Uptown Cafe

This is a favorite in Bloomington. It is upscale and everything is presented so well on the plate! I honestly could say that I have never been disappointed with any dish. I recommend the cottage cheese pancakes, grits and the mimosas of course!

Great spot to meet coworkers for drinks on the at side. Took my parents there for a late dinner over what happened to be IU parents weekend and they hustled to get us all seated and served. Great food, great service, excellent location and atmosphere.

Always a quality meal. The staff is friendly and attentive. Great for business lunch, dinner out or a sit down at the bar.

Wonderful food and almost all of the staff is outstanding and attentive! Only on a rare occasion do I get mediocre service.

Not bad but kind of pretentious. Food is good although the place probably suffers from what you can call «hype». Great martinis though.

Uptown is one of the best breakfast spots in Bloomington. When I go, I always get the crème brûlée French toast, and I can’t even explain how delicious it is. Hands down the best French toast I’ve ever had, albeit a little overwhelmingly sweet. If you go to Uptown, you HAVE to get the French toast!

So many eclectic options in b-​town. Went for a day trip and Unilocaled… This came up on several searches on different travel apps. My husband tried and true Hoosier wanted Mother Bears but as a foodie I chose Uptown. I had read it was somewhat dated. Chairs and carpet dated. Cute historic building, neat jazz and creole art work. I saw several people including my husband searching for the restroom as there were many unmarked doors. Food… Eh… Average shrimp and grits. My husband has the Chinese chicken salad and I tried his chicken which was
Moist in a sesame seed batter… Next time I will go to Farm as that is what I really wanted to try…

Worked In Evansville all day. I was glad I held out for a good meal in Bloomington. I had to try the shrimp and grits, and I wasn’t disappointed. The sausage has a nice kick. The French bread appetizer was my weakness. I ate all four pieces. The Cesar salad was a good choice to go with the rest of my meal. Our server had the personality of Lurch from the Adams Family. I will go back again for the food.

Older crowd. Relaxed atmosphere. Hometown comfortable. Way nicer than a diner, but not a classy restaurant either. The waitstaff were busy but efficient.
This is the kind of place a college student would take their out-​of-​town visiting parents to eat at. Nice African-​American themed art décor.

They have the best garlic bread in this town! Their French toast is always highly recommended but I think the garlic bread is as good as the French toast.
I always loved their lousiana pepper chicken. High calorie but the taste worths! Their red bean and rice is tasty and healthy. They also have a good selection of different kinds of salad. I strongly recommended the Musclun salad and Chinese chicken salad. Very tasty, fresh. Their creamy garlic and sesame salad dressings definitely is worth trying!
Overall, good food and reasonable price. Compared to the Farm next door, the food is more home style.

The food was good. I have a feeling they really shine with smaller groups, and I can completely understand it. They offered a large menu with 6 options (considering it was a large group). Our servers were great and they really hustled. I heard from others that the chicken and tasso gumbo was very good (and spicy in the best way). The chicken pita also looked good (and was well-​received), as was the Cajun meatloaf. For some reason the spaghettini agliata (sp) wasn’t as popular. I had a good spinach salad with chicken, candied pecans, and more ingredients I can’t remember. Their red raspberry dressing is really good with this dish. I’d like to go back in the future and try out the brunch menu.

Had a really nice, well prepared meal tonight at Uptown. I get into town on an occasional basis for performances, and it’s at the top of my dining go-​to list. The food was delicious, and the atmosphere is always lively but not too loud.
The only reason I give four stars here is because our waitress was fairly grumpy throughout the meal. She was visibly annoyed that I asked what vodkas were available. I had to ask for the specials and it just seemed like a big deal for her to tell us. She tried to take our appetizer and also my entrée before they were finished. At the end of the meal, she came by the table and picked up the check presenter as soon as I signed the slip (literally three minutes after it was dropped off). She was definitely less personable than the other servers who’ve taken care of me at Uptown, and her general disinterest in us was a tad irritating.
For the record, the hostesses, food runners, etc. were all polite and helpful, which was appreciated.
The crème brûlée at Uptown is stellar– I always save room for it!

Haven’t been to Uptown in awhile and decided to go for brunch on Sunday. The place was crowded but we were seated quickly.
A bit of a wait for water and a waiter, but once he arrived he was friendly and efficient. We ordered the eggs with potatoes and toast and the Huevos Rancheros.
The eggs and potatoes were delicious. The toast… still not sure how they can call it toast when it is barely toasted. Jean LOVED her huevos rancheros. They were a sort of «de-​constructed» version of what we were used to having in California. Every element was on point and delicious.
Happy to add a fourth star to my previous (3 year old) review. Look forward to returning.

It’s my second morning in Bloomington so my bf and I decided to go to Uptown Café. The place was not that crowded for a Saturday morning and we were seated right away. The dining area was very spacious and more sophisticated than other restaurants that I have been to in the small town.
I got the crème brûlée french toast and my bf got the smoked salmon eggs benedict. Coming from LA, I have been able to try plenty of eggs benedict and I have had a couple of really really good ones. I tried really hard not to be biased but the eggs benedict didn’t win me over here. However, I enjoyed the crème brûlée french toast very much! It was definitely very sweet but so good!
I can’t complain about the service. Our server was great and very attentive. I might have to give this place another try during lunch or dinner but brunch was a mehhhh.

