Joensy's: Home of the best and biggest tenderloins in Iowa

Joensy's: good (yes this really is how it is spelled)

Joensy's used to be located in Solon, but they have now relocated to a storefront on North Dodge Street, next to a Jimmy John's. Normally I would put a link here to the map so that you could find it, but sadly it is so new that even Google maps isn't showing it yet.

Wifey's 2 cents:

This was my first trip to Joensy's. They have a small menu, but what they do have they make the most of.

Their signature dish is "Iowa's best and largest" tenderloin. So I decided to try their smaller version. It came with fries and coleslaw. Hubby and I also decided to order breaded mushrooms as an appetizer.

Mind you the place was quiet tonight. I'm not sure if it was because they haven't gotten as big of a following since the move, or if people just don't know that they are out there yet. Either way, the service was good and the place was quiet which was nice because then we were able to talk to each other and not worry about others hearing, or not being able to hear each other.

Breaded Mushrooms with ranch dressing -- not greasy and very tasty

The breaded mushrooms (see photo) arrived shortly after ordering, and our entrees arrived a minute or so after that. The order of mushrooms was quite large. They weren't greasy like so many breaded mushrooms often are.

"small" tenderloin, the cheese is on there for size comparison

My tenderloin, I ordered it topped with some mayo, lettuce, tomato, and cheese. Now, I've never ordered a tenderloin with toppings more than some pickles and onions. This was surprisingly tasty. The tenderloin, even for a "small" was larger than the bun (see photo), however it was thinner than I prefer mine to be, but usually they are. The toppings (I think) made up for the thinness of the meat. It added this nice level of juicy (thanks to the tomato) and a bit of added crunch (lettuce) and tangy flavor (mayo, cheese, and ketchup).   The fries were somewhat like the mushrooms, you knew they had been fried, but they weren't greasy.  I didn't try the coleslaw, because I really don't like coleslaw.

Once we were about finished with our meal the owner actually came up and spoke with us. Asking us how we liked our meal and how we had heard about the place. A nice guy overall I thought.

It was a pleasant meal. Some of the food was obviously frozen and then cooked, but they did a good job with it. I wouldn't mind going back and trying their bison burger, or some of their other items on their menu.

Hubby's 2 cents:

It's always nice as a vegetarian to look at a menu and see an option that isn't a salad, so I was happy looking at the menu at Joensy's and see that they offered a Black Bean Burger (hereafter BBB because it amuses me) along with their other burger options.

Also nice was that they separated out their burgers from the toppings, so instead of just one main option for my BBB I had a number of ways that I could get it. One option was your basic lettuce and tomato, another would be bacon and cheese (which would kill the whole vegetarian thing, but the option was there), and another 6-8 others.  I opted for the "Patty Melt" option with grilled onions, Swiss cheese, and thousand island dressing on Rye. This might not have been my best choice as it's been long enough since I've had thousand island dressing and I couldn't really identify it among the flavors.

There were a number of appetizer options, from breaded mushrooms and cauliflower, to fried pickle spears, sweet corn bites, sweet potato fries and a few others. (no option as far as we know to swap sweet potato fries for the regular fries that come with a sandwich, but then again we didn't ask).

We opened one side of the sandwich so you could see the onions and some of the burger.

In any case the sandwich arrived piping hot and loaded down with fries and a small side of coleslaw (I got two of those as my wife didn't want hers). 

With the sandwich being very very hot I turned to my sides.  The coleslaw was quite good, while still not being a threat to my mom's recipe. The fries and our appetizer of breaded mushrooms were excellently fried, nice and hot, without being greasy. (I would have liked a bit more salt on the fries, but you can always add more salt, so it isn't a deal breaker)

The sandwich wasn't bad, and when I inquired I learned that the BBB was from Morningstar Farms as opposed to being made in house.  I buy them myself from time to time, and can say that I'll take them over the Gardenburger that Burger King sells.

