Philo Tavern

I had pretty low expectations coming here. It’s definitely not a fancy place LOL.
With that said, the salad bar was fair, the prime rib dinner on Saturday was good! Not sure if for 17 dollars you can expect to be getting LAWRY’S Chicago prime rib, but for philo Illinois it was perfectly fine.
I look forward to going back to try the frog legs!

Great pub food for a good price. Off the beaten path from Champaign-​Urbana — but worth the drive out. The best thing is the Saturday night Prime Rib Sliders. They are the best thing EVER. Melt in your mouth awesomeness. With the twice-​baked potato, of course. The fried chicken is also a favorite — but hands down — prime rib is the best. And the price is great! Most of the staff is friendly — if you get Fay or Annie… you get sassiness along with great service. Which is my favorite thing ever.

We keep going back because we want to support our small town businesses in Champaign and Douglas county. I’m afraid tonight was the last try for us at Philo Tavern. Our group of 4 all had the Prime Rib and twice baked potato. Salad bar… yuk. Bread hard. Potato overcooked and prime rib tasteless and undercooked. Staff might as well have been non extistant. Blah personalities-​young women who seemed to want to be anywhere other than in Philo. Maybe if we hear of new management we’ll try again. Until then, we’ll stick to JR’s in Villa Grove, Applebees in Savoy or Texas Roadhouse in Champaign.

I went to Philo Tavern with some friends last week, and got exactly the experience I was hoping for. Even though you are only 15 minutes from Chambana and UIUC, driving into Philo is absolutely quintessential Midwestern small town. The tavern itself fits the bill with its homey wood bar and paneling inside, brimming full with locals enjoying dinner at the only restaurant in town. It was a very nostalgic experience, with a salad bar cart in the back and old school Hamm’s beer bar clock. Food was cheap and good; 4 piece fried chicken for $ 8.25 and half rack of ribs for $ 11.99, both with salad bar and side (I recommend the delicious hush puppies). If you want solid, down home, family friendly Midwestern food, the Philo Tavern (aka Center of the Universe according to their water tower) is the place to go!

I grew up on a farm just outside of Philo and the Philo Tavern used to be The Three Aces tavern (no food that I remember and we won’t go into the stories of what has happened there). But the folks that bought it tunred it into a destination restaurant. People come from all over for the food. The atmosphere is comfortable and clean. They have nightly specials like Prime Rib and Frog Legs, but I come for the Ribeye sandwich. It is very good and cooked just the way you like it. I usually eat in the main restaurant, but the beer garden is nice as well. Definitely recommend it if you are on Route 130 from Urbana to Villa Grove. Stop in and have a bite.

Okay, so remember my review of El-​Farol when I said I would dive into the huge pile of steak and start with the reddest, juiciest parts first? That’s what I did here with my prime rib. Benjamin said he would save the best pieces for last. True, true, I usually save the best stuff for last. BUT NOT IF THE MEAT’S GOING TO CONTINUE TO COOK! This was absolutely perfect and I wanted to enjoy the perfection from the get-​go. So I started with the rarest, juiciest parts, but truth be told the entire prime rib was amazing. And affordable! This is why we usually don’t pay the arm and leg for a steak in Chicago.
Philo is a tiny town with supposedly only one restaurant (except for pizza at a Casey’s). THIS restaurant. The place to go in town — townies come here for dinner, for a drink at the bar… even teenie girls with their homecoming dresses stopped by for a meal before heading out to twirl on their gymnasium floor in their shiny dresses (man, were they shiny). We sat in a large, screened-​in porch area with a view of a gorgeous fountain-​garden with the most lovely, pale purple flowers I’d ever seen (wish I knew what they were).
And service was impeccable. She was so sweet and quick-​witted. Benjamin thought he’d joke with her about the strawberry daiquiri he ordered and she was right there with him, whipping out retorts so fast we didn’t know what hit us. She was gracious and attentive. Wish I got her name so I could recommend her specifically, but alas I didn’t.
Oh, and Sara insisted on Hush Puppies to start. Now, I’m not really a fan of hush puppies. I used to like them when I was little, but that was when I wanted to eat nothing more than bread or other easy starchy products whether fried, baked, processed… As an adult, ordering hush puppies has always been a disappointment and I’d wonder why I did it. But these are truly hush puppies you must try. Not dry, not over-​greasy, had a great flavor.
And for $ 1.50 extra you can have your baked potato Twice Baked. This is not the kind you pull out of a box and throw into the oven or microwave. This is painstakingly baked, scooped out, mixed with all sorts of delicious treats like sour cream, cheese, bacon, and put back into the potato skin to baked once again. Seriously, people, it’s a buck fifty extra. Do it. Really.
Worth the 10-​minute trip outside of Urbana. I will definitely go back.

So we go to Champaign/​Urbana to go to the Curtis Orchard to pick apples with old friends on Saturday. The orchard was much fun and a lot of silliness ensued, including watching a goat purposely pull the pin that was holding up a tent so that it would collapse! No shit! But eventually the topic of «where do you guys want to eat?» comes up. So Ben & Sara tell us about this bar and grill about 10 miles east of Urbana called The Philo Tavern. Supposedly, it is the only restaurant in the 1,400 population town of Philo, IL.
Well, Saturday night, like many restaurants traditionally have, is the Prime Rib special. Where else can get one get a 16oz prime rib dinner that compares to the quality of Chicago’s top steakhouses for the low low price of $ 16.50? Oh and the twice baked potato is just as I was told, like eating a slice of heaven! The next time I’m staying in the Champaign/​Urbana area, I will definitely make the 10 mile drive to Philo to experience this succulent melt-​in-​your-​mouth-​sexy-​time hunk of pink perfectly-​cooked prime US beef again!
The atmosphere is typical of a small town bar/​grill where everyone knows each other and the wait staff extremely friendly & attentive. The Philo Tavern is located across the street from the US Post Office that is the size of a small bedroom.
Now, it’s whiskey time on the porch down here in Central Illinois!