Have ever eaten somewhere and the food was soooo good that it felt like the heavens opened up and the angels of food began to sing… yea umm this was one of those experiences for me! Hmm where do I start…
First let’s start with service… service is a huge part of an experience when eating out. Uptown Café has IMPECCABLE service down pat! Though we were a large group we were seated quickly. Our waiter was attentive friendly and relaxed. Our party of 9 came in 10 minutes before the brunch cut off time, but the waiter was still very accommodating. One of our guests realized after she recieved her dish that she wanted something different… she spoke to the waiter and he quickly and very graciously with no dirty looks no argument replaced her meal with a different meal… amazing! Finally after taste testing everyone’s meal, we determined that it would be setting ourselves up if we didn’t get another order of their divine crème Brule French Toast… it was WELL past the 2:00 Bruce cut off and we fully expected not to be able to order it. Not only did the waiter allow us to order it, a steaming plate of sinfully good deliciousness was set before us in record time!!! Like I told you… this place has impeccable service! *SLOW clap*
The food… what can I say but yasssss!!! I finished my meal and my body felt like I had just gotten the massage of a lifetime… it was that good! The shrimp and grits was amazing. The grits was creamy with cheddar and a hint of jalapeño…then the shrimp was large, well seasoned, plump and juicy! Shrimp and grits is largely a southern dish, but Uptown did it justice.
Now baaaaybè that French Toast!!! If u can’t indulge in a whole plate… split it with someone cause if u dont… u’ll kick ur own self! It’s dessert and breakfast all in one fellow swoop!
Finally the décor. Don’t just sit and start shoveling their goodness in your mouth. Take the time to walk around and enjoy the beautiful paintings on the wall (make sure NOT to breathe on anyone’s food). The art is colorful and speaks to the eyes and to the soul. makes you wanna grab one off the wall and hanging it on ur own walls! Look at the art!
Clearly Uptown Café was a great experience… don’t miss this gem of a place nestled in the heart of Bloomington!
*also the waiters have incredible hair… straight outta the pages of the Vidal Sasson catalog. ijs!

We had the artichoke and kalamata olive dip to start. I’ll likely think anything is delicious if you add kalamata olives. I had the Chicken andouille and Tasso gumbo, Hoosier style with mashed potatoes. This dish was full of flavor and the mashed potatoes made it even better. Crème brûlée for dessert was okay, maybe it’s just not my dessert of choice. Our server was great and knew the menu well. If I find my way back in Bloomington, I will be happy to return to Uptown.

Thank you to all the Unilocalers that recommended this place. It was our monthly wine club and we decided to try uptown café. It was fabulous and the service was incredible. We got French toast crème brûlée and shrimp and grits. Both were flavorful and delicious. I would have given this restaurant a 4 and a half but our waiter was wonderful attentive and quick. Thanks for the great service

We came in with a party of 8 around 1:15pm worried it would be a long wait. They got us in, in less than 15 minutes.
Our waiter was suberb! He was very knowledgable of the menu and made sure our coffee cups were always full.
I enjoyed the Popeye scramble full of spinach, mushrooms, onions, bacon and melted cheddar. This game with a side of wheat toast. This was delicious and very filling. It was heavy on the mushrooms, so if you’re not a shroom kinda person I would opt for another option.
A friend at the table tried the cottage cheese pancakes with blueberries so of course I had to snitch a bite. They were absolutely heavenly. Don’t let the cottage cheese title fool you. It helped make the pancakes melt in your mouth delicious.
Can’t wait to come back to check out the lunch and dinner menus!

This was a great breakfast find during our most recent visit to Bloomington. Cute restaurant — nothing too upscale or modern — with lots of jazz-​inspired art on the walls. Our server was prompt and friendly. He checked back in throughout the meal, adequately answered our menu questions, and kept our water and coffee filled.
They had several different permutations of eggs benedict available, so my husband and I each had one. My husband enjoyed his version with smoked salmon in place of the Canadian bacon. I had the Maryland version that included no English muffin, but a lump crab cake, an egg, and hollandaise all over a bed of home fries. Everything was very tasty, but the crab cake and egg were just barely what I would consider to be hot enough and the home fries underneath were only warm. I left feel fulling and satisfied (the crab cake and the hollandaise were both tasty), but the portion was not so huge that it was a day-​ender (which is a big plus if you ask me).
Well done overall, just get that food out to me while it’s still at it’s peak of heat!

I have no idea why I haven’t written a review for Uptown café yet. This place is amazing. The food is the best in town, the service is excellent, I’m obsessed. So much so, I even had my wedding reception here. Uptown obviously holds a special place in my heart, but that aside, I really don’t have one bad thing to say about this place .
Highly recommended: cold, tall glass of Franziskaner, their pâté, filet mignon, and ANY dessert.
I feel a lot of people would consider this place to be upscale, yea… it is the perfect place to have a romantic date, take out of towners to, etc. I have literally dressed cocktail attire here, and another time jeans and a tee shirt, while feeling comfortable in both. If you like good food, service, ambiance, this is the place to be .
And they have great bar also *
A BLOOMINGTON MUST EAT!!!