Champs Rotisserie & Spirits

Great for groups and diverse menu options for everyone. Certainly a chain that should explore the Central Illinois region.

First time eating here in a while. Wasn’t disappointed dispite some of the other reveiws. Ribs were good, fall off the bone paired perfect with their home made sauce. If you’re looking for a sweet BBQ sauce you may be disappointed. Very cozy inside with good service made the meal even better. Love the look inside and outside I’ll be back in spring to check out the patio.

Went the other day to pick up a chicken Caesar salad and a bowl of chicken soup. It was $ 20.12! That is RIDICULOUS! It was good but I won’t be back even though I live down the street…

Love this place. Been going to Champs for many years since I was a kid. My family and extended family refer to it as «the rib shack» because we are huge fans of their ribs. Their sauce is home made, and is to die for. It’s kind of lighter than a typical BBQ sauce, but is absolute amazing. Their ribs are perfectly cooked, and not too meaty, not too small, and the meat does not fall off the bones like your typical Applebee’s chain restaurant style ribs. Their garlic bread and chicken noodle soup are my other favorites here.
The restaurant is slightly pricey, but you are definitely getting what you pay for. This is a very laid back atmosphere with a clean facility. My only gripe is that they do not have any draft beers, but they have plenty of bottle selection. Definitely worth a try or two.

Staff is always really nice, service is quick, owners aim to please. People complain about prices going up but I haven’t been to a place where prices haven’t gone up! Recommend «fall off the bone» ribs and their homemade bread pudding (they say it’s made from donuts!!!).

Have come here for almost 20 years. Ribs consistently very good quality and reasonable prices. Never disappoints.

Ribs are good but WAY overpriced. Rib dinner that used to be around $ 13 is now nearly $ 19. Will not go back due to price gouging. Have had other dishes besides ribs and they are average at best. Food not worth the $.

Foods lacking in quality and it’s over-​priced.

Somethings changed here. I’m wondering if it’s the ownership. Just had dinner tonight. Prices have increased about 30%, and menu is significantly smaller.
Fresh vegetables consisted of frozen peas and corn, mixed. Could’ve been Green Giant. Burger was OK. Not worth ordering again. Perch were big, bland filets — 8 ounces, and a house specialty, per the menu. Not the food we’ve come to expect from Champs. (Yes, I know they are known for BBQ, but other items have always been good in the past.)
The staff is still friendly, welcoming and personable. Management is most certainly top notch. They are conversational, not hovering and clearly know and like many of the patrons. Service is good. This is their best feature.
Champs has been one of our favorite Eastside resturant spots for years now. But, after tonight, we’ll have to hear great, word of mouth reviews or commentary about improvement before we head back again. I’m kind of sad, really. Used to be so great. It’s like they started using a less expensive supplier, and the food is suffering for it.

Ordered rotisserie ribs sauce baked on for carryout had to throw them out because they were SO tough, just couldn’t save them. Service was great, décor and aroma were also awesome and our friends later told us to only get the fall off the bone option. We will be back, hoping to find a good place for ribs since they’re just aren’t many around.

Best ribs in the city BY FAR. Portions are amazingly large so there is always leftovers.

The restaurant was clean and our server was nice. The drinks were below average, the food was not impressive at all, and the décor was interesting (stuck in the 80’s/90’s). If the meal/​beverages would have been inexpensive, I probably would have been happier with my experience. Our bill for dinner for two with a couple drinks was about $ 80, at that price point I do expect to enjoy my meal, not just get full.

Been coming to Champs for years with my parents. It’s been one of their favorite restaurants for many, many years. We make the trip from Troy several times a year for birthday dinners and other special occasions. I really enjoy the food, always get the same thing: Rib dinner with sauce baked on, salad with ranch (not a fan of their coleslaw, but my Dad loves it!) Cottage Fries. I love their sauce and usually take a bottle home with me at the end of the meal. So for me this is a solid 4 star restaurant. It’s cozy, clean, servers are very nice and remember regulars, and the food is very good.
I knocked off a star for one reason that peeves me to no end. I occasionally get carry out from here if I’m in the area and have a rib craving. And I always order the same thing I do when I’m in the restaurant. The peeve is that if I want a salad instead of the coleslaw that I don’t care for, I have to pay and extra $ 1.50 for it. Yep, you heard it here first. The SAME salad that if I was eating in the restaurant would be my choice included in the price of my rib dinner. Why? Can someone please tell my why? You may say, it’s only $ 1.50 but that’s not the point. I should be offered the same menu as a carry-​out customer as a dine in customer, with the same choices without being nickel & dimed for some lettuce and cucumbers. RIDICULOUS! Upcharge me if I want something extra, fine. But to upcharge your customers because they prefer salad to your coleslaw is really really bad customer service. Boo Champs!

