Niland's Cafe

I drove back to Ames from Cedar Rapids last Sunday and had stopped in Colo to look at the historic gas station (located at the junction of the Jefferson and Lincoln Highways). Niland's Cafe is next door and I noticed that they were open. So I hustled back to Dad's place and suggested that we drive back for Lunch. He agreed, but was surprised that they were open, based on his recollections.

One downside is that on Sunday only breakfast is on the menu and they were only serving slightly flavored coffee. Yet there were lots of postitives:

1. The bar was open!
2. Our pancakes/sausage was perhaps the best we'd both enjoyed recently.
3. The coffee was still better than most small-town cafes we've been.
4. Service was friendly, efficient, and otherwise stellar!
5. Dad received a Veteran's discount.
6. The Dining Room was Midwest basic, yet warm and inviting.
7. Who doesn't like an out-of-the-way country café?

we bought chicken strips and fries, and a side of onion rings. We also purchased a bacon cheeseburger meal. Bacon cheeseburger was dry. The chicken strips were phenomenal. The onion rings were good. For 850 not a very good portion. Overall, the staff was friendly and professional. We will return for another try on other items. It's nice to have edible food in the area.

OMG this place is spectacular. I had homemade chicken and noodles over mash which me miss my Gram. Homemade Raisin sour cream pie that brought a tear. Definitely stop by if you are in the area!!! Friendly server, great homemade food in my beautiful home state of Iowa!

The folks behind Niland's are extremely proud of their Jefferson and Lincoln Highway heritage, which is a boon to a roadgeek like myself. There's an ample amount of vintage signage and decor in the restaurant. I visited last week and the server remembered me from my previous visit the year prior.

Prices are more than fair...I had a steak, salad, baked potato, vegetable, cup of soup, and a slice of pie for $16. Ham and bean soup is highly recommended--the soup has a nice smokey flavor to it. The steak was prepared well for a small roadside cafe and the ranch dressing served with the salad was the thinner kind which I like as well. You're not going to find any kind of modern dishes here, just solid American favorites with that Midwestern touch. Its worth getting off Highway 30 and taking the mile drive north on U.S. 65 to check this place out. Plenty of memorabilia is available for purchase, most of it relating to the history of the restaurant and the highway system back when it was in its infamy.

I met a group of friends at Niland's Cafe last Sunday for brunch. Niland's does a brunch buffet, filled primarily with breakfast items. The buffet had eggs, mini quiches, American fries, ham, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, french toast, Danish and assorted fruit. They charge you $12.50 for what I feel is mediocre food at the best. It's a shame because I've been to Niland's in the past and had good, hearty meals. The brunch wasn't good. I thought the coffee was basically brown water.

I also was not happy that they didn't offer their regular menu in addition to the buffet. They had three or four items you could get off the regular menu on Sunday, which kind of limits you for your choices if you don't want to eat off the buffet.

Niland's has some really good homemade pies, though. I can't find any fault in those. Their banana cream, coconut cream and lemon are some of the best around.

My advice - go on a weekday/weeknight when they are serving their full menu. The Sunday brunch buffet is pretty basic and the food isn't that great. Other than that, I think you'll enjoy your food.

Take in the cool Lincoln and Jefferson Highway memoribilia while you're there!

The food here is good.
Only the actual building and staff were a let down.
The windows were filthy, the floors looked like they had not been mopped in a while. The tables are wearing out. The staff was good but not near enough wait staff. 2 people waited tables while getting drinks making milk shakes running the cash register, seating people.
A few orders must have gotten mixed up because we saw them go back in the kitchen.
As with anything though sometimes hidden in the rough is a gem. The food was good and the place has/had great potential.
Would I eat here again? Yes. I'll eat in some pretty rough places if the food is good.

So so cute and yummy.

The prices are really good and the portions are wonderful, not huge but enough to more than fill your belly. The drinks even come with your meal, I haven't seen that in a restaurant since I was a kid.

We fed three adults and two kids for $40

The restaurant has a wall with some great history about the expansion of the highway system.

UPDATE.
We just returned again and was better than I remember. We got dessert tonight, I'm pretty sure it's made in site with amazing crust.

They don't seem to have recipes to follow. Biscuits were really good when the current owners opened up. Recently there was so much raw flour that it was thick and tasted like paste. The last time it had so much pepper that you could NOT taste anything but pepper. Ordered a bacon cheeseburger with bacon that was barely cooked. Not gonna go back.

Love this place, been going here for many many years. Under new management in 2021. On a rare Sunday my siblings (7 of us) had all gathered at my parents house in Zearing (10 miles north). The plan had been to have lunch as Nilands as a remembrance of old times. Showed up a little after noon, but found out they don't start serving lunch until after 1pm. We were disappointed. We already had a large breakfast at home. So we turned around and left. I love this place. Leaving this here as an encouragement to work things out so you can keep serving breakfast late on a Sundays, but start offering lunch items earlier.

If you haven't been to Niland's recently you should stop by. The new managers are doing a great job, food is good and if you like pie..try the peanut butter pie.. it's so soooo good!