Morning Story - Marion — Restaurant in Marion

Restaurant Layout/Vibe Rating - 5 Stars

My understanding is this is a family-owned and run business, here from Colorado to bring some refreshing food choices to the Cedar Rapids/Marion area.

The exterior of the building does not do it justice. Plain brick/glass storefront with what looks to be temporary signage. However, once you enter the cafe, you’re greeted with a refreshing vibe and atmosphere: modern fixtures, bright and clean color pallette, and friendly staff. A hostess is available to welcome and seat you, and straight ahead a small bar area has staff turning out lattes and mimosa flights. Ample seating is available including comfortable booths, chairs, and circular booths for a more intimate meal - in addition to the standard table/chairs setup.

Customer Service Rating - 5 Stars

Our server was very gracious. They greeted us with a smile and did a pretty fantastic overall job for how busy they were. It was at this time understaffed for the number of tables being servers, but I think they handled it excellently! We arrived at 9:46 on a Saturday morning, had our drink order in almost right away, with which we also ordered the sriracha bacon flight (WOW!); it was so good. Our food order was taken at 10:10, so about 24 minutes after arriving, and food came 20 minutes after that. Like I said, though, THEY WERE PACKED, and handled all in stride and honestly was speedy service compared to any other location around here when packed in the same way.

Food Rating - 4.5 Stars

5 Stars - Bacon Flight Sriracha - Amazing! Would get again!

5 Stars - Smokehouse Benedict - It's refreshing to get a good hollandaise sauce. This was lighter (in the way you won’t feel weighed down from butter or mayo like most other places that serve it around here) but perfect consistency. I very much enjoyed this.

5 Stars - Footlong Breakfast Burrito - This was by far my favorite item on this visit. A perfect combo of ingredients within the burrito. I will most likely get one for the family to eat every time we visit (yep, we know we are coming back already!).

4 Stars - Bacon Avocado Omelet - The plate was pretty basic; the cheese was melted on the outside of the omelet. It was good, just rather basic.

3 Stars - Biscuits and Gravy - The gravy was pretty good; however, the biscuits were very hard and not that enjoyable even when covered in gravy.

Kids meals: Deluxe Scrambled Egg / Waffles / French Toast - All of the kid's meals are just a few choices as you might expect, it’s a kid's meal. ;) I suggest getting some of the larger dishes for the kids to split if your family is into that. The burrito, again, is fantastic and everyone enjoyed sharing it.

Drinks Rating - 5 Stars

We tried out the flight of mimosas and enjoyed those as well. I would say they are some of the best...

Amazing artisan food with wonderful taste at a great price!

Country Fried Steak: They don’t put the cayenne pepper on it anymore, but they did for me at my request. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I do like spice. They certainly gave plenty of gravy, which I appreciated. The Country Fried Steak was moist on the inside and still a bit crunchy (despite being drenched in gravy). It was all around great!

The eggs sunny side up were okay. The hash browns were amazing with the cheese and onions. The rye toast was fluffy (not dried out) and their butter added a great texture and taste.

French Toast: One of our party had the French Toast, which I helped finish. It had bananas and walnuts with syrup. The consistency of the toast and egg batter was spot on and the nuance of flavors added through seasonings was perfect without being overbearing at all. Just right.

Ultimate Omelette: Another of our party got the Ultimate Omelette without mushrooms, but they came with mushrooms anyway. He has an allergy to mushrooms, though not severe. He just picked them off, but it was a bit of a disappointment.

Bacon Flight: This includes all four flavors of bacon: Butter, Maple, Beer, and Sriracha.

Butter tasted as you’d probably expect from the title, but it was a little deeper and richer flavor of butter (scrumptious!).

Maple was also much like the title suggests, like maple syrup (I didn’t taste any Chipotle Chili).

Beer didn’t seem to taste as much like beer as I’d expect, but was great and did taste more like the Maple one (I didn’t detect much of the DiJon).

Sriracha was my favorite. It had a light spice that grabs the taste buds, too. Bold and magical! We all tried all the bacon flavors and some did note the Sriracha was too spicy for them.

Coffee: The coffee was great. I like my coffee dark and bold and their coffee leaned more on that side (though not overly so). It was not burnt at all.

Service: They were fast and very friendly! We sat outdoors, which is not normally my preference, but it was early and cool out without much humidity. The chairs sat a little low compared to the table and I felt like a kid that sat too low and needed a booster seat (I am 6’ tall).

We stopped by Friday at...

Some places have good food, some places have good atmosphere, the Morning Story-Marion has both. I have dined here a number of times, quite a number, actually😉 This breakfast & lunch restaurant is bright, bustling, and brand new (in Marion, Iowa since Nov 2021). They have a sophisticated, modern menu with a SW vibe. This is definitely not an old school diner, offering items like a Mimosa Fried Chicken Benedict or the equally scrumptious Green Chili Chicken Hash. I have had perhaps 10 dishes from the breakfast menu and have never been even slightly disappointed. The dishes are generous and will provide yummy leftovers for many patrons. The lunch menu is also full of delectable choices, from sandwiches like burgers, a club, tenderloin, and philly to fresh salads and the always popular half-n-half combo. I had a fantastic breakfast with my partner recently, our choices being the gluten-free Oatmeal Pancakes, with Rolled Oats, Strawberries, Blueberries, Agave Nectar, Blueberry Compote, and Powdered Sugar. Available also as a combo with eggs and a choice of meat. The second dish was the Breakfast Quesadilla with Scrambled Eggs, Diced Bacon, Roasted Onion, Green Peppers, Cheddar Jack Cheese, Jalapeño Cream Cheese, Fresh Herbs, Salsa Roja. Both dishes were incredibly tasty, made fast and fresh with high-quality ingredients and bursting with flavor. Enough about the food, no mention of this place would be complete without mentioning the hustling, professional, and super friendly staff. One can not help but feel as though every visit is a get-together with good friends. Every staff member on every visit has been smiling, chatty, and genuinely welcoming. The manager (who is a star) not only circulates the dining room constantly, assuring everything is going perfectly, but also somehow finds time to speak to all of the customers in this very busy restaurant in an unhurried way that never ceases to amaze me. Visit for breakfast or lunch, and I can promise you will be thrilled with the food and delighted with the staff. Tell 'em Ricki sent...