Cafe Ami

Just a quick update: the sign on this place now claims it's called "Dami." I don't know if this is a permanent name change or not, but it's something to be aware of when looking for it.

For a city its size, Bloomington has an inordinate number of Korean restaurants, largely due to the inordinate number of Korean students at IU. This has led to a good competition between these restaurants, which, in turn, has made the food actually very good at the various places. Of those good Korean restaurants, this is my personal favorite.
And that's including their sister restaurant, Ami on Third. Sure, you can get beer and sushi at that one, but I like the atmosphere, food and service much better here, and you can't beat the lunch specials. $7 gets you kimchi chigae or a few other steaming bowls with rice, and this comes with unlimited side dishes of kimchi, sesame tofu and macaroni salad (that last one never gets eaten at our table). Yum. Yeah, it's really good. The really strange thing is that, specifically with kimchi chigae, you canNOT get it at the Ami on Third, even though you can get other Korean items like bulgogi and bibimbap there. Eh?
We've done dinner there as well, and it's pretty much the same menu but roughly $2 more. You get larger portions and extra side items. I prefer the lunch, personally.
The menu is pretty solidly Korean but does feature, of all things, chicken katsu. Maybe it's just easy to make, so they make it.
The atmosphere is cute. It's like every other 4th Street where it's built into an old house, but they've actually done quite a bit remodeling, with nice, new hardwood floors, very modern decor, artsy black and white photos of NYC on the wall, and a big TV that shows Korean television. So, yeah, if you're looking for a place to get your fix of K-Pop, then you should be hanging out here.
If you don't like Korean food, or are weirded out by strange things, then don't come here. You won't like anything on the menu, and the servers typically don't speak English well enough to be able to take your nitpicking. Just go to Applebee's, or Nick's.