Latest reviews from Savoy

“Visited early November, 2018 while passing through town. Cool little place sort of in the middle of nowhere. Chill bar area with a few tables, a couple of regulars at the bar were very friendly. My bartender was friendly and knowledgeable; seemed into beer. I brought in a deep dish pizza from Papa Del's and settled in with a couple of flights and had a pleasant afternoon. I will definitely be back to get more haze bro!!!!“

drowland 2028 days ago

“This is a new looking place that was doing some renovating while I was there. Four ounce pours available. Very comfortable. Beers were fine, but bartender/maybe owner was super nice. Worth stopping by.“

drfabulous 3037 days ago

“Surprised to learn that this little gem was located a mere 4 minute drive from our hotel in Champaign! Industrial modern design, comfortable seating, nice photographs on the walls, a stack of board games to choose from, extremely friendly and helpful staff, and really great beers-- what’s not to love? no food served, but they allow you to bring in your own, so we did (a big mess of charcuterie meats and cheeses and pickles). We’ll be back for sure!“

DuffMan 3653 days ago

“Stopped in without really expecting much. Kind of out of the way place, but really nice simple vibe as soon as you walk in - brewing equipment on full display, small bar and a few tables, locals playing board games. Modern screen based tap board with amount remaining for each beer. Everything sold as a taster, normal pour, or growler, with very good prices. Eight taps running. Guy running the bar (one of the co-owners) knew his shit. No real food (pretzels, chex mix, and the like). Beer ranged from mediocre to phenomenal, with several that were very good among the eight. I would spend serious time here if I were a local.“

bytemesis 3702 days ago

“Tried this place during a beer cation. Nice taproom with 8 beers on draft. I like the set up, plenty of seating. Good beers.“

edgallow 3755 days ago

“Big store with a huge selection, compared with Nashville stores. Nice pick a six section.“

edgallow 3755 days ago

“Neat Place to stop. Plenty of brews on the wall. No place in pa comes close. This will be a yearly stop. Ended up with 3 cases of beer I cant find back home.“

User52877 4432 days ago

“Live about 45 minutes south of here, but this is my closest spot for my homebrew supplies. All of these Tucks are about the same, but boy do they have a huge selection.“

oldcatcher 4817 days ago

“Stopped in the Savoy Friar Tuck on the way up to Chicago, and unsurprisingly, it looked exactly like the other Friar Tuck stores I’ve been to so far. The beer aisle made up the long aisle along the left wall, and the whole back cooler, with some end displays as well. So quantity is not an issue, nor is selection- I found a couple nice bottles I didn’t see in STL or Chicago- but inventory turnover is questionable. I can only wonder how long some of the beers have been on shelves here. As long as you’re not buying IPAs or other particularly time-sensitive beers, you should be able to find some unexpected things here. If nothing else, Friar Tuck is consistent in selection, service, and atmosphere in all of its stores.“

phaleslu 4969 days ago

“Bought Hoogstraten Poorter here on a whim, ended up buying the chain out of it. Friend lives nearby, so I’d stop for New Belgium products before they expanded into Wisconsin. Also have Hopping Frog stuff -- also bought on a whim because of the name of a friend’s property. Always worth stopping, not too far off the Interstate (once they get Curtis Road finished). Some of the stock gets old, they still had some Christmas ales out in May. Has some pint glassware under the pick-six display but nothing special.“

