I lived in Bloomington in the 80's and now live nearer to Peoria. Last night found ourselves over in Bloomington about dinner time and decided to go back to Grand Cafe, a place we used to visit for lunch very often back in the day.\r
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I had forgotten how good they are. Now, if you're after haute cuisine Chinese - all wood ear mushrooms and exotic presentation - you're not likely to find it here. It's much more along your ""chicken almond ding/moo goo gai pan"" type of dishes. However, here's what sets Grand Cafe apart: everything, I mean *everything* appears to be homemade from scratch. And it all shows. They have the best egg rolls anywhere. Forget about those frozen ones everyone else puts out. These are made on site, stuffed with cabbage, pork and whole little shrimps, and seasoned to perfection. They are awesome. Similarly, the crab rangoons have not seen a day in a freezer. They are fresh and creamy and incredibly crispy on the outside. The shrimp dish we ordered was overloaded with shrimp. My husband had orange chicken and it was big hunks of chicken breast (not little nuggets of ""stuff"" and scraps like other places) breaded in a light, cornmeal tasting (?) batter - it was delicious.\r
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The location of this place stinks. The decor is dark and hasn't changed in the 30 years I've known the place. But there's a reason they've been around as long as they have. The service was excellent, the food reasonably priced and really, really tasty. Like the best Chinese comfort food ever. I highly recommend this place. I have been away from it too long and I'm looking forward to going back again soon!\r
Pros: great homemade food, well priced, great service
Cons: poor ambiance, weird location
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