Painfully loud, sticky floors, and the bartenders don’t know how to make drinks unless you’re an 18 year old who doesn’t know what alcohol should taste like. The cover is expensive and the drinks are too costly for alcohol that taste like lighter fluid. (Cash only)

The pool is toooooo hot! Wheres the a/c?

It was fun until you have to use the bathroom and there’s no toilet paper and the bathroom is so gross. But over all such a great time and experience!

Iconic bar for the school. Great for drinking and partying on the cheap. Wouldnt recommend for a casual drink however.

Trashy college bar. Wear shoes you dont care about but if your are ready to get drunk, its a great place to go.

$1 jagerbombs for Friday Happy Hour.

The Club is fun, great vibe. Recommend going there fro Thursday to Saturday.Bouncers are rude and change their mind from day to day. My friend was told it is fine if he brings a copy of his passport the next time, but was not let in when he brought a copy.Floor is digusting

I love the to dance but it is usually crowed. Most the people are nice and will talk to you. Its a great place to go if you just want to have some fun.

Lit. Cover hella expensive tho. Same with dri nks.

Security is very rude and unprofessional. They denied me re-entry for asking questions as to why my friends were being ejected from the premises. The guy went as far as telling his coworker to not let me in. I don’t know why these men are trying to preform a job if they can’t handle being asked a few clarifying questions. Insecure much?

It gets the job done as the contemporary bar for the party person chasing the dragon. The kind of place if you feel the need to stand on tabletops and wild out.

This location is absolutely outstanding. the place has a cool feel to it. i can see why they have a lot of great reviews.

Looks fancy

Packed and covered in all kinds of fluids at night, good tiem

Its sort of like a club mixed with a bar. Do NOT go here in a Friday night if you dont like rubbing against people the whole time your there. That place is packed with pick pockets but they have good drinks just a bit pricy but it is a bar and it is on campus. It was full of different kinds of people, Tall, Short, relaxed, uptight, you name it. They have tv to watch the game if you like sports and drinking. if you are hoping for bar food go somewhere else.

When the cover charge is $25 dollars, there is no way I am going in. Simple as that. Would rather go somewhere else and have a better time, such as watching paint dry.

Sticky, filthy and crowded place. The drinks are diluted, they let in much more people than the place can fit. It is ridiculous that people pay money to get in: I would not come there again even if they will pay me. The atmosphere is terrible, guys feel comfortable to group you if youre just there, and nobody seems to care. It is very unsafe, the bathroom is never cleaned, as everything else there. The music is horrific. The floor is sticky. I cant imagine them making any profit if not for the total absense of anything that can be called a decent club anywhere in the area. Im really sad that for many people thats first exposure to the clubs, and thats what they are going to thing about them in general.

Excellent example of a trappy college bar. Dont come here if you want an upscale club.

Loud, dark, packed, but it gets the job done in all the right ways

Better than Kams

Super packed with college kids. Seems to be their go-to place. Passengers I pick up/drop off here say its more so the people who are there they like as opposed to the environment itself.

Nice, and good specials, Jager bombs for $1 on Saturdays anyways, entrance is $5, however they wont let you re-enter which is stupid.

Red lion is the best bar in Champaign. Good deals. Good times.

Hella overrated only happies is worth it

Great place especially with the outdoor areas but needs more bathrooms

Good party bar just wear your shoes you dont care about from all the ice and liquor on the floor.

Go here very often, just dont get to drunk. Good music usually, gets crazy though.

No girls will talk to me

I mean it’s an amazing college staple but honestly disgusting college bar:wet floor, no TP in the bathroom, bad drinks - wouldn’t go anywhere else as undergrad but so gross after. And owned by Cochran which is automatic minus 2 stars.

Its what youd expect for a college bar- crowded, loud, and mildly gross. Music wasnt really my taste but they went through a nice range of songs so I was still able to enjoy myself. The layout is a bit odd but if you can get up onto one of the platforms, its the best place to be imo.

