Merry Ann’s Diner

Best thing about merry Anne’s is that it is open ²⁴⁄₇ and they serve your typical American diner food. It’s not delicious, some might say it’s awful even. But like greasy Chinese take out, it’s disgustingly satisfying at the right moments (past midnight, early weekend mornings).
I only get the breakfast combos but I’ve heard the burgers are better than you’d expect from such a place. Get the chorizo, hash browns breakfast combo if you’re in the mood for something spicy. Otherwise, #1 and #2 combos are safe options. You can ask to replace toast with two pancakes in your combo and their pancakes are diner standard perfect. They serve bottomless coffee, its bearable at best. Their orange juice is not freshly squeezed and is actually worse than store bought OJ. Always get your eggs sunny side up or over easy or something because the omelette are made from canned egg yolks.
They serve super fast and are really nice in general.

Diner food at its finest!
A UIUC student tradition. Just stick with the breakfast food, it’s your best bet

Greasy but tasty. Don’t stray too far from the bathroom by his food doesn’t stay with you for very long.

The stacker plates are a beast! Screw all the haters, this place has feed countless hungover and drunk bodies that went through it and has fueled the UIUC machine during its drunken escapades. Great dive, fat food, just like momma prescribed.

We came in the morning after Unofficial for a hearty breakfast.
There were a lot of people there at about noon on a Saturday morning, we waited for 5 minutes before we squeezed 5 people into a booth, plus an extra chair.
I started with a coffee. The coffee here is standard diner coffee.
Most of us had some kind of breakfast item. I can only comment on the waffle and the patty melt. The waffle wasn’t bad, but didn’t taste like anything spectacular either. I opted to get blueberries on it for a $ 1 upcharge, which was worth it. It was fruity, sweet and satisfied my breakfast craving. I also finished a friend’s patty melt and fries. This wasn’t bad either but again, nothing special.
The service was fine. It’s nice that they split the checks up by person so we can all pay individually.
Overall the quality of the food is not the best, but the cost is very low and the portion size good. If you’re looking for local, cheap fill, Merry Ann’s is a good option.

I’ll keep it concise.
1) Spotty service.
2) Kitchen hygiene– ingredients are of dubious quality and they show the skillet that they cook your food on — unclean. They dont separate the oils used to cook so my French Toast tasted kind of like meat. NOT good if you dont want lawsuits from vegetarians.
3) I got food poisoning from here. Twice. Both times from eating the beef hash. So don’t get that.
4) It’s expensive. Even after all that, if Merry Ann’s was cheap, then I’d still go for quick, 24 hr open, breakfast food without caring too much about quality. But its expensive and prices seem to be always rising.

Best grilled chicken sandwich on budget price in Champaign Urbana. The only place that feels home to me. I just love this place.

More of a 3.5 stars. My friend and I stopped in here for breakfast. We were unsure if is located on campus and just off campus. It is open 24 hours and was not really busy. We had planned to go to another location near my rental car drop off but their was no parking. We ended up at this location. Service was qucik and efficeint. Food was pretty good and of decent proportions. I did not experience any probles with my service, unlike other other reviews have mentioned. Overall, it was pretty good. It is nice to know it is open 24 hours as some times I like to eat super late at night.

Debbie gave awful service. I came in with a group of people and she was unreasonably rude. She swore, she seemed angry, and she made us feel all unwelcome and uncomfortable. Worst service I have ever gotten from a restaurant.

This little diner in the heart of the U of I campus is a great place for a quick breakfast. We were lucky enough to find two tables for six on a busy Saturday morning before the football game. Our server was fast and friendly and our standard breakfast fare was tasty and hot. Not ideal for large groups since the seating options consist of either 4 top booths or counter stools but a good choice regardless.

Decent food, horrible service.
My friend and I went here on a Saturday morning. It was pretty busy but we were able to seat ourselves and find a table. The menu looked like normal diner food and I ordered the mega omelet with two pieces of wheat toast and my friend ordered a waffle with 2 scrambled eggs on the side. The food came out pretty quickly but my toast was not even toasted but instead just warm and soggy from the amount of butter they put on it. After cutting into my omelet it oozed with grease and I think they were using slices of American cheese inside? Despite the grease and cheese it wasn’t the worst omelet I’ve had and it was stuffed nicely with veggies and meat. The hashbrowns were also decent. My friend said she enjoyed her waffle but when her «scrambled eggs» came out it appeared to be a flat not fluffy mini omelet with nothing inside. Definitely not anything close to «scrambled».
After we finished our meal we walked up to the counter to pay and there was a long line that didn’t appear to be moving. After a couple minutes of investigating for myself, I realized that the credit card machine system had crashed. The girl working at the counter didn’t feel the need to let the long line of customers know what was going on. After 20 minutes and missing our bus, she started just writing down the credit card information of customers and saying she would charge us later? After the person in front of me she said «if anyone can pay with cash please do that so I don’t have to enter these all in later» with an extremely rude tone. When it was my turn, she took my card and had the nerve to ask me to leave a tip. I left a 2 dollar tip and left. Definitely not a great last impression.
This place is probably amazing when you’re drunk with the amount of grease and poor customer service you’ll get. But it’s cheap and just don’t get your expectations too high.

