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| - My group of 5 did brunch at Big Grove Tavern on Easter Sunday. I was excited to support a Farm to Table concept eatery, but overall was disappointed with both the food and the service.
I know it was Easter Sunday, but service should not be slow. Either staff accordingly or don't take as many reservations. There is no reason there should be a 35-45 minute lag from the time our food was ordered until it was brought to the table. Not sure if it was just our waiter (can't remember his name) or all the servers, but neither food or drink made it to the table in what I would say is a reasonable period of time.
We had a bit of a skirmish with our waiter shortly after being seated and given water. I was pointing out to one of my dining companions (nicely) that the water glasses were very small and I hoped our waiter wasn't going to mind refilling mine often (I take hydration seriously) when our waiter appeared to take our order. Another of my dinner companions pointed out the glasses were small and bet the waiter wished they were bigger and the waiter didn't smile or agree. He just looked blankly at us and said "well we all wish for things we don't get". Talk about it being a bit awkward after that.
We ordered a variety of brunch items. I will pause here to say that we saw little bowls of popcorn on the other tables, but none was ever brought or offered to us. I gather from the other Yelp reviews here that we missed out. We ordered the cinnamon role to share. It was okay. Not very warm and the frosting just kind of sat on top, it didn't melt into the roll.
I ordered the pancake breakfast with the eggs over hard. At our table we also had the salmon benedict, the brunch omelet (with chorizo and salsa verde) and the burger. The consensus on all the food is as follows: the omelet was the best thing on the table, it was huge, full of flavorful ingredients and absolutely covered in a spicy salsa verde. We all wished we had ordered it. The salmon benedict was good, a little bland but decent. The burger was ordered medium rare and came medium, after waiting almost an hour we were not about to send it back. The fries that came with it were wonderful. Thin cut and so crispy. The aioli (sp) served with it was extremely good too. The pancakes were nothing special, on the bland side. The eggs were overcooked. The bacon was good and crispy.
I might add that throughout the meal my water glass was empty more often than full. Every time I saw the waiter (or any waitstaff) I asked for water. Seriously, the glasses are that small. I think (no, I am pretty sure) that our waiter was very annoyed with the requests for water by the time we left.
I am in Champaign on a regular basis. There are so many good places to eat. I love the concept and menu, just encourage Big Grove to step their game up a little. People are fickle and will start going elsewhere.
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