Wilder — Restaurant in Iowa City

The Iowa Gold burger at Wilder alone is reason enough to make the pilgrimage to Iowa City, but if you're in town for any reason it's worth your time to stop by. It is one of the best burgers I've ever had and is perfectly complimented by the fries. One tip, and it will be hard to follow, let your burger rest a few minutes once it gets to your table. The food comes out piping hot (not a complain) and this is lets it cool so you can really savor all the flavors. If your staving, by all means dive right in, but if you can wait you'll appreciate it, and you can always distract yourself with the ample fries on your plate.

Addional, the cocktails are top notch and if I wasn't stuffed after my meal, that ice-cream sundae looks amazing.

Maddie was our host and she was incredibly helpful and...

As we learned when we visited this place, the restaurant is named after Gene Wilder, who graduated from the University of Iowa. Nice! We tried a dish of brussel sprouts served with goat cheese and honey. It's probably the best brussel sprout dish you'll ever have. My boyfriend got the Golden Ticket Burger, which he said was excellent. That burger has won prizes as the most delicious burger. It is made from wagyu beef with spices, and the patty is stuffed with cheese. Definitely rich stuff! I, on the other hand, was looking to eat something on the lighter side, and tried their crunchy corn salad - a sort of Southwest style salad with crumbled tortilla chips on top. Shea and Maddie were very helpful and friendly, everything was great and portions...

The Iowa Gallivant and the Iowa Beef Council brought us into the Wilder to try the Iowa Gold and the Graduate smash burger. One of Iowa’s top 10 burgers of 2025. We ordered both. The burgers were out of this world. Both were juicy and tender. Huge flavors that make you think wow.

We met the owners of Jiyu American Wagyu, local to Iowa City, who supply the wagyu burger. Very interesting talk.

The fries were crispy goodness. The home made chips are equally as good.

They were super busy with a waiting list. Even with the amount of people, our food came quickly and all of the staff were super attentive.

Don’t over look this hidden gem. It’s a 10 out of 10 and you owe it to yourself to try these burgers. BIG BURGERS lots of...