Classy bar hidden in a small town.
Came here during the weekday, we ordered a hummus plate, the fancy mac n cheese, 2 bottles of veuve cliquot and a some mixed drinks and shots. Everything was great and the staff are a group of really chill and fun people. I definitely recommend this place, especially if you're a student at uiuc and want to get away from the frat bars on campus.
A lovely place. Â The atmosphere is very mellow and comfortable. Â I ordered two Frambois and the "fancy mac-n-cheese". Â The frambois has a wonderful raspberry flavor and I was so glad Boltini had it. Â I had a sip of my friend's sweet tea martini and it was a sparkly little treat. Â The "fancy mac'-n-cheese" was penne noodles with cheddar and blue cheeses and it was very tasty. Â
I highly recommend gathering in the "pit" area in the back of Boltini. Â It's the actual lounge area, with leather couches and glass tables. Â Everything we needed was easy to get a hold of and we were very comfortable.
Had a great time and would definitely recommend, especially if you are going in a group.
Jelly donut shots, ooooo! O_O Ah-mazing. Dips were delicious, we got the basil pesto and the tomato one. They have a huge selection of shots and other drinks (I'm a shots person, get the job done with as little pain and time involved ;-))
The ambiance is nice, and if you have a group of 5 or more and can snag some couches/chairs in the back I can guarantee you'll be there a while. It's so comfy and cozy. A wonderful place to go with friends.
Possibly the best food in town hidden away in a classy bar. Â You can never go wrong with catering from Boltini's for your event; given the quality of the food and chef's ability to present, I think you could even use them at an upscale wedding and be quite happy!
Also, props for being an Illinois Green-Certified Business!
Last time I went, I had a subpar experience. The cocktails were good, as usual. However, my favorite dish, the liar's club sandwich, was nowhere near as good as it used to be. One of my dining companions agreed, she got the same thing. What used to be a wonderful seared sushi grade tuna steak reminded me more of canning grade tuna that wasn't cooked long enough. I finished it anyways, my dining companion couldn't cope and didn't eat it. We mentioned this to the server, and I hope she passed the concern to the kitchen. I might try the place again for dinner, because I used to really like it, but I'm really disappointed they messed up my favorite.
Review Source:Kind of a dark place to be. Â The building is long and skinny. Â When we walked in we were not greeted in a friendly manner actually we were not greeted at all. We noticed there were reserved signs on all the tables that had daylight on them so we were directed to the back where they have creepy crescent shaped booths.
They have daily specials and the special was $5 cosmos so we all ordered one. Â It was really good and really strong! Â One is all you need. Â We also ordered the margherita pizza, artichoke dip & the fancy mac & cheese. Â The pizza was good, the dip was fabulous and the mac & cheese was gross. I do not know why they called it fancy mac & cheese. Â The noodles were too big and chewy and the cheese did not have any flavor. Â It was bland and boring and sticky. Â Nothing fancy about it all so that was misleading.
The dip had some hotness to it and had good flavor and consistency. Â None of the food came out hot. Â The pizza cheese was luke warm at best so I think it was sitting in the kitchen waiting to be brought out for a while.
Our waitress was really nice and very helpful with helping us select menu items.
Would I go back? Â Yes, I would go back and try something different and hopefully we could sit somewhere towards the front and the light of day. Â This place is really dark.
My boyfriend and I visited Boltini for the first time and we were overall impressed. Â We enjoyed our bacon-wrapped dates and other scrumptious food in a cozy crescent shaped booth. Â They were even passing out free shots of a new liquor (peanut butter and jelly flavored!). Â Not bad!
The staff seemed a bit frazzled with an event that was going on in the front of the restaurant. Â Kinda strange. Â But we left very happy. Â We will be back for some of their half-price food nights!
horrible horrible horrible!
the servers are inexperience and disrespectful due to the unprofessional management.
i honestly felt like i stepped into "dick's last resort". everything felt like a joke and was unbelievable.
i won't recommend their food but i will say the drinks are excellent if you prefer hard alcoholic beverages.
