Heirloom Salad Company - Downtown — Restaurant in Iowa City

I love their southwestern melt - it’s excellent. But the management and people are a disaster! I’m not sure how they get away with it. I guess being the only “hip coffee shop” in a small city like Iowa City positions them profitably - but they are careless with orders and lack complete accountability. They systematically keep mistakes with the orders (not caring about the additions/deletions that I make to my order), skipping whole items that I order, giving me random items instead… I kept my peace because what I got was edible and the ordeal of correcting my order or getting refund never seemed to be worth it…

Today morning however, I kept on ordering on Doordash and the drivers kept on saying that my order was not ready, was cancelled, or some weird non-sense. When I call, a confident lady tells me a different story - that no driver was there to pick up the order! This kept on happening over and over again over a 2hr period! I guess something snapped in me and I just wanted to get my sandwich!

The folks working there, seriously need training on how to operate a business. They are incompetent, unprofessional - possibly they need to go back to high school and complete their GEDs or something because I don’t understand how else people can work at this place. The management needs to go and really work somewhere to see how such businesses should truly operate.

They give Iowa City a horrible reputation for allowing such businesses to operate and possibly even...

I really want to like Heirloom, I really do. It has all the makings of a cute cafe with really good food. They have big windows which let the natural light in and are connected to a coffee shop giving it homey vibes. It has a cute name and logo. They have sandwiches, salads, and soups and unique options at that. However, the food at Heirloom left me wanting more. More warmth, more satisfaction.

I ordered the Turkey and Avocado sandwich which was cold. It was good but I felt like I could have easily made a comparable sandwich at home. There just wasn't anything that wowed me about the flavor. I also had the Heirloom chili which was good (not very bean-heavy) and I found myself dipping the sandwich in the chili to give it the extra something it needed.

I also nibbled on my sister's Philly cheesesteak sandwich (needed a spicy element or the chili to dip into) and my mom's custom salad (nothing special). I rarely get sandwiches out because they are almost always disappointing and this confirmed that.

The most annoying part was that the people doing the chopped salads were making so much noise. We couldn't hear ourselves talk from across the restaurant. There has to be a quieter way for them to chop those salads.

If I come back to Iowa city, I don't think I'll be coming back...

To start off, the employees were GREAT. It's a very poorly run establishment. I pre-ordered on the website early in the morning for an afternoon pick up. I double-checked to make sure I put the correct time, especially since I requested a later time and the website says they don't open until 10. When I arrived, my order was nowhere to be found. The employees apologized saying that it was made at 7:30 a.m. They made my order quickly, were perfectly pleasant, and I was out the door. The food was good but overpriced. Other things I noticed were that some employees' hair wasn't properly secured, their personal drinks were on the prep counters, as well as their phones. I don't blame the employees for the missteps. They legitimately probably didn't know what they were doing was wrong. If I could go back and give 100% of my money straight to the employees, I would. They deserve it more than the company does. --And to update, the owner of the company sought me out by email, attacking me and blaming the poor experience on me. Complete with my receipt, full name, and...