The Spotted Cow

A friend and I stop by on the regular for a post-​volunteer «tradition» of sorts. We have never had a problem with the food and seldom pass up the opportunity to get a shake or two. They always have very interesting ice cream flavors out. No complaints regarding the food – pretty solid choices all around.
Our only complaint, and the reason this review was knocked stars, is the service. Cashiers do not look happy to be there and look spaced out on the regular. I can understand having a bad day and not really wanting to put on a cheesy smile, but it’s rather consistent.

The quality of the hot food here is not even as good as baseball game fare. The atmosphere is very nice but that can’t make up for the low quality of the food. This is a Peoria novelty like others have said… and I think that’s the only reason it’s still around… nostalgia.

Love this place! They have great ice cream and food. The service was great as well. One of my favorite places in Peoria!

The Spotted Cow is a Peoria Novelty. I like the Italian beef because it is seasoned well and has plenty of peppers! My boyfriend and I ordered a pint of ice cream to go because we were full from lunch.
One of the best things about ordering it to go is that you can pack as many different ice cream flavors that you want in the container. We had the cinnamon and chocolate peanut butter. I was pleasantly surprised by the cinnamon because it didn’t have a strong cinnamon-​y taste, but it was so refreshing and cool.
Stop by the Spotted Cow!!!

Quick review~
Only thing ive ever ordered here was a chili cheese dog and man… IT WAS GOOD. Will definitely come back for another one when cravings come around!

A well known local business run by a great guy. Started out as just an ice cream shop and they’ve expanded over the years.
I’ve eaten here a few times over the years and get something different each time. You’ll get a good lunch or dinner, home made mostly, and often «just like mom’s».
If there is a horseshoe on the menu I have to try it. IF you like yellow nacho cheese on your shoe, you’ll be ok. NOT a shoe in my opinion. It’s barely ok.
The Italian beef is also a local favorite. I found it a little boring. The meat was kind of clumpy, like not separate slices of meat but not shredded either. I had to think it was yesterday’s meat, especially since we were there at lunch. The bun was much bigger than the meat. You can get it with aus jus but I don’t know what that means because there wasn’t a side of jus nor was the sandwich dipped in it.
The hamburgers are ok as well, decent, ok. The French fries are skin on, I believe bought. I can’t say they tasted fresh. The onion rings were pretty tasty, a bit greasy, but one of the more flavorful things I’ve had there. You can get an order of half fries and onion rings. That’s my preference. Good choice of dipping sauces to go with.
One surprise for lots of people is the tuna melt. On a bagel or bun, this open faced sandwich is really, just like mom’s. And there is a lot of it. A very satisfying lunch even if you split it.
The ice cream is ok. The flavors are a little weak to me.
Plenty of seating, though it does stay busy.
It’s not gourmet, it’s home cooking. Like being in someone’s kitchen. We can all enjoy that from time to time.

I’m sorry I’m laughing so hard, but the ice cream here is terrible. Unfortunately I can’t say anything for any of the other food, but I won’t be going back to try.
Story:
Me: «I got ice cream from spotted cow & it was so bad, I threw it out and went to Emo’s. Seriously. I. Threw. Ice. Cream. Away. It tasted like frozen milk. Grossssssssss!»
Boyfriend: «What? Who throws away ice cream? And BTW, I heard that place is awesome.»
Me: «No. And it was more expensive than Emo’s. I should have just gone there in the first place. I’ll never go there again»
1 week later…
Boyfriend: «I wanna go try the ice cream from spotted cow.»
Me: «No.»
Boyfriend: «Yes»
Me: «Fine, but A) I can’t wait to tell you I told you so and B) I’m not getting any and we’re going to Emo’s afterward.»
15 min later…
Boyfriend: «OMG THIS IS TERRIBLE! IT TASTES LIKE FROZEN MILK! WTH???»
Me: «I TOLD YOU SO!!!»
Moral of the story: I was right then and I’m still right now. Don’t buy ice cream from this place — go to Emo’s instead. Trust me.

Very nice place. Great atmosphere and the ice cream was great! The thing I loved about TSC was their small sundae. I have NEVER been to an ice cream place where you can get a 1 scope sundae. It’s the perfect size for just a nice small dessert.
Food was great and service was great. I will be back if I am in the area.