BB64 5260 days ago

“ive went there several times and have never had a bad experience. the few employees i did talk too were very friendly and did ask if there was anything in particular i was looking for. the selection is prob the best in our area, while thats not saying alot cause our area is poor and ghetto, it is a nice place to go to get stuff you will not find anywhere else. being most of the ppl in my area drink natty lite, cheap malt liquor or 40ozers its nice to have at least one store to go to for a better selection of beers. some of the prices are high, esp goose island bourbon county stout at 21 dollars a 4 pack but overall a nice store“

thegristle36 5354 days ago

“I must comment on the service in Friar Tucks. I have been there many times and I have never had bad service. Sure they only have one guy that seems to know his beers but he seems to enjoy his job and is very eager to help me every time I’m in there. He remembers what I like and he always has something new he wants to recommend.(I know it’s his job) but he has introduced me to some very good beers that I would never have thought to pick out. As for the other employs some of them have very little to no beer knowledge at all. The beer selection at Friar Tucks it very appealing the first few times you go into the place. But afterr a few stop in’s you start to see that alot of what they have is alot of the same styles of beer. It starts to seem alot more unimpressive every time you go in there. It maybe because you know more about what you want and what you are looking for after a while IDK. FT is a good place to go to get them beers you like that they just don’t sell at your local stores or gas stations“

Snot19kilo 5515 days ago

“Friar Tuck doesn’t have the best staff when it comes to beer knowledge. But Blaine (the beer guy) has a decent amount of knowledge and is buying great beer! He’s carrying the Lost Abbey & Port Brewing bottles that Piccadilly and Corkscrew haven’t bothered to pick-up yet. He also got the Victory At Sea & Dorado in recently from Ballast Point. Probably 2nd best beer store in the Champaign area. Definitely above Piccadilly now. My only gripe is that their prices can be a bit high. Especially on Founders beers.“

kiwifuz 5524 days ago

“A big selection, but not really too adventurous, unfortunately. And they won’t let you buy singles of 12 oz bottles, except a few that can be made into a mixed six pack, and those are only the beers that are about $8/six pack.“

WabashMan 6072 days ago

“This seems to have less of a selection than the Tucks that I’ve been to in Peoria, Bloomington, and Springfield. Lots of empty shelf space in the beer aisle. Still, I wandered out with a few beers that I haven’t had before, so I’m happy. I’d stop back again when in the area.“

Cornfield 6159 days ago

“Nice big wall of beer with lots of six-packs and plenty of bombers as well. Main thing I like about this store is the $7.99 mix-a-six. Not for myself so much, but so I can pick out some good starter beers to introduce my friends to the wonderful world of craft and micro brews. Service usually sucks, but theres always exceptions no matter where you go and I’ve run into one or two very helpful (but not necessarily knowledgeable) employees. Oh, this is the only place in CU that I’ve found that stocks FFF Alpha King, Robert the Bruce, and Pride&Joy on the shelves.“

Illini08 6350 days ago

“Located blocks away from where I grew up. I visit every time I come home, and when mom comes to visit me, I send her by to pick up beer for me. I know others complain about service. My mom prints out my request from email and hands it to staff up front... and they go back and pull the order for her. I say that’s good service. Sometimes you just have to ask. Do they have a lot of beer knowledge? Not really. But this is typical of MOST liquor stores. Besides, I know what to look for. I like the 7.99 mix a six, but you do need to check dates on the relevant bottles. They also do a mediocre job of keeping the shelves stocked. They were out of Alpha King during my mom’s last visit. WTF?“

illinismitty 6571 days ago

“very similar to the Peoria Location in terms of layout. The beer selection was pretty good-three floyds, bells, great divide founders, and alot of good belgians (fantome black ghost). Service was pretty good, at least they were friendly. I wish i would have hit this place earlier in the week. It was a saturday and the place was pretty cleaned out from all the U of I partiers. Pretty good nonetheless!“

