First of all I want to say that the service was attentive and polite. This was our fifth time eating at this holiday Buffett (Easter/Mother’s Day). We will not be returning due to the price, added gratuity, the quality of food and less food options compared to years prior. Everything was over salted, the carrots were not cooked and the prime rib was tasteless. We ended up paying 50 per plate, at best we could’ve gone elsewhere for a 10 dollar meal.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 5
Tom Hachiya
Covered all the check boxes. Iowa pork chop was good, but over cooked. (May have sat "under the lights" too long). Service team was present, but relatively new/untrained. Overall good with nothing to complain about, but nothing to rave about either. Would go back, but with calibrated expectations.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Iowa Corn Dip
Connor Reicks
Very friendly staff. Amazing food. And the Bartender is one of the best.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Iowa Corn and Bacon Dip, House Made Corn Chowder, Cast Iron Iowa Chop
Josh E.
Prefer the Hawks!
Food: 4
Tomas Herrera
Really impressed with the hospitality and dining experience overall, but the real gem here is Savanna. Got to experience their superb take on the Old Fashioned reimagined with Tequila and Mezcal. Perfect preparation and presentation that left me wanting more. Will be making a point to stop in again and linger a bit longer to see what other creations Savi has to share.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Gary Books
We took our family here 16 people for Christmas on Dec 23 for the smorgasbord. The Staff was great. The food was bad. But the service was great. If you want good food don't go here. We where not the only people that believes this. Our family and one other family were there from 10 am to 12
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 5
Bruce Bradshaw
Great food, One of the best in Ames.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 3
Larry A.
Nice staff. Worst service I can remember. Could not keep an order straight. Never got a salad that was ordered. Couldn't relay a drink order without mixing it up. Food was ok. One review said you're in a college town so don't expect too much. My experience in college towns has been good service by students who want to make a little money. I don't think Iowa has stupid students, but the brightest students are not working here. The reviews are accurate even after all the years.
Matthew Stahr
We have held gatherings at the Iowa Stater in the past, have gone well. This past weekend for my sister's birthday... scheduled well in advance... only one other couple in the restaurant, service was extremely poor. Buffet was half empty and when request was made for food, we were ignored.. $16? Felt like they didn't want us there, which is fine but why take the reservation?
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 1
Constance M.
We are staying in town for my oldest daughter's basketball tournament and dined in late after her last game. It was after 8, so it was nice the hotel offered a restaurant in the hotel. We both had the chicken fingers and fries. Good food/Good Service.
I ate there twice while staying at the hotel. The restaurant dining area is clean, plenty of servers on staff, nothing fancy nor unique about the restaurant but it was comfortable. Food was good, well prepared, hot and tasty and received the food rather quickly. Staff was friendly and did a good job. Price was as expected for a hotel, not overpriced. They did appear to have a good selection at the bar but I didn't partake of anything to comment on.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Michael R.
No idea if the food is good or not. After waiting over an hour and a half for our food, we cancelled our order and left
Ashley Mark
The service here was horrible. We were there for 20 minutes before we saw our waitress, two hours before we got our food. Our waitress was basically non existent. Our second round of drinks sat at the bar for 45 minutes when our waitress brought the check to us and they were on the check. They charged for bacon which never came on my husband's burger. Our waitress didn't apologize for the mistake or even come ask us how our food was. Never got our water refilled. The food was cold, but tasted ok I'm sure the waitress forgot about it like our drinks. Definitely won't be back. I understand people are short staffed which is why we tried to be patient, but this was just ridiculous. I watched other tables around us experience the same.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 3
Service: 1
Bessie James
We had a wonderful time here. The food was delicious and we had great service.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Zach Gilbert
Waitress appeared to be quite new....she seemed nervous.
First of all I want to say that the service was attentive and polite. This was our fifth time eating at this holiday Buffett (Easter/Mother’s Day). We will not be returning due to the price, added gratuity, the quality of food and less food options compared to years prior. Everything was over salted, the carrots were not cooked and the prime rib was tasteless. We ended up paying 50 per plate, at best we could’ve gone elsewhere for a 10 dollar meal.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 5
Covered all the check boxes. Iowa pork chop was good, but over cooked. (May have sat "under the lights" too long). Service team was present, but relatively new/untrained. Overall good with nothing to complain about, but nothing to rave about either. Would go back, but with calibrated expectations.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Iowa Corn Dip
Very friendly staff. Amazing food. And the Bartender is one of the best.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Iowa Corn and Bacon Dip, House Made Corn Chowder, Cast Iron Iowa Chop
Prefer the Hawks!
Food: 4
Really impressed with the hospitality and dining experience overall, but the real gem here is Savanna. Got to experience their superb take on the Old Fashioned reimagined with Tequila and Mezcal. Perfect preparation and presentation that left me wanting more. Will be making a point to stop in again and linger a bit longer to see what other creations Savi has to share.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
We took our family here 16 people for Christmas on Dec 23 for the smorgasbord. The Staff was great. The food was bad. But the service was great. If you want good food don't go here. We where not the only people that believes this. Our family and one other family were there from 10 am to 12
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 5
Great food, One of the best in Ames.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 3
Nice staff. Worst service I can remember. Could not keep an order straight. Never got a salad that was ordered. Couldn't relay a drink order without mixing it up. Food was ok. One review said you're in a college town so don't expect too much. My experience in college towns has been good service by students who want to make a little money. I don't think Iowa has stupid students, but the brightest students are not working here. The reviews are accurate even after all the years.
We have held gatherings at the Iowa Stater in the past, have gone well. This past weekend for my sister's birthday... scheduled well in advance... only one other couple in the restaurant, service was extremely poor. Buffet was half empty and when request was made for food, we were ignored.. $16? Felt like they didn't want us there, which is fine but why take the reservation?
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 1
We are staying in town for my oldest daughter's basketball tournament and dined in late after her last game. It was after 8, so it was nice the hotel offered a restaurant in the hotel. We both had the chicken fingers and fries. Good food/Good Service.
Restaurantji Recommends
I ate there twice while staying at the hotel. The restaurant dining area is clean, plenty of servers on staff, nothing fancy nor unique about the restaurant but it was comfortable. Food was good, well prepared, hot and tasty and received the food rather quickly. Staff was friendly and did a good job. Price was as expected for a hotel, not overpriced. They did appear to have a good selection at the bar but I didn't partake of anything to comment on.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
No idea if the food is good or not. After waiting over an hour and a half for our food, we cancelled our order and left
The service here was horrible. We were there for 20 minutes before we saw our waitress, two hours before we got our food. Our waitress was basically non existent. Our second round of drinks sat at the bar for 45 minutes when our waitress brought the check to us and they were on the check. They charged for bacon which never came on my husband's burger. Our waitress didn't apologize for the mistake or even come ask us how our food was. Never got our water refilled. The food was cold, but tasted ok I'm sure the waitress forgot about it like our drinks. Definitely won't be back. I understand people are short staffed which is why we tried to be patient, but this was just ridiculous. I watched other tables around us experience the same.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 3
Service: 1
We had a wonderful time here. The food was delicious and we had great service.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Waitress appeared to be quite new....she seemed nervous.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 3