Going here ruined me and my friends night. The security guards were very rude and one even grabbed my sister and the larger man with the beats told her to leave even though she was trying to get back her own real ID that she needs to drive with. They were extremely rude and ruined our night with their negative attitudes.

Long line, high cover some weekends. BUT AMAZING DJs

Loved it! Friends and I went out on a Tuesday night and surprisingly people were there and it was a fun time. SUPER cheap drinks, or maybe it was a special, but had a blast! Bartender 216 was our fave, very nice guy.

It’s amazing people still show up to this trash heap. Only reason l ever go is because my friends talk me into it. Smells like puke staff is rude. The other night l bought $20 in drinks and the Sloot bartender gave them away to her underage friends and l never even got the drinks l paid for. Enjoy it while it lasts lion. Your reign as one of the most popular bars will come to an end soon.

Watch out for pickpockets. Phone & cards stolen

Terrible place to visit. A place for a lot of college students to enjoy themselves. so many alcohol beverages spilled on the floor that the place was almost like a swimming pool. Young man ripped off his shirt and urinated all over the floor while I was there. Most hated experience in champagne ever!!!!!

Doesn’t even merit 1 star... horrible service.. bad service and horrible staff!

You have to pay $10 just to see your friends inside and the tequila is vodka flavored tequila. Guys, why do we keep coming here?

Very fun and hip. Great music choice as well

This place is great for friends to get together and relax outside. Very fun on Moms and Dads weekend too! Great DJs along with very friendly staff.

The kids love it, not meant for the parents which is a good thing

Always a lot of people, music is only good sometimes.

Very bad well liquor...Over price call liquor...bathrooms disgusting...bring your own t.p.

Ridiculous cover fees for non U of I students: 5 for U of I, 10 for non U of I students, and 20 for non students - even for military service members. Musics was kind of crappy, too especially as the night went on. Usually on the crowded side of comfort.

I would give 0 stars if I could. I went out with my friends and they charged my black friends $5 to get in while letting myself and my white friends in for free. We immediately left when this blatant discrimination was told to us.

Just do yourself a favor and go to Kams

This is the greatest establishment at the University of Illinois. All hail to The Red Lion. For the people that have written bad reviews, you obv dont know what youre getting into when you come to lion.. Yea, its a super dirty place that has the floor covered with water/liq and the bathrooms are dirty af too, but this is the only and the main bar that students go to on campus. So if youre an outsider or dont like what I described, dont come. Its strictly a college bar and if you want strong and cheap drinks, you gotta know the tenders otherwise youre screwed. Cheers!

Subpar bar with weak drinks and incredibly smelly. The floor is a mixture of spilled drinks and vomit, so my shoes the next morning were covered in that sickly mixture. Although many people go, they dont bother with keeping a good density of people so you feel like a sardine. The DJ was pretty terrible when I was there as well. Its a formative UIUC experience, but go to Brothers or Joes for a better time.

Drinks are watered down and overpriced, dance floor isnt really a dance floor but just this sticky dark mess, lighting is garbage and too many people doing absolutely nothing but pay through the nose for drinks and listen to what is typically crappy music. On Friday nights anyway.

Typical college club scene. Very loud, typically crowded. The hygiene there is terrible though. No toilet paper in the bathrooms, stall doors broken. Floors were terribly sticky. This is the place where you can go meet creepy guys if youre into that. The past two times I have gone, I have felt like the only way you could kind of have fun there is if you are extremely intoxicated, which I was not.

The Bar is open air and gets very crowded on weekends, its a great place to turn up to, but the music could use some work

They kicked me out for falling

$10 cover and overpriced drinks, insert “no thanks” Drake meme

Great people. Nice drinks. The lines would be shorter if there was a separate Lion for ISU kids though

One of the absolute worst bar experiences Ive ever had out of my 4 years here on campus. I had come in around 12:15 a.m. and was having a great time dancing and listening to music. Then around 1:00 a.m. my friend had decided to go home. I wanted to make sure she made it back home safe and sound, so in order to ensure that, I escorted her out and made sure she got in her Uber ride safely. Afterwards, I proceeded to head back in, when the security told me to get in line. So, I got back in line, however was denied entry due to not having a clear enough stamp, even though 45 minutes earlier, I had paid cover and was stamped alongside two of my other friends. I tried to show them my wristband and what was left of stamp (most likely smeared off when I was dancing), but they wouldnt have it. Ive never been treated in such a negative manner by any other bars on campus; I was yelled at by the two men doing cover and even picked up from behind by the security to leave.Just a word advice, Red Lion: perhaps find a better stamping method--it is not my fault that it rubbed off due to dancing and such.

