Clarinda Ice House

Big and nice and new!
The «old «Ice House’ was across town, and had a tradition if great food .
But the new building … WOW !
Great for large groups ! They have the dining room & also a «sports bar «section. The Sportsbar area has 10 nice TVs and a full bar. Also there’s a seperate «banquet room» for private events .
The menu is varied with «fine dining «prices. Certainly «expensive «especialy for the area. The food is good, portions are generous, &you can have a cocktail with your meal, (without turning heads LoL)
The cowboy burger is Huge and savory. The chicken fried steak is a hearty treat. The grilled salmon was well cooked and seasoned. Even the dinner salad that comes with, is generous .
I personaly have a reaction to MSG. I am pretty sure they use sesonings that contain MSG. But thats just a personal thing.
Mostly great food & service. The «best there is «in this rual area

Ok, so I’m riding my new HD RoadGlide Ultra, through Iowa and I’m hungry, very hungry. The next town is a quaint little hamlet «Clarinda» I Unilocal’d for a destination and I liked what I saw at the «ICE HOUSE». Great call, ice cold Guinness, Prime Rib and Sports everywhere… a virtual s paradise, amidst the Corn. The staff is very attentive and check this out, the owner Mike is my first cousin, whom I’ve never met… is that possible, well yes «only in Iowa» Needless to say, many beers were consumed and s few Jamison’s shots. Jennifer the GM was delightful and made sure everything was perfect. The Prime Rib melted in my mouth and the salad & sides exceeded my expectations. What a great night! Great food and Family, it doesn’t get any better than the IceHouse.

I had kind and attentive service while enjoying a daily special comprising of broasted chicken. My sides were Buffalo chips and a dinner salad with ranch dressing. The salad actually surprised me in that it had kale mixed in with the iceberg lettuce… not something you find very often. The Buffalo chips were sinful. The roasted chicken was as I expected… very flavorful and tender and juicy!

We were here on a Friday night and got right in. There were four of us. The place was busy, but it never did fill up. I was kind of surprised, but it is a big restaurant.
Our waitress was very friendly and knowledgeable about the menu. She brought out our drinks and we ordered. We asked her what her favorite menu items were and she gave us 8 – 10 suggestions, so helpful!
Our salads came out immediately after we ordered, we were pretty impressed with that. The salad was basic (iceberg, cheese, croutons, cucumbers) but very fresh and the ranch dressing was homemade.
And then our meals came out in good time, too. Three of us had steak. My steak was perfectly cooked. Best steak I’ve had since our local steakhouse closed. Our waitress said the steaks are all hand-​cut in-​house. Our fourth friend had the smothered chicken, she said it was good, too.
Basically, we had a great evening. Our waitress was helpful and attentive. She was friendly and joked with us. Food was delicious and we will definitely be back!

The Ice House was suggested to us by the hotel desk clerk.
There is a «bar» side and a «restaurant» side. We were there for dinner and not interested in drinks, so choose the restaurant side.
The dining room is not unattractive. It’s clean and the booths are roomy. You won’t escape the ever-​present television set. This one was set to rotating advertisements for local businesses and real estate. At least the sound was off.
The service is, at best, scattered, perfunctory, and unwelcoming. The server got water to us quickly, but made a face when we ordered tea instead of the suggested beverage. It was nearly five minutes before we got those, then she disappeared before we could give her our appetizer order and we didn’t see her again for 15 minutes. My dinner companions and I had decided that if she didn’t show up within two minutes, we would leave money for the teas and go elsewhere. She must have read our minds and showed up just under the wire. Our orders were taken in a distracted, bored manner, and that’s the last we saw of this person until she brought the check at the end of the meal. Another server brought our food, a third filled our drinks (after we flagged her down), and still another grabbed empty plates while passing by.
We ordered onion rings, which were better than average, but far too salty (making flagging down that server for a tea refill more of a necessity than a wish.) We ordered the night’s special, which was pork wrapped in bacon with choice of potato side and breadstick. The meal came with a salad. The salad was mostly iceberg lettuce with some cheese, croutons, and a pale, hard section of hot house tomato. Thankfully, the dressing came on the side because it, too, was very salty. The pork was tender, juicy, and cooked just right — although I would have expected a higher quality of bacon than the transparent, fatty bit that was skewered to the meat. (My companions’ meals weren’t skewered, but mine had a think metal pick in it. I guess they forgot to take it out. Be cautious of that because it is not easy to see and quite sharp.) Mashed potatoes come smothered in a white gravy, which I wish I’d known. Once I spooned off the gravy so I could taste the potatoes, they were pretty good. None of us could figure out the deal with the breadstick. We decided the texture reminded us of a Krispy Kreme donut, and it even had a slightly sweet taste to it. It was OK; it just didn’t seem to fit the meal.
Notice I’ve not said anything about vegetables. That’s because there are none. Pork, starch, bread, iceberg salad… that is it. Not a vegetable to be found unless you want it a deep-​fried cauliflower appetizer. When I asked if there were any vegetable sides, I was told I could get cole slaw «if I really wanted it», but it would be extra.
We skipped dessert as we all felt a little heavy and salt-​laden after the meal.
It sort of is what it is. It’s not terrible, but it’s not great. The service is in no way professional nor attentive. A vegetarian would likely not be able to find anything on the menu to eat. (Fortunately, we’re pretty omnivorous, but I’d still have liked something a little healthier than iceberg lettuce.) The prices are a little high for what they’re serving, but won’t break the bank.
Would we go back again? Probably not. It just wasn’t that good. We found there are other places not that far away that had better service and food just as good.

Ate here for a family dinner and it was very good. Everyone was satisfied with their meals and the waitress we had was very nice.

Rocky road with Ice House. In their old location, I feel they became complacent. Then they built the big shiny new place and things were looking 4 stars all they way. But time goes on and things sort of fade. Still a solid meal. Lots of options.
If this place were being voted on as just a bar it would be 4.5stars. It’s where the locals all go. Drinks are a little pricey. Had a lot of great times in the bar there, at least from what I can recall.