Baxter’s American Grille

This is honestly my go-​to restaurant for dinner in Bloomington, IL. The service is always impeccable. Our waiter, Chris was no exception. The tuna tartar was delicious. The trout was flavorful and tender. The sweet potatoes were sweet with just the right amount of spice. The gooey butter cake was overly sweet, but the malted chocolate ice cream with it was perfection. Drinks here are always made perfectly. Portions sizes are great. Prices are great. I love the dimmed lighting for dinner service. The high back booths are excellent to cut down on noise between tables. Will be back whenever I travel here.

Amazing food and service! I had the steakhouse salad and five onion soup. Both were full of flavor and the salad was fresh. Portions were generous. I highly recommend this place!

Great food. Thank you Brian for the outstanding service. Brazilian steak was a real treat.

Exceptional fine dining experience in BN! It’s nice to be treated so respectfully and have waiters be so attentive. Our server, I believe his name was Brian, accommodated our specific needs and even offered to have the chef prepare something that wasn’t on the current menu but my friend had enjoyed a previous experience.
Their menu changes seasonally which is nice. Out table of four split the mushroom appetizer. It was good, but only had 5 small mushrooms, which is probably good for a personal appetizer but not good to split. I had the small plate of tuna, which was good, but lots of unique spicy flavors, maybe too many going on, but a fun dish. The blue cheese wedge salad was very flavorful and had lots of dressing and cheese. We all got the butter cake, which is a must!
I can always count on Baxters for a nice relaxing evening.

Excellent ambiance for excellent dining. Great food. Must try the gooey butter cake — delicious! Nice, quaint outdoor dining available. Top pick in the area.

We’ve been here 3 times now and each time they out do themselves.
The service is always exceptional and the food is moan-​worthy.
Foods to note, which is everything we’ve had, cheese plate (for 4), mini crab cakes, filet, smothered chicken, butter cake (!), white chocolate raspberry bread pudding, apple crisp and there will be many many more.
We have a 15 month old and they have never been too noisy or crowded.
We haven’t tried the special drinks, but the wine selection is on par and delicious.
I can’t say enough good things about Baxter’s. You should give them a try.

Baxters is a wonderful place. From the ambiance to the staff. To start off my waitress did an excellent job. I ordered the drunken mushrooms and they were superb. I also ordered the steak tartare not realizing it was completely uncooked. The waitress took the item off the bill. I was very pleased with the outcome not expecting that. The water boy kept my water full the entire tome which to me is great service.

My favorite steakhouse, Stoney’s in Dalton City, closed it’s doors permanently a few years ago and I’ve been looking for a new «Stoney’s» in Central Illinois ever since. Last night, I gave Baxter’s in Bloomington a shot and after my first bite I knew I wasn’t going to miss Stoney’s so much anymore (I will always miss Stoney’s, but you know what I mean).
The Good:
The dinner rolls served to everyone are incredible. I’m not sure if the term «yeast roll» is the appropriate description for them, but it’s what’s coming to mind. They’re relatively small, flat, soft, delicious, and soak up soft butter very well. Almost worth the trip alone.
For an appetizer, we had the pork taquitos, which were absolutely delicious. Have you ever eaten something with a tortilla, and the tortilla itself tasted as good as the filling? Baxter’s knows how to do that.
The Caesar salad, which is done differently at every restaurant, was perfect. Great taste, dressing coverage (no bites that taste only like lettuce), and the portion was spot on.
For an entrée, I ordered an Oscar style, bacon-​wrapped filet mignon, which was cooked to a perfect medium rare and tasted buttery and delicious. No complaints and I will happily pay for it again when we come back (which we will).
The Not So Good:
My wife order the steak kabobs, which tasted good, but were on the dry side and not served with a sauce or aioli.
My filet was wrapped in bacon, which can be problematic, and it was. The bacon was very burnt and tasted really bad. The steak was amazing, so I let it go.
Not a bad meal when the worst part was the bacon. How is that even possible?!