remember when you saw your mom get drunk at a wedding and things got awkward? Â well, that's boltini's at dinner time. Â i'm in my early 30's and go to boltini's for dinner with my husband sometimes. Â we usually have to fight the throng of 30-40-somethings dressed in ill fitting clothes from wet seal to find a seat. Â chicago it's not, but it tries... soooo hard. Â that's the problem. Â this place tries TOO hard. Â i get it. Â the downtown area needs a trendy place to serve martinis, but it is like watching a five year old play dress up. Â you know what they're aiming for, but it's a long way off. Â
the cons: the music/ambiance is way too loud for dinner time. Â if you want to eat and carry on a conversation with your party, forget it. Â it's not going to happen. Â if you know sign language or can psychically connect with your date, awesome, you'll be fine. Â also, the servers are okay at best. Â i know the odd design and lay out of this building makes it difficult to navigate for people who just go there to eat. Â if i had to carry plates or worry about a platter full of drinks, i'd probably make only the necessary trips to tables, too. Â it's dark in there, too.... so so dark. Â be prepared to hold the menu to the candle on the table. Â at first i thought that it was on the table for ambiance. Â i know realize it was there out of necessity.
the pros: the food is really pretty decent, which is why i have returned several times. Â the cheese platter is good and the creme brulee was super. Â if you want some decadent food, you'll get it. Â the martini's are alright. Â i have tried the sweeter ones on a few occasions, and they are good. Â strong? Â i don't know. Â they were ah-ight. Â
my suggestion? Â if you want to eat here and enjoy it, go during a weekday night. Â even better, go when it's warm outside so you can sit outside. Â there is nice seating outside and it's far easier to have a conversation with your companion.
I went here last night and had a great time. Â The place is pretty chill with a friendly waitstaff. Â It has an extensive food and drink menu. Â I'd be surprised if someone couldn't find something to their liking. Â We got the K.C. Poppers, grilled cheese, a hummus plate, and a flat bread pizza, along with a gimlet and a martini. Â Everything was great, but I may not do hummus plate again. Â It wasn't bad, it just didn't stand up to the rest of the dishes. Â
If you want to go out for drinks and a snack (or even dinner), and have a diverse group with a bunch of different cravings with you, you can't go wrong with Boltini.
Nice, dark late-night atmosphere. It was a little hard to find a table (the place was packed), and we had to seat ourselves (boo).
Food was great. We shared a mushroom/goat cheese crostini appetizer. The mushrooms and cheese were sort of creamed together, which I wasn't happy with at first, but liked it once I tasted it.
I had the lobster bisque, which was a special, and it was a nice price (I think $5 for a nicely sized bowl).
The drinks will kick your ass... in a good way.
Our waiter was SO FUN. Only downside is that we were checked on a little too often, and weren't really given enough privacy to chow down.
There are tons of bars in downtown Champaign and this place is fortunate enough for me to have walked into it! Met up a couple of friends here for a drink and ehh it was alright. My mojito was too sour and the leaves are grinded up pretty good so you can sip up a herb and not even know it. I sipped an herb and chewed on it by accident and YACKCKK!!
My friend's martini was too strong for her so she asked to have it re-mixed, the waiter said he was too busy but questioned her for 3 minutes about her drink saying he couldn't do it, and wadda-ya-know, he did it! He was friendly overall, however, but saying one thing and then the truth comes out is a slight pet-peeve for me.
Environment was nice; music really cranked up at 10 on the dot. Good place to chill and have a few drinks, what i really liked were the prices. They were very moderate and not overpriced. I would come back again but next time i'll pre-drink so I can babysit another mojito that i don't enjoy. :).
P.S. I received a follow up message; this goes to show that this restaurant really shows effort to tend to the comforts of the customers. Great service!
The chic decor, dim lights, and cozy booths set the intimate mood at Boltini Lounge. There are also additional seating areas in the back to accommodate larger groups but, especially during busier hours, I think that smaller groups work best.
I love the menu's variety of selection to choose from. My personal favorites include the crab cakes, liar's club (the sriracha sauce is absolutely delish), meat-a-balls, and grilled cheese that you can dip into shots of the yummiest tomato vodka soup! The drinks are a little pricey, but are always really good and stiff; you'll get your money's worth.
The male servers during my first two visits to Boltini were exceptional. They were knowledgeable, hospitable, and professional. During my last visit, however, we had a female server and although she was polite, she was very curt and seemed impatient for us to quickly order, eat, and pay as if it were a full house (in reality, we were one of only two tables during that early dinner hour). Â
Overall, I would recommend Boltini. The prices are reasonable and the food is pretty great. If the good service was more consistent across the staff, I would be more keen to give Boltini a straight 5 stars.
