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.