We got very good value for our money, with large portions at more or less reasonable prices. With their main focus being on their tenderloin's (best and largest in the state they say) I can't really complain that they don't make their own own veggie burgers in house, though I think one of the other Morningstar Farms frozen burgers might serve them better as far as matching up with their different toppings.

Would I go again: Sure if I was going to be in that area, it's not really a destination restaurant for me, but as a vegetarian I'm not really their target audience.

Would I order the same thing: Nope, I'd likely try a different topping combo on the BBB, and certainly check out some of the other interesting appetizer choices.

Would I recommend it to others: Sure, it's a nice little place with good service and reasonable prices, though I wouldn't suggest people drive all the way from Cedar Rapids to go there.

Peking Buffet

Peking Buffet: good

Wifey's 2 cents:

Last night we went to Peking Buffet in Coralville. We were part of a larger group of 8 adults. This wasn't my first trip to Peking Buffet, but it's only my second trip since the reopening. I love the new building. The layout of the new place, I think, is one of the better layouts for a buffet restaurant. Plus the decor is clean and simple and bright. On to the food...

One of the nice things about the food choices here is that there is Chinese cuisine, plus some Japanese foods, and a few American items to make sure those picky eats could stay (at least mildly) happy.  I was really happy with the staff that worked there because a couple of my friends really wanted to make sure that they knew what they were eating (dietary) and they were able to get a menu (which are just readily available) and order food, instead of using the food out on the main floor.  The plate of veggie lo mein that they were brought was enormous and was enough food for probably 4-5 people. They also ordered some sushi, and it was artfully prepared, and all of the items were very tasty.  I was super pleased that the staff at the restaurant easily and without complaint accommodated my friends and made their meal as enjoyable as it was for the rest of us.

Several of us enjoyed the sushi - and no one was disappointed. Sometimes sushi on a buffet doesn't work well, because sushi needs to be enjoyed/eaten shortly after it has been prepared. This sushi is replenished frequently and gobbled up quickly by the customers. All of the rolls are lovely to look at, which I have always found to be part of the enjoyment of sushi. Sushi - it was all tasty.

I then tried the crab rangoon, mei fun, mongolian beef, and chicken and broccoli. These were all tasty. The mei fun and the chicken and broccoli were my favorites. I really enjoy these tiny rice noodles that mei fun is. The chicken and broccoli was seasoned well, the broccoli was perfectly cooked. Broccoli, often times, gets over or under cooked. I like broccoli, but only when it's properly prepared. It needs to still be a vibrant green and tender, but not mushy. Broccoli should never be cooked to a dull green to brown color, and it shouldn't be mushy, EVER. 

One of our friends was thrilled with the desert choices, endless ice cream, as long as you want to keep scooping. Lots of tasty desert choices abounded, and once again, no one in our party was disappointed and that makes me happy.

Overall, this restaurant was a great choice and no one walked away hungry. Flavors were wonderful and choices abounded - which is very important for a buffet.

Hubby's 2 cents.
Taking a page from the Red Queen's court, I'll go with sentence first, verdict afterwards. When picking a place to go with a group, a wide selection is very important. I would sentence people I liked to going to Peking Buffet on those grounds without question, and look forward to eating there again.

The decoration and layout of the restaurant are great, it was a bit warm and humid for my tastes, but with an indoor fish pond and the weather fluctuations of late I'm going to assume that was a one time issue with the thermostat until the next time I go there.

Looking for meatless options I headed over to the sushi bar, they offer a veggie roll (though I'm not sure what the yellow in the middle was) which was tasty, and the self serve wasabi and pickled ginger were very welcome. Friends who were with us requested California rolls without meat from the chef, shared them, and I can say that they were excellent. As far as Chinese dishes, there were a lot of options, and the mei fun in particular was excellent.

