work ... a whole lot of moving parts that blended together magnificently. We were so impressed with the experience that, after having dinner at another restaurant in downtown Champaign tonight, (Sunday) we decided to stop in to DESTIHL again for another drink at the bar. Ended up staying for two rounds. My wife had another rye (Templeton), and then a lovely Japanese whiskey, Hibiki. I stuck with their beers - first a great raspberry wheat ale, then an even better saison, their Neil St. Again, wonderful service. Just fun to hang out. If were ever back in Champaign-Urbana, well definitely come back to DESTIHL.
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A Private User
Best restaurant in Champaign. Having eaten in NYC often, this is very good for our area. Everything is fresh. You cant get that at the chain restaurants. The service is out of this world good. It reminds me of the Cheesecake factory in St. Louis. The decor is impecable. Its large but cozy. Even the restrooms are thought out with a private room stall and sink plus waiting area sink. The booths are big and private with coat hooks even. Love seeing the fire pit for the pizzas. They have specials, change their menu. Their chefs are excellent. Scallops, cedar plank salmon, Thai fried chicken, varied and different salads and appetizers and the desserts are HUGE. The chocolate cake and the carrot cake are as big as a football. Wish their entrees were a little bigger and the need to fix the issue with their glass of water or sell bottled water! I cant say enough about their staff--excellent. I eat there about 6x a week so not sure where the negative reviews came from. Last night, Saturday, you had to wait for a table at 9:45 p.m. so call for a reservation. I hope they stay in business for a long time. Have grown tired of some of the restaurants in town with with lack luster service.
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Sam N
Weve been coming here since the place opened. The quality of food has so improved overtime. The pizzas are really good and so are their burgers. The beers are rotational so I would always recommend doing a flight of multiples. A few of their good beers are no longer on draught - only bottles. The desserts are also worth trying especially the chocolate cake & carrot cake. Pair those with a beer and its a winning combo. On our last visit we went for a late lunch with our newborn. Our newborn isnt quiet, so we asked if we could be in an area where no one is seated. The hostess right away said sure no problem (without hesitation). We were greeted by a male server (sorry dont remember his name) and he was very professional and just simply nice. He went out of his way to make sure we had a great experience. He even put up with our screaming new born. This was our first time being out since our child was born and the staff on 7/25/16 3:00pm was amazing - this made for an awesome experience. Go here - enjoy the food and beers.
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John Doe
I have been to the original in Bloomington before. Stopped here while visiting in CU on a Sunday for lunch. I am a craft beer nut and wanted to introduce my son to different styles of beer. So our waiter brought out a sample of a beer I thought he might be interested in. The glass had hardened red stuff in it. I returned it and the waiter said he would have the bartender pay more attention. Well that did not work because the next glass had the same on it. The remorse was gone from our waiter who then replied it was not their fault. It was caused by the strawberry daiquiris served as a special the night before. This place is not cheap I expected more. I received more just to the west at Farrens,308 North Randolph Street. Farrens is excellent, find it now.
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Stuart Laird
This is one of my favorite downtown restaurants. I live upstairs in the same building, and I dont cook, so I eat a lot of meals there. The menu is broad enough I dont get tired of any one thing, although at the moment Im kinda fixated on the stuffed poblano peppers. Absolute heaven. Great food. Good service. This would be 5 stars if the kitchen werent S-O S-L-O-W when theyre even a little busy. If I still had a business, Id try to hire away whoever trains their staff. Brilliant! ....Oh, an dont forget the pound of chocolate cake.
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Tom Hedlund
Wow, what a great experience our group had recently. Visited for the first time while in town visiting family and finally got a chance to stop by Destihl. It was a crowded Saturday night so thankfully we had a reservation. The food we had was excellent and all I can say about the beer selection is its simply outstanding! Not a bad thing on the menu and if youre looking for a place with great food, drink, and atmosphere (along with a very attentive and knowledgeable wait staff), Destihl is well worth the visit! Great job!
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Hong Chou
The pretzel appetizer was nothing special and had a lot of salt we had to wipe off. For the entree we had the braised pot roast and jambalaya which had the flavor but were EXTREMELY salty. Mentioned it to the waiter and it was ignored and nothing was done. Kind of funny as they told us to enjoy our meals and walked away. I suppose there wasnt much that could be done at that point. Service was great otherwise and the atmosphere was cool. The flavor was there but in the end the massive amount of salt killed the experience.
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Emily Bechtel
This place feels like a brewery run by someone who doesnt drink beer. They have good service, decent food, a good wine list, but nothing special or unique. I have been to many breweries across the country and I have never seen anyone charge for branded stickers except destihl. Ultimately it seems like this place has some brewing equipment to qualify it as a "brewery", but really it is an upscale casual restaurant that begrudgingly, sort of participates in craft beer culture.
