Biaggi's Ristorante Italiano — Restaurant in Champaign

We drove to Champaign to eat out...an hour and 5 minute drive. I had been to Biaggi's twice before and the food was really good. I was looking forward to a great meal, but was disappointed. I ordered the stuffed cod and a salad. The crab stuffing was almost non existent and was very mushy. It didn't look like crab at all. The fish was kind of luke-warm, as if it had been warmed up in the microwave...not fresh like I was expecting. My salad had lettuce in it that was brown on the edges (it was visibly old looking when placed in front of me). The vegetables were green beans and they were very hard and bland. In fact, the whole meal was bland. When I asked for a tea refill, the waitress looked at me as if I was asking for blood because it was only half empty. .My husband's drink and my third refill were brought by the host who seated us, not our waitress. The whole experience was mediocre at best, and after traveling so far to dine, was a disappointment. We had been to Biaggi's in the past, and I remembered it to be much better. Inconsistency is my number one reason for not returning to a restaurant. It was 2 pm in the afternoon on a Friday (between lunch and dinner). I guess the good cook wasn't there for his shift yet. There are many excellent choices of restaurants in Champaign. We will try a different one next time. The price by the way, was not a mediocre price. For $16, my cod should have been amazing...and for an additional $7, my salad should have been fresh. That was my expectation.

Went Christmas shopping and decided to stop and eat. I was hoping this restaurant had made improvements since our last visit 5 years ago. It was really good at one point in time, and we've been to Biaggi's at another location that was good. Unfortunately, was disappointed again. We noticed there were very few cars in the parking lot...first red flag. The menu had changed. But I was hopeful. I ordered the stuffed cod again since this has been good in the past...not the last time, but before. It was mediocre. The stuffing wasn't very good, the smashed potatoes were unrecognizable (hidden under the fish...probably a good decision on their part) and the broccoli was awful. It didn't taste fresh, was hard, and had hot pepper flakes dumped all over so it was HOT! I didn't eat it. My husband's pasta was supposed to have sausage and seafood in it. It was just penne pasta with some sauce on it. It looked very boring. There was no salad with it or anything. We took home the chicken alfredo for our son. He didn't eat much at all. He said it was too salty. Why was it salty? It didn't even look recognizable. All this for a hundred bucks. We're done at this restaurant. I don't understand why all the restaurants we go to in the area are so bad now, but I have no desire to even eat out anymore. It's too expensive and not good. I don't know if this is the result of the after covid era or the fact that it's hard to get good people to work now. Or, just a desire to profit without making the customer happy. I will say one good thing. The restaurant was beautifully decorated for Christmas so it was a nice atmosphere. And the server was absolutely wonderful!! He was very attentive and made a disappointing dinner experience a little better. I give him kudos, but not the food prep. Next time, we'll just go home and I'll throw together a quick meal myself. Going out to eat isn't very fun any longer. Sorry Biaggi's. You're off our...

I'll preface this saying it was a busy night. I had a reservation at 7:30 PM, a decently busy time. But after being seated, we waited 15 minutes and nobody even came to get a drink order. I had to go to the host stand and explain how long I had been waiting. A woman I assume was the manager was standing there as well and came over to take our drink and appetizer order, and then came back with water to let us know it was in. She then came back and said she assumed our server came by to get our order, he sure didn't. So she took our entree order as well. I saw our server twice, he brought out the bread and asked us for our entree order even though we had ordered 5 minutes before, and the next time was to give us the bill. I saw the manager more than my server, and he didn't even bring our food it was someone else. By the time we left the place was fairly cleared out so I'm really not sure why he wasn't able to help us. After he dropped off the check, I put my card in and got up to use the restroom. The manager, having already been amazing all night, came by to apologize again about the service and even comped part of our meal, although I would have payed for the entire thing regardless. The food itself was okay. The brushetta appetizer was great! I had the butternut squash ravioli, which was supposed to be in a brown butter sauce. It was more of a brown butter soup, yet somehow had very little taste. My girlfriends meal was fine, she had the garlic shrimp and pasta. Even though the experience wasn't amazing, I understand people have bad days and regardless of the experience or the comp, I had no problem tipping 20% of the original cost. The atmosphere and the helpfulness of the manager made up for most of the negative points. All in all, I'd recommend everyone give it a try as I'd expect most experiences would be...

I love the outdoor seating, we try to call in advance and make a reservation just for it. Of course, the bread with the parmesan -olive oil is the best, and they even pack some for take-away orders, which is really sweet - especially during COVID - when we thought we would miss out on the warm fresh bread.

We tried the Pepperoni Pizza, the Chicken Parmesan, the Dijon Salmon, and the Rigatoni Bolognese.

Complimentary Bread + Oil - the bread was - mashed potato-based focaccia and herby sourdough with parmasean-enhanced olive oil. We have many a time asked for extra, as everyone at the tables scoops up plenty without any hesitation, and they always provide! Pepperoni Pizza - it was good, but I wished there were a little bit more pepperoni slices for the price of the pizza. Chicken Parmesan - was my favorite, to be honest - The chicken was very tender and the sauce was more than enough to scoop onto each bite. And the side of three cheese Rigatoni was a great compliment to the chicken. Dijon Salmon - the grilled salmon was great, especially with the capellini that was a bit sober with the intensity of flavoring, without overpowering the salmon itself. The dijon was something I didn't expect would go well with the Salmon, but I was quite surprised. Rigatoni Bolognese - the Bolognese was amazing and to be honest it was my first time eating Rigatoni, which was quite exciting. Even though it was just another shape of pasta, I enjoyed it with the bolognese.

Highly recommend it, especially for the warm...