This one was out of the blue thanks to Unilocalers.
I had made plans to have dinner with my cousin and she said she liked burgers and pizza. But I thought we can do this right.
I found Baxters with the help of others in the community and they took online reservations always a good thing.
I got there first and ordered a glass of wine and took in the menu. They have american fare, steaks, pastas, etc. And of course burgers and pizza.
When my cousin arrived we ordered steak nachos, these were legit they had big strips of steak on them and nice thin cheese sauce that helped not break too many of the chips. They were good, and there was plenty of them.
the Cuz went with the flatbread of the day with chicken and some other goodies while I went for the ribeye. The FB looked very good and crisp in the right places. although I did not have any she said it was yummy and packed the leftover for lunch the following day.
The steak was cooked to my order, and had some very simple but good mashed potatoes.
When Chris (our attentive server) came back by we spoke of dessert and decided to give it a go. I have to say I forgot what the Cuz ordered because my strawberry shortcake napoleon arrived with a steak knife holding it together and everything else in the world stopped. It was basically strawberry cheesecake in between 2 puff pastries, but that makes it sound simple which it was not. It was huge and good and despite everything not overly sweet. I will post a picture as I was floored by the whole presentation.
So to sum up, go eat what you want it will be good and save room for dessert they have this strawberry thing…

Why, Unilocal,is your software rejecting a review of someone who has been here at least 36 times (monthly for over 3 years and a few more.)? The tuna tartare is always great. The steak nachos have a sauce that would make an old boot taste great. The bar staff is very professional, management is attentive and they are continually improving the menu. I live in Nashville and Baxter’s can play there. It’s good enough that I worry BN won’t know what they have. I don’t doubt some of the isolated bad experiences. It happens… But not to me. And trust me. The prices are not out of line.

RSVP for 6:15 seated on time. Atmosphere good service good– except took a while for initial interaction. stringy prime rib and woody asparagus. Wife’s steak was medium vs medium rare. Good drinks music too loud — decent place just don’t get pricy entrée and expect excellence…

This place has excellent food, and great service as well. I was first here when I was in town for a job interview, and I was pleasantly surprised at the ambience of the restaurant. Since then, I’e had many great meals here, and will continue coming here as long as it’s around!

I’m sad that I haven’t eaten here before this month! My in-​laws came in and had heard good things about this place so we all went out to dinner. Our server was helpful in picking a beer selection and my husband and I both tried a pumpkin ale. It was delicious!
My father in law ordered the andouille stuffed mushrooms and pork tacos as appetizers for the table. The mushrooms were the best I’ve ever had! The pork tacos were a bit spicy, but not overwhelming.
I ordered the steak cabobs. They were seasoned perfectly and the rice and veggies went well with them. My husband ordered the coconut crusted red snapper. The carrot purée that came with was amazing but there was a bit too much coconut on the fish.
My in-​laws had to head back home and my only regret is that we didn’t have enough time for dessert! We will definitely be going back.

This place was awesome! It was mine and my boyfriend’s first time there and we thought we would try it out since it was one of the better reviews on Unilocal.Our waiter was polite and always checking in with us, not too much though. The food was really good. We started off with the calamari since it was ½ price appetizers then we both got steaks with mashed potatoes and salad. They were amazing! We told our waiter it was our anniversary and he gave us a free dessert! He was an awesome waiter and I would definitely go back again especially for his service.

meh. went here on my brothers recommendation. Obviously two very different experiences.
Busy Friday evening. First they «lost» our order, After soup/​salads were finished, I had to check w our server, learned that the kitchen had lost our entry order… then it took forever to arrive.
Three entries…
salad plate — wrong salad (she ate it and it was ok, just not what she had ordered)
prime rib — flavor ok but the texture was weird and off-​putting.
tempura fried softshell — arrived cold, was greasy and tasteless. The Mgr comped this entry.
Wont be back

I like Baxters. I can see where everyone else is coming from in their reviews… but I’ve never had a bad experience like they have.
I enjoy the rolls at the beginning of the meal, and I have never been disappointed in their entrees. (p.s. their gooey butter cake is my favorite dessert in town).
The only reason why I give them 4 stars instead of 5 is because I’ve had really mediocre service there before, and because when I had their french onion soup I really couldn’t even eat it. It just wasn’t good. At all.