Drinks are cheap and weak. Best believe these bathrooms have vomit and urine. That being said, go there blasted and youre gonna have a good time.

The underbelly of UIUC. Yall know what it is.

Good place for college students to go out and dance. Not a high end place by any means but everyone is different

People should love themselves a little more.

If you like this environment, this is the place for you:There is always someone in the bathroom having a worse time than you.Expect the drunken hordes of people to spill your drink or spill onto you at least thrice.Half an inch of liquid coats every inch of the floor.People dancing on the tabletops are your best shot at scoring, if you can get them to come down.Everyone is more drunk than you.

One of the most enjoyable hotspots in town!

Best bar on campus

Dirty college bar thats always lit. They sell non-alcoholic shots for a dollar. Very misleading, especially when you can actually get alcohol.

Good vibe. Crowded and sticky

The doorkid was rude and didnt understand how to look at an ID

Fun music, good dance floor, poor hygiene and long lines. Only go if very drunk.

This is the wild west of bars. Not everyone was meant to meet a lion head on, but everyone should experience it.

Like many campus bars, Red Lion is pretty bro-tastic. However, its a very sizable location with an centralized island bar so getting drinks usually isnt an issue and they do have a nice outdoor space.

Decent bar, not my favorite but its always a good last resort

There is a long line to get in always, the staff is not friendly at all. The music is so loud that your ears will be ringing the next day. The drinks are pricey. But for whatever reason, I have the best luck with girls at this establishment. Give it a try.

Trashy but fun

There were two inches of water and vodka across the entire floor of the bar. Very gross to have wet feet

Not the best, but one of the better clubs in town.

Like most bars near the University of Illinois campus, The Red Lion is not the cleanest establishment and gets swamped with 19-year olds on weekend nights. That said, the music is good and there is room to both dance and hangout.

Great for the nights where Ive lost my dignity.

This place is ratchet. Some bartender, a blonde, pocketed $11 that she owed me in change and when I asked her about it she shrugged it off and went to the next customer. Also I have never seen a more trash bathroom in my life. When I walked in the toilet was overflowing with throw-up, feces, and urine which was also all over the floor along with broken beer bottles. If youre going to go here make sure you pre-game hard then it wont matter.

Kams is better

Your typical college bar. Always packed with loud music and people. Alright drinks

Horrible staff. Unprofessional. Try to steal from patrons. Avoid it you dont feel like risking it with the thieves that work here.

The floor was too wet. Although the dance place was good

The bouncers are all legit children and Crawling with cops

Most of time overcrowded and with overpriced drinks.

Standard dirty campus bar. Hotspot for Greek life.

Place is literally filled with trash water and the staff are rude and throw ice at others and ignore you when you want to PAY MONEY for a drink.

I come all the time but never remember much

Children. Children everywhere . If you are above 16. Avoid

To random guy!!

If your looking for bar reviews on Google, dont come here.

Very good place

The home of 18-20 year olds. Ok I suppose if you are underage, but worthless if you want to meet new people that can share in a beer

Gross, floor was so sticky I almost lost a shoe. Drinks were weak and the place smelled like a combination of urine and vomit. Never will return.

Awesome Bar! Great for dancing!

This place is a nasty bar for college students. DONT TOUCH ANYTHING!

Very dirty. All drunk college kids

Really nice place for only 5$

I loved how turnt it was, like it almost always cracking, every time I go out I always end there

Best bar on campus

Poor selection of beverages

Great when drunk, questionable when sober

I mean its a campus bar. What more needs to be said