It's really sad because it's such a beautiful place! Â There is soooo much potential here, but there are a lot of things that Martini's needs to fix:
1) The music is ridiculously loud inside. Â I'm 28 and listen to my music very loud, but this was uncomfortably loud. Â Not to mention, there were only 7 of us total in the bar. Â LOL Â Awkward! Â OH! Â And this guy kept playing ghetto gangster rap...my 59 year old in-laws really appreciated that....LOL!
2) The cover charge? Â Get rid of it. Â It's not worth it at this place... They are just hurting their wait staff. We are extremely generous tippers, and that 20 bucks we just spent to get in wont be going to the staff.
3) I have to agree with Jen B's review from a year and a half ago. Â I had two martinis and both were not only weak, but wrong and not very good! Â Oh, and they were TINY. Â I've had shots that were bigger ;) Â At first I thought, "$9 for a martini? Â Heck yeah!" Â But because they were SO small I would consider them expensive. Â
4) Â Hire better staff. Â The staff inside and outside were goofing off nonstop. Â It felt very juvenile and extremely unprofessional. Â
5) The band outside just sucked. Â Sorry. Â It was all old people performing older songs... really weird... because most of the people were young/younger. Â My in-laws liked the music outside, but the crowd was a little rowdy and we couldn't find a table.
Really our whole experience was just...awkward and uncomfortable. Â
I don't think we will go back unless they make a few changes: Â
I would like to see the INSIDE treated as a true martini bar with cool, laid back music and dim lighting to match. Â Sip a good, strong Martini and chill out...mmmmm....
Keep the OUTSIDE cool/fun/young. Â Hire bands that everyone can enjoy, and play music that is current(ish) and makes me want to toss back a few shots and dance.
I'll keep my fingers crossed :)
Oh Martini's, what is happening to you?? My last two visits here, Wednesday before Thanksgiving and a recent Saturday night, were far, far less than stellar. So far less, I will be taking a long break (read: the winter) from your doors. I have noticed the "martinis" have gotten so weak that I can have 4-5 and not even feel a buzz compared to about 2 mixed drinks down at Kellehers. And at $7 for the mini-glass of fruit juice they are serving me, that really adds up. Not to mention the great service I noticed on a Saturday night that they weren't especially busy: ol' boy behind the bar was sneaking up on people who had set their drinks down and turned their backs and he would swipe them, then dump them out, forcing them to buy more! My friend caught him once and told him knock it off, that a half full glass with unmelted ice was not "abandoned" when she was standing right next to it. I thought that was enough of a warning that I set my fruit juice martini down while we took a picture. Nope, gone in 60 seconds. Closed out my tab, sans tip for that idiot.
Also, my friends went on in ahead of me while I got my phone from my car and they were all charged $5 cover. I came in alone a few minutes later and the door guy just glanced at me. I'm not sure the criteria for charging cover here but maybe consider making it a consistent rule so you don't piss off the patrons. Plus I felt like an idiot for crowing about how we didn't have to pay cover because we came so late. Doh!
Prices are kinda pricey...but it is called martini's. not sure what I am bitching about since I now live in San Francisco and Martini's prices back in peoria are actually cheap as shit compared to here, but on with the story. It's a nice place to go have some drinks and esp good times on half price martini monday. the beer patio is long and sometimes will have live music.
Review Source:The architecture & decor in here is really very impressive, and if I were showing Peoria to someone who hadn't ever been here, this is the first place I'd take them I think - but judging from some of the other reviews, maybe they aren't experts at their namesake - they had an all right beer selection tho so I left happy. Staff is friendly, place is kept clean, tho unfortunately a few of the neato velvet booths have some gashes in them - wish they could fix those up.
Review Source:They have so many martini's. Â There is no way someone can go here without finding something on the menu that they would like. Â I've only been on Monday's when they have their $4 martini specials. Â As a college student, I doubt I would go on any other day of the week in which I would have to pay full price. Â
The bartenders are friendly and the service is good.
I have been here as early as 7pm on a Monday, and as late as 10pm. Â Around 9:30 they have a singer and instrumentalist come in that plays covers of well known songs. Â I like their performances, but find it hard to enjoy conversation with my friends when they start playing because of the noise level.
Very great place to go and I always look forward to going.
I have mixed feelings about this place, every drink my girl has ordered which of course are the more fruity girlie types lol have tasted good, mine however ehhh not so good, I had a manhattan that had way too much sweet vermouth, a whisky old fashioned that had no bitters and very little fruit muddled, and a vodka/gin/lillet martini that way not proportioned right. I would suggest they get the menu down to about 40 martinis and do them all right instead of the hundreds they seem to offer. My only other problem is everytime i go there there seems to be drunk 22 year old girls who somehow manage to laugh and be more obnoxiously loud than the band.
