Review Visit: September 16th, 2014…read more Who is Tall Bob? In my quest to visit everywhere and try everything, getting suggestions from friends and family alike, I dropped in to Tall Bob's with my sister and mom after my sister talking up the place. To be frank, the location is not int he best of neighborhoods, but that didn't stop us from visiting during a nice sunny day when the days are still hot and ice cream is still rational to eat. The sun was high in the sky and all of our bellies were hungry for food and adventure. We arrived in the early afternoon and the parking lot was fairly empty and the lines were short with only a few people milling about. I knew I wanted a tenderloin as I was on a recent kick of them. Luckily, they had that and your usual ice cream shack offerings at Tall Bob's. I don't remember what my mom and sister ordered but we chilled out in this canopy seating area while we waited. As is usual with ice cream shacks, the wait time is a bit longer than usual since most food is made-to-order and we all ordered something to eat. This gave up ample time to joke around and catch up on life. After about 15 minutes or so, the cashier called out to let us know our food was ready. I grabbed it and we resumed sitting in the shade while we got ready to eat. I remember my tenderloin being pretty good but it was just a bit more breading than I usually like. My drink of choice was a strawberry shake and that was good. Nothing that blew me away but that's pretty common for these kinds of places. It's food that usually hits just right and fulfills a craving. My sister talked up the place and I have to say it was pretty good. Nothing I would go out of my way to get but for the experience and family time, it was more than worth it. Before visiting, I didn't know who Tall Bob was. After visiting, I still don't know who he is. Do you?

They have great ice cream, and the food is pretty good. Their service is slow, but other than that…read moreI like them.

Review Visit: May 5th, 2013…read more The iconic ice cream cone-shaped building in the heart of East Peoria, IL. If you are a resident, you have probably driven by this place many times. Some of you may have even stopped in for a bite to eat. I have stopped by many times myself since I live close to it. Each time, the ice cream never disappoints. I have gotten the food a few times and while it is cheap, it's also only 'okay'. Not that the food is terrible in any way, it's just that could use a little lovin' while being cooked. My special item I get here isn't even on the menu. It is a strawberry ice cream with chunks of waffle cone in it... while served in a waffle cone. It is divine!

Absolutely the service is fantastic the tenderloin our world famous and is made with (love)! I…read moretotally recommend this restaurant! Bekah Grys- from Central Illinois riding therapy

Review Visit: September 29th, 2013…read more "Do you want to go to The Ice Cream Shack?" "Sure! Which one?" "THE Ice Cream Shack." "Right, but which one? Peoria has a ton of them." "It's a place called THE ICE CREAM SHACK." "Ohhhhhh..." I imagine that is a common conversation among people when they are talking about coming here. I know there was some slight confusion between my cousin and I when we made plans to check this place out. After spending the afternoon hiking at Forest Park Nature Center with my friend Tim and my cousin's family, we needed some sugary treats to recharge our batteries. The kids were vocally loud in their agreement on getting ice cream. So, we hopped in our cars and headed over. I had been by this area quite a few times and never realized there was an ice cream place. The building itself is a bit recessed from the road and doesn't really have an outlandish look that some ice cream shacks have. So, you can end up driving by without noticing it (as I have). It was a slow when we pulled up so there was plenty of parking for our two vehicles. We hopped out and walked on up to the window to figure out what we wanted. Luckily this place doesn't have a million different options to pick from like a lot of places. Their menu is simplistic and focused on ice cream with a small selection of non-frozen desserts to pick from. On this day, I snagged a Peanut Butter Cup-flavored wizard. As we waited for our snacks, I eagerly anticipated getting a peanut butter cup-themed wizard staff and hat to go with my delectable. When they called my name, I sprinted up to the window to get my goodies. What they gave me was just the wizard that I ordered and no garments or anything else. Dream crushed. I'm kidding. We all got our orders in a fairly quick time as there weren't many people there. I don't recall what everyone else got but we took some funny photos while scarfing down our sugary dairy products. Everyone seemed to enjoy what they ordered and after goofing around a bit more, we parted ways. Not only did the kids get to be kids jacked up on ice cream and hiking, us adults got to be kids at heart while being goof balls loaded up on sugar.