I really, really loved this place. Â Fantastic ambiance, fantastic martinis, fantastic service, fantastic food. Â I love the variety of martinis here, which you don't see often at this level, and I especially love the dirty martinis (the Bloody Hot and Dirty). Â
Appetizers are fantastic to share, especially the pub pretzel fondue and "Euro Crostini." Â
This all leads me to the only reason I knocked this place down to four stars: My girlfriend got the pub pretzel fondue for me as takeout one day, and the dip was just dumped into the cardboard container with the pretzel, where it inevitably began to seep through. Â Why a place that is usually as top-notch as Boltini would just dump a sauce into a cardboard container, I don't know.
I love the atmosphere in Boltini - it's an amazing place to just relax and have a few drinks with friends over some food. Inside is dimly lit with strategically placed candles and intriguing local artwork hung throughout. Intimate booths up front for a date night and plush couches in the back for larger groups - I'm a fan of both.
Drinks are priced relatively high for Champaign-Urbana standards at around $7-10 a cocktail, but they are made strong and well so it's worth it in my opinion. Food there is alright - I'm trying hard to remember it but failing ... which means it must not have been that spectacular.
Summary: Go to Boltini if you want to get away and relax in an intimate setting. Not if you wanna get wasted and start dancing on the tables. Go to Joe's or Murphy's for that.
4.5
I went to Boltini for dinner twice, and the food was good! We ordered a ton of appetizers and they were all good. My two favorites were the artichoke dip and the ahi tuna wonton (but again, I like everything with ahi tuna). The sandwiches were also really good too. We also got all their desserts (they had like 3 to choose from), and I loved the creme brulees. Best of all, the price was surprisingly cheap!
The drinks were mostly good. Their beer of the month was good and cheap at $3. Other than that, their drinks fall in the $6-9 range which is a little steep for a town like Champaign. However, they make their drinks really strong, so you kinda have to pace yourself through the drinks.
Overall, I like this place a lot. Great ambient, great food, great drinks, reasonable price. It's quite a rarity in Champaign.
4 stars if you want to go there for drinks
5 stars if you want to go there for dinner (because it's a bargain for the quality of food you get, especially when you have a gift certificate from <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Frestaurant.com&s=c5fe485af4df376130bee54f875814d79c4d7913e1258123b1206d2bdbf4873b" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://restaurant.com</a>).
First, the good: The food was absolutely amazing. I had the rare tuna sandwich and it was far and away the best sandwich I've had. Also, I had the "Fancy Mac&Cheese" (I think that's what it's called) and it was phenomenal. I talked to the manager for a while about the menu and he was very friendly and helpful, and they served free samples of Maker's Mark. Also, my wine was fantastic, but I credit the wine more than the restaurant.
EDIT: The bad: Originally I had posted a rather harsh review of the service, but in retrospect I think they were just understaffed/overworked due to trivia night. It's sort of an odd shaped restaurant, and I understand it's easy to lose a table in the shuffle. However, I still need to knock them down a star for it (but knocking them down 4 stars was way too much).
I really appreciated the manager commenting on my original review, and it made me warm up to the place a lot. I'll come back on a different day, and hopefully that will let me give this place 5 stars. The food really was fantastic, worthy of 5 stars. Hopefully it was just an "off night" due to trivia when I went in.
HELLO, new favorite place in Champaign.
We decided as a family to go here for dinner on a recent visit. My brother is newly 21, so why not go somewhere with an amazing looking drink menu as well as an amazing looking menu?
We got there relatively early on a Saturday, roughly 645pm. There were only a few individuals when we got there. We started the night with drinks, continued the night with drinks, and ended the night with drinks. Oh, and maybe some food. We each had martinis to start and were fairly pleased. Then I stumbled upon this gem of a mojito - strawberry basil. There were no mint mojitos due to the seasonality of mint - I love when restaurants acknowledge this fact. However, strawberries are in season, and made the most delicious drink. Maybe this is why I had 3.
Oh, yeah, there's food. Do yourself a favor and order a cheese plate. A lot of the cheeses are from local farms and DELICIOUS. I continued the cheese parade with the Mac and Cheese. Cheddar and strong blue cheese? YUM. By the time we left (about 9:45pm - we take our time!) this place was PACKED, and much louder.
