Midtown Station — Restaurant in Cedar Rapids

It was morning, I was hungry, and I thought of the Midtown Station. This bar/diner has a definite neighborhood feel about it. Comfortable, with a strong cadre of regulars and an unpretentious menu. I find the main room quite cozy during the winter months, luckily for me they have built a bright sun room off the back with an open patio beyond that. I am a social person (to say the least) but found the peace and quiet of having the sun room to myself welcome on this Wednesday morning. I enjoy writing over a leisurely breakfast and accordingly took out my book and pen and ordered a Firehouse Burrito with the upgraded Midtown ‘browns. It wasn't more than a few thoughts later that my food arrived. The burrito doesn't stand out in any particular way, but is nonetheless satisfying and delish. It is constituted of chorizo, bacon, eggs and pepperjack cheese. The Midtown Hashbrowns are your standard shredded hashbrowns topped with sautèed onions, peppers, jalapeños and pepperjack cheese. I will state for the sake of transparency that I boxed half the burrito and ‘browns immediately upon their arrival. The servings are not massive, but I am a calorie counting bicycle racer, so halves it is. The burrito is a good mix of flavors, well balanced. Not too much of any one thing, but with enough of each ingredient that the flavors have their own presence. I especially appreciate the quality of the chorizo, most of us have experienced the overly greasy low quality variety, with it's concomitant pool of bright orange oil, this is not that. The loaded browns are spot on. The vegetables are not rendered down to the point of losing their character, the browns are left with a good deal of potato flavor, perhaps not as crispy as some like, but the cooks have found a crispy-ness/still potato-y balance that works well with the dish. My only quibble would be (perhaps) slightly too much cheese. Most likely perfect for all others, but I found it overwhelmed the hashbrowns just a touch. I have breakfasted here many times and will do so again (and again). If you decide to go, and I hope you do, look for a slim (ish😋) person of indeterminate gender scribbling away, savoring a yummy breakfast, and come over and say...

I have given this place chance after chance but, we reached the end. In the past, I excused many issues. I used own 3 restaurants myself in another state so, I understand the industry and know that it isn't fair to critique an establishment because of a random poor employee, silly mistakes or, occasional quality issues beyond their control. Today however, I stopped by to grab a quick steamboat breakfast thing, whatever it's called. A very easy item to make, maybe all of 3 minutes to complete. The server stated "I just put in a 10 person Togo order so, it may be a while". I think she could tell by my expression that I wasn't too thrilled with this response so, she said she would ask the kitchen for a more exact time frame. I thought to myself "perfect, surely the chef is a professional that knows how to manage his kitchen". Wellllllll, I was wrong. I could see him and her talking and he laughed, sighed at the tremendously overwhelming task before him and said "honestly, 30-40 minutes". I was shocked!! I could not believe that a 10 person to go order could completely handicap a kitchen that severely lol. As I said, I know the industry and this should not be. Furthermore, when they both saw me walking out, any restaurant person worth their weight would have stopped me and ensured that they would get it done as quickly as possible. After all, I'm the one in the restaurant, the other order is still yet to arrive. Just very sad. Seems people no longer have the passion for the business, in Iowa at least, from what I've seen consistently throughout my time here. I hate to say it but, almost all of the issues I see at restaurants here, you would never see in NY and most certainly never at one of my restaurants. Any employee that told a customer walking out frustrated "I'm sorry, take care, have a good day" would not work for me. In this business you have a very small window to make a good impression and she just allowed me to leave...to go home mad write this review. So, La Casita made my breakfast and it was delicious. Perfect example, never even knew they existed and now they have a new customer 1 or 2 times...

Beautiful little place, the interior is gorgeous. I had the wontons and they were amazing. The drink menu is also great. However, I had some of the worst service I’ve ever gotten. The bartender was more worried about dancing and flirting with a patron than she was about doing her job. It took forever for her to get our drink orders and then another decade to actually make them. I don’t mind a wait when the place is busy and it’s obvious that employees are bustin’ their jumps to serve people. The bar area was NOT busy enough to warrant the wait, though. When she brought my wontons out she basically threw them down in front of me as if she were serving a wild animal. I was on my best behavior so I’m pretty sure it wasn’t too hard to tell I wasn’t one. She also purposely shorted my friend’s change because she didn’t have quarters or something and didn’t mention it or ask if that’s okay. Here’s a math lesson: two nickels is nowhere near 90 cents, honey. When confronted with our complaints she made up som excuses. I would recommend that she go find something else to pay the bills where she doesn’t have to interact with customers and can still get the attention she feels she deserves. Something like OnlyFans or selling pictures of her feet. If I ever come back to this establishment and she’s working I will turn around and walk back out. I’ve seen better service out of...