Castle’s Patio Inn is known as “The Cheesiest Place In Town” and they have a grilled cheese sandwich on the menu so it only makes perfect sense to go there on this fourth week of our 23 week grilled cheese tour.
And so it’s off we go on yet another cheesy journey!
Here we are at Castle’s Patio Inn, a classic Peoria tavern that’s been serving up drinks and their unique cheese spread since 1966. The building itself has been standing tall here for over 100 years!
I love that after all these years they finally have a patio out front complete with picnic tables!
If you notice the sign, it’s St. Patrick’s Day. I’m not a big fan of St. Patrick’s Day and normally never go out, but I figured that it wouldn’t be too crazy in here this afternoon. Time will tell!
Okay, let’s go in to the “Cheesiest Place in Town” and start another week of grilled cheese, if you please!
Alright, it’s nice and peaceful in here and no St. Patrick’s Day madness happening! Let’s head on up to the bar!
There’s Michelle, the owner of Castle’s Patio Inn serving me up an ice tea with a beautiful smile! Great to see her again!
And yes, I’m not drinking alcohol on St. Patrick’s Day…yet! That’ll happen when I’m safely back at MBIP World Headquarters later in the evening!
There’s some people having a nice St. Patrick’s Day lunch, but no one’s going insane like they are in other spots around town! This is how I like it!
We do have a grilled cheese guest of honor, but I’m early as always, so I’ll take a few photos till she arrives.
There’s the quartet of beers on tap and Castle’s is Peoria’s official Malört bar. If you’re not familiar with Malört, just click here and read all about this iconic Chicago booze!
Check out Michelle’s Castle’s Patio Inn shirt, very cool!
I love the vintage Budweiser clock and Michelle has a library of local authors in here, including my 99 Beers Off The Wall book!
There’s gaming machines located discreetly behind a wall in the back corner of the room for all you gamblers out there!
Meanwhile, back at the bar…
Our grilled cheese guest of honor has arrived and it’s my friend, Marie! It’s wonderful to see her and she’s looking fabulous!
Marie suggested we try the grilled cheese here and I was glad she suggested it because I had no idea that they served grilled cheese at Castle’s Patio Inn!
There’s James the head chef here at Castle’s and he came over and took our grilled cheese lunch order.
You have your choice of several cheeses and I asked if they could put some of the Castle’s Cheese Spread in mine. James said he could and suggested that he also add some cheddar to hold it together. Marie ordered a grilled cheese with Swiss and we both added bacon as well. Mmmm…bacon!
While they had a little cheese spread in the kitchen, Michelle said they were waiting on an order of the spread, so no cheese and crackers today.
As a consolation, Michelle brought out these two classic crocks that used to house that delicious Castle’s Patio Inn Cheese!
Speaking of cheese, here’s James with this week’s grilled cheese sandwiches! Perfect timing!
There’s mine with the cheddar and cheese spread mix and below is Marie’s Swiss cheese grilled cheese. And both have a generous amount of bacon. Mmmm…bacon!
We also got a side order of Tater Tots. They were crispy and delicious!
Now onto the star of the show, this week’s grilled cheese sandwich! It looks absolutely heavenly!
Wow, this is one tasty and delicious grilled cheese sandwich!
It’s grilled perfectly and that combination of melted cheddar and cheese spread is so rich and creamy! The smoky bacon is the savory icing on this sandwich and it’s really a super-delicious grilled cheese sandwich!
Marie agreed that these were top-notch grilled cheese sandwiches! Both of us highly recommend them!
Moments after I took this picture, something horrific happened. A St. Patrick’s Day “party” bus rolled up and turned our peaceful, grilled cheese afternoon into a first class shitshow!
Luckily, we were just about ready to call it a day, so I did what any sane person would do in this situation…
I took a picture of what’s got to be Peoria’s oldest condom machine and got the hell out of there!
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Cheesy Rating
(4 Slice Rating System)
Castle’s Patio Inn gets an almost perfect score of three and three quarter slices of cheese.
Wonderful grilled cheese sandwiches and a great place to hang out and enjoy them…until a party bus rolls up!
Thanks to Marie for joining me and to Michelle and James for a wonderful afternoon and lunch at Castle’s Patio Inn!
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802 W. Loucks Avenue
Peoria
309-685-9570
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Related Posts: 23 Weeks Of Grilled Cheese @: La Gondola Spaghetti House & Leonardo’s Of Peoria, Donnelly’s Irish Pub and Kenny’s Westside Pub.