Now for a bit of a downside (at least for a vegetarian) while almost all (90%) of the food was labeled, a bit more info on the labels would have been nice. Are the egg-rolls vegetarian? are they pork? are they chicken? how about shrimp? the sign just says egg-roll. (I'm told they were pork) The same issue with the spring-rolls, but those turned out to be meatless.  There were a couple of other dishes that looked very interesting, but where I couldn't tell by looking if there was meat in them or not. I know that I could have asked, and I likely will the next time that I'm there, I just think some kind of icon or something indicating food not having meat would have been nice.

For the verdict. The company was great, the service wasn't bad, The food was good overall with some of it being excellent imho.

3/26: El Ranchero

El Ranchero: meh

Wifey's 2 cents:

Tonight was "date night". Hubby and I did dinner and a movie. We decided to try one of the local Iowa City restaurants that I have been hearing about for several years. I've had numerous people tell me good things about El Ranchero, located on the south side of Iowa City, IA.  So, tonight we decided to give it a try. We both enjoy good Mexican food, so a chance to eat "authentic" Mexican food is something we are generally up for.

The outside of the restaurant wasn't awful, there were certainly a few spots on the outside where you could tell repairs to the plaster needed to be repaired -- there was a giant hole and you could see the chicken wire beneath.  We got inside and were seated immediately, which isn't too surprising since it was about 6:30pm on a Tuesday, not exactly the busy night of the week at any restaurant.

We were greeted by our server and drink orders were placed. Chips and salsa appeared not too long after, and then the drinks.  The chips were standard unsalted tortilla chips, nothing amazing. The salsa... not much can really be said about their salsa either. It wasn't made in house. It isn't fresh. The tomatoes are over pureed. It was almost as if there was no onions, garlic, or cilantro in the salsa - 3 out of the 4 main ingredients of salsa. I've purchased better salsa from the grocery store.  I was holding out hope though that the cheese dip (queso) would be good. I'd heard recently from a co-worker that she and her family really liked their queso, so I was interested.  Hubby and I love cheese. Warm, melted cheese... good queso in our house lasts a very short time because we enjoy it so much. 

So, we ordered our dinners and an appetizer of cheese dip (that's how it is labeled on the menu). By the time our server brought us our cheese dip we were almost out of chips, and it took him a good long while before he got us a refill, that however didn't matter as by that point I wasn't interested in eating their cheese dip.  I must say, that first bite of the melted cheese was incredibly disappointing. It was simply melted Monterey Jack cheese. That's it. I quickly became very glad that they didn't call it queso, because it truly was melted cheese, but it didn't even earn the name "dip".  Dip is something that you scoop up with a chip or a cracker or a veggie stick or a piece a fruit. It isn't thin. It isn't watery. This "cheese dip" was both of those. So not only was it bland, it was so thin it didn't stick to the chip, and it was as if someone put milk or water in it to purposefully thin it out. I tried improving it by adding some of the salsa, it helped, but it didn't save it. So I gave up with the appetizers at that point.

Our dinners arrived hot and both hubby and I were holding out hope that the main dishes would be much better than our appetizers had been. It was like watching a bad movie that everyone has raved over, and you are sitting there thinking, "this HAS to get better. everyone likes it. so it MUST get better, right??"  WRONG!!!  Looking back, perhaps we should have called it quits at the "cheese dip" and eaten somewhere else. We didn't. We stuck it out.

We each ordered combo platters, so that we both got to try 3 different main dishes. So, in total we tried 6 different main dishes tonight.

Hubby had a cheese quesadilla, a bean tostada, bean enchilada (or it may have been a burrito).

Cheese quesadilla -- was a flour tortilla with plain monterey jack cheese inside

Bean tostada -- flat corn tortilla, layered with refried beans, shredded lettuce, a SLICE of tomato and some guacamole

Bean enchilada/burrito -- flour tortilla with refried beans and a sprinkle of cheese wrapped up with tomato sauce on top

I had a beef tostada, a beef taco, and a flauta.

