Mineral City Mill and Grill — Restaurant in Fort Dodge

I'm torn with how to rate this. We really loved the food and the cocktail menu - some very creative combinations (espresso old fashioned), but the service was pretty terrible.

When we first arrived, there was no host or anyone at the front of the house to seat us. We stood there for several minutes before anyone came over to show us to a table. The restaurant was not overly busy so it was odd to not be seated sooner.

We ordered several drinks during our dining experience. My first before dinner drink took close to 10 minutes to come to our table and our after dinner drinks took close to 15 minutes. We had long gotten our desserts and finished them by the time the drinks showed up. Our server came to our table three times to see if our drinks had gotten there and had to go check with the bar each time. She was only 17 and unable to bring the drinks to us and needed someone else to do that.

Our server was young and inexperienced, and I don’t want to ping her for that because there is lots of opportunity for her to learn and be able to work faster. But simple things like clearing dirty dishes, refilling water glasses, bringing out food in a timely manner can make or break a dining experience. When we were having dessert, my husband asked for a spoon and it took five minutes for him to get one.

We were at the restaurant for close to two hours, and as we were just passing through on our way east, we lost some valuable time on the road because we were at the restaurant for so long.

But we did love the food. My husband loved the lasagna, and appreciated that the serving size was reasonable, not a huge brick of pasta that is too much to eat. I had the Tuscan Chicken and it was tasty. My son liked the kid spaghetti and meatballs.

We also appreciated the covid safey measures in place and felt comfortable eating there, other than being there for two hours.

I give it 4 stars on food and covid precautions but 2...

The quality and taste were good, that's not a problem. The portion was pretty underwhelming though. For a sandwich that is 14 dollars with tax...... nope. I think most adult men would be left wanting a bit more. You could get triple the sandwich, cheaper, with a "Gargantuan" at Jimmys Johns (which is a 1/3 of a mile down the road). So why 2 stars and not 3 (which should be considered average/middle of the road)? I ordered online .5 hours ahead of time for the pickup. A curbside pickup with instructions to let them know you were there. Called and told them where I parked..... no one ever came out. I went in and said I had ordered a pickup - the host goes to the back and brings out my order. It was apparent it had just been sitting there. I also had asked to add onion the sandwich. I guess 3 thin, strings of onion is the portion that goes on a sandwich. They also failed to put on the cheese that was supposed to go the sandwich. This is probably a reflection of the staff there on a Monday night rather than the restaurant as a whole, but the portion too? Look at the pictures. I don't live here, was traveling for business. If I have to come back again, I won't be ordering here again. Looks like a number of good Mexican options are available. If I want a sandwich, I'll go to Jimmy Johns (pretty consistent everywhere in the country I've been that it's an option). So again, good food, but small portions and...

Well we were 3 friends that decided to come here after 3+ years of avoiding the place because in all of our opinions, it was mediocre at best and garbage at worst. As for todays visit we each got something different. We shared the Italian nachos which were really good. Never thought about putting Italian jazz on nachos. Kudos to that appetizer. I ordered the rasberry tea which tasted a little watered down but drinkable and the Spring Sensation. Other then the mushy manderine oranges and goopyish strawberries, it was delicious. I would order it again if i come here again. The second of us ordered the lasagna with Mac n cheese. The noodles were rubbery, the sauce was bland, and the ricotta cheese was gross. All around over cooked. The manager comped is for it And that was very nice of her. The mac n cheese was good though for being like Velveeta and noodles. The last of us ordered chicken parmesan over fettuccini noodles. The noodles were cold and the sauce was bland again but the chicken was on point. The tiny buns were also pretty delicius and i don't really like bread. So good for you. You passed my expectations and we may be...