C3 Bar

I read the reviews and I saw they were hit and miss but I just ate here and am in love. The trout was absolutely amazing. I want a whole plate of the hash. I think the problem is east coast kids reviewing this place. Great place to eat. Great drinks. Only problem is the place is probably too small.

I love everything about C3. One of the best date nights in btown for my wife and I. Refreshing place when you graduated from IU and you can’t do Kirkwood anymore.

Great bar and patio with an excellent location. We love the sliders and the cheese plate. The deserts are also surprisingly good.

So I really did not love this place at all. I love tapas/​small plates and so many of my Btown friends raved about the place, so after my husband and I moved here we knew we had to try it out. Was it awful? No, it was as mediocre as you can get. Would this restaurant ever survive in a town larger than Bloomington? Highly unlikely. We felt like C3 bar was trying really hard to be something more than it truly is. I did, however, love the ambience of the place and it was decorated really cute. For the price, I expected a higher caliber and quality of food and what I got was simply average and bland. Sorry C3, I wanted to love your food, but alas I did not.

This place is FAN-​CY! Great atmosphere, great service, and more importantly great food. Co-​workers and I heard great things about this place from our customers. One day, we finally ventured out and now we are officially hooked. The masa cakes was delish and so was the love punch. Its a bit on the pricey side, but they are definitely worth it.

Just going to set some things straight – first, this is a small plates restaurant bar, you aren’t going to have large portions unless you order many small plates. Second, this isn’t your bar that offers $ 3 drink specials or a place you go with your frat buddies to pound shots. It’s a classy, upscale bar in an upscale area… with that comes drinks that are of higher quality and higher prices. The drinks are cheaper than you would find in most bars in Chicago and the staff is amazing! No complaints.

Great little place near home. Love the atmosphere inside and out. Originally went for a few drinks, and then ordered some food, market caprese salad that my wife said she could live in and I had jerk chicken tacos. I would not call the tacos «jerk» but they were still very good. Everything was excellent.

The portions are awfully small, both for the food and drinks. if you’re super hungry and looking for a full meal, DO NOT COME HERE. Drinks are overpriced.

I can’t say enough good things about this establishment. There simply isn’t a wrong way to go with the plates. As far as the cocktails, I’ve only tried three and all of them have been spectacular. The hush puppies, goat cheese, and tacos are terrific! I’m so glad to finally enjoy a small plate /​tapas restaurant in Bloomington.

The location is not ideal, but I had a great meal and cocktails here on a saturday night. It was not cheap, as we ordered many small plates and starters and several cocktails. But the food and drinks were all high quality. The jerk tacos were excellent, as were the filet sliders and hushpuppies.
I would definitely recommend this place. On the saturday night I was there, my 30 something companions and I were the youngest, by far. So you’re not going to find cute undergrads here. It mostly fills the void that The Rail left.

My new favorite restaurant in Bloomington! Everything about it was top notch; the atmosphere, the servers, the food… and don’t get me started on the cocktails (they are AMAZING!).

In a way, I’m glad that I don’t live in Hyde Park any longer with this in walking distance. I am sure that my wallet would always be drained.
It is great to see a proper cocktail bar in Bloomington and it is even better to see it executed so well. This area has sprung up and maintained the feel of Bloomington even though it is a ways from downtown. Outdoor seating in an urban neighborhood is great with the weather is right for it.

Beautiful! The staff are very educated on their menu of crafted cocktails and cuisine. Drinks were small, but strong. I was disappointed not to see a Bloody Mary on the menu! They are my favorite and it was surprising they did not take their expertise to specialize and make this drink unique at their place. Outside and inside are equally gorgeous.

We went to the C3 bar tonight for our anniversary
Very nice décor & friendly staff they had a 3 for $ 20 special we both got the grilled ceaser salad very
Nice presentation for my entrée I got the cod fish with chimichurri sauce it was tender & delicious
My husband got the pork tacos he said they were very good as well we both got the lemon & raspberry
Tart it was served warm & the taste was very good
I also got the Georgia mule drink different but tasty
I would highly recommend this restaurant it reminds
Me of the Rail which I loved loved! Nice outside seating

I’ve been here a few times now with just my husband and also with a group of friends. I really like that little side room for groups of around 10. The place is so tiny and can get so crowded, it nice to be tucked away a bit. I read another review where they described it like a hotel bar. I agree 100%- a nice upscale hotel bar. I love the wine on tap. My husband enjoys the interesting cocktails. As for food, we’ve had a good experience… except for the crab and corn hushpuppies. These suckers were so burnt I couldn’t believe they were delivered to us. They were so black we couldn’t even scrape it off. Our waiter was really great that evening and his response was «that’s how they come.» What? It was comical. No one in their right mind would eat that. It became a joke among our group of 12. We had to pay for them, which is not cool. If they are indeed served burnt, maybe they should be taken off the menu. All other food choices have been top notch.

