Live, from East Peoria, it’s Saturday Night starring this week’s host, Michaels Italian Feast and featuring special guest stars, John, De, Michael, Katie, baby Philomena, Domenic and Veronica.
Now please welcome, from their brand new East Peoria location, Michael’s Italian Feast!
Michael’s Italian Feast has three locations in Washington, Germantown Hills and Eureka and last week they opened up a brand new restaurant in East Peoria. Since I had dinner with my friends, John and De Ingles at the Germantown Hills restaurant on my year of pizza journey, we thought we’d go and try the new place out.
They said they could drive and here they are! I got in their car and tried to take their picture, but sadly the MBIP Camera kept flashing and silhouetting them out. After three attempts we decided to forget it and get moving along to Michael’s in East Peoria.
Once we were on the road to East Peoria, all of a sudden the MBIP Camera works. Sometimes I hate the MBIP Camera…hate, hate, HATE it!
Here we are at the brand new Michael’s Italian Feast in East Peoria! The place looks fantastic and if you’re in a hurry, they have a drive-through window for speedy pick-up service.
John and De run a graphic services business called Smiley Graphix and De designed Michael’s logo, which is very impressive!
John opened the door as we went inside and the MBIP Camera is still silhouetting him out! I promise somewhere in this post you will actually get to see John and De’s faces!
You order up at the front counter and as we approached it we found out it’s quite a family affair here at Michael’s!
I first met the founding owner, Michael Axelson, who opened the first Michael’s in Washington back in September of 2005 with his wife Veronica. He said that they’re excited about the East Peoria location and business has been great so far.
I then met his daughter-in-law Katie who was holding her baby Philomena and then Michael’s son and Katie’s husband Domenic came up and said hello.
Katie and Domenic are managing this location and it was wonderful to meet all of them!
De came up with a fun new tomato design for the grand opening which happened last Wednesday and they had stickers printed up and t-shirts made with the design.
The stickers were printed at Technicraft and De gave me a photo of herself and Colleen Kimball, the Ringleader over at Technicraft holding the stickers.
The menu at this location features Subs, Hot Sandwiches, Salads, Garlic Bread and Meatballs. The menus were printed locally at American Speedy Printing in East Peoria.
There’s two tables in the front window to dine at and a nice and comfortable waiting area if you’re getting your food to go.
We settled into the dining room which is just to the right of the front counter ordering area.
The atmosphere in Michael’s is old school rustic Italian. It’s very warm, welcoming and comfortable in here.
De and John were chatting with Michael over at our table and before we knew it…
Dinner is happening!
We started off with an appetizer order of their homemade garlic bread which topped off with slices of rich, melted mozzarella cheese. It was toasty, tasty and a delicious start to dinner.
As you can see, De and John dug right in! I told you that you’d finally get to see their faces!
For our main courses, De had the Raspberry Walnut Salad and John got the hot Italian Beef Sandwich. You can read more about our meals in the review below, but they both raved about their dinners.
I had the hot Italian Sausage sandwich and as delicious as it looks, it tasted even better!
After dinner I met Michael’s charming wife, Veronica and got a shot of the entire Axelson family! Thanks for the friendly hospitality and the wonderful meal, I’ll definitely be back for more!
And thanks to John and De for driving and joining me for dinner! Check out the Smiley Graphix website and John also has a handy dandy high school sports app that you can check out right here: Illinois Prep Scores.
De chose the Raspberry Walnut Salad and it consisted of garden greens topped with roasted chicken, cranberries, onions, walnuts and bleu cheese crumbles. It’s served with Italian and Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing and garlic toast. She said it was one of the best salads she’s ever had.
John’s Hot Italian Beef was seasoned roast beef slathered in their homemade sauce and topped with melted cheese. He gave the sandwich a high rating and said it was very tasty!
My Hot Italian Sausage sandwich was so delicious. The sausage was seasoned nicely and the rich melted cheese on top complimented it perfectly.
One of the key ingredients to all of their sandwiches is the homemade bread that’s baked fresh daily, it really takes them over the top!
SN Rating
Four Galloping Gourmets—We had such a great meal and enjoyed the welcoming atmosphere in the new Michael’s in East Peoria, I highly suggest you go and try it out for lunch or dinner…or maybe both!
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1302 E. Washington Street
East Peoria
309-694-9000
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Related Posts: Saturday Night @: Harvest Supper Club, Brienzo’s Wood Fired Pizza and Casa Amigos Mexican Bar & Grill.