One Twenty Six & Moonrakers — Restaurant in Iowa City

This was our first experience at this restaurant. We made reservations two nights prior hoping to get the Valentine’s Day special. We made reservations online which specified that we should notify them ahead of time that we want the Valentine’s menu. The reservation on the website did not have a specified option to select the Valentine menu, so we wrote in the comments “would like the Valentine's meal.” We received an automated confirmation email the day prior to reservation, nothing else. The day of our reservation, around 11am we received an email from the owner confirming our reservation:

“Hello,

We look forward to hosting you tonight. We have a busy night with lot of folks on the waiting list, and so please let us know if your plans have changed. We are offering our regular menu tonight (and the Valentine’s 4 course dinner by prior request).”

I replied by 430pm again requesting the Valentine’s Day menu. I didn’t receive anything in return, but we also didn’t think too much of it and said to ourselves we will eat off either menu and enjoy the evening.

When we got to the restaurant we were seated right away, but as expected there wasn’t any acknowledgment that we had requested the Valentine’s menu. Nether of us were too invested in it though, so we didn’t say anything and decided to eat off the regular menu. Another couple sat down next to us, and seemed to have the same experience we did in reserving the Valentine’s menu. They brought it up to the waiter, who addressed their concerns and told the person in charge (I can only assume it was the manager or owner, not sure). On their way moving them from their table to upstairs we could overhear their conversation. The manager told them, in way that was gaslighting them, “but you didn’t respond to the email today did you? I sent it out twice,” with almost a cheeky smile.

I can only suggest that they should make this reservation process more straight forward in the future, and then don’t blame your guests when they don’t get offered what was expected. This is the main reason that I am giving the service a 2 star review. Our waitress seemed overwhelmed at times, but she was making a good effort and it was a busy night. Despite it being busy we received our food quickly and were in and out of the restaurant in about an 1 hour and fifteen minutes.

The atmosphere is charming, and quaint. The arrangement however is quite intimate. The downstairs seating, there is barely enough room for one person to move between tables. It was a regular occurrence that the waitress had to closely navigate her way through to the back tables with food orders, and we could easily hear the couples next to us.

For the price of the food, we thought it was ok. I had the seared Ahi Tuna which in itself was prepared well, but it was served over quinoa that was particularly dry. There were small bits of avocado to moisten the texture but I didn’t personally think it did it justice. My girlfriend had the Crab Gnocchi which we both enjoyed. The star of the show were the bacon croquettas, those...

I really wanted to love the food at this higher dining place and unfortunately was disappointed. The restaurant has a cute old looking set-up in the heart of downtown Iowa City and they have some outside seating too. The service was excellent, our waiter was professional, answered all our questions about the menu, gave us time to decide, and checked to see if we needed anything several times. However, the reason for my lower rating was the food. We ordered the Vegan Thai Grilled Veg and the Lamb Osso Bucco and honestly they were nothing extraordinary like I was expecting, especially for the high price. The veggies on the vegan dish tasted fresh, but the rice was super oily and tasted more burned instead of fried, and although the coconut cream tastes okay the contrast to the other flavors didn’t seem to compliment the dish in my opinion. I liked how tender the meat was and the taste of the grilled asparagus on the Lamb Osso Bucco dish. But the polenta didn’t taste like it was freshly made, it tasted like a boxed mix and the amount of gravy/sauce on the dish was too much. We were considering ordering dessert but due to the disappointment from the entrees we changed our minds.

8/31/2023: I appreciate you taking the time to respond to my original review, and now I feel compelled to make a few comments regarding your response.

Firstly, my review didn’t say you didn’t make the food from scratch. I specified that the polenta on the Osso Bucco dish didn’t taste fresh and compared the taste to that from a box while also complimenting the tenderness of the meat and grilled asparagus. Secondly, just because you believe the Osso Bucco to be amazing and a French Italian guest and his wife were blown away by it, that doesn’t invalidate my personal opinion on the taste which was also shared by my friend. Regarding the fried rice, I have never in my life tasted fried rice that seemed burnt and so oily. Also, since it was our first time trying it at your place, we didn’t know we could request a less crispier option. Lastly, your comment about our server was uncalled for because regardless of what the server told you, my review was true to my opinion. I would like to highlight what you clearly overlooked in my review: I gave your place 5 stars for the service, 5 stars for the atmosphere, and 2 stars for the food, and my review specified in writing that the service was excellent and I complimented the professionalism of the server. I will also have you know that I am from a culture that despises wasting food and money, so yes we ate the food and took the leftovers. Who hasn’t eaten a meal they don’t like at least once in their life, especially when they paid good money for it?! We didn’t complain because we came in after a long day hungry and eager to try something new. Also, the food took time to be prepared and we didn’t want to complain and wait some more. But that doesn’t change my opinion on the food and us staying for a while after just means we were enjoying our conversation in the...

This place was really "different". The outside of the building looked old & worn down, and the inside didn't look much different. As I entered the dungeon, I felt as if I was in an alley between two really high ancient brick buildings cause that's what the walls of this place were: just solid raw brick, no paint, dark, simple wood tables, no decorations of any kind. A very tall, slender, guy approached me. He greeted me. I asked him for a menu. He explained they were no longer serving their lunch specials and that I was there at kind of an odd time. I told him that I just wanted something that "tasted good" that was "filling". He said, "I got just the thing for you. It's a sandwich we make called Cuban Pork". I said, "I'll take it". He said, "Would you like any fries with it?" I said, "Yes". He asked me where I'd like to sit and suggested that it would be nice to sit outside cause it was a nice day. I smiled and said that I'd rather sit next to the open window. He grinned broadly and said wherever you'd like. He didn't ask me if I'd like anything to drink, but said he'd bring water. I hate water, but I didn't say anything. He brought the water. It was in a nice large very clean looking glass. I took a sip half expecting to taste chemicals (city water). I didn't. I actually liked the water. He brought my food. I don't really like pork too well, but if someone says something is good, I just get it. The Cuban Pork was so awesome that it was out of this world. Wow, I thought. I wasn't too impressed by the fries, but I'm not really a frie person anyway. You'll just have to try them yourself. The fries came with ketchup, but I hate ketchup, so I asked if they had any hot sauce. He said they had Sriracha. I said that's even better. The meal was a good portion of food and it costed under $15. I was real impressed by my waiter though. He was a very nice guy with a very friendly smile. Another guy from the back even said hi and gave me a wave. They make you feel like you're home at this place, so I gave him a $3 tip for the hospitality, and the really awesome sandwich. You're probably thinking, "Then why not 5-stars?" Cause I wasn't crazy about the fries. Poor excuse, I know, but I'm very very picky about what I eat. I highly recommend this place though. All my 4-star and 5-star reviews are worthy places. Stars are just what my personal experience was, but yours may be better. Not everyone is going to have the same experience. Try this...