DESTIHL Restaurant & Brew Works

Reviews 4

MI

Mia Voss

Located in Downtown Champaign right on the busiest corner of that area, the restaurant flanks two corners & has great views. I loved the restaurant decor and the set up. We sat in the bar near the windows - super open & light. Our waiter, Chris, took great care of us. I love it when the staff has their favorites but can also describe each of the dishes when asked. Oh, and what a sweetie, he went and found a phone charger for me and plugged it in near our table. Anyone who joins me in my travel blogging experiences knows that I am constantly draining my phone battery with snapchat, instagram, photos, etc. So, this endeared me to him right away! Overall great service and the food was served quickly. What we ate: Beer. Battered. Bacon- BOOM, throw down the mic. This appetizer is pretty larger - about 4-5 slices of jalapeño bacon with a yummy sweet dipping sauce Spinach Salad - Chris humored me and brought several of the different salad dressings - these are definitely house made. I added in salmon. Super great crisp on the salmon that was flavorful and salty and the salmon was also moist on the inside without being too undercooked or mushy. Well played, cooks in the kitchen. Bacon Cheeseburger - my fledgling travel blogger BFF, Vonda MacFarlane, ordered the burger and was overjoyed. Super moist (ok, like dripping messy moist which is glorious in this case). Again, our waiter was great because he brought extra pickles and mayo on request (yes, we are midwestern girls, we like our mayo which I know can be a polarizing condiment) . We requested extra crispy fries and they were fabulous. Oh, let’s talk about the bathroom. Yes, I did an odd sesueway but it’s only because I tend to write sequentially as the experience unfolds. Vonda visited the ladies room during our meal and came back insisting that we stop by before we leave (even if I didn’t have to go, we needed to go) First off, I love the brick wall dividers in the hallway not the way to restrooms - great design and it divides the sections of the restaurant nicely. So, back to the restroom. It’s like a little spa because there is a sitting area, and sink areas and then each WC is its only little room. Yes, at times I can be easily amused but this little spot was super cute for such a busy restaurant. Oh and it has the fun Dyson hand dryers as well as paper towels (this really entertained Vonda too) If i lived in Champaign, this would be one of my favorites. #FoSho

A

A Private User

Destihl was amazing! Its a brew pub just opened in Normal near the Shoppes at College Hills. The proprietor is the same guy behind the Elmwood Brewing Company...he just expanded a little. Destihl is a little more than a casual dining experience. The dining room is dimly lit with overhead spot lights reflecting off the dark woods of the tables and floors. It is deceptively big. The layout is strange, but it makes for a roomy, semi-private dining experience. We stopped in on a Monday night and the dining was pretty full but we were seated right away. I ordered a beer. They only serve their own microbrews, so I ordered a Redbird Ale...named after Illinois State Universitys mascot of course. My date started with a cosmo. We then moved on to the main course. I ordered the Brewmasters Brick Oven Pizza. It was a thin crust pizza topped with Roasted Chicken, Andouille Sausage, Ale Onions, sliced Mozzarella, Smoked Gouda, and Espresso Chipotle BBQ Sauce. I cant stand the taste of onions and even that couldnt brin the pizza down. It was mouthwatering. I was disappointed when I got to the last piece. My date ordered the Cedar Plank Chicken which was a Beer Brined Chicken roasted on cedar, with Espresso Chipotle BBQ Sauce and Oven Roasted Vegetables. She was kind of surprised to get two pieces of chicken served on the cedar plank on which it was cooked. The BBQ was delicious adn the chicken was nice and moist. She did remark she wished she had known she was getting a piece of dark meat, but even that didnt stop her from finishing it. We had to try desert. I got a rootbeer float made with Destihl own root beer while she got the SMores. The rootbeer float was good, but nothing unique. The Smores were a different story. Presented as three little sandwhiches on the plate, it was hard to eat because it just looked so cute. Destihl is an amazing addition to Bloomington-Normals already great local restaurants. Once word gets around, its going to be hard to get a table at Destihl.

A

A Private User

This is a review for the Champaign Distihl, because I think it needs one! I think the food at this restaurant has potential, but our server was ABSOLUTELY AWFUL. I am a food service professional myself, and I am usually extremely understanding of servers being busy, or whatever. This guy just sucked. He offered to bring us all water, then never did. Said he would get my friends credit card from the bartender, then forgot (3 TIMES) and still we waited for the card 15 minutes after everyone else at the table had finished everything AND closed their checks. We ordered appetizers, soup, and salads, and EVERYTHING came out 45 minutes after we ordered. Imagine a table with 8 people sitting at it, and as many dishes as you can envision, and thats what our table was like! It was difficult to eat, and we wouldnt have ordered salads and apps if we knew it was all coming in one giant load. I will say that their in house brewed beers were good, I tried 2. I think it is a bit snobbish and a silly choice to not serve any other beer in the restaurant. They dont even have a bottled beer selection. Luckily their draft choices are decent. The food was just ok. A very well thought out menu with poor execution in my opinion. A lot of the dishes had amazing flavors, but we poorly presented or prepared. The pizza would have been amazing if the flatbread hadnt been rolled to a paper thin crust, because it made the whole dish mushy. If the crust was just a bit thicker, I think the pizza would have been quite good, so maybe this is a kitchen consistency issue. All in all, I think this place is a fun place to go hang out with friends, but dont expect to be impressed.

KI

Killed Fromafar

This place was located across the parking lot from my hotel so I walked over for an early dinner around 345. The pleasant hostess asked for my seating preference and I chose the bar. There was 1 couple sitting there about to finish their drinks and that was it. The bartender greeted me and handed me a menu as I ordered water to start. I decided on fish and chips and off he went. At 420, with no food in sight, I ordered a drink; which was delivered quickly. Finally, just before 430, my food arrived. Not sure why it took almost 35 minutes to deep-fry some fish and potato wedges and with a half-empty restaurant, but I digress...The breading on the fish was thin and airy, with almost a neutral taste. The tartar sauce had a nice twist though. And again the wedges were very standard-tasting but the dipping sauce provided was quite unique and tasty. The bartender said they just soak habaneros in vinegar overnight then serve the vinegar. Im not a fan of either of those individually but together they were really good...Oh, and just FYI: the menu on their website is incorrect. The menu is a little different now. I only realized this because I went there prepared to order their wings and Egg Caesar Salad - neither were listed on their new menu... Overall Id say this place is worth a shot. I suggest sitting somewhere other than the bar though, because there are only about 10 seats and it is not situated in a way that you can see anything at all. The mirrored wall is blocked by bottles, etc. and the only (small) TV is mounted way up high and at one end.