I don't understand for the life of me why a business can't accept credit cards. It's 2025 not 1910,…read moreare the owners that cheap? It's not like their prices are low enough to justify it. They actually cost more than Dairy Queen. Once I saw that and there prices I just turned around. I just can't support a business that can't support itself

It was really good ice cream for my first ever visit here. I got a two scoop sundae and with tip,…read more20%, it came to over $11. In my opinion, that's outrageous so I probably won't be back. That being said, the service was very good, but it's just too expensive for ice cream

I love this place! I went in once and tried the beantown ice cream flavor, and that's basically all…read moreI had for the next couple of visits... and I don't think I will change my choice for a long time. It is one of the best coffee flavored ice creams I've ever had. The owners are also very friendly and accommodating, and there are even seats outside on the busy Peoria heights road. Definitely stop by and try it out, you won't regret it... unless you're counting calories, then maybe.

Review Visit: September 14th, 2014…read more Where diabetic dreams come true. Every town has a few things: A Casey's gas station. A Subway Restaurant. A Dollar General store. Lastly, a locally-owned ice cream shack. Any small town will have a combination of these things, if not all. Bartonville is a smaller town that happens to have their own ice cream shack. I am not sure about the others but that isn't why we are here today. Today, we are here to talk about a place where diabetics dream about. A place that causes diabetes. A place that your sweet tooth (or teeth) dream of. The Dream Hut is like many ice cream shacks. It is nestled in a smaller standalone building that has a store front where you can walk up and place your order and then awkwardly mingle with everyone else that is standing around. The store front is wide enough to accommodate a place to order and a place to pick your food up. Their menu is plastered on the glass where you order and you can stand off to the side and gawk over it without standing entirely in the way of people who have dreamt here before. On a cold day, a few of us decided to take a trip to this hut to see if we could order something dreams are made of. Around this time in my life, I was hopelessly dreaming about Peanut Butter Malts or anything similar. In a confession, I have a terrible peanut butter addiction that continues to this day and for the rest of my life. Upon arriving, I knew I needed something peanut butter-y. Glancing over the menu, I was drawn to the Peanut Butter Cup Blitz and I knew that was the thing my dreams were made of. One sip... well, what can be had for a sip as slurping a thick Blitz through a straw is entirely nightmarish... I knew I hit something good. The Blitz had a nice chocolate/peanut butter blend that can only be described properly by scientists and clairvoyants. Absolutely delectable. My friend Matt ordered the same thing and he rather enjoyed his drink/meal, but not nearly on the level of mine. Devin ordered a simple ice cream cone but even that put a huge smile on her face. Despite the change of the season and that nightfall was quickly approaching, the Dream Hut was everything I could dream in a ice cream place and more. While I only had the one item from their menu on this one and only visit, I would assume the rest of their offerings are just as good. I would like to revisit and try other menu items in the future. Still to this day, I dream of that Peanut Butter Cup Blitz...

We live in Louisiana and anytime we come to visit family it's a must stop! We stopped multiple…read moretimes this last trip and it never disappoints!!!! Look forward to shakes and ice cream every time!!!

I love visiting Kuchie's on the water it's a pretty popular place and the food is really good! This…read morereview is from my visit over the summer. Before we were seated my husband and I were talking to the owner. As we waited for our table we stood there talking to her about all the different foods at the restaurant and what sells the most of in regards to meals and even the desserts. I thoroughly enjoyed my time waiting for my table just as much as I did the food. I ordered the Topless Beach Burger and of course we had to try the garlic bread cheese curds and they were quite delicious! The strawberry lemonade was on point too I asked for extra strawberries and they spoiled me on that! Oh I almost forgot we also tried the toffee butter cake because the owner told me that that was the best dessert on the menu and she wasn't wrong , it was mouth-watering! I absolutely loved being able to sit at the best table on the the deck (in the corner) and being able to watch the boats and jet skis out out on the water. The weather was absolutely perfect it was so beautiful out! Highly recommend going and maybe even calling ahead for seating if that's available.

