On a recent family vacation we stopped for lunch at Newton's Paradise Cafe in Waterloo Iowa. It was definitely a great place to stop and we plan on doing so again the next time we're headed through town.
Our overall rating was 4.63 Stars (out of 5 stars).
Here's how that breaks down:
Family Friendly: 5 Stars They didn't bat an eye when we brought in our big crew. It was a great place to bring kids.
Menu: 5 Stars It was simple, yet most of the menu looked really good and tasty. We'll want to try something new the next time we visit.
Taste of the Food: 4.5 Stars Everything we had were "classic diner" items, but they were great!
Appearance of the Food: 4.5 Stars
Restrooms: 4 Stars
Atmosphere: 5 Stars The classic diner feel was made complete with a huge spinning sign outside the main entrance. Everything inside was good too.
Service: 5 Stars Everyone was on the ball and they took great care of us.
Ethical/Sustainable: 4 Stars They claim that their food is locally sourced and many items were organic, but there just weren't any actual farms mentioned on their website or menu.
Pricing: Lunch entrees were $7-10.
When travelling home from Minnesota, our original dining plans fell through. The silver lining was finding a new great restaurant in Iowa City--Atlas.
Our overall rating was 4.63 (out of 5 stars).
Here's how that breaks down:
Family Friendly: 5 Stars
As usual, one of the boys spilled a cup of water. A random waiter stopped to clean it up and brought him a new water. He cleaned it up with such a good attitude we can only assume little boys dump water on the floor every day.
Menu: 5 Stars
Taste of the Food: 5 Stars
Sometimes I wish we could put '6 stars'. It was really good food.
Appearance of the Food: 5 Stars
Restrooms: 4 Stars
Atmosphere: 4 Stars
Service: 5 Stars
See Family Friendly above. They were pretty busy the night we were there but we still had excellent service.
Ethical/Sustainable: 4 Stars
From their menu: "We use only hormone and antibiotic free meats and poultry. We proudly serve Loch Duart Scottish salmon, Go to cleanfish.com to learn more. We use local and/or organic produce as the season permits from Organic greens, ZJ Farm, Wild Life Lakes Farm, Fae Ridge Farms, Echollective Farm and Dirty Face Creeks Farm."
Pricing: Main dinner entrees are $15 and up. They also have entree salads and burritos that are in the $10 range.
The next time we're in Iowa City we'll just plan on going to Atlas from the start!
