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.