Kuchies on the Water provided difficult service and even less accommodation. We were sat outside…read morewhich we chose and looked forward to. However the fans were broken and according to the server they've been broken since winter, meaning they've had TIME to fix it. This made it very hot and without curtains or anything of the sort, even the umbrellas in the picture were not present. There were flies EVERYWHERE, which the fans WOULD'VE helped with. I would give five stars if this problem that's existed for a while had been fixed.

Love this place. Every time I go back to visit Peoria, we must stop and we try to take friends. Our…read moremost recent visit, we were served by Yeni herself and she was really kind about having us try several flavors before we made our final selections. This shop has so many things! Regular ice cream, dairy-free sorbet flavors, horchata, aqua fresca and boozy flavors. So much, all home made. My plan was to have a scoop of the no sugar added avocado ice cream as I did my previous visit. It was so refreshing on a hot night. Sadly, this flavor was not available, but there were OH SO many. The lavender was wonderful. The pine nut was unexpectedly sweet and smooth. My husband ended up choosing starry night, which was a mix of berries topped with gold star shaped sprinkles and it was a beautiful presentation. My choice ended up being something she suggested that I try. I honestly can't remember the name but the 90s was in the title so of course it was something I was interested in ha ha. So let me tell you, this flavor tasted like Saturday mornings as a kid, when you're watching cartoons, eating cereal and then you drink the last bit of your sweetened milk from the bottom of the bowl. Oh my gosh, it took me back! Yeni explained that it was a mix of her homemade Mexican vanilla and she added grape nuts. Yes, you heard that right - grape nuts, cereal! I am so excited that this shop is in Peoria Heights, and I hope that it stays for a long time. We will plan to be back regularly. Thank you for the wonderful hospitality. Yeni!

Review Visit: March 3rd, 2020…read more Who gets ice cream in the winter? Seriously. Apparently a lot of people do... including myself and my friend. We actually attempted to come here the week before but their business hours updated but hadn't been fully rolled out yet. Luckily, my friend was able to find out their new times and we set our course for a different day. The winter weather in the Central Illinois region is breaking and spring is just around the corner. what a better way to get your mindset on spring than with some ice cream. We stopped in on a sunny but windy afternoon and were greeted by a friendly cashier. She offered us samples of any of their many ice cream flavors. I quickly looked over their options and zoomed in on the Coffee flavor. My friend tried a few samples before settling on Pecan. We got one scoop a piece and had them served in waffle cones. (Waffle/sugar cones are the best, by far, in my ice cream opinion.) The total for our one-scoop two ice creams was around $7.75. A bit higher than I expected but the scoops were big and I was ready for some Mexican-style coffee ice cream. We popped a seat at the front of the store and conversed while watching the foot and car traffic zip by. My friend loved her ice cream and wanted to get more before we left. I thought mine was pretty good. Not too heavy on the coffee flavor but also not overwhelming at the same time. They had about 20 flavors to choose from so I would be willing to go back and try some more out. They had a dairy-free strawberry flavor that caught my attention after I ordered. As for the interior, it was bright and warm as many Mexican places tend to be. They had 4 metal chairs at the front of the store to sit at. That is where Maria and I sat. Along the wall where you order are 4 more chairs to sit and enjoy your sugary sweets. If the weather is in your favor, you also have the option of sitting outside on some benches and chairs available. At the time of us ordering, the two TVs behind the cashier were off. After a new cashier came in to relieve the one that took care of us, we noticed the TVs were on. Upon looking that over, we noticed they offered more than just ice cream. The menu had a bunch of cultural-appropriate options that a small ice cream place like this can whip up for you. I didn't get a good photo of the menu, so I can't share with you what the menu items are... but if/when I go back, I will make sure to fix that mistake. All-in-all, it was a nice scoop of coffee on a nice but windy day in Peoria. Next time you are in the mood for some sweets, skip the national places and try some hidden gems. You might find some new favorites by doing just that.