Budget
Jarlings Custard Cup
Local favorite for frozen custard desserts.
Golden Wok
Thai, Laos, and Chinese food.
Peking Garden
Chinese, good whole steamed fish as well as their shrimp with lobster sauce. Has some interesting sweet cocktails.
Seaboat
Best place in town for cheap, fresh seafood. Known for the 'Seaboat Sandwich', a fried fish sandwich and their homemade coleslaw. Be prepared to wait, your food will be cooked only after you place your order. The wait is worth it.
El Torrero
Mexican, Great food, prompt service, and the best Margarita in town.
Midrange
Cafe Luna
Intimate atmosphere, with an eclectic menu, including tapas.
Escobar's
Nuevo Latino cuisine.
Milo's
"Nuevo American" cuisine, with a friendly, low key atmosphere. Relocated from downtown to southeast Urbana August 2008.
Black Dog Smoke & Ale House
New barbecue in Urbana, which quickly became one of the area's most popular restaurants. Almost always hard to find seats, but always worth the wait.
Bombay Indian Grill
Small restaurant usually packed with people. Fresh roti and naan are especially good. Portions look small, but are quite filling.
Top end
Bacaro
Italian restaurant in downtown Champaign with a vast selection of Italian wines and a creative artesianal menu. Small portions.
Kennedy's at Stone Creek
Overlooking the Stone Creek Golf Course, serves American-style steaks and seafood. Reservations encouraged. No dress code. OUT OF BUSINESS January 2012.
Ko-Fusion
A "fusion" style japanese restuarant on mainstreet champaign. featuring organic meats, local specialties, wild caught seafood. many types of sushi, both traditional and original. salsa dancing some nights. often has $1 sushi specials sunday nights edit: it use to be sunday nights, now it is monday nights as of 2011.
Jim Gould's
A new steakhouse on mainstreet Champaign. Sometimes live jazz. OUT OF BUSINESS December 2011.
chains
Champaign contains most of the chain restaurants in the area; Urbana has relatively few. There are four main concentrations in Champaign:
North Prospect: Applebee's, Burger King, Chili's, Fazoli's, McDonalds, Outback Steakhouse, Steak'n'Shake, Subway, Wendy's.
Campustown, mostly along Green Street: Chipotle, Coldstone Creamery, IHOP, Jimmy John's, Cocomero, Noodles & Company, Pizza Hut, Potbelly Sandwich Works, Starbucks Coffee, Subway, Dunkin Donuts, and Panera
South Neil Street: Biaggi's, Hardees, Hooters, McDonalds, Monical's Pizza, Steak'n'Shake, Subway.
West Springfield Avenue: Arby's, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Niro's Gyros, Original Pancake House, Taco Bell, Wienerschnitzel.