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B-Won
Category:
Food & Dining
2006 S. Neil St.
Champaign, Illinois 61820
(217) 352-2966
Fairly recently, a Korean restaurant opened up off of the University of Illinois campus. While there are a lot of places on campus to get Korean cuisine, they tend to be more of a "fast-food"...
Fairly recently, a Korean restaurant opened up off of the University of Illinois campus. While there are a lot of places on campus to get Korean cuisine, they tend to be more of a "fast-food" variety, so I was eager to give this restaurant off campus a try.
I knew that it was a sit-down restaurant, so I was afraid of what the prices might be. To my surprise, the prices were comparable to those back on campus.
The restaurant itself was stylish, with a sleek modern interior that gave way to a comfortable dining experience. The staff were all extremely friendly, as well.
The food was amazing. I haven't talked to anyone that has eaten there who has not been satisfied with their meal.
The only downfall is that the menu can be difficult to interpret by those unfamiliar with Korean cuisine. Though there are descriptions given in English, they tend to be on the vague side, listing only major ingredients and oftentimes giving no real indication as to how the food is prepared (grilled? steamed? boiled?).
I definitely recommend this restaurant to those who love Korean cuisine, and those willing to test it out.
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For the first time in my life, I took a trip with friends out of state. And we went very out of state, driving some 17 hours to Dallas, TX, in order to attend A-Kon, a large anime convention, that...
For the first time in my life, I took a trip with friends out of state. And we went very out of state, driving some 17 hours to Dallas, TX, in order to attend A-Kon, a large anime convention, that the city hosts.
The convention itself was hosted at the Adams Mark Hotel, and for convenience's sake, we decided to stay there, too. Normally, it seems, the rooms available at the hotel are fairly pricy, but we got a lowered price deal since we were attendees of the convention.
The hotel, first of all, was easy to find--which is extremely important when you're traveling far from home to a place you've never been before. Secondly, the hotel was large--but still easy to navigate.
The room we stayed in was large, as well, which easily fit the 5 of us staying there, giving each person plenty of room. Staff of the hotel seemed friendly enough, and the hotel was kept as clean as it could be for an anime convention weekend.
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During the school year, I tend to watch a lot of Korean dramas. First of all, they're entertaining, but they also help me become more comfortable with the language (which I am currently...
During the school year, I tend to watch a lot of Korean dramas. First of all, they're entertaining, but they also help me become more comfortable with the language (which I am currently studying).
When I'm home, I don't get to watch them so much. That is, until I found Salem Video.
The greatest thing about Salem Video is their selection--they have pretty much every Korean drama I've ever heard of, as well as some Japanese and Chinese/Taiwanese dramas (with Korean sub-titles). The workers are knowledgeable about the series and are very good at making recommendations based upon personal preferences.
The downside of the store is that, with so many videos there, it is a little hard to navigate on your own. You'll often need to ask one of the owners to locate a series for you, since it's pretty difficult to locate it yourself.
Also, the videos are taped from a TV broadcast, or are taped off of a DVD. Quality, therefore, suffers a bit. But, they're cheap and you get a long while to watch them, so it's ok. You can rent a DVD, as long as you put down a deposit to ensure the DVD (which you'll get back when you return it).
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I recounted the story of my friend in my Borics review, who had gone to get her hair fashionably styled and came out with a female mullet. Devastated, she wanted desperately to get it...
I recounted the story of my friend in my Borics review, who had gone to get her hair fashionably styled and came out with a female mullet. Devastated, she wanted desperately to get it fixed.
However, most salons were already closed by the time we got back. So my mom suggested that we see if any hair place in the local mall was still open, so we decided to try that.
Stumbled across Trade Secret first, and found a male worker sitting in the back with a customer, who was apparently getting her hair dyed (we later discovered she was his mother). We recounted our story, and he agreed to fix my friend's hair.
And fix it he did! He worked some kind of magic, and quickly transformed her hair from hideous to stylish.
He was very friendly, seemed extremely knowledgeable about hair, and was more than a little helpful (he even let her have the cut for free!).
I HIGHLY recommend them. I don't know what my friend would have done if he had not been able to fix her hair.
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Yesterday, my friend dragged me along while she got her hair cut, since she wanted some advice in picking out a style. Wanting to save money, she went to Borics Hair Care, which offers haircuts for...
Yesterday, my friend dragged me along while she got her hair cut, since she wanted some advice in picking out a style. Wanting to save money, she went to Borics Hair Care, which offers haircuts for just $10.99, or something pretty close to that.
We pick out a hair style from a book that shouldn't be too difficult to cut, particularily considering the style she had before. The woman takes her in promptly and begins cutting.
The haircut came out nothing like the picture. It wasn't even a good style or cut, either. The layers were blunt, thick, and choppy, clearly evident from across the room and not blended into the hair at all (like they should be). The sides, which were supposed to have been left long, were cut short--ultimately giving my friend a mullet. The hair was uneven (one side was a good one and a half inches longer than the other), and the back wasn't straight (it was kind of shaped like a W).
Borics is cheap, but one should really watch out because when it comes to hair, you REALLY get what you pay for. If you're looking for a haircut, it's worth spending a little bit of extra money to go out to a salon and get it done right.
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The most convenient thing about Steak'n'Shake is that it's open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
And their milkshakes are pretty darn tasty and come in a variety of flavours for just a couple of...
The most convenient thing about Steak'n'Shake is that it's open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
And their milkshakes are pretty darn tasty and come in a variety of flavours for just a couple of books. Really, you should try at least one. If you like milkshakes, that is.
