I never made it out to the original location of Brothers Bar & Grill on Green Street before it closed suddenly a few years ago. From friends who did go to the Champaign Brothers, they said went for the drinks. In fact, only one of my friends who had been to Brothers had ever eaten the food at the campus bar. I assume the story is the same for most Brothers’ customers at any of the 18 collegetown locations of the chain.
The new Champaign location was hard to miss with its two big signs and dining room lights shining through the front windows. Being a frequent customer of nuEra Champaign across the street, I’ve seen Brothers many times since it opened, and each time, I’ve grown more curious about the First Street bar beneath apartments.
Over spring break weekend, my husband and I went to Brothers for dinner. It was not busy when we went at 5 p.m. because it was a very boring, grown-up time to patronize a college bar. I imagine that the place would be busier the later the evening goes, but it’s all imagination because I am an early-to-bed gal.
The dining room had pew-style booth seating and backless barstools at high-top tables. The staff said we could sit anywhere we wanted, and we slipped into a booth by the window. With multiple televisions playing, the space was clean, airy, and modern, certainly not a college dive. The vibe it served was mom-and-pop Chili’s layered with St. Patrick’s Day party neon-green lights and decorations of leprechauns and clovers.
Brothers’ menu was one page, double-sided, but I was impressed surprised to see that one side completely devoted to 21 fun flavors of personal pitchers.
The flavors ranged from the usual suspects of watermelon, lime, and fuzzy peach to unexpected flavors (blue raspberry, electric lemonade, ocean punch, and cherry coke) to the inexplicable (blue mother effer, purple hooter, water, and three different Red Bull options called trash cans).
My husband opted to skip the personal pitcher for a draft pour of Triptych’s flagship brew Dank Meme ($6.50), which is in the running for best in SP’s March Food & Drink Tournament. However, I did order a personal pitcher ($12). I picked the strawberry lemonade flavor because when I started asking questions about each flavor, the server told us they were basically just snow-cone flavors. Thankfully, strawberry lemonade was a decent choice. Served in a 32-ounce pitcher with no cup — just a straw, the drink tasted as expected. It was a little tart but mostly sweet lemon with a hint of strawberry fruitiness. Though it had a little chemical aftertaste, I couldn’t taste the booze beyond lemonade’s sweetness. The pitcher drink was very cute, and I bet it’s a popular pick for thirsty customers.
For food, we had one starter, bone-in wings, and a sandwich with fries off the other side of the menu.
It wasn’t long before the food came out, all at one time. Honestly, we would have preferred the appetizer sampler and then our meals, but c’est la vie.
We ordered the appetizer sampler ($17.99). The app seemed like a great way to try the variety of Brothers’ starters. The plate had fried pickles, chicken tenders, cheese curds, and chicken nachos plus honey mustard, ranch, and horseradish mustard.
I’ll begin with the best: the Wisconsin cheese curds, which were totally delicious. The fried cheese had a really crispy, crunchy beer batter that was so yummy, and the curds delivered a wonderful gooey, stringy cheese pull. These cheese curds were awesome, and I’d recommend a whole plate of them.
Fried pickles appear on many a menu in Champaign-Urbana. Sadly, the appetizer sampler fried pickles we had at Brothers were weak. Tasting almost deflated in texture, the thinly sliced pickle discs were warm and chewy but not crispy. Same with the chicken tenders; though the chicken was fried, it just was not crispy and unfortunately kind of chewy.
Last on the app sampler was the chicken and cheese nachos, which had tortilla chips topped with lettuce, sour cream, queso sauce, shredded cheddar, grated pepperjack, pico de gallo, and pickled jalapeño. These were pretty mid nachos. I liked the multiple chip layers, so there were plenty of available crunchy, sturdy chips to scoop whatever fell off the floppy queso-soaked chips. The chips were dusted with seasoning, and the shredded chicken was fine.
Very on brand for me, I ordered the chicken wings ($13.99), which came with a choice of a house sauce, but my server was cool and let me chose two. I picked honey whiskey-sriracha and spicy garlic.
My basket came with seven wings: four tossed in honey whiskey-sriracha and three drums in spicy garlic. Still crispy under thick sauces, the little wings were meaty and cooked well. I liked the creamy garlicky sauce — even though it wasn’t that spicy — and how it soaked through the batter into the tender chicken. The honey whiskey-sriracha wings were tasty with a dominating sweet honey flavor and a peppery undertone. This sauce’s spiciness started slowly, but it did build into a noticeably delicious heat. For those who don’t enjoy super spicy foods, both of these sauces would be fine.
Lastly, my husband ordered the loaded grilled cheese sandwich ($10.99) with fries ($1.75). The sandwich’s sourdough toast was a satisfying dark golden brown. Inside, the sandwich was had four different melty cheeses, two strips of bacon, and a smear of mayo. Ever so crisp on the edges and yet still soft with some chew, the bacon was quality and had a hint of smokiness, an excellent component of this sandwich. I’d happily eat it again, but $12 is a kind of pricy for cheesy bread with two strips of bacon. Served hot, the crinkle-cut fries were basic and salted.
There were no cocktails on the menu besides the personal-pitchers of fruity drinks. Brothers does offer quite a bit of beer on tap plus a selection of soda, seltzers, mocktails, and candy-themed shots.
Brothers Bar & Grill has lots of seating, and there was a second floor with pool tables. Each day, the restaurant offers a different special like $3 cheeseburgers on Tuesdays and 50 cent boneless wings on Wednesdays. Follow the bar on Instagram for updates, and check out their website.
Brothers Bar & Grill
601 S First Street
Champaign
11 a.m. to 2 a.m., daily