Terminus 6637 days ago

“The forte of this store is selection, not service. The Belgian selection could be better, but they have a very good micro and import selection. The German and U.K. sections is better than anywhere in the C-U area. I would be very careful about buying homebrewing supplies here, check for age and broken packets. Service is hands off and only the store manager is beer knowledgeable, so you’re on your own. Like at any of the four Friar Tuck stores, CHECK the best before dates on anything you wanting purchase, especially in the import and singles/mix-a-six sections.“

jpm30 6697 days ago

“Stopped in here about 6 weeks ago and forgot to post the rating. Cavernous store with a long wall of micro beer. As some of the other raters before me have mentioned, the service was non existent. It almost seemed as if whenever I spotted an employee, they would instintively walk away! Never did find what I was looking for, but went to Piccadilly’s on Neil and there it was, front and center.“

barleyPops 6814 days ago

“This is certainly better than your average store in terms of number of bottles, but the service is atrocious. Only once have I been asked if I need any help finding anything, despite having been in the store at least 20 times. The employees somehow manage to make you feel as if you’re unwanted in the store (you get the "you’re evil" glare). No one seems to be very knowledge in the ways of beer or wine. To be somewhat fair, the beer selection is one of the best in town, although prices are generally higher. A very good selection of Belgian Lambics, although most have been sitting on the shelf for awhile. (Lou Pepe series, some Drie Fonteinen) On the whole, this is usually my "last resort" stop unless I need hard liquor, of which they have the largest variety of in town. *******UPDATE 3/15/06: I’ve been buying quite a bit of the Bells Wheat Series here lately, given that they seem to make their way to the Mix-N-Match 6-pack area for the price of 7.99. It cracks me up that I can buy 6 single bottles of Wheat Love for 7.99, but if I wanted six-pack from the shelves, it would 9.99. Not sure how long this deal will continue, but its been a good bet for the last 2 months *****UPDATE 2007: Selection has improved markedly with Hoppin Frog, more 3 Fonteinien, Barrel Aged Gonzo, and some other great beers.“

Philip 6866 days ago

“Well, this place is gigantic. Selection is pretty huge but lacking in some respects. A lot of foreign beer but i noticed there weren’t really awesome ones there that i’ve seen at other local place, eg. rochefort 10. Prices are pretty reasonable. Build your own six pack is kind of limited from the full six pack collection, but it’s $7.99 for any six combination. I am a little skeptical because they had singles of Victory storm king, so you could buy 6 for $8 when a real six pack is $11. I have to wonder how expired it is. They have a lot of domestics none that really spark an interest. Like a bunch of Tommy Knocker and the full line of Sprecher. Tons and tons of liquor and wine too. Oh yeah, and like 2 employees walked past me during my 30 minutes there and never asked if i need help.“

Zeswaft 6907 days ago

“was in on May 19, 2005. Nice place, basically same selection as the other locations in Springfield and Peoria. had no interaction with the employees other than checkout. pretty decent selection of midwestern beers. seems to me they had a few less belgians than the other locations.“

igneous1 6944 days ago

“This is a converted former grocery store so it is quite large. They have compensated for what would make a carefully selected inventory look small in a such a huge warehouse like environment by ordering everything on their distributor's list, seriously. Some of their beer *both six packs and mix and match sixers* is out of date by 3 months or more. If you are going to buy anything that is not kept refrigerated, make sure it is bottle-conditioned. The rest of their selection, as far as wine and spirits goes, is poorly organized. Employees are clueless as to what beer they carry quite frankly don't bother asking them. I only shop there if I need something to use as an example of a stale beer for teaching or for something every other beer store in C-U ran out of already *e.g. Fantome Saison*.“

jables 7367 days ago

“Massive store with a lot of beer, however, most of what they have is very common. Their prices are quite reasonable. I can not directly comment on their service because I have never seen or interacted with any of their employees. If you know what you are looking for, this is the place to find it.“

SubstanceT 7413 days ago

“Large warehouse type store. Long wall of beer. About a third are only sold in six packs but there is a large selection of a beers available for purchase as individual bottles or make-your-own six packs. Use caution in buying as some of the stuff has been sitting for months. The staff doesn't seem to give a rats ass about the beer or serving the customer much. Seems to suffer from the Big Chain syndrome. This place has the potential to be awesome. It has room, it has variety, it has reasonable prices. What it doesn't seem to have is anyone who really cares about the beer. Hence, the possibility of stale items.“

YourDarkLord 7437 days ago