Friday night we started out our evening by heading to dinner at one of my favorite eating establishments in the area, Crane Alley in downtown Urbana. The building is beautiful inside with the tin ceilings common in so many of our downtown facilities, nice woodwork and large pool tables. The smoking section is very separate (and soon to be short-lived, as we all know) keeping dinners in the "non-bar" restaurant part of the building more free from smoke with their dinner than most places in town.
When we arrived it was fairly crowded already for so early on a Friday night, presumably due to U of I homecoming festivities. We got there around 7:30pm, and requested a table in the bar area for seven. We happily suggested that we'd crowd around a four top since that's all that's available in that part of the bar and we had multiple smokers in the group. The waitress, while nice, seemed very overwhelmed and was extremely slow in practically all aspects of service, from getting our initial drink orders to bringing our checks at the end. That said, I'm never in much of a hurry when I'm there (or when I go out to eat in general) so we were okay with that. One other minor note of inconvenience was the ladies' bathroom, which only has two stalls (usually sufficient for the times we're there, rarely is there a wait) was down to one stall and one out of order. This resulted in a line of three or four women when I finally went in to the bathroom towards the end of our visit. Two stalls is not enough when the place is running at a fuller capacity and one rarely is enough for any place at any time.
We ordered some appetizers first thinking some of our party may take awhile to arrive and opted for the vegetable tempura, which came with sides of a ginger soy sauce and a wasabi aioli (I hate that stuff, for the record. Mixing flavors into mayonnaise just doesn't do it for me even as a mayo lover.) Be forewarned that many of the appetizers are big enough to be meals in and of themselves. I should have just ordered this, but I overdid it as usual. The veggies included were lots of zucchini and yellow squash (mostly this actually), some broccoli, carrot sticks, and the best by far was the asparagus. You could add shrimp for $4 more (seems steep to me, but hey, if it floats your boat) but we didn't. The batter was great, nice and light as tempura should be, not very soft or damp as veggies, particularly those with higher water content can lead to. The ginger soy dipping sauce always just tastes like straight soy to me, but that's okay. Like I said, for sheer ability to eat reasons I should have just had this but felt the need to order a sandwich as well.
We ordered sandwiches and I opted for something other than my usual favorite, the portabella burger, a nicely cooked decent burger with grilled onions, portabella slices and gorgonzola cheese. Instead I opted for the similar but different steak sandwich, which included the same flavors and toppings. It came on ciabatta bread grilled lightly. The flavors of the sandwich were okay, meat was a little tough and fatty in places and slid off the sandwich when I couldn't bite through it, but the taste was good, the meat was cooked as I asked (medium rare, and it's hard to come by a place that will do it right and leave it mostly pink). I always end up having to smooth the gorgonzola crumbles out a little when I get these sandwiches, as the crumbles are huge and spotty on top usually making for uneven coverage. Overall, not the best I've had from them (I should stick with my burger fave) but not bad. I opted for the sweet potato fries with my sandwich instead of the regular fries (or onion rings are another option). These are always a treat, nice a thin and sweet and crispy. Definately one of my favorite things available at Crane Alley overall.
To drink I selected a draft of the one beer not on the actual beer list but instead listed on the specials board, the Bell's Octoberfest. It was a very striking light orange color and had a nice fullbody without being overwhelming or bitter. Nice accompaniment to the meal. I would have liked a second drink but my waitress never seemed to come around and ask once we had our food.
Just as a sidenote, it seems that after some local investigation, Crane Alley is being called a bit of a fraud as their "pint" glasses for draft beer are actually closer to 14 ounces of liquid due to the shape and thickness of the pint glasses. Some folks are extremely upset over this "fraud" so I figured those people going for the awesome beer selection should be aware of the price/amount difference in case they are looking to try a more expensive beer or something special. Some bad reviews on service there (I don't disagree necessarily) and some notes on the food going downhill as of late (I haven't noticed).
Overall, not one of our best visits to Crane Alley, but rarely are they a complete disappointment. Their burgers are some of the best in town and I'm told their wings are incredible as well. The beer and wine selection is extensive, though rarely can you not get something they have at Friar Tuck in Savoy. The markup on beer is relatively reasonable, as we've often paid just slightly more for bottles than in the store.
1 comment:
I used to *love* the food at Crane Alley. But when the first chef left, the quality of the food went downhill. What once was nice quality meat in the Italian Beef was reduced to gristle-y meat dust. And the fish sandwiches were not cooked properly a couple times. We stopped order them. And going to Crane Alley.
Me and some friends went recently, and the food wasn't that great and the service was quite slow and poor. Our tables weren't pre-bussed nor were our drinks refilled. It took forever to find her to get the check.
I don't think I'll be going back, unfortunately, because they have a nice beer selection. But the Blind Pig has *awesome* beer choices---just no food.
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