Food is very good! Atmosphere cozy and comfortable. The have a fireplace for cold weather. Covered outdoor seating for summer but it is on Mack Ave. Can be loud from the traffic. Service is good. Very attentive and helpful. Bartender makes good drinks.

Beware of fake positive reviews for Champs. Received a message from the owner (Daniel C. real name?) today calling my review «unfunny»? and saying I should have let him know when I was there that I had a problem. Well (a) asking for the the owner to tell him that his food is «generally» crappy and overpriced is something I don’t see a point in, and (b) when he walks through the dining room checking with every table but skips ours, that tells me he sees the uneaten food on plates and unhappy faces but doesn’t care to hear why.
Clicked on his Unilocal profile and he has posted positive reviews for Champs and his other restaurant Big Boy, praising himself. Now that is FUNNY.

Have not been here in years, had a chance tonight… ordered the Rib Snack… very disappointed? Had sauce baked on as always but they just did not have the flavor… something was missing? Cottage Fry’s were anemic puffy, coleslaw OK not great? So all in all so far even though its a chain I’ll take Famous Dave’s over this in a minute! Too bad was really looking forward to this!

Champs is a good restaurant, with good servers, in a nice neighborhood not known for it’s food. The BBQ may not be up to a Lockharts or Slows, but for the east side, it’s good. And the service, family friendly atmosphere and menu options help make it worthwhile.
With a menu heavy on BBQ, one might assume that’s where Champs hangs their hat, but they have many other dishes that are equal, if not better than, their BBQ. Particularly their fish dinners — whitefish, perch, salmon and the like — are worth trying. The other reviewers are right, the BBQ is not on par with a top BBQ place (the ribs are a bit too dry, the chicken cooked well but the sauce seems an afterthought), but the portions are healthy and the food is always good.
Of note is their patio — on spring/​summer/​fall days, their three season patio is a great place to have dinner with friends and watch the Tigers while enjoying the outdoors.
To recap, the management, service and cleanliness are all outstanding. The food is good, particularly non BBQ dishes. The BBQ dishes are good, if not great. And the patio is particularly worthwhile. 3.5 stars, if I could.

Excellent!!! Had a wonderful meal tonight, starting with the stuffed mushrooms, then on to ribs followed by awesome desserts!
All under the watchfull eyes of great management. Keep up the great service
Thanks!!!

If you’re in the mood for a cozy, pleasant evening in the burbs, Champs will fill this bill and also your belly with damn good eats! It’s a little pricy but portions are enormous, quality of ingredients is high, and flavors abound. The new (ish) owner expanded the menu-​a welcome and fun change while still serving up the old faves. The Southwest chicken salad boasts roasted veggies, corn, beans, cheese, cherry tomatoes, seasoned chips, olives, and a breast so huge I swear its name was Dolly! I attacked this thing heartily and still have 2 meals left!
Their fish is also excellent, the sauces generous and tasty. There’s bread, there’s a pile o’ cottage fries, perfect coleslaw-​they hook you up. Tonight I tried the crab (real, thank you) stuffed mushrooms and fell into a Scarlett O’Hara-esque swoon with every savory bite. Fan me quick-​the mere memory of these delectable nibbles have me heading for the chaise!
You’ll feel comfy on a cold winter’s night dining near the little fireplace, and cool in the summer on the breezy patio. The owner is very nice, the staff professional and fun. The crowd? Grosse Pointey families and older folks.
I used to think I was too «citified» to hang in ol’ GP, but older breeds wiser and I’ll go where they’ve got the goods, my friend! Definitely a fan!

Our first visit to Champs was tonight. The service was superb! There were extra table servers assisting all around and we never needed anything!
The food was just perfect. I never had BBQ sauce like that and I am hooked! Had a ‘snack’ size rotiserrie chicken, which is a mini-​dinner. It was just the right size as we shared a spinach artichoke dip and that was huge! And excellent.
The restaurant was spotless, the bathrooms clean, we were immediately greeted at the door and seated, service was relaxed but prompt. We were not rushed but did not wait long to be served. The clam chowder was very tasty. The manager visited our table to chat for a moment and make sure we were pleased.
Thanks Champs! We will be back and soon. We definitely got our money’s worth tonight. Wish I would have wrote down the waitresses name (#5). She was excellent as was all your other staff.