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| - I have a long history with Biaggi's restaurant, going all the way back to when they built the first one in Bloomington. That place was about 100xs better than the one they built in Champaign, but only for this reason-- the Biaggi's in Bloomy had a... the best way to describe it was "module", where they had all these incredible salad ingredients lined up. You walked up to the beginning (sort of like a Subway setting, only huge metal bowls of fresh ingredients, not small plastic bins/crocks), and the person at the counter would grab a fresh (clean) metal bowl. You'd start out with your choice of lettuces/spinach/etc., move on to toppings (with more than a dozen to choose from), and then finally get a home made (right there in front of you) dressing that... let me tell you, was OUT OF THIS WORLD. So amazing!
But, that was the Bloomington store, of course. Biaggi's in Champers was different from the get go. A GIANT room constructed from a wooden polymer that was designed to cut down on noise and echoing! Super smart. Not sure it really helped, like a lot of people will often complain, the place is like an echo chamber, but... acoustics were a concern from the start.
Biaggi's had always prided themselves on being Southern Italian. That meant that you'd never catch them with a Fetuccini Alfredo on their menu. I got chewed out for asking if they ever did one, once, at this location. =P It was during a business dinner, too, so it was good and embarrassing! =P But it appears, via their online menu (that they do them, now =P Gee, thanks for that, Biaggi's!)
With the Southern thing, though, you always get a delicious italian bread at the start of the meal, along with an amazing extra extra virgin olive oil, sprinkled liberally with parmesan cheese. Sort of a do it yourself alfredo, right? ;D Maybe not! Delicious nonetheless!
Biaggi's has always gone out of their way to make unique, delicate, and very refined dishes. The raviolis are a house specialty, and a guest favorite, I know that much. My sister flies from California for the Butternut Squash!
During one dinner party, we did have a waiter who accidentally had a coffee carafe (they were talking about changing them out at the time, so they probably have by now, as the design they had on these things was a nightmare! The servers said they burned themselves on them ALL THE TIME) explode in her hands, which led to coffee running down the back of a guest's chair, straight onto their $200 coat. Biaggi's gave them a voucher for a free cleaning, without any guff, and then said that if the stain wouldn't come out, they'd pay for a new one!
I thought that was so upstanding, I added an extra star for it, otherwise I would have rated the restaurant (and the overall experience) a 3.
The final point worth mentioning is that Biaggi's is not cheap. Think Olive Garden prices, but smaller (not necessarily a bad thing), more refined meals. And if you plan to drink, it's only gonna get worse. There are a few places where drinking out is still viable, but this restaurant is not one of them!
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