Maybe since I'm used to paying Chicago prices for drinks, I found this place to be very reasonable. My mojitos were $8. We spent $95 on drinks, $50 on food, and were stuffed and well "hydrated" and very pleased. Â Very pleasant service, although as Boltini got busier, we saw our waitress less (she was also doubling as a bartender). I will be back, Boltini.
This place is pretentious and snobby, but that's exactly it's appeal. It's just doesn't appeal to me. If you like laid back beer-bars like Esquire or Mike and Molly's, you'll be confronted with something entirely different at Boltini. If you're interested in paying a bit more for girly, froo-froo cocktails, food that looks like food only smaller, or an entirely different experience this is the place for you.
My most memorable moment at Boltini: asking for a Blue Moon and being handed a bottle (it's on draft everywhere else), and nearly spitting it out when I was told it would cost $4.75! (UPDATE: Blue Moon's are $4.25, not $4.75). They also assigned a single waitress to a group of over 20. When the clearly over-worked waitress couldn't keep up with the groups demands for drinks, I went to bar, and was rudely told by the snobby bartender woman that she couldn't add my beer to my tab because I had started the tab with the waitress. Again, I feel this would be an easy request for any other downtown pub to fill; but Boltini staff are too good to add one number to another number.
That being said, if you're interested in fancy cocktails and fancy food--and are willing to pay extra for it--you'll probably like this place. If you're not a cocktail drinker, then skip this place.
UPDATE: Thanks to Robb for responding to my concerns. Like I said, it's not my taste, but many people seem to like it. I'd rather have a diverse downtown than have everything the same.
I love Boltini! Â It's such a great place to sit and chat and have a glass of wine. Â I've been here a couple times and I will say that going in warmer weather is so much better because of their nice patio. Â The inside is nice, too, but can get incredibly loud after 10ish on the weekends and cancels my original statement of being able to have a nice conversation. Â However, before the music gets turned way up and it gets packed with college students, the inside has a really great ambiance.
I've only tasted a few small bites on the menu, but they seem to have a really great offering, including desserts. Â I'd recommend Boltini for a date night or a night out with the girls.
This is a solid 4.5-5 star place. The prices may be higher than we all want to pay, but they are right for the value delivered. The servers are as good or better than any other bar in CU that comes to mind (and, for better or worse, I drink nearly everywhere).
The place where Boltini really stands apart (for me) are their martinis and mixed drinks. If you order a dirty martini, for example, but specify that you want it only a little dirty they'll get it just right. Their Old Fashioned is quite a production. I forget what all Robb (mgr) put in it, but it was delightful.
My absolute favorite mixed drink at Boltini is their Sugar Plum. It sounds pretty froofy, and it is indeed delightfully delish, but this straight arrow stands behind this very strong and very purple (tasting) beverage. I am not sure if the fact that I order mine without sugar on the rim of the glass makes my Sugar Plum swilling any less emasculating, but I do want that fact noted for the record.
Lastly, Boltini's hosts 'Tuesday Night Trivia', starting every Tuesday night at 7pm. It is a lot of fun and all you have to do is come with a friend or two or 4 (I think 5 is the max, but it may be 6) and let them know your team name. At this trivia night, as opposed to Canopy Club's, which takes place at the exact same time, team names are punny, but not perverse. The host(s) pass out answer sheets for you to fill in and ask several rounds of questions over the PA. Dont be afraid to ask questions if you are curious.
Competition is fun, and the whole thing lasts about 2-2.5 hours. Winners get prizes, including free drinks, appetizers, and even massages. The crowd is good: think professionals, teachers, librarians, grad students and profs. I don't go regularly anymore because it is just a 'lil too dear and also a 'lil to slow. Canopy Club's questions come faster. NTN trivia at BW3's is faster still.
Park behind Boltini's in the lot.
In the middle of February when the snow decides to attack us, my friend decides to go to Boltini for a birthday dinner. Â I didn't even know this place had a dinner menu since all their drinks have the spotlight, but it's not too bad, depending on what you get. Â For a cold night like this, a selection from their 'hot drinks' looks perfect to warm you up, and someone ordered a 'Peppermint Patty.' Â A bunch of others got their $4 specials of Razzmo's and Clementine Cosmo's. Â I just stuck with water.
