- 1 E. Main Street
- Champaign, IL 61820
- (217) 531-1160
- No Known Website
- Menu
Merry Ann's Diner in downtown Champaign, IL
5:30 AM is still too early for me. I was up at this ungodly hour because I had to be in Champaign by 7:00 AM for a basketball game. My parents live a little over an hour away, so the alarm was set for just before 5:30. Since the game was at 1:00, it meant lunch was actually going to be breakfast, so on my way in to town, I started scouting out breakfast joints. I wasn’t having much luck until I had to detour off of Neil Street (the main artery of Champaign and the road that runs through downtown) because of construction. I turned down Main Street and like a golden beacon, a simple sign that said “diner” jumped out and I found my breakfast spot.
Merry Ann’s Diner is located in the One Main building which is a development companies’ prototype for downtown buildings. I know they also built a “One Main” in Normal, IL near Illinois State University even though the street is not Main Street. The “One Main” name comes from the address of this original building.
I was not aware that there was a second Merry Ann’s in Champaign. I had eaten at the location farther down on the corner of Neil and Kirby Streets near the University of Illinois (review HERE). I was surprised when I actually saw the name of the diner on Main was Merry Ann’s.
I got back downtown just before 10:00. The diner isn’t very big and it’s set up pretty much the same was as the diner on Neil Street. Most of the booths but up to the “kitchen” with little cutouts for the waitress. This way, the waitress never has to go out into the dining room….unless you happen to be sitting at the two or three tables near the door which are separated from the counter. The diner is setup with a row of booths, a lunch counter, and another row of booths. When I walked in, I wasn’t sure there was any available space. All of the booths looked full. I thought maybe there was one down at the end, so I started walking that way. That’s when I noticed the stools at the counter, so I just sat down there. Read the rest of this entry »
Mid-Michigan Dining 
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