Monica's — Restaurant in Coralville

As we drove to the restaurant we realized that it was prom night for some local schools - so I immediately worried about availability. While there were a couple tables of kids it wasn't anything outrageous, and our table of 6 was seated within 5 minutes.

Our waitress seemed pleasant, took our drink orders and returned with them shortly. We asked for a little more time with the menu and she left. On returning she took our order and that was the last we saw of her for a long time.

Our calamari appetizer came out fairly quickly, brought by another server, and so far things seemed okay. Then we waited. After that we waited. In between those things we waited some more. We realized other tables had bread, which we were never offered. Maybe we should say something to the waitress, if anyone could find her! I look up at one point to see her sitting a table down from us refilling olive oil containers. She got up from this and my wife flagged her down for refills. Still no food. Eventually after "Waiting Part 2: Even More Waiting" food gets brought to our table.

My wife realizes that her food has been sitting at the pickup counter for at least 10 minutes where servers have been maneuvering their stylish long hair over and around it to get to their own orders. Sure enough, there's some hair on her cold food. Everyone had their food except for me, the sad little birthday boy. I told everyone to start eating. My son said his angel hair seafood pasta was just barely warm and the seafood portions were neither plentiful nor good. My two youngest ordered a dish that turned out to be more party appetizer than meal, which could have been avoided if our waitress was at all inclined to provide good service. Again, my wife's Chicken Balsamico was burnt, cold, and hairy - none of which were attributes noted on the menu.

I eventually received my food, brought straight from the kitchen by someone entirely different, which was a blessing, because it was actually fresh and untainted by the follicular growth of the numerous wait staff. It was hot, well prepared, and delicious. It was an excellently sized portion too. Our waitress returns, triumphant! Everyone has their food! "How is everything?", she asks coyly. My wife informs her that her food wasn't hot or good. The waitress responds wielding a set of brass balls never before seen in Coralville... "Oh, do you want me to go warm that up for you?"

Uhhhh. No.

We finish our meal, most of it being uneaten. We ask for the check and kindly advise we will not be needing boxes.

As we go to leave my wife heads for the manager on duty and advises them of the situation, to which they reply "yes, we had noticed that. We have had the same issues with her the last few nights."

So, the management was aware of her consistently failing to meet expectations, saw her continue to do so during our "meal", and proceeded to do nothing to correct the situation for us, or educate their staff to prevent it being an issue in the future. Thanks for absolutely nothing.

In retrospect we would have been better off throwing $160 into the garbage, pulling it back out, and eating whatever was stuck to it, than spending my money here. I love and support local non-franchise establishments, but this was possibly the worst dining experience for the money that I have ever had.

I hope others have a better experience, but we will not...

First of all, Monica's was my Italian restaurant in the corridor. I never had any issues here. Three of my friends and myself came here for dinner tonight. We ordered our food and we noticed how my plate and one of my friend's meal was just sitting under a heat lamp. We watched it to see if it was ours. Sure enough it was. I had the chicken fried steak and she.had spaghetti with meatballs. As our plates sat there, staff was hovering over our plates, just talking to each other and reaching over to grab things. Itnis a higher ledge and it all out in the open. All guest can see it. The staff that kept hovering over it, leaning on the ledge were not even wearing hair nets! It was repulsive. Who would want food after its been sitting under that geat lmao for 20 minutes? Staff talking over our food is wrong too. We watch a female staff member finally grab the plates and bring them to us. My friend, who had one of those meals asked forna fresh meal. She and I told her what we all saw go on. My chicken fried steak was beyond crisp! It was so dark and overcooked from the heat lamp! We thought it looked like meat loaf. When the waitress took our plates, back and told staff and cooks what we asked for and why, they rolled their eyes! I'd say that is very unprofessional. It was visible, and disrespectful. Afterwards, we were brought fresh food, it looked much better. The waitress just placed it down quick and left. I told her thank you, and she turned around and hustled away. Not even a "you're welcome" from her. A Cesar salad was ordered by me, and I asked for no croutons. The salad came with croutons on it, and that had to taken back. I have no idea what was happening. This is unlike Monica's. The staff were not to energetic either. I observed most of them just standing around in one big group by the heat lamp talking. While we were eating some young man that worked there, came.and asked what was wrong, what happened to our previous plates. We described every detail to him. Then he told us he apologizes, and he will see what he can do for us to make it up. That young man never came back! He blew us off! Oh, he had time, too! He was just walking around asking tables how service was, ect. I wasn't expecting a full free meal. Neither was of us were. Just something to make up for the evening, would've been a nice gesture. He completely ignored. We all felt as the staff there was looking down on us. All the actions by most of the staff, was distasteful! Our actual waiter, another young man was actually very kind and polite. We didn't have any issues with him! :) If I wanted my dinner from sitting under a heat lamp forever, I'd gone to McDonald's! You're probably better off going to Olive Garden, or Basta's in town. It is terrible to be treated like that from a place I use to love! I have lost all my positive vibes about this restaurant. Also, I use to recommend it a lot. That is stopping after this experience. I am local too, so it not like I came here on my first visit and this went down. My business is business is going elsewhere. Where, I'll be treated with respect and no...

I found this restaurant on yelp. It looked nice and was busy. They had a good wine, beer, and top shelf liquor selection. I sat at a table outside. My waiter was “RJ”.

My daughter ordered a salad and a beer and I ordered a knob creek neat, the ribeye, fries, asparagus, and brown gravy.

RJ brought a drink with cherries in it so I sent it back. The olive oil on the table was cloudy and yellowish in color so I asked him to change it. I asked for a glass of water with no ice and RJ said the water in Coralville is notoriously undrinkable so I went to my car and got a bottle of water.

Already I was starting to wonder about the place but it was busy and the male host was so friendly I decided to give it a fair shot.

When my food came the prime rib was impressive. Although it was purported to be a 10 ounce cut, this steak appeared to be much closer to a pound.

The asparagus was cooked perfectly. Al dente and fresh. The fries were also good. The steak came with au jus.

However the brown gravy was so salty it was inedible. It was so salty I thought it was some kind of a joke.

Once the food came out RJ never came out again to see if everything was ok. I kept trying to get the waiter’s attention but had no luck. I could see him inside scraping plates. Then he was chatting with the other waiters while my food sat getting cold.

Finally, the friendly host came around and asked if everything was ok. I told him the prime rib was good and the asparagus was perfect but I wanted horseradish for the steak and the gravy was so salty it was inedible. He said he would get me the garnish.

RJ appeared with the horseradish and I told him the gravy was so salty I couldn’t eat it ( nobody could have eaten it). He offered to bring white gravy instead. I ordered another beer for my daughter.

I started eating my steak and vegetables and waited for the gravy. It never came. Neither did RJ. Other staff came by but no RJ. I could see him standing around chatting and laughing inside with the other waiters but he never brought me my gravy.

When he came out with the beer I asked him where the gravy was. He said it was peppery so he decided I wouldn’t like it so he didn’t bring it out.

I order food from a waiter so I don’t have to go into the kitchen and get my own. His job is to bring me my food. Not to decide I won’t like it and not bring it out.

The whole dining experience was ruined by such a horrible waiter. While he was inside laughing and having a good time, I was outside paying for a meal I didn’t enjoy because it got cold waiting on service and the frustration of paying good money to sit there like an idiot.

Not again thanks. It was a waste...