Schooners — Restaurant in Bloomington

The last time I was here, I had a great experience but then 7 years passed and I didn't have a reason to come back until yesterday when I had the extreme displeasure of doing so. Here's what happened:

I will admit up front that I am a vegetarian and so I know this place is not really designed for me but my last experience with their veggie burger was good and their onion rings were the best I'd had in town so when we decided to come back to see a band on the patio we planned to get dinner too.

When we showed up, we asked about the band which had been cancelled. Huge bummer but our fault for not checking since there was a chance of rain. We decided to eat in anyway. Good seating and parking.

Our waitress was not attentive (she never brought a water we requested) and when she finally came to take our order, we all got veggie burgers with onion rings, a beer, a Shirley temple (which was served without the cherry, uncool) and two apps: the cheese balls and the corn fritters. Cheeseballs were good. Probably about as good as another bar near IWU--IYKYK. The corn fritters were chewy, and absolutely doused in powdered sugar. I wasn't a fan.

The real heinousness was in the veggie burger. My partner described it as smelling like a hoarder house full of dirty diapers. It was cooked through but it smelled bad, tasted old and they brought it with NOTHING on it. Would you literally ever serve a meat burger plain unless the customer specifically ordered it that way? It was so seriously bad I took one bite and didn't finish the rest. My partner did the same exact thing. The waitress asked about it WHEN she brought the check which charged us full price for the inedible food we were served and when we told her it was really bad her reply was "I've never had it so I wouldn't know." She was a nice enough girl but should have known better than to let us walk out of there paying full price ($48 for dinner we didn't eat). It was bad customer service.

Shout out to them for having women's basketball on the TV that was cool. The Native American statue in the dining room promptly evened that out, though.

So the TLDR: This is a place where old white people like to eat giant pork tenderloin and drink basic beer. They should take the veg burger off the menu and just be plainly hostile to vegetarians instead of serving something they have no business trying to make. Their onion rings are still the best in town, but unfortunately it doesn't make up for the mess that was this visit. Despite being two blocks from my house, I can't see myself...

My family and I were traveling and staying in the area. We looked up places to eat, saw all the great reviews for Schooners and decided to try it. We love trying local places when we go through new areas.

First thing that was a little annoying for us, as a family, was that there were no changing tables in the facility. Not a huge deal, we made do, but it’s worth noting for anyone that is traveling with little ones.

Our waitress was gone for long periods of time. We also continued to get stares and weird looks after our black friend showed up. Just seemed to change the atmosphere once she arrived.

On to the food. I ordered their cheeseburger and fries. The fries had no seasoning, like didn’t even taste like they salted them when they came out of the fryer. There was nothing special about the beef patty, very bland.

My husband ordered their garlic wings. Given that there is a whole section of their menu bragging about how good their wings are, he figured he couldn’t go wrong ordering them. He says they’re the worst wings he’s ever had. It seems like they baked unseasoned wings, threw them in a ton of butter when they were done and added a sprinkle of garlic powder. He was only able to eat two of them. Definitely not worth $14.

I’m not sure how this place has such great reviews because based on what we ordered, we wouldn’t eat there again. Not worth the money we paid.

Side note that has nothing to do with the review of the restaurant, as this isn’t their fault. But there were definitely some shady guys there. Tried carrying on a conversation about where we were from and why we were traveling, all while we were dealing with our screaming three month old. Then continued to stare at our other children the whole time we were there. Just passing along info for people to...

What a gem! I had a last minute road travel south to Springfield, IL a couple weeks ago and their hotels were sold out for the State Fair that Friday. Decided best to stop in Bloomington for the night. Glad I did as I would never have had the pleasure of going to Schooners.(Side note I stayed at Country Inn Suites great clean room good for the night place and priced right) Schooners was perfect for what I was looking for from a road trip dinner meal and few beers. Friendly and inviting especially AJ behind the bar!.... in fact everyone in there from the patrons to staff alike were wonderful to meet and talk with. Definitely felt welcomed from the moment I stepped in the door. Greeted warmly by AJ as I sat at the bar. Had a conversation with a gentleman when I got there and found out we knew a common person from Springfield from our high school days...many years ago. What a coincidence. The food and schooners of beer, well if you like pork tenderloins this is worth your trip by itself and frosty cold schooners of beer. Had the wings and onion rings too. Great midwest menu and cooked perfectly, I will get them all again!. I am the fry guy I like fried foods. So may not be for everyone. Met a nice couple at the bar who have known AJ for years, AJ introduced me to them when they sat down next to me. Had delightful conversation and banter with them and AJ all evening. I will make it a point when driving through this area to stop in again and enjoy real hospitality. How wonderfully refreshing to walk in as a stranger and leave feeling as being part of a...