Review Source:Popular place during the summers on Mondays. Old white men flock on weekends here to creep (its true if  anyone disagrees with me) without looking creepy. Probably is the cleanest bar to going to... including the bathrooms... in downtown Peoria.
The service is average to slow on busier nights and honestly more suited as a starter bar before going to the next place. I suggest you going with fun people too or Martini's can be sort of boring and feel stuffy.
This is one of my favorite places to go in Peoria. Especially on a Monday night when all of the Martini's are half price and the Acoustic Cover band is playing. It's never too crowded, but isn't totally dead on Monday night which is a good thing.
They have a great outdoor patio which was wonderful in the summer and has heaters and firepits for use in the fall.
The drink menu is extensive with a lot of different choices, although most of them are fruity flavored or creamy sweet mixes and not traditional martinis. That being said, I love the fact that I can have a Manhattan martini or an apple cinnamon or something completely different depending on my mood.
I haven't been on a weekend, so I don't know about the crowds then, but if you are looking for a place to start your week off right, you won't find a better place.
Ive been here a few times, well more than a few and Ive enjoyed myself. Its a cool place to go and hang out and chill especially on the outdoor patio they have. The prices are about the same compared to any other place here in town. The scenery is very easy on the eyes and the wait staff is friendly..
Review Source:hate to be a hater, but this ubiquitously proclaimed "gem" in the rough is a colossal piece of shit. Â What's it got going for it? Â They're right. Â It's located in the old, well-preserved train station that once served as Peoria's Grand Central, an homage to an era long gone. Â What it does NOT have is a decent vibe, drink list, or even the remotest hint of cutting edge culture . Â What you can be assured of are some alpha-male chachi's pretending to be Tom Cruise (God the midwest, and especially Peoria, is plagued with such puerile masculine longing) as they serve up a mundane variety of vodkas and zero reputable gins with rancid olives to a backdrop of shithead fratboy tunes: Dave Matthews, jam band 90s era shwag, lots of heaving male vocalists of the Eddie Vedder ilk. Â Total tool-fest. Â Expect your girl to get ogled and potentially date-raped (probably due to the fact that the Funyan-crushing, Mountain Dew guzzling cheerleader omnipresence that reigns here) isn't satisfying the local buck's rutted urges. Â Pure hype this fucknozzle hole. Â Frats are us.
Review Source:Definitely a gem in Peoria.  I feel like I'm back home in Chicago and not in this little po-dunk area.  This martini/piano bar is in an old train station with  gorgeous high ceilings and a great comfortable old feel to it. Â
I'm always VERY impressed by these bartenders. Â That's saying a lot considering I was a bartender for quite a few years. Â There's 100+ martini's on the menu, and I swear to you these guys have most of them memorized. Â This place is always busy, get there early. Â Those bartenders deserve every penny they get, they run all night. Â
Last time we were there there was an EXCELLENT band playing, "Highway J". Â If you can find them in Peoria they're definitely worth the listen. Â
If you happen to find yourself in Peoria, I would definitely suggest stopping into Martini's. Â It's one of Peoria's best. Â If you don't like Martini's, fear not. Â They have an excellent selection of bottled and hard to find beers. Â Enjoy...and tip your bartenders!
Located in an old train station, Martini's is a solid Peoria choice that easily serves the needs of a wide variety of people. Â
If you want to sit outside, they have tons of picnic tables for you. Â The night I was there, they had a band playing outside and by the time we left there were a good number of people dancing near the band, genuinely enjoying themselves. Â
There was also another band inside, which is cool, but the inside isn't really that big and there was no place to escape the music. Â I was there visiting a college friend and we could only talk in-between songs since the music was so loud (and not that good. Â They played "Closing Time" over an hour before actual closing time...confusing).
Their drink menu is huugee...so much so that it's really difficult to pick anything. Â Quantity is not nearly as impressive as quality though and in the latter department, Martini's is mediocre (it's difficult to make incredible drinks when there are 100's on the menu).
All in all, it's decent, but coming from Boston (snobbery...uh oh!), Martini's just made me miss my own hometown nightlife.
Love this place. The only way it'd be better is to be open until 4AM. Nice ambiance, a gigantic martini list that enumerates many potent and delicious drinks, and reasonable prices. It's more expensive than a lot of bars in Peoria, but you get what you pay for... crowd-wise, drink-wise, and really, everything else-wise too.
Review Source:Very airy ambiance with super tall ceilings. Being able to order from the full menu of the next door River Station restaurant was a pleasant surprise. It gives you a chance to be at a bar, but not be limited to "bar food". There is a U-shaped, raised bar in the center and tables and booths all around. The red leather booths reminded me of the kinds of tables at which shadowy gangsters would hang out.
Review Source:
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