Pullman Bar & Diner — Restaurant in Iowa City

The past several times I’ve been here I’ve had poor experiences, but last night took the cake. My boyfriend and I were here awhile ago and he ordered the fried chicken. They used some non-typical seasonings that he didn’t like. The flavors weren’t bad, just not his cup of tea.

Because of this past experience he asked the server what the seasonings on the fried chicken sandwich currently are. The server said that there was something off with his taste buds because the chicken sandwich is delicious. Which wasn’t really the question my boyfriend asked, and when my boyfriend asked him what the seasonings were again the server didn’t have an exact answer and said “regular fried chicken sandwich seasoning” trusting this my boyfriend ordered the sandwich.

Later on while my boyfriend was in the bathroom the server came up to me and asked whether he and I were dating or if we were just friends. The way he was asking made me feel pretty uncomfortable. He then asked me, “Is he always like that?” And criticized his taste again, in reference to my boyfriend asking a question about the food. My partner wasn’t even criticizing, just asking about the seasonings. He has worked in the restaurant industry for the last ten years and has a decent idea of what flavors are what and was very surprised by the servers unprofessional response to his question.

The icing on the cake was that the server never actually told us what the seasonings on the sandwich were!

Unfortunately for him, it turns out that they have some sort of curried honey or some other uniquely seasoned item they add to their sandwiches. Servers should know and be able to aptly describe the items on their menu, and this was definitely not a “regular fried chicken seasoning”. My boyfriend again said it wasn’t necessarily bad, just not what had been described to him and not something he enjoyed, (other than the chicken breast itself which he said was good once stripped of the rest of the sandwich.)

Unprofessionalism aside, the food has repeatedly been sub par and the restaurant has refused to accommodate for my gluten intolerance on two occasions. We’ve given this restaurant so many chances but at this point, we will...

Update: We’ve been a couple of times in the last few months and both times have been a pretty big flop for me. My husband enjoyed the hot chili chicken sandwich quite a bit on the first visit this summer, so that’s why we went back. He didn’t like it quite as much the second time. The first time this summer, I asked for a recommendation, and the server gave me very generic “a lot of people order this” comments. I ordered what she “recommended” —something with steak on fries with a Worcestershire-heavy sauce. It was just okay and it was very expensive, because the steak was market price, quality stuff. We ended up spending over $60, and I super didn’t love my food. That was a bummer, but I went back hoping for a better experience. This time I got a burger, but it was SUPER RAW! With multiple things I wasn’t loving and limited time, I wasn’t about to ask for a new burger. That should never happen. The pic I posted shows the rawness at the edge of the burger, but the center was practically red. And you could feel the texture of raw hamburger in your mouth. I couldn’t eat it past about 2 bites. My hubby ate it, and thankfully didn’t get sick. And honestly—the burger was $16 and didn’t even come with fries or anything!! Crazy. They’re like $5 as a side!

We also think the house dressing with dill is very odd. And the space inside is very cramped, which is fine if everything else is stellar, but unfortunately it wasn’t.

Original review: We ate dinner on the patio, and honestly it was kind of a weird experience. The service was fine, but not great. The food was good, but not good enough for me and my foodie hubby to want to go back. A little overpriced for the quality of the plates we got. I’m not sad we went once, but now I’ve tried it—and that’s...

OK let me start off by saying that my daughter was a waitress here for a while and I might be biased. However, for the purpose of this review I won't comment on the service(which is excellent btw). I love the atmosphere of the place. You can sit out near the windows to the street, to people watch or sit towards the back which is a little more cozy and or watch the chef work. Or choose to sit at the bar and have a chat with Riley. As far as the food is concerned...we'll let me just tell you that Chef Matt and Sous Chef Jorge are really creating some amazing dishes. I had a Princes Hot Chili chicken sandwich and was blown away by the flavors blending together. A slow, deep heat with a flavor I had never experienced. The slaw and aioli combination shone through and was not lost in the heat. The chili for the heat is sooo different than the pepper and honey sandwiches I've seen everywhere else. Super impressed. We tried several other things from the menu like the beet salad, the house burger and the fried rice. There are so many things going on in these dishes that I can't individually go into each one of them. Suffice it to say that if you are a flavor profile kind of person, you will not be disappointed. The one downside is that there is construction going on in the street so it is tough to get to them. But please do!! Help support this restaurant. They are in it to provide fantastic food in a great atmosphere. Keep places like this going so we all always have somewhere to go back...