Flame food. Definitely the best spot off breakfast on campus hands down and arguably the best place to eat from 2 – 10 am
Waitresses are always quick and friendly and food always comes out promptly and delicious.

The workers here have grown jaded from having to deal with university students on a daily basis. We sat a a dirty table for awhile before someone came in and finally cleaned it. I ended up getting a breakfast burrito which was fairly average. It’s a place to go if you don’t care about lazy service and want average diner food.

No one ever said it was quality. Open all the time, pretty affordable.

I love this place I always come to this one the service is great always nice and funny and more then happy to tip the food is basic dinner food with a not so basic taste fully recommend it for a midnight snack and a good time

Amazing price for so much food! This location and all of its other location are open 24 hours a day every day. And they now have chorizo!!! You can get amazing chorizo sausage with your dish!

I was in Urbana for a job interview that didn’t start until 9 AM, so I decided to grab some breakfast. Being unfamiliar with the area, I wasn’t sure where to start. I saw a subway, but I wanted something more, and I got it!
I walked in at about 8 AM, and I was the only one there, along with Alex the cook, and Debbie, my waitress. I am an eggs and ‘cakes guy, so that’s what I ordered. I had the mega omelette (egg whites and no ham/​cheese), with a banana instead of hash browns, and a short stack of pancakes instead of toast.
The omelette was solid. It was nothing great, but it wasn’t terrible either. The salsa that I asked for was just okay. I put ketchup on some of my omelette… I love that stuff.
Anyways, my short stack of pancakes were the best part of the meal. They were fluffy and delicious!
Debbie was very fast, even though 6 other parties came in while I was still dining. She was by herself on the floor, and did an excellent job.
It looks, and sounds, like Merry Ann’s is known for their late night gluttony items, which is fine. I was looking for something quick and not terrible for you, which is what I got. I wish I would they would have had some green veggies for my omelettte, but oh well.
7.60 for an omelette, fruit, and cakes? AWESOME! I tipped very well to show my appreciation.
I was not aware that there are other locations in the area until driving around later that day. Open ²⁴⁄₇. If I’m in the area for breakfast again, I’ll def stop by!

After a disaster of a breakfast at IHOP yesterday, I went with a group of seven to Merry Ann’s Diner in Urbana for breakfast today. There were only a few groups in the place so seating was not a problem. We were able to order quickly and our food came within a few minutes. Everyone seemed to think their breakfast was okay — no great raves, but no problems either. Service was excellent. My meal was a Mexican Omelet with hash browns and coffee — and was good.

We went around 1 am. It was pretty well filled in there. We got a table right away and service came and was very nice. I ended up splitting a diner stack which is hash brown, eggs, biscuit, and choice of sausage or hamburger. I got the eggs over easy and sausage. It was really good! It was smothered in gravy and was a bit over peppered but it really added to the taste and did not overpower it at all. This is one of the most expensive at 8.25 ish. But well worth it. The rest of the food is in the 6 ish range.
My other friends were happy with their fries, chili, and root beer float. The chili was salty but that could have been the crackers that were put into it, I didn’t try it myself.
I must say, I have NEVER had service this fast. We got water right away, the food was on the table 2 – 3 minutes after we ordered. She kept making sure we were good on water and clearing plates. She was VERY Nice, never made us feel hurried. I would highly recommend it.

If you ever go to school at University of Illinois Champaign-​Urbana, you must visit a Merry Ann’s diner at least once! Especially to try the infamous DINNER STACK: hash browns topped with cheese, hamburger or sausage patties, two eggs, and then smothered with delicious sausage gravy. (Add a KFC-​like biscuit for another 95 cents.)
This is the latest Merry Ann’s in the area out of three locations. By me being the first to review it you can tell that not everyone knows about it. Therefore, it’s the cleanest location. Like the other Merry Ann’s, it’s open ²⁴⁄₇ and I’ve definitely seen some students write key papers over several cups of coffee.
Prices aren’t bad. Lots of food choices. Once finished, pay up at the front register.