Otherwise, the food is bland and the service sometimes questionable. I've gone at times and was treated to really good service, but other times the amount of mistakes that the servers made was enough to make me generalize the restaurant as having poor quality service. It should be noted that the only restaurant that I've ever gone to and not left a tip was at a Steak'n'Shake. We had a party of 5 (all were present, and we even specified this to the waitress), yet were seated at a booth designed for 4 and were only given 4 menus. Out of 5 people, 3 people had their orders messed up substantially and were originally going to be charged for more expensive menu items that they had either not received or not ordered in the first place. For instance, my brother had ordered a side of cheese fries, and was brought regular fries. He asked the waitress to bring some cheese out for him, since that was what he had ordered. She says she will, but 20 minutes later still hasn't come. His fries are now cold, but that's not too big an issue with him. We alert the manager as to our condition, so he has her bring out the cheese for him. She finally does. And we think that problem, at least, has been fixed. Until we get our bill and realize that she had charged him for a large order of cheese fries AND a large order of regular fries--despite the fact that he had ordered only the cheese fries, and that he had ordered (and received) a small, not a large. Couple this with confused orders on milkshakes, another mistake on portion size, and the fact that we were not given eating utensils for about 15 minutes after we received our shakes (and when we were given spoons for our shakes, they were too short to do us much good, since they were the spoons for the chili), it should be noted that we were pretty angry with the service we had received.
I'm not saying it's always like this, though. This was the worst of the serving experiences we had, and while we had a number of errors before, they had never been to this extent.. And we've gone and received excellent service a number of times, as well.
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Art Coop
Category:
Art Supplies
410 E Green St
Champaign, Illinois 61820
(217) 352-4562
Located at an extremely accessible location, the art coop is a good place for me to stop when I need to make an urgent purchase of art supplies.
Despite being accessible, though, I do admit it's...
Located at an extremely accessible location, the art coop is a good place for me to stop when I need to make an urgent purchase of art supplies.
Despite being accessible, though, I do admit it's a little easy to miss, as it's tucked into the back of the building. There's a sign, of course, but sometimes you just don't pay attention to those kind of things...
The art coop cells a lot of art supplies of various kinds, and I've never needed something art-related that I couldn't find there. However, they're pretty expensive, which makes bulk purchasing (at least by me) nearly impossible.
But still, it's well-organized and contains quite an inventory, so when I need just one or two items, I won't hesitate to stop here
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Being an artist is an expensive hobby. I need to buy various pencils, erasers, different types of paper, different colours and types of paint, palettes, ink, tortillions... And other hobbyists will...
Being an artist is an expensive hobby. I need to buy various pencils, erasers, different types of paper, different colours and types of paint, palettes, ink, tortillions... And other hobbyists will find that they have to dish out a fair number of dollars in order to pursue their projects as well. That's why Hobby Lobby is so convenient.
Hobby Lobby sells a lot, first of all. Art supplies, knitting yarn and tools, model kits, school supplies, etc.--you name it, they probably have it, if it pertains to a hobby of some kind. Prices are very good, too--comparing Hobby Lobby prices to art store prices, Hobby Lobby tends to sell the same product for much less, saving me a bundle of money.
But since it sells so much stuff, sometimes it's hard to locate what exactly you need. An art store is more convenient in this way; at Hobby Lobby, I have to walk through the figurines, clocks, mirrors, school supplies, the floral department, and the fabric department just to pick out a new set of pencils that I can sketch with. The store might also prove to be relatively disorganized and not very catering to intuition.
The store is of religious affiliation, and it does show; but it's not so unbearable oppressing to make non-Christian customers uncomfortable.
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Needed to make some last minute hotel arrangements this past weekend, and found a savior in Hampton Inn.
The hotel was easily located, just off University Avenue in Urbana. The price was very...
Needed to make some last minute hotel arrangements this past weekend, and found a savior in Hampton Inn.
The hotel was easily located, just off University Avenue in Urbana. The price was very decent, too - for a fairly spacious 2 queen bed room, we paid $110.
The hotel was large and well-decorated, giving it a friendly yet prestigious look to it. The room was clean, and the service was friendly. Parking was easy to come by, which was good, as I've run into problems with hotels before where we couldn't find a spot to park.
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Despite the name, Fisherman's Inn is really a restaurant, and a fairly decent one at that. It's not the greatest place around in terms of food, but it's definitely edible, and the restaurant itself...
Despite the name, Fisherman's Inn is really a restaurant, and a fairly decent one at that. It's not the greatest place around in terms of food, but it's definitely edible, and the restaurant itself is a good experience.
The restaurant is huge and is usually crowded. This proves it's popular, at the very least. The interior decorations seems a little bit high school prom to me, for some reason, what with the white Christmas lights and all, but overall it's still nice.
Prices are high, and I'm not entirely sure that it's worth every penny. Certainly I wouldn't mind paying this much elsewhere, but sometimes, I find the food lacking a little in flavour to pay the asking price for it. Personal preference, though, I know many who love it there.
The outside, however, is stunning. A nice-sized pond fills the area in the back, and the landscape is well-planned and taken care of. It's great for photo opportunities, and visitors are invited to take a stroll around. It's absolutely gorgeous and peaceful - and somehow manages to remind me a little of how I imagined the Shire to look when reading Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy.
There's a gift shop, too, that sells items typical of a hotel gift shop, with a slight lean towards the nautical (since it is a seafood restaurant).
The restaurant, if not for the food, is worth going to just for sheer experience.
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