But back the the food. Â It is cheaper than most of their drinks! Â Pastas started at $6.50 and sandwiches were up to $10. Â The Liar's Club Sandwich caught my eye because of the raw ahi tuna, avacado, and sriracha aioli sauce. Â Everything was tucked inside of a soft sun-dried tomato bun cushioned with a bed of sprouts. Â They could have spiced the tuna a bit more, and added some more sriracha. Â I was searching for more flavor with each bite and before I knew it the sandwich was gone.
It was easy to eat because the softness of the sandwich, but needed a stronger punch ... and maybe some crunch. Â My friend had to add hot pepper flakes to everything. Â I'd say get the pizza or pesto pasta if you want something that is guaranteed to be good. Â Their ahi tuna tacos and "grown up grilled cheese" looked interesting. Â They have something called the 'Brownie Tower' which is self-explained heaven and served with a shot of chocolate milk.
The ambiance is alright, they have cool names for everything and an endless list of classy drinks. Â However it's funny I felt like the menu was trying to assure me that eating here made me "grown up." Hence the "grown up" grilled cheese or a "grown up" shot of chocolate milk. Â It's a creative twist to kiddish foods but thanks for the reminder. Â A word of advice, order the things that are listed the most on the menu. Â The 10 pages of drinks and 5 pages of cheese were no accident.
So - stop me if you've heard this one - a Beer Girl walks into a Martini Bar...
Ok, couldn't help myself. Â So yes, Boltini is known for their martinis, but they have quite an awesome (and oft overlooked) beer list. Â I got a Shipyard Pumpkin Ale - that stuff's hard to find in Chicago, so points to the C-U mini-metropolis on that one!
For dinner, we went with the crab cake appetizer (as a Child of the Chesapeake, I am honor-bound to try any crab dish heralded as "best in town"). Â I must say, this appetizer held its own. Â While these were not traditional Chesapeake cakes, they took on a sort of Asian flair with the sauce and the vegetable pairings (I had no idea what to expect when I read that this came with "Asian Slaw". Â What is that? Â Eh, I'm still not sure, but it was delicious). Â We definitely cleaned the plate.
For my entree, I ordered the Blue Crab salad. Â It was basically the appetizer salad-ified. Â Without my asking, the dressing was on the side (gold star!).
Overall, everything was fresh, tasty, and a touch unexpected (you never know when it comes to "bar food"). Â While their drink menu far surpasses their dinner menu, Boltini is still a decent spot to grab a bite downtown.
Imagine that you live in what is, for all intents and purposes, a farm town with pretensions due to a large university. Â Imagine that students and faculty remember their snooty martini bars from back home. Â Now imagine them building it in aforementioned farm town.
Congratulations, you've found boltini, which shouldn't be as awesome as it is.
While Boltini might not pass muster in San Francisco or L.A., it's amazing here, and the staff are friendly, accomodating, and the mood is light. Â Spinning music, low lighting, amazing martinis, fantastic cheese platters--yeah, Boltini is a good life choice. I've enjoyed all my boltini visits, and marveled at the joys of pretentiously sippin' strong drinks in triangular glasses while glancing all about me. Â Nicely done, Boltini.
Even back home in the San Francisco Bay Area, it's hard to find a lounge where good drinks, small crowds, great ambiance, and plenty of good seating mesh.
The seating at Boltinis is comfortable and intimate. Think black leather semi-circle booths with high backs in the middle of the room. Towards the back of the room are black leather rectangular IKEA couches with glass tables and candlelight everywhere.
The drinks are large, mixed well, strong, and tasty. Personally, I prefer a perfect (half dry, half sweet vermouth) gin martini, shaken.
You CANNOT go wrong with the cheese plates here. Make sure to come at least in a group of four so you can order the 3 cheese plate. You choose from a cheese list and it is brought out with sliced baguettes (toasted and non-toasted), fruit (green apple slices, grapes), and olives. I would highly recommend the gueyere, euro cream, and the cheese infused with port wine. But seriously, pick and choose to your hearts content because the pairing of great cheese with great drinks will make you feel reallll sexy.
