STATION 220
220 East Front Street
Bloomington, IL 61701
(309) 828- 2323
Open Tues-Saturdays
Lunch 11:00-3:00
Dinner 5:00-10:00
3 Stars
It’s probably a safe bet to guess that every adult in Bloomington-Normal has probably eaten dinner at least once at the restaurant housed inside what was Bloomington’s Victorian-era fire station on East Front Street downtown.
Thirty years ago, when “Central Station” was just starting out (then under the direction of the stylish Ardie Nowers) the concept of serving an upscale progressive nouveau cuisine out of an old firehouse was fresh and fun.
But click the “next” button three decades forward and you’ll find that even though the newly minted “Station 220” says things are “new,” they aren’t really.
Sitting down to dinner recently with a group of business associates, I had serious flashbacks to 1980. Thirty years have passed —and I’m still sitting here in front of these old wooden roll-up fire doors, still looking up at the exquisite old wood lathe ceiling? The overwhelming sense of déjà vu was so strong, I expected Ardie himself, or his theatrical co-hort, the exotic Carole Brandt, to come sashaying out of the kitchen any minute. I was experiencing ghost-sightings of Ages Past before dinner was even served.
Décor-wise—which is critically important to restaurant success—Station 220 has not budged an inch since 1980. The exposed wood beams, which were tres chic in 1980, are still there. So is the giant copper dome over the bar (1990? 2000?). Shoot, the dark green and black Victorian paint scheme on the woodwork still looks the same as it did from September 1982. Nothing “new” here.
The lighting is still overly dark and sparse as it always was, creating an atmosphere that is neither annoying nor beguiling. Nothing new.
The tables and chairs are obviously aged but still comfortable like an old pair of house slippers. Nothing new.
The service at Station 220 is…okay. Our waiter was pleasant, and attentive to our needs. No over the top show-woman maybe. Certainly not overly theatrical or chatty.
But she didn’t make any effort to steer us towards anything new on the “new” menu. A great waiter knows her establishment’s strengths and guides you to the best dining experience. A great waiter is always eager to show off what the kitchen can do. Our young lady was indifferent. She wasn’t excited by the menu and had no recommendations to make. Eh. Shrug. I had the impression she had no idea what any of the new menu items were like. She was as in the dark are we were—and that’s a real no-no for an upscale house. Still, the service wasn’t offensive. The waiter, the assistant, the maitre d’ worked as a team, which was nice to watch.
Okay, so on to the actual dining:
The wine list at Station 220 is….okay. If you’re just sort of into Wine, their selections will please. Our group of four each ordered something different. A nice Zinfy, a nice Cabneret Sauv, and so forth. When one of us wasn’t happy with a “step up” Cabernet, (suspecting the bottle was cracked last week) our server promptly replaced it with another product and with suitable apologies. High marks there.
The only thing off-putting about the Wine list is the price perhaps. Most of the House wines were $7 or $9 “by the glass” and the selection was very limited. Most of the more interesting wines are sold by the bottle only at prices between $30 and $60. So no sense of adventure to be easily had here. (If you want to taste Wines, see our review on A Renee’s!)
We ordered dinner—no appetizers, no salads. The bottom line is this: the food at Station 220 is… good. Good— but nothing to jump up and down about.
My partner and I are steak connoisseurs and I must say that the Ribeye is excellent. In fact, this has to be the best Ribeye in town, superior to even Jim’s Steakhouse fare. The cut is thinner than normal which results in a more tender steak I think, the marbling is to die for, and it’s served slathered appropriately in butter and garlic.
Our friends had fish—the Mahi Mahi and the Halibut –and both rated them 4 stars. Pleasing but nothing to write home about certainly. This compliment was paid to the kitchen: “This halibut tastes really fresh—for seafood in Central Illinois.” Good job, folks!
For dessert we had cheesecake and a crème brulee. The cheesecake was very disappointing. It was dry as a bone, and served with a mere fruit “tracing” around the edge of the plate. You get better cheesecake at Steak N Shake, really. The crème brulee on the other hand, was excellent. Clearly a Station 220 chef made the crème brulee from scratch while the cheesecake came out of a Sam’s Club box.
Pricing? A little steep perhaps—or so you feel. The Ribeye is at the top of the menu at $25, while the lowest priced entrée was somewhere around $17. All told, a party of four can dine nicely here for around $120—if you scrimp on the drinks and desserts. Go full monte, like we did, however, and you’re probably looking at a $200 tab for four.
Now, these prices are not astronomical for upscale dining in McLean County. If you want to be bowled over by the final tab, go to Lancasters and get a real thrill! But anytime you reflect on the price of an item and compare it to the experience—and feel like it was “over priced” —that’s a warning bell going off. At Lancasters you can drop $30 on an entrée item but I promise you, you’ll say “Worth It!” in the end.
At Station 220 you couldn’t shake the feeling you spent that kind of money and didn’t get a complete Bang for the Buck. When that happens, ownership needs to do something different and quickly.
Overall, Station 220 offers “New American Cuisine”—based on patterns from the 1990’s. It’s an old “New.” All the major meat dishes are dressed with fruity or nutty sauces or stuffed with herbs and mushrooms and other delicacies. If you like this sort of thing, you’re going to like the food at Station 220. But if you are looking for something new “New,” forget it: you’re not going to get it here.
As you can probably tell, I am torn between being very satisfied with my experience at Station 220—and being a little disappointed. And there lies the rub.
The change in “leadership” as they put it, and the change in name, telegraphs that something is dramatically NEW at this restaurant location. But nothing really has changed at all—except the name printed on the awning over the front door.
This is still the same old “Central Station Restaurant,” ala the great Ardie Nowers years.
If you have always liked Central Station, then Station 220 isn’t going to disappoint you at all. It’s the same place, same food, same décor—a comforting Sameness that in this day and age of constant upheaval and change, can be a real strength.
But if you have never been a big fan of Central Station, and were hoping that something new would change your mind about the place, then Station 220 isn’t going to do anything for you.
My recommendations to the owners? I wouldn’t have toyed with the name at all. After 30 years nobody in McLean County is going to call this “Station 220.” That’s futility-squared and a waste of screen-printed awnings and other branding items, if you ask me.
Instead, I would have chosen to freshen the old place up décor-wise, and slipped in the “new” menu items quietly, with a few really nouveau, if not revolutionary, cuisine touches.
I think it’s better that the public declare your “newness” for you, because you really are New. A self-proclaimed “newness” is a promise, which, if you don’t deliver, can backfire on you.
Will I go back again? Absolutely. I love that old joint —and the ghosts of old friends that linger there—and I know what to expect from it. There is no risk in dining here. But there’s no adventure either.
And that will either prove to be a blessing—or a curse—for Station 220. I do wish them luck and long life continued in this location.
—A NOTE ABOUT THE FUTURE OF “THE DINER SPY” —
While McPundit is going away in the coming week (sniff) we’re happy to say that The Diner Spy will be continuing on a different local website! The response to these refreshingingly honest (or “brutal” as the case may be) reviews have been such a hit with readers, we feel compelled to keep going. So the new blog site “Being Downtown,” a blog site about all things Downtown Bloomington produced by JE Myers, will be firing up the boilers in just a few weeks and you’ll be able to catch The Diner Spy in action there. We’ll reprint the previous reports at that location too. So see you over at the new site soon! –D.S. Agents 005 and 003