LOCAL FESTIVITIES

Good Tequila's Mexican Grill Quick History: Good Tequila's has been a staple in the local Peoria area since it opened in 1998 and has been going strong for as long as I can remember. It serves authentic Mexican food and fresh ingredients with a decent amount of indoor and outdoor seating.  My experience: I don't have a single negative thing to say about this restaurant. The food is great, I personally always get the fajita quesadilla (basically a quesadilla with a bunch a veggies added in) so I guess I can't necessarily vouch for the rest of it. The chips and salsa are hard to dislike, and something that is unbeatable at not just this restaurant, but from my experience, Mexican restaurants in general, is that the service is always super fast. Our food is always out within 15 minutes. Usually, the food tastes fresh as well so I don't think this has anything to do with it being frozen either. The prices are in the mid range but the portions are usually pretty large so...

  Bake and Brew Panadería Quick History: Bake and Brew Panadería is a Mexican themed and women-owned coffee shop and café located in northern Peoria in the Grand Prairie Mall. It is one of the only remaining food themed stores left in the mall (might be the only at this point). It's only been open for a couple of years. My experience: I am always worried when I hear of local businesses opening in either of our malls in Northern Peoria because they never seem to last long. I've been to this place several times, and my experience has been generally positive. Like pretty much every coffee spot nowadays, the coffee is a bit out of my price range to be able to enjoyed in my normal routine like I believe coffee should be, but I believe the best parts of this place are actually in what it offers otherwise. They have a ton of baked goods, and they offer these deals where they sell discounted sweets if they made it a day or two ago, some even being $1 which is a steal to me. Many Mexica...

                                                                                             Quick history:  Apparently, The Original Pancake House started in Portland, Oregon in 1953. I thoroughly read their About Us page on their website, and did some other digging in other places around Google, and am unsure how that led them to open another restaurant in the Peoria area around Grand Prairie in 2019. This does not seem to be a chain from what I've seen. Thus, this is a mystery that will have to go unsolved. Anyway, this is a local breakfast restaurant that opens 7am-2pm daily and is known for their sweet pancakes and rich coffee. My personal experience:  Personally, I've always considered breakfast ...

Quick history:  This is a Mediterranean style restaurant just down the block from Bradley off of Western Avenue is known for their shawarma wraps (mainly consisting of beef, chicken, or falafel). It's only been open for a couple of months to my knowledge, only since 2025. My personal experience:  I decided to go here with my parents since my mom is a huge fan of Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern food, and there are certain parts of this type of cuisine that I am constantly seeing on my timeline on Twitter and For You page on TikTok that looks incredible such as shawarma that I really wanted to try. And like I've said, we are always wanting to support local businesses. I really like the inside interior, there aren't a lot of places to sit but it's a nice casual sit down place and I like the simplicity. The menu basically has 5 things, besides the shawarmas its basically just kebabs, which I also wouldn't mind trying. I wouldn't say that the prices were cheap bec...

Quick history:  Originally from exclusively Pekin, Illinois, Tadoughs is a cafe with a simple menu that is known for their huge donuts that are made specifically with potato flour. It wasn't until 2024 when the shop was opened in Peoria off of Northmoor street. My personal experience: Just like most places ever opening locally in Peoria, I remember when they opened and it was impossible to get any donuts for like the first 3 weeks. My family and I would go in and they would have 20 people waiting for fresh donuts to be made and we would walk right back out the door. It seems to be family and friend owned, and they were super nice when we met them. I haven't had their coffee, but it seems to be simple instead of fancy drinks so I would probably go somewhere else if this is what you wanted. But the donuts are the best thing to happen to Peoria ever since we lost Krispy Creme back in like 2010, I'm not huge into donuts but these are personally really soft and moist. I would h...

Quick history: The name "460 pizza" was originally titled Firehouse Pizza, which was a local chain around in the mid-Illinois area. I think the original owner handed it over, and it changed the name. It's pretty much the same restaurant because their pizza tastes the same. The location is off of Knoxville. My personal experience: I appreciate the ugliness of this restaurant. You walk in and you immediately get a warehouse sort of feel from the atmosphere; granite floors, brick walls, etc. The color scheme is very grunge; grey, blacks, and reds. It is mainly composed of a few booth tables and just a couple of longer floor tables. The food is mainly known for their pizza and appetizers, but they also serve salads and sandwiches. I never found the service to be particularly friendly, they aren't rude but just sport a sort of "matter-of-fact" personality, which I don't hate. Their pizza is incredible. It's part of the reason I would never eat at a pizza ...