Newton's Paradise Cafe — Restaurant in Waterloo

June 26th 2022 it was on a Sunday. I am a Deaf Drag Queen traveling to Waterloo from Des Moines Iowa. Now, since I travel thur a bus, I have a big rolling travel suitcase and 3 carryons with me. I carry everywhere I go since I have no place to stay at that time. Now, as a deaf person I am a super visual person, as I came in to this newton cafe, won't let me use the booth with all that stuff I have with me and I have my laptop with me and I was in a emergency running back home and I was mugged from a usual hate crime.and of course no money, bus station was closed on a Sunday? you're kidding right? I asked for help since my phone died, cafe won't let me use a certain spot to charge my laptop since it was dying as well. service was kinda not that great. I sat at the bar and put my stuff behind me at a closed section which clearly out of sight. I was so perched, and I can tell they were immiaited by me cause of my deafness, like im invisible. they don't know what to do to "speak with the deaf person" I kept asking for paper and pen in clear visible sign that not only a deaf person but a hearing people should know what I am requesting for... (a pen and a paper) they just stood there staring at me for 3 mins straight like a valley girl. "valley girl speaking voice" yeah so um.. like..what? I don't speak deaf. I didn't know you were deaf. you don't look deaf tho"

ME: and you don't look ignorant either but we can't judge by it book right? "start to use my speaking voice in a very thick deaf accent"- now, get me a waaaahhter, and get me a charger station, so I can use my phone to...

Adult grill cheese over $8, no sides, slightly larger portion than a normal sized grill cheese. Cheese was barely melted in the middle

Chicken strips over $9, 4 pieces, for a second I thought my wife got a weird salad but it was the chicken strips laying on a bed of what looked like mixed greens. No sides.

Iowa (french) toast, 2 slices of thick bread cut on a bias with one sausage puck. It's supposed to be homemade, was quite hard and I would rather have taken a jimmy dean microwaved sausage patty.

After tip the total bill was about $30 dollars. No joke my family does grocery shopping on $40 dollars a week pretty consistently. FOR FOUR. I would have rather have bought more beans and rice than this food.

My wife also wrote a review of this place today. I don't think she's ever done that but was upset with the experience that she wanted to let ya'll know too.

Wish I would have taken pictures. Of the food. The hype of this place is not real. Don't go, we went for you, save yourself $30 and maybe try morg's if you haven't already. We haven't yet so we'll see how waterloo's other breakfast dinner fares in comparison to this nice looking place with poor food, does.

2 year Edit/update: i finally went to Morgs for the first time quite a while back, and it was good for price. by the way as I mentioned food cost above check out my Starbecks experience for comparison, just based on food alone. I understand their restaurant “business model” is quite different, but I have not gone to Newton’s since and have no plans unless I trust a friend that tells me to try them...

No lie, it is one of the best food experiences I've had in the last five years. We came to the Waterloo area from the state of Washington to visit relatives. We were left to our own dining one night and read about this one. What an absolute gem!

The star of the night was the Pork Osso Bocco on special, and it is indeed special. A slow roasted bone-in pork shank on a bed of risotto with a tangy vegetable red sauce was an absolute explosion of flavor in every bite. Served standing up, it looked like the towering inferno. It was too much food for my wife, but my daughter and I happily helped her with it. I had a ribeye steak (again bone-in) grilled to perfection and with flavor and texture to match. It may have been a simple steak, but the quality was second to none, perfectly seasoned with rich full flavor. My daughter had the prosciutto wrapped chicken breast served on a bed of Gorgonzola risotto with a Marsala reduction. It was equally tasty. Total bill: just cracked the $60 mark for our three meals. Nobody left hungry.

The chef came to our table to talk to us about our meal. He told us he went to the Cordon Bleu academy and worked in several high end restaurants (the Venetian in Las Vegas and another well regarded restaurant in Florida) with well known chefs and came back to his home town to open up Newtons. Waterloo, how lucky...