Emil's Hideaway — Restaurant in Cedar Rapids

TL;DR I hear this place is great but on my very first (and probably last) visit their staff showed some serious lack of etiquette. I feel like I'd want an apology before I ever came back, but that'll never happen. So much for CR's most beloved.

For being a "hideaway", the atmosphere wasn't so; the place was packed. Loud, tacky lighting, a little dark, country music on the jukebox, awkward TV placement. I think this place could have been alright on a slower day, must have been prom or something.

We had some spicy chicken rangoons and stuffed mushrooms. The mushrooms were fantastic and I recommend them, description reads "Jumbo mushroom caps stuffed with our homemade sausage, bacon, spinach, and cream cheese mixture and topped with our five cheese blend". However, I couldn't tell the rangoons even had chicken. It tasted like some sort of cheese product filling, and for $8 I got 8 little ones the size of pizza rolls. Honestly, they didn't impress me more than pizza rolls. I'm slow to order, and we had picked out some different burgers and a pasta to try. The hideaway pasta sounded amazing.

I heard the history of the place in general had something to do with a deli, so the fare wasn't actually what I had been expecting, but they had some options like a Cuban and an Italian beef among others I would have come back to try, and they also claim to have a special cooking process for their pizza, which intrigued me. The menu looks like it has some solid options that would keep a person coming back to try new things.

Anyway, before I ordered my pasta, our server says "I think that's enough for two people, unless you want to keep going." Wow, pro. I let it slide. We intended to have leftovers; the plan was to sample things and bring some home for our roommates. We wanted to order more, to be honest, but I am fat and she definitely said this. Oh well. Maybe she didn't think we knew what a portion was. We actually had not had breakfast or lunch today, regardless.

Past that, we waited what felt like an eternity. No burgers. I started to feel anxious sitting at the high table in the middle of all the noise, and was about ready to just give up and leave. I asked my server what our ticket time was, and she said she would check but never told me, although she continued to walk past me. I'm guessing somewhere north of 40 minutes.

When the food finally came out, the fries were cold. I still havent tried the burger, but if you can't bring hot fries after 40 minutes then you aren't better than McDonald's. Clearly I haven't been quite satisfied to this point, and so I decided I'd write it all off as problems of a busy night and try again another time, but our server wouldn't let it go. I told her I didn't want new fries, and I just wanted to settle and leave.

She offered for me to speak with a manager, and I told her I didnt think it was necessary. She brought the manager anyway, who again offered to remake the fries. According to my GPS log, we were here for 1 hour and 17 minutes. Remember, I'm slow to order. That probably took 20 minutes. I told him "Sir, I've been here over an hour and you brought out cold fries, I just want to leave at this point." Straight out, he looks at me and says "I seriously doubt you've been here over an hour, I can go check the cameras."

I told him I didn't appreciate his attitude and promised him I wouldn't come back. I said "What do I owe you?" And he...

Service was great,* #1star. Lighting and entertainment ( TV's) gets the second star.* My third star goes for the menu, this would have been a half star if It would allowed me to score this way. This would give Email's Hideaway a 2 1/2 star. Now the cons, parking needs to enprove, Mens bathroom could have been more cleanliness, especially all the help on the front end. My table as well could have been done a bet better, sense a wrapper from the napkins was left on my table My wife and I was seated at. The booths leather seating can use some attention for they are ripped and tore. Now for the food, My wife ordered a pizza. Her exact words after asking her hows your pizza, response was " taste like spaghetti. I had a chicken sandwich with kettle chips and a side of jumbo wings, I could say I've had better from a fast food service. The wings were the worse I have ever had. One very small when cooked well done very tough to chew, the sauce was good on the wings. If I were the owner I would read reviews and put some monies to serve my customers happier. Some ideals. One try some of Pizza Urban wings, this will give you a ideal of the quality and taste of some great wings. For the pizza I would stay on the same block and town. Try Michello pizza on 7th ave. Marion Iowa this is some tasty pizza without having to be very quality. I believe Emil's hideaway could be a jackpot of a restraunt if again the owner steps to the plate. I will return an a few months. For...

Our server was excellent and helped us make a great selection from the beverage menu. Pretzel bites were sweet, fluffy, gooey, and doughy on the inside with a crispy shell and a salty coating. Honey mustard sauce was a perfect blend between my moms homemade recipe and a touch of the slightly gooey finish of burger place honey mustard. Pizza crust here is excellent, with a bread flour flavor, a tad of sweetness and yeastiness. The fries here are incredible, the flavor/seasoning and texture is everything good about a curly fry in the form of a straight fry. Smokey ranch dressing was also amazing and I am not necessarily a ranch lover myself. Overall the menu here is a good blend of various "american food" a little bit done up. Lots of great selections and a few clear favorites. Seems like you have some room to customize your order to your preferences. One thing they could improve is more options or markings on the menu for folks with...