Fabulous!
Stopped by for dinner with the Switchyard beer tasting tonight and was thrilled with everything.
Wonderful small plated that were visually stimulating and delicious. This intimate setting is exactly what Bloomington was missing and we will return!

Perfection! I’ve been here a few times and I find it consistently great in service and food and drink preparation. This is exactly what I’ve been waiting for in Bloomington– a bar that is clean and has house specialty drinks that include non-​conventional liquors. The décor is different, a bit western safari, but it comes together nicely.
I’ve had just about everything on the menu as far as food, and I love the fries and the array of sauces that come alongside it. The mac and cheese is also very satisfying, especially for the size of the bar. The drinks do not overwhelm your tastebuds in alcohol or sugar, but you will taste and feel it sooner or later.
I loved this little place so much I had a small murder mystery dinner in the large room, and the staff was very fun and kept up with us the whole night. They do not take reservations for the larger room so I had to get there early enough to hold the room down.
Overall, a great place for a low-​key casual or classy night out with friends and I’ll keep coming out just for that.

For better or for worse, Bloomington has a reputation for a gorgeous and rigorous university and a pleasantly funky vibe. C3 and the mixed-​use development which houses it are so antithetical to what Bloomington has come to represent that perhaps it really is what residents have felt was needed for some time. But it’s simultaneously so generic and so inconsistently conceived, I cannot imagine its becoming a Bloomington fixture. Perhaps I’ll be proven wrong.
First, the whole Renwick place. The C3 website calls it «quaint,» but it resembles a residential subdivision from Disneyworld. Nothing looks lived in, everything looks fake. It’s fitting that it’s located down the street from the mall and the glut of chain restaurants. C3 has a nice outdoor seating area looking over the nondesript plaza of the Renwick Village Center (the business part of the area). Yes, it’s a «village,» and the street is really called Piazza Drive.
The interior of C3 closely resembles a hotel bar. The one exception is a seating enclave to the left of the front door which is actually quite cozy and inviting. A few drinks on the menu show some imagination, and they’re prepared decently. The name C3 comes from the bar’s plot on the site plan for the development, but they’ve adapted it to mean «crafted cocktails and cuisine.» Or something like that. They’re obviously going for a sophisticated cocktail lounge with exciting drinks and complementary small plates and bar snacks.
But the small plates ain’t so small, and they’re much more reminiscent of the owner’s other establishments in the state (Scotty’s Brewhouse, Three Wise Men) than the swanky joint the place aspires to be. The heavy, heavy sweet potato skins would not be out of place at Scotty’s, nor would the fillet sliders. And then — bam! — there’s mac and cheese. This is not the kind of food one imagines accompanying sleek craft cocktails. The crab and corn hush puppies were delicious, and the obligatory charcuterie plate is offered, but where is the bowl of nuts? Where are the olives, maybe some duck confit, some cheese with preserves? In their place is – I kid you not — grilled cheese with a bowl of tomato soup.
Perhaps I am just wishing C3 were a different kind of place, but the imitation swank surrounding it is just oppressive. On top of that, our server mentioned that he was happy the place was priced and located beyond the reach of most students, since students don’t tend to tip very well. Bloomington deserves better. Maybe the place will evolve with time.

Bloomington needed a bar like this! The atmosphere is amazing and it’s a nice change of pace if you’re looking for a fancier night out.
The filet sliders and hush puppies are phenomenal, and the menu has a lot of variety. The cocktails are made well and I was very impressed with the overall presentation of everything.

Renwick area has been waiting for this addition to village center and my wife and I enjoyed our first visit the Wednesday of opening week. We had 3 small plates — that’s the menu style — steak sliders, yummy hush puppies and lettuce seared tuna tacos — all were a great first bite — hush puppies had crab or seafood in them and were hot and well fried — the sliders are served in a trio with buns made by neighboring crumble bakery — all were tasty and yummy. We followed that up with a killer chocolate cake also from
Crumble — my lovely wife enjoyed two chocolate martini and I had a Stella — drafts limited which is fine I like bottled beer. Décor lovely with ample out door seating — one tv at bar. Note — went second time and had French fries — tasty fresh cut potatoes with a bit to much spice for me — will order again with out spices — I sweat when spiced!