Last night 10 co-​workers and myself went to Baxter’s for a company holiday party and we were all happily surprised how fantastic the whole experience was.
First, I definitely need to give kudos to our server, Justin M., who did a fantastic job keeping waters filled and most importantly easily splitting the check 11 ways without any attitude.
Baxter’s has beautiful décor befitting a fine dining restaurant. You can easily take clients and have business dinners here with no problem. Lots of after-​work business folks and dressier families were here the night I was. It was packed too, so I recommend a reservation.
For dinner I started with the bacon spinach salad which was loaded with bacon parts and a nice warm bacon dressing. Great start to the meal.
For my main I had a 12oz ribeye that was cooked perfectly and was marbled really well. Lots of that buttery soft fat that ribeyes are known for. Simply prepared garlic mashed potatoes were great on the side.
A few others got the prime rib and said how fantastic it was. I’ll think about getting that next time.
Priced are reasonable for what you get. My steak was $ 24 and most entrees are between $ 17 and $ 28 or so.
They had a couple of craft beers on tap and their drink selection looked pretty diverse as well.
For a nice dinner Baxter’s should definitely be on your list!

I would give 3 ½ stars if I could.
Consistency can be a problem for Baxter’s — especially with seafood. I’ve had very good meals and pretty bad meals — within a week or two from each other. I’m a serious seafood fan — and they have way undercooked Tilapia, and over cooked scallops and oyster rockefeller.
I know! Central Illinois doesn’t exactly bring seafood to mind. But still it just shows the kitchen staff’s inexperience when it comes to handling seafood. Good plans, variable results.
However I have had good meals at Baxter’s too. They have several chicken and meat dishes that are very well prepared — and I would recommend choosing those and their pizzas. Their staff has always been friendly and attentive.
For business travelers — great location! Adjacent to the Holiday Inn — and across the street from the Bloomington Airport.

See Christopher H.‘s review below.
I ‘dined’ at Baxters with Christopher H. for my sister’s (his daughter’s) graduation celebration. To summarize his review, the soup and salad took over 45 minutes to reach the table, an hour after ordering a member of our party was asked to order something else, and our server diappeared into the night. Please find it and read the details because his comments are incredibly accurate.
That being said, the food wasn’t very good either. I rarely have just a plain ‘bad’ experience at restaurants and this was one of those rare times. We waited for too long for mediocre food and paid too much; certainly a bitter taste resonates in my mouth.
[I had the braised beef]
After Christopher H. reviewed our negative experience and gave his personal opinion, an individual who appears to have an association with Baxters American Grill, named Raphael P., personal messaged my father and insulted him and my family in response to the comments made.
I have alerted Unilocal in regards to the abuse but I wanted to send a warning out to those who might have negative thoughts about this place, that you may get harassed by a staff member afterward.
He went on to mention that our family should not be allowed in restaurants ever again, and I know I’m not supposed to boast my elite status, however I obviously have a clear idea of what a good dining experience should include versus a bad one, and I had a very BAD dining experience here.
There are so many other nice restaurants to choose from in the Bloomington-​Normal I can’t even begin to recommend you find somewhere else.
I award no stars, won’t ever be back, and hope that the childish name calling for bad reviews has ended.

Very nice establishment. I got the vegetarian penne w/​o the mushrooms and it was delicious.
The waitress was very friendly and picked up conversation with us readily. It’s right by the airport so if you’re wanting to grab some non-​airport food before you leave Bloomington, IL. Hop on over the Baxter’s. I’m glad we chose not to go the the Buff Wild Wings next door and ate here instead.
The ambience and environment were very classy and sets the mode for a great meal. Nice and quiet and peaceful. It was quite dim/​dark in there for the middle of the afternoon, but I think that the dining area gets full facing sunlight around noon so the shades were drawn partially.
My coworkers got the french dip on pretzel bun, which they thoroughly enjoyed. If I’m ever in Bloomington again, I’ll definitely make a stop.