The IowaStater Restaurant — Restaurant in Ames

Attended a Sunday brunch around 1115 or so, (open 630-1pm for brunch) they were busy as they are inside a hotel and there was a wedding the night before so there seemed to be several large groups. They took our name and quoted a 30 minute wait which was accurate. We were seated and immediately told the host that we were just having the buffet, they do offer plated meals as well, and we were told drinks were included and to help ourselves. ($13 each adult, not sure on kid pricing) We quickly noticed they were out of coffee and most juices, out of sticky buns and very low on several of the food options. We started by making our own waffles to try to wait out the buffet offerings. Waffles were standard make-yourself hotel style, with classic topping choices as well as whipped cream and fruit compote. It took a server over 30 minutes to come to the table but he did apologize and checked back a couple of times before we were finished. We ended up being able to snag a sticky bun, as well as waiting long enough to see fresh offerings on the hot buffet which included scrambled eggs w/cheese, breakfast potatoes, biscuits and gravy, bacon and sausage. They also offered cereal, oatmeal, fruit, a few premade baked goods and bread w/toaster. The busiest of stations was the made-to-order omelets, which offered about a dozen different toppings to fill the slightly over done eggs. A hidden gem was the salsa hanging out with the hot sauces to add to the eggs, which was not spicy but full of flavor. Because we never really saw our waiter, we weren't informed of the Bloody Mary/Mimosa bar, but did see the sign with pricing listed. They did run out of plates, glasses, cups and bowls on the buffet, even though the dining room was never actually completely full. They didn't seem to notice when things ran out until it was brought to their attention by several patrons. One in our party of two had attended the week before and stated that it hasn't been this discombobulated when they visited. Four stars might be a little high for our visit but we are hoping it was a fluke based on previous experience. I included a pic of the weekly specials for those interested as they do have lunch and dinner...

I'm honestly really bummed out by my experience here. First time in this city and we decided to splurge on this hotel because of the restaurant and because it had a really good looking menu. The place itself looks really nice and we were very excited when we got there. Unfortunately the rest was not great. While the drinks were good, our waitress was so absent I had to go and get and order my own beers from the bar (the bartender was nice). The food was also a huge let down. I ordered the suef and turf, medium rare, and got an overcooked steak. I've seriously had better cooked steaks at Applebee's, and that's saying something. Not worth the price and being the most expensive item on the menu. On top of that my wife's burger was charred, dry and just plain low quality. It took almost 10-15 minutes for our waitress to finally come back and when we told her our problem, she went to the back and took another 10 minutes to get back to us with a 30% off offer. We didn't eat 30% of either of our meals. I also had to get ketchup from another dining party since none was offered to us due to our waitress being absent. We did have a chat with a manager that comped the price of the food off our check (we sent the un-eaten stuff back to the kitchen and at least the manager was also nice), but still... this was just such a bummer. We went out of our way and splurged on this hotel specifically for this restaurant and it was such a let down. We ended up having to order dominos. Which we shouldn't have had to do. I wish we would have just saved our...

I had two business dinners at the IowaStater in the past three months, each time the food was decent, but service was very, very slow each time. We had to go find our waitress for our bills, well after an hour after we finished our meal. Ordering was also pretty slow. Considering they were not very busy during the middle of the week, one would expect more prompt service.

The first time I dined at the IowaStater I had the Pulled Pork Sandwich, which was pretty good. Meat and sauce was good, along with the slaw. The side salad was pretty minimalist.

This evening I had the Sirloin Hamburger with bacon and blue cheese, with special request on pretzel roll instead of the kaiser roll (another menu item had the pretzel). The burger was okay, and the pretzel roll was not a pretzel roll. Again, salad was very minimalist.

The beer menu is pretty poor, only 4 on tap, and otherwise predominately mass-market bottles.

Overall, it is a decent place for a hotel restaurant. Food is okay, and not overpriced. However, I would certainly not go there unless myself or colleagues were staying in the hotel - far better places in Ames...