One of my favorite ice cream joint also the chicken strips are to die for over this summer when I went and visited my grandma and grandpa we went down to the spotted cow it was delicious and I just went back today love the cow moonewer and turtle ice cream

Décor is mildly whimsical and bovine-​centric.
I had a cheeseburger (think Steak n’ Shake, but beefier) and it was satisfying and tasty, though a little on the salty side. The fries were freshly cut and delicious. One of my kids had chicken tenders and they were fantastic. The tenders were juicy, hand-​battered, whole pieces of chicken. My other child had a hot dog which was just meh.
Service was friendly, polite, and personable. My kids had ordered cheese fries and I forgot to order the cheese. I went to the register to buy the cheese, and the cashier just handed me a cup free of charge.
We went back the next day because we had such a positive experience. This time we all ordered the chicken tenders :)

Diner feel with tons of cow décor.
I went with the classic intention of just getting ice-​cream but was pleasantly surprised to find other food items on their menu. This place serves burgers, hotdogs, pasta salad, and more. I’ll definitely have to stop by again for some food next time.
The ice cream selection is vast with lots of flavors given witty names to choose from, one memorable name was Moonewer, a chocolate ice cream with assorted candies. My favorite flavor here is the Mocha Crazy, it tastes not too sweet and has a pleasant nuttiness to it.
If you’re in the Peoria area, I recommend stopping by and grabbing a bite.

Frankie and crew hit this one out of the park. I live outside of Boulder Colo. and drive to Peoria three times a year and always stop at «The Cow» The tenderloins are the best in the Midwest and the chili dogs are as good as Hunters were before they closed years ago. One thing though Frank could you come up with a peanut butter and chocolate ice cream. Got some here in Colo. but I bet you could do a better job, Thanks and keep up the good work. GO IRISH! Thanks Steve

Good food nice local place with great décor everything was clean with friendly staff looking forward to going back for ice cream

The Spotted Cow is where you go to get remarkably good traditional ice cream.
By ‘traditional’ I mean: rum raisin is about as fancy as it gets. And for what it’s worth, the half teaspoon I had of that was just the right balance of sweet and rum.
But instead I settled on a chocolate + Belgian chocolate + snickers flavor. I don’t remember it’s named. Coweezy? Which sounds a little too much like a Kanye West-​inspired flavor.
In any event it was creamy, subtly chocolatey but also just a great scoop of ice cream. What my wife got was even better — Blueberry Muffin.
I can’t emphasize this enough — it’s really hard to make blueberry flavor explode in your mouth. Especially in ice cream. This one did. I don’t know how they did it (if I had to take a guess, a homemade blueberry liqueur or maybe kirsch) but it was really good.
So yeah. I can’t speak for the other foods, but I’d come back for the ice cream, no doubt about it.

For lunch and ice cream, there’s no better place than Spotted Cow. It’s set up a bit like a 50s-​style diner, albeit minus the counter, and with a definite cow motif. Their specialties are the homemade pastrami, and a fried tenderloin so large it should come with two buns. They also make decent Italian beef, although the time I got it there was a little too much juice so the bread ended up soggy. Their fries are good but their onion rings are better — thick and crisply battered.
Definitely save room for ice cream. They hand-​make their own, with a variety of flavors. I recommend the «Moo-​newer», which is chocolate with fudge pieces and nuts.

We spent the weekend in the Peoria area and ended up eating here twice. They have a sign that says their Italian beef is better than Chicago’s, and I found that hard to believe. I even asked the staff what made it better, and nobody knew. Well, they may not know WHY it’s better, but it is, and by a long shot. I’m a believer now!
The fries are very good, and the onion rings are superb, with the whole onion never separating from the breading. That’s the sign of a great ring in my book!
Add great ice cream flavors, very friendly service, and appropriately funky ambiance, and you have a «must go» for cheap eats.

Nice place to wolf down a burger, somewhat pricey, a cheeseburger, fries (which are pretty good too) and a drink set me back close to 14 $ minus desert. The deserts are a variety of home made cookies, pies, cakes, ice-​cream and such, I’ve tried a few, always good. Cute atmosphere with friendly customer service.

The Spotted Cow is a Peoria institution! Their Italian Beef Sandwich will quickly disappear from your plate. Top it off with a cool, creamy and sweet dessert. The Spotted Cow’s one-​of-​a-​kind ice cream flavors will leave you craving more. My favorite ice cream? Coffee Toffee! My kids love Blue Wave and Moo-​nure. :-D

I really enjoyed this place.
Very good burgers and ice cream.
Clean environment, friendly staff, and I appreciated the Chicago White Sox décor.

Was in town for the weekend and felt like ice cream. Cute cow themed place. I liked the Moople ice cream (Maple). The kids had fun with the Blue Ice and their blue lips and tongues.
Nice cool down after sitting in the hot sun.