Lincoln Cafe — Restaurant in Belle Plaine

We go over to the Lincoln Cafe ever so often, especially when we're camping nearby. The food is very good and often the portions are huge (a side of corn equals about a can's worth). Bacon, though, is only three strips where most places offer at least four.

My only real complaint is with the service, which is iffy - sometimes good, sometimes not. The last time we were in there our waitress (one of the good ones) said she was about to leave and the other two waitresses would take care of us. She mentioned that I was to get a small container of ice cream as part of my meal. It took over 15 minutes for someone to come over to take care of that - during which time I kept trying to wave one of the waitresses down. They would make eye contact, then walk by as if they were deliberately trying to ignore us. I finally got their attention by making a stack of plates no one had bothered to clear and putting it right on the edge of the table. Sad when you have to resort to such measures to get someone to do the job they were hired to do.

UPDATE: It's been four years since my review and we still stop in there when we're camping nearby. This year we went in three times.

On our first visit, our server was very young and seemed inexperienced or needed some better training. Twice my coffee cup was empty and she walked by with a pot of coffee and didn't even give us a glance. She also seemed unsure how to take an order and turned away before I was finished. I had to get her attention again and tell her the rest. On our other two visits we had another server who was much, much better.

The food was great, for the most part. On the first visit, though, I had steak and eggs. The steak was under-seasoned and overcooked. (I had asked for medium rare and got something that was closer to well-done. I am not sure if this was the server's fault or the kitchen's). It was tough and had little flavor. Everything else that meal was fine.

Our second visit was fine with no issues.

Today the hamburger I got was fantastic - one of the best I've had in a while! My fries were thick and tasty. Then there was this Cole slaw. I had to laugh at it. Not at the slaw itself. It tasted fine and all, but - there was so little of it! It was severed in a tiny plastic cup. It might be better to leave it off the plate instead of handing out a joke sized portion.

All in all the biggest complaint was that steak. It was awful. The burger and the rest of the food really made up for it, though. If I could raise my original 4 stars to...

Stopped in for lunch (1-2pm) on Thursday with my folks. We were very pleased with the service, cleanliness and atmosphere! They serve Pepsi products, that's a plus with us. The menu choices are EXCELLENT! My mom is doing KETO and was very pleased with her options! She ordered the house chicken, grilled breasts, with peppers, onions and melted cheese. She also had her choice of two sides. It was no problem when she asked for two lettuce salads as her sides. Our server even combined them into one bowl instead of serving in separate bowls and made sure to give her plenty salad dressing. My dad and I both had the four piece broasted chicken dark meat with two sides. Salad for both of us too. Dad's salad was fine, unfortunately mine had the texture of a salad leftover from the night before. It was edible and I didn't complain because there are people starving all over the world. Dad ordered fries, they are crinkle cut and I thought they were ABSOLUTELY PERFECT. Dad likes his fries really done and crunchy, almost burnt, but he still ate most of his fries. I ordered hash browns and was not disappointed! Shredded, moist and slightly crunchy pieces! YUM I love when they are cooked on a well used, seasoned surface! We all brought leftovers home. The prices are very reasonable, they also had daily specials written on a board that looked appealing! There's also a cooler with shelves of what looks like homemade pies! If I had been able to finish my chicken I would have had a hard time trying to decide on which pie to have! We will go back if we are in the area again. We might even make a special trip if they still have the fish special during...

Holy Cow....we (my family) have eaten there on multiple occasions. The food is/was ok (pretty standard diner food), but after tonight NEVER again. My father ordered the all-you can eat shrimp, but his stomach was acting up and couldn't eat it all. The waitress actually told him he couldn't take it home!! Are you kidding me??? It was all you could eat and we are talking about 1 plate with maybe 8 little fried shrimp on it....and it was not as if he had consumed 5 or 6 servings! All of us had to ask the waitress for refills, ketchup and napkins several times...and we were the only people there! Then when he went up to pay the bill the waitress demanded her tip right then with and I quote-- "You have to tip me now". My father, being the softie that he is just agreed, but I was extremely offended. Since when is it okay to do that??? Lincoln Cafe needs to check their employees and...