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| - This is a tale of two experiences. My husband would vote his meal as a three, where I am sticking with a two. To be fair, he is much better at understanding flavor dynamics on paper than I am, which is probably why we ended up with two different experiences.
This review is split into two parts: the ambiance and service aspect, followed by the food review. My husband and I agree, though, that two stars are definitely warranted for the former portion.
There are three important items to note before entering Timpones. The first is that the decor is absolutely ridiculous; reminiscent of a Miami night club circa 1984. The second thing is that the wait staff do not seem to know what's going on, which can perhaps be attributed to the third thing. The manager yells at their wait staff in front of all patrons, which I can only assume makes the wait staff SUPER NERVOUS. Of course, I am generalizing based on one experience, and yet it seems other Yelpers share similar sentiments.
Of course, the above items relate strictly to ambiance and service. Important, but not the end-all, be-all of a meal, so let us move on.
We started off with a goat cheese and arugula salad. On paper, this was an exciting start to this meal! But when it came out? A total disappointment. It is seldom, even when a meal is not good, that I think, "this was shallow/vacuous/trite/vapid" and yet that is exactly what it tasted like.
For dinner, my husband ordered a hearty stew with an interesting citrus, chocolate, and red meat dynamic. He enjoyed it, and rated it a three. I had the spinach tagliatelle that was underwhelming at best. There was very little flavor, but tons of cream. I thought the texture was nice, which is why I gave it two stars instead of one. No dessert--we had tried enough.
I am not sure if we will be going back here. I promise that there are restaurants in Urbana-Champaign that are WAY better. Perhaps they do not cost as much, or have as gaudy of interiors, but... they taste good. And I'm not so sure that the same can be said of Timpones.
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