I exposed my friends for the first time to Boltinis last weekend and they were highly impressed with the classy setting, quick servers, and amazing cheese and drinks. Even on a hectic Saturday night, we found a nice seating area in the back of the pit for all 8 of us.
Boltini Lounge is a place that should stay hidden (thank God it's in dtown Champaign and not on campus) for its adventurous, sick-of-underage-teenybopper-gangsta-wannabes, discriminating clientele.
I tell my friends that Boltini Lounge is where the people sick of the same scene at Joe's, Fubar, or even SoMa turn to.
We will be there again tomorrow night for a birthday :)
EDIT:
Only downside is that they don't serve wine... So unfortunately you can't bring your own bottle of nice wine to enjoy here. But I guess you're supposed to be here for the martinis right?
The first time I came to boltini, I knew it wasn't my scene.. the thumpin music, the extensive cocktail list, the prices!
This past Friday has changed my mind. I went out with the ladies, and was a few drinks in by the time we got to boltini. I had the strawberry gimlet, which was a homemade mixture of strawberry puree and vodka, topped off with a healthy pour of chambord ($7.25). I don't usually like paying this much for a cocktail but you really do get what you pay for! The drink did not taste of sugar or artificial strawberries... it tasted fresh and was absolutely fantastic! Also, the drinks are strong. They really aren't messing around. All of the employees were nice and accommodating too! I might not bring the boy for a quiet night out, but for me and my girls, boltini is a nice treat :)
I love that I come into this place, order a couple of the oh-so-tasty drinks, and get tanked. You get your money's worth here. The waitstaff is always nice and helpful, and the seating is comfy. It's a rarity to not find a spot for a small group of people. Plus you're guaranteed to see some hilariously drunk girls falling out of their tiny dresses. Always entertaining.
My only problem with the place is that the music gets a little loud sometimes.
If you're craving cocktails, this is THE place to go. The atmosphere is classy but not overly so, and there's always a good mix of people hanging out. If you know of any place comparable to it in Chicago, let me know!
This place may get 4 stars after a future visit. Â But for now, it stands at just okay.
So, you go in for the first time ever, and there's a huge list of fancy schmancy cocktails for your perusal. Â You read through it, and are interrupted no fewer than 3 times by impatient bartenders. Â You try to be polite, but dammit, they are really all up in your shit. Â I appreciate the effort to be efficient, but it was so obnoxious. Â I finally order my relatively overpriced elitist martini drink, and the very unfriendly lady bartender goes off to make it. Â It was not particularly good. Â It was all grapefruit and very little liquor. Â In fact, it looked like a cosmo, because it was so laden with grapefruit juice. Â Later on, someone else in my party ordered what I had, because it sounded good. Â Hers came ruby red in color, because it had more liquor than juice. Â It completed my theory that Bitchy McWaitress had a thing against me for looking through the menu. Â
But whatever.
The perks to this bar: Lots of seating, nice & helpful waitstaff if you're seated away from the bar, insanely excellent gin gimlet (I mean, really, really awesome) served in a martini glass which was an unexpectedly classy touch, and great cheese plates.
I'll probably be back.
After a fun filled fish fry rehearsal dinner, friends and I gathered here for a night cap or two... or three. It was mentioned to us by the beautiful bride to be to try this place. Wonderful high ceilings, comfy curled couches, interesting bar seats, cute bar staff, (well... okay the girls behind the bar), and a very mixed crowd. But what were we here for? Well, myself and the rest of the crowd wanted a beer, my friend wanted some girls he could hit on. I won. Were there girls he could hit on here? Yes, so don't get me wrong on that account, but not the skanky girls he was interested in. We sat at the bar, I poured over their menu, rather impressive. About 8 to 10 different dirty martinis as well as a multitude of drinks and wines. Plenty of imported and micro brews abound, Â Food looked pretty good as well, but my stomach was full from munching earlier, but on the other hand if it wasn't, I would have chowed down. I do have to say the staff behind the bar was hustling their butts off, so I allow the waiting a bit to get some attention to slide. Yet, I didn't understand why the bartenders were also serving tables as well, perhaps some one called in sick. Yet, they were still friendly and even made sure my friend's martini was just right when he said it was too dirty for him. Â Even a DJ was spinning some tracks.
