The Flying Elbow — Restaurant in Marshalltown

What a cool place! Great Pulled Pork and Burger Combos! The Piper's Pit was an awesome burger with shaved ham, swiss cheese, chico bbq, pickled red onions, and dill pickle 😋 The Classic Pulled Pork was ordered "loaded" served over fries with bbq sauce and pickles. The 3:16 Chili was very good (could've been a bit more) and the Street Corn Salad was different...good but just different. Didn't realize it until afterwards that there is an option to get larger sized side dishes....next time it'll be a LARGE chili.

4-13-24 Awesome visit! The Onion Rings started off strong at the bell and the Vader Tots were a surprise out of nowhere like a chair to the back of the head! Potato and Cheesy goodness inside and a crunchy exterior...the ketchup served with them was mixed with a hint of bbq sauce mixed in. The Brisco Burger was very tasty with the Applewood Smoked Bacon adding its flavor to the mix but The Vinnie with it's two huge guns of meat with the 1001 Salad Dressing was too much!! What a great time and place you folks here in Marshalltown have to eat at!

Third visit... A Double Brisco Burger for me and the Pulled Pork Loaded version for Terri. I'm going to go back and forth between the Vinnie and the Brisco Burger...they're both great burgers! The Vader Tots are the bomb and I ordered the Street Corn Salad again...I like it but next time down it'll be the 3:16 Chili again.

Another stop 8-31-24 The George the Animal Burger and Pulled Pork with Loaded Fries topped the billing with Vader Tots and Sweet Corn Salad for warmup acts...delicious as always and quick service!

6-13-25 Decided that it had been too long since we'd been down for great burgers so off we went! Ordered up The Vinnie and the Real American Burger with a corn salad, fries, and Vader Tots as sides. Main Event greatness yet again as the food and service were top notch. The Vinnie Burger is two patties, 1001 Island Sauce, American Cheese, Shredded Cheese, Grilled Minced Onions, and Dill Pickles....one of my favorites. The Real American Burger (ordered the double) consisted of two patties, American Cheese, Dill Pickles, Grilled Minced Onions and Ketchup and Mustard. Fries and Sweet Corn Salad did not disappoint and the Vader Tots just need to be experienced.

6-20-25 When we stopped by last week I didn't know until just before our order was served that there was a "Facebook Special" of sorts available called The King of the Ring Burger which features Korean BBQ and slaw...now the burgers we had were great but I knew I'd have to come back soon and try this one! Our server said that they could probably make one on our next visit if we asked for one. So...upon heading up to the counter to order I was very apprehensive about the chances. I ordered the Mrs All American Burger with bacon on Texas Toast and onion rings before asking the question if it was possible to get The King of the Ring as our server had suggested....the gal turned to look at the cook and asked if it would be possible to order a King of the Ring...one quick glance around his station to verify what he had he gave me the "thumbs up" sign and inside I was yelling "YES!!!!!". The burger did not disappoint as the Korean BBQ sauce and the coleslaw combination was as good as the match between the Macho Man and the Ultimate Warrior that was playing on the big screen from a years gone by Summer Slam.... They need to put this one on the permanent menu if you ask me...it's definitely a contender...

This Restaurant makes the burger that was voted the #1 best burger in Iowa for 2022! I expected it to be a larger Restaurant than it was. It was first come first serve for a place to sit if you wanted to eat in. There was a small bar area with about 5 seats & there were about 6 or 7 tables and a counter with 4 - 5 stools for customer seating. So you either wait in a line or wherever you can find a place to stand & wait for an empty seat or get it to go. I had my 80 year old dad with me and he isn't able to stand for very long periods, so we got ours to go! They had several different burgers to choose from. I can't remember what the one we ordered was called? It was ? Sizzler I think? It was a 2 beef parties (good size) with bacon & peppers & jalapeños and I big scoop of a special sauce (their own mixture) kind of spicy hot, but not to hot i didn't think. We each got an order of fries (pretty soggy because they cooked to many in one basket is my guess)? Anyway, we had 2 orders and we should have just gotten 1 order & shared them. They were $3.00 per order & we threw most of them away because they were so soggy with grease! The burgers were pretty big but they put alot of their sauce on top and it was pretty messy to eat. It was really good though I thought. My dad said he couldn't say that he would come back for another one though. It was awkward trying to find a place to stand while we waited on our food to be ready. I think we waited around half an hour. There were a couple seats that opened up as we got our food so we sat for about a min & then decided it was too crowded & noisey with people talking and music playing too loud for the small restaurant. It cost us $30 for 2 sandwiches, 2 soggy orders of fries. It was a little expensive for what we got, but what isn't expensive these days!? If they are always as busy as it was when we were there, which was a Saturday, they should expand where they are or move to a bigger place. I think your best bet now is to call ahead and order...

This place....what a gift to the people of Marshalltown and all out of towners who visit! I'm a snobby Iowan from Iowa City with high expectations of food just to set the tone here for this review. Their burger won out in a contest for best burger in two states and perhaps the united states... it is very, very good. It's a smash style burger, which many people may not understand. Yes, this burger is greasy LOL! That is where the flavor is derived from. The bun is also a light airy sesame seed bun that absorbs the grease as you eat it, increasing the flavor, which means your bun almost dissolves as you are eating it. This is on purpose and adds to the flavor. People that don't understand this are rating this place a one star, ignore them if you are a foodie. This place is so west coast down to the animal style burger offerings. I am not a wrestling fan, just neutral, but the theme and decor is fun and tastefully done. I am SO happy they offer sour beers other than the same old Summer Jam that everyone else in Mtown offers. I recommend all the things we got, street corn salad, cheese curds, fries, and of course the award winning burgers. I hope this place does well. They deserve it! We'll be back and I need a tshirt!

Update: To the person claiming that The Flying Elbow stole menu ideas from Lachele's Fine Foods in Des Moines, I had to look this up because if true that wouldn't sit well with me and.... what? Lachele's opened in 2021 and the Flying Elbow was established in 2017 as food truck who just recently went brick and mortar. If anything, Lachele's stole ideas from The...