Iowa Cafe
| Address: | 1129 N Higley Rd, Mesa, AZ 85205, USA |
| Phone: | +1 480-985-2022 |
| Site: | iowacafe.com |
| Rating: | 3.4 |
| Working: | 7AM–1PM 7AM–1PM 7AM–1PM 7AM–1PM 7AM–1PM 7AM–1PM 7AM–1PM |
Location
Photos 37
Reviews 10
FR
Friendly Human
After dining at Iowa Cafe for over 20+ years I, along with my extended family & friends, will no longer frequent this establishment. I have had 3 disappointing visits in a row. It is apparent Iowa Cafe has lost its ambience and graciousness to its customers. Reading the other reviews on here I see others feel the same way. The current employees are destroying the image of the cafe which in turn results in loyal clientele no longer wanting to dine there again. I came last week with 2 of my friends. Sat down for lunch at around 11:00am. Beverages served right away. Only one other table was in there waiting for their food. 3 other tables had already eaten and were finishing up. We ordered around 11:05am. Another table sat down beside us. 10 minutes passed by. My side salad was served. By 11:35 still no food. The table after us was served their food. Their entrees pretty much matched our selections . So why were they served first? Why didnt a waitress come to our table during this whole time and check on us? We would have liked to have refills beverages and updated about our food. My empty salad bowl and empty iced tea glass remained ignored for at least 10 minutes. It wasnt as if the 2 waitresses were busy by all means. I noticed our waitress went outside twice to smoke while we were sitting there. When she came back in from smoking and touching the front entrance door handle she never washed her hands. She was also playing with her cell phone a lot. Which I know has to be filthy too. Needless to say, with the wait, the feel of being ignored, and the disgust of our waitresss filthy hands we decided to leave. I did put down $8.00 on the table for the 3 iced teas and side salad. Im sure that money never made it to the cash register. As we were leaving, the waitresses good and well knew we were leaving disappointed, acknowledged our movement and said in a sarcastic voice "Thank you! Enjoy your day!". This confirmed to me that this was no longer the Iowa Cafe that my entire family would gather to for special lunches over the years. The cafe my grandmother enjoyed the Giant Pork Tenderloin and the cafe my grandfather use to compare the Country Fried Steak to my grandmothers is now tainted with heavily tattooed and disrespectful employees. I can go on and mention the other last 2 bad experiences. One with my father that he never got to eat and the other with my mother where it took over an hour to have lunch with being the only table there. But I think I have expressed enough with what I have shared so far. I tried to reach out to the owner to share my experiences before writing this review. Five days have passed without contact. I can no longer recommend this restaurant. If comfort food is what you are looking for these types of diners are a dime a dozen in this area of Mesa. You can Google or Yelp the word "diner" and find a restaurant that truly values your patronage.
SA
Sabrina Smith
Im from utah where we have fry sauce. I got there and ordered a cheeseburger with Homestyle fries and grilled onions. I Asked for fry sauce with my Frys the owner Pam had no idea what fry sauce was but I told her and she had no problem whipping it up, probably the best fry sauce Ive ever had!!! Upon bringing our food out pam let us know that she sent back two of the plates because she wasnt satisfied with how they looked. The food was amazing. They hand batter their chicken fried steak in house my friend got one in a melted in her mouth. Theyre supposed to close at 1 but when she saw a family come at about 1:05 she let them in and was just as kind to them as she was to us!! I will definitely be returning to get my cheeseburger with grilled onions and a side of Sabrina sauce!!! :)
SC
Scott Moore
Moved here from Iowa, and was a bit concerned about a place named Iowa Cafe in Mesa. We stopped in and were surprised and delighted by the atmosphere, the friendliness of the staff, and all the Iowa college flags and nic-nacs around. The menu isnt a bookbut has lots of good choices, and weve had most everything and never been disappointed. The Dan Gable tenderloin reminded me of Millies in Des Moines. The corn beef hash breakfast is fresh, made frrom scratch, and delightful. The chicken-fried steak is about the best Ive had. Great coffee, wonderful waitresses. When the snowbirds are here, its packed, so plan on a little wait, but its well worth it!
SH
Shane Justice
Very limited menu. No turkey bacon or sausage available. Waitstaff indicated many people request turkey bacon/sausage, but were at a loss to know why it is not offered. I suspect the owners dont want to be bothered with serving a more diverse public than folks from Iowa. If you want eggs, bacon, & pancakes, that option is not offered, except by ordering a la carte, which makes breakfast a $10/ plate proposition. Booth backrest is board-straight and very uncomfortable. Frankly, this place is off my list as a destination. Ihop is just around the corner- its easy to forget this place and go where the menu is.more flexible and interesting.
EL
Elle Fraz
Okay restaurant, but too many inconsistencies. Supper menu advertises "choice of potato," but apparently that only applies as long as you choose mashed. Dining companion was charged extra for home fries, wasnt given any other options. Meats (breaded pork tenderloin & liver) both served bone-dry. Small portions, most entrees around $10. Seemed to be a lot of up-charges or extra fees. Service was nothing special, either.
K
K
Just horrible. No concept of how to run a restaurant, most disorganized experience from front and back side of operation. The entire dining room was so unhappy at one point the owner came out, asked everyone to be quiet for an announcement and proceeded to yell at all the customers for asking (logical) questions. Just moved here and this is one I can definitely take off my list.
D
D Sil
Food and prices are very good. Service was excruciatingly slow. I understand most the people there eating are not in hurry, but 20 minutes after our meal is done, is too long to wait for our bill. Then we had to make the effort to give our server our cards to pay. Another 10 minutes. All in all. It was really busy. Get some more help. Food is great though
PA
Paula Nance
Ate there once. The food was only so so. The service was slow and there was only one other table. There were 5 of us. We all agreed on the service and the food. It took quite awhile for us to get our food. We did not order big items. The server was very friendly. The prices were fairly high for what we ordered. We will not go back.
WI
William Scott
Horrible busy with no direction. Wait staff has no organization. Kitchen has no clue and is getting orders wrong. We have been waiting 45 min for our food, and 3 people who were here after us were served first. We are only a party of 2. Waitress was friendly but couldnt expedite our order. Now 4 people served ahead of us.
ST
Stephen Fader
My wife and I were not overly impressed. Everything was status quo and that seemed okay with the staff. The food was nothing special, but nothing wrong either. The service was slow but was under staffed. The prices seemed average for what you got. Nothing bad, nothing great.