Taco -- regular hard shell taco with a good amount of ground beef topped with a bit of shredded lettuce and a sprinkle of cheese

Beef tostada -- flat corn tortilla layered with ground beef, shredded lettuce, a sprinkle of cheese, a dollup of sour cream and a SLICE of tomato

Flauta -- flour tortilla with shredded beef wrapped up and fried topped with "cheese dip"

First criticism that BOTH of us had with ALL of the food -- it all needed seasonings

Every single item was bland! I have never had bland Mexican food, but this place managed to do it. The refried beans were over pureed, much like the salsa. Also, the beans were over-cooked. Not burnt, not scorched, just over-cooked. I am not huge fan of refried beans, but my hubby who is vegetarian likes them and kind of needs them as a source of protein and fiber. They were unappealing and unappetizing. The enchilada sauce was more of a tomato sauce. It was very one dimensional. Something that I've never experienced with an enchilada sauce before. This is all we could really say about the entrees that Hubby had. Which I think is very sad because normally we can carry on about dishes for hours.

As for my 3 entrees, all of them were lacking seasoning. They pretty much didn't taste like anything in particular. The best part of the meal for me was the fried tortilla of the flauta - which is sad because it was almost burnt and I think that is the only reason it tasted like something at all. I pulled the shredded beef out to see if I could taste it on its own, I could, but it wasn't pleasant. It didn't taste like much at all, and I can't even tell for sure if it really was beef because it didn't have that normal "beefy" flavor.

After eating this bland fare we headed over to the movie theater, where hubby decided to get some popcorn that was over dressed with "butter".

The best food item of the night? My bottle of water that I got from my fridge when we got home. Sad night indeed for food.  Oh well, guess we'll try again tomorrow.

Hubby's 2 cents:

Confession time... I don't really care all that much about "authentic" food, I care more about how it tastes, and what kind of value I'm getting for the money.  When I am in a place that uses the "authentic" tag, I really shouldn't be thinking that about chain restaurants where the food could be better... many would say that thinking about Carlos O'Kelly's is bad enough... but thinking that Taco Bell would be better...

I always like it when a restaurant makes it easy for me to tell what my vegetarian options are, and this menu gave me 5-6 options in a box right on the first page which was nice. Also nice was that the kitchen NOT putting in the remains of dead animals was reflected in slightly lower prices then the rest of the menu. They also offer make your own combos which I'm in favor of. Overall I figured that this was likely to be a win on grounds of value. Sadly it didn't work out that way once taste was put into the equation.

The combo that I picked gave me a quesadilla, a bean tostada, and what I'm pretty sure was a bean enchilada. (I can't remember for 100% sure what I ordered)

Beans wrapped in a tortilla can be awesome.. but it really helps if you toss in some onions or peppers or something in with them. If you aren't going to do that, some cheese or awesome spices could also work. Sadly for flavor I instead got a bit of cheese on top, and the whole thing covered with tomato sauce that was either made in house from a recipe I don't like, or a canned product that I can't imagine sells well.

The tostada had beans, some lettuce, cheese, and a couple (which is to say two, a couple is always two, never more, but I digress) slices of tomato.  The corn tortilla was tasty I thought, beans without flavor, tomato was a bit woody as I don't think it was ripe enough, lettuce and cheese didn't have much flavor.

It's hard to muck-up a cheese quesadilla...  they didn't. (though some green onions or something would have gone nicely in with the cheese.) However I think it's sad when the best parts of a meal (aside from the company) is cheese melted in a folded over flour tortilla, and the (likely fountain) lemon-aid.

My wife has already covered the "cheese dip" and it's issues. I don't agree with her on the salsa as I think it could have been made from a house recipe. Sadly that didn't make it a good recipe if so.

Was it the worst meal that I've had? No.  Did I finish all of it? Yes. (but I was raised in the mid-west, and we don't waste food if we can help it) Will I be suggesting that we go there again? Not without my wife knowing that I'm joking and her rolling her eyes at my sense of humor. Would I recommend it to others? Not to anyone I liked, and I tend not to recommend food to people I don't like

The movie was great, but when asked about the buttery topping for the popcorn, I should have asked them to go really really easy on it. Such is life, hopefully I'll remember next time we go to a theater.