Littleleaf Luncheonette — Restaurant in Waukee

I was here for Littleleaf's soft opening and I am a Waukee local - I live walking distance away in the old part of Waukee. Littleleaf fills a void in the growing Triangle business district. It offers an elevated dining experience with a polished, cozy atmosphere. This is reflected in the menu, which is comprised of American breakfast and lunch classics with tasteful flavor fusions and presentations which set them far apart. The unassuming names of the dishes often hide the complexity of the flavors and unique ingredients that appear in front of you. I ordered the steak and eggs, and they nailed it. Not many places where you can actually order bavette cut of steak, let alone in a breakfast dish. The southwestern fusion was delightful. The coffee I had was also amazing, however I hope they one day source some coffee from local roasters. I look forward to exploring the rest of the menu. For anyone who might think the atmosphere or food appears pretentious or drifts too far from traditional breakfast or lunch, I would ask you just to try it. The food really is great, and doesn't deviate too far from hearty midwestern flavors, and the service was attentive and kind. It's a place that I could take my hippie mom and small-town dad to and know there was something on the menu they both would enjoy and be...

I wasn't expecting anything extraordinary here but Littleleaf surprised me! The space is clean and chic, the menu has comfort food with inspiration from all over the world, and the staff was SO ATTENTIVE (S/O to Aaliyah [sp?]). It took a few minutes to get seated but it seems like they have quick turnover. The menu has 15 set dishes so they're able to whip the food up decently quick. We started out with lattés and left completely satisfied! We had the Breakfast Sandwich which looked completely different than I would have expected. The rise on the scrambled egg patty reminded me of a soufflé. It quite literally elevated the entire dish. We also ordered the Steak & Eggs which seems to have some Mexican influence. Bavette steak is so easily ruined by being overcooked, but Littleleaf did a phenomenal job keeping it mid-rare, flavorful, and tender. I especially loved the Salsa de Rajas that accompanied the dish. The Steak & Eggs came with tortillas. I'm not sure how they're supposed to be used, but I ripped the tortilla up and used it to wrap up bite-sized components of the dish. I think the goldleaf/glitter in my White Noise latté was a nice little touch of fancy. Amazing, overall. Can't wait to try their cold brew when they get the...

I got the breakfast burrito and the basic breakfast. The burrito was good, but not the best. The hatch peppers made it REALLY hot, even tho the server said it shouldn't be hot. The basic breakfast was eggs and toast. The sourdough was good. The homemade jam was fabulous! The bacon was done the way I like it, but I dint think most people like it barely done.

The menu is very limited, like a luncheonette should be. However, it didnt have any luncheonette staples. It did have fried chicken. I can read a menu in 7 different languages, but i didnt know what half the stuff was reading the ingredients.

The drinks are very limited as well. No diet pop of any kind. A lot of..well...fru fru items, for lack of a better term.

The atmosphere is very nice, almost pretentious. Nice decorations. Comfortable chairs. Our table wasn't stable. It seemed that the top wasn't connected to the stand.

I think it's misnamed. It doesn't feel like a luncheonette. It feels more like a pretentious cafe. I do want to say I hope it does well, i like the drive to bring something new to waukee, and this certainly is new and different.

The prices are very high though. 11 bucks for eggs and toast? 4 bucks for 2...