I do have a weird feeling that this place is trying to do too much, perhaps with the competition of bars in the area they are trying to serve an everything under the sun atmosphere in a more upscale college town. I really liked it and if I ever find myself in town again, I want to stop by here. However I need to find a driver for this town to whisk me away back to my hotel. Finding a cab is harder than finding a Michigan Wolverine fan here.
The bar here isn't really my scene. I'm not a fan of house music or their prententious bartenders. I do like the food though and you can actually enjoy a good early dinner or late lunch at Boltini before the bar crowd saunters in and it gets loud. My favorite is the "adult" grilled cheeses because the cheese they use is amazing. Smoked gouda and bacon alongside shots of vodka tomato soup? Heaven.
However, the cheese plates themselves are less satisfying. I wish they had more cheese and fewer garnishes.
I was in town for a short period of time and this place came highly recommended. I was told it had 'an extensive martini menu,' so of course I had to go!
The vibe here was interesting. You could tell it was one of the posher places in town, but it felt like one part dive bar and one part lounge. I must admit I liked the music. They were playing Jamie Cullum as I entered the place.
I tried the Pomegranate Martini. It was okay. It was pretty sweet for a martini... but I felt pretty buzzed afterwards. So I'm sure it had a decent amount of alcohol in it.
The bathroom was quite nice, though. I would go back and try the food next time. It had several things I would have wanted to try had I not eaten earlier.
The place looks posh.. but the people that work there and go there are a little weird. Â In the winter, the place is small so you might have to wait in line and stand when you get inside (because there aren't any tables or chairs available). Â Oh.. and sometimes the people are rude there.. but not often. Â So that's why they get four stars.
I do think they serve the best martinis in town. Â I like the lemon drop and appletini.
This is an excellent place to have an adult beverage. Until the Blind Pig reopened it had the best beer in town - small selection, but CHOICE. This is where I learned the love of Three Floyd's Alpha King. The decor is cool, the round booths are cool, the clientele thinks it is cooler than it really is, but that's the case almost everywhere.
I just wish it were open in the afternoons! Always my favorite time to hit a bar, when it's deserted, quiet, and smoke-free.
Update: Â I recently had the WORST SERVICE I HAVE EVER HAD AT A BAR at Boltini. Â I have never been as insulted by a waiter in my life as I was last night, when our waiter threw our checks at us and then went to the trouble of getting cash out of the register to RETURN OUR TIP, also throwing it at us, even though we paid with credit card. Â Not only was this guy completely out of line, when I began reciting this story to friends later in the night "We almost got in a fight with our waiter..." everyone I told it to knew which waiter I was talking about from previous experience. Â I won't be going back to Boltini for a while, and it gets demoted to 2 stars. Â That kind of treatment is unacceptable.
I think Boltini is my favorite bar in CU since it is essentially the only one that does not pander to Illini sports and skeezy undergrad men trying to get 18 year old sorority girls drunk, but it's hard to get my friends to go there because they think this makes it "pretentious" and "snobby," preferring to get barfed upon at Mike and Molly's or wherever. Â
Personally I do not think it is pretentious, and I tend to think that the staff are only snobby when the patrons are acting like they are at a kegger and not like normal human beings trying to enjoy a non-Keystone Beverage. Â Notably, when I first visited Boltini on a grad school visit whileI was living in Boston, I was SHOCKED at how cheap the drinks were. Â I did not expect such low prices from such a well-appointed bar.
I would EXPECT Boltini to have the best cocktails of any place downtown but I think that award , bizzarely, goes instead to Guido's. Â The other factor contributing to the four star rating is the terrible, omnipresent, cigar-doused in ammonia smell that is even detectable out on the patio. Â Perhaps this will improve when Champaign becomes smoke-free.
The 5 best restaurants in the 2015 Denver Restaurant Week
3,611 Views | Category: Denver
The complete list of 2015 Denver Restaurant Week businesses
1,972 Views | Category: Denver
The tourists' guide to Portillos: 5 must have dishes
3,318 Views | Category: Chicago
Pho = Pronounced "fuh" not "foe" for pho-king sake
2,915 Views | Category: Denver
Indulgery selected to exhibit at Collision Conference
2,987 Views | Category: Press Releases
Not Logged In
BUSINESSES
Local Businesses
Near Me
My Favorites
SOCIAL
Blog & News
MY ACCOUNT
Login
Register
Contact Us
Add Your Business
