Graze

This place is a travesty. I don’t know how they’re able to fool the good people of Iowa City, but they’re not fooling this traveled urbanite. I have seen their menu items at TGI Friday’s, and they’re not prepared much better. Mashed potatoes bleached whiter than girls that drink pumpkin spice lattes, topped with… Kraft cheese?! Uninspired bruschetta with hangar steak that is somehow burnt on the outside yet cold in the middle.
I had high hopes when I saw the drinks menu, as I had been trying for the better part of the day to find a decent drink. Apparently no bartender in this entire town has heard of a Negroni, so I had a Manhattan. Bleh, watered down and insipid. My friend’s drink, which was a mango-​based drink, was so sweet it tasted like fruit juice. And neither of us could properly get drunk.
But what’s most angering is not that the food was decidedly mediocre. Mediocre food gets 3 stars. The fact is that they try to appear way better than they actually are, and they charge prices way higher than the quality of their food warrants it! It’s rude and shameful to pull the wool over the eyes of the innocent customers, claiming that this establishment is elevated when in fact it is no better than Applebee’s.
I am reminded of the quote from the movie «Crazy, Stupid Love» where Ryan Gosling says to Steve Carrell, «Be better than the Gap.» Graze, be better than TGI Friday’s. Be better than Applebee’s. Or lower your prices — I’m OK with that too.

Graze is a great lunch stop here in Iowa City. I was impressed by the amount of items on the lunch buffet and the service we received.
They have 2 types of salads, 2 types of soup, Amazing whitefish with red pepper tarter sauce, dim sum green beans, tortillas and lettuce wraps with an array of meats and toppings to choose from, spring rolls with soy dipping sauce, big island burgers, Mac n cheese, and of course their famous chicken lips! There is really something for everyone. When you think of a buffet this is not what you expect.
The stand out for me was the whitefish with red pepper dipping sauce. The fish had a light flavorful breading and had me hooked from the first bite. I could have obliterated the entire tray but I was kind and left some for the other patrons.
Service was good. We were seated right away and I was pleased to see that they leave a pitcher of water at your table so your not constantly on the lookout for a refill.
The price was fair and I feel like I got my money’s worth. I will be returning when I’m in the Iowa city area over the lunch hour and I suggest you do to!

Great food. Fun choices. Stay as long as you like to «Graze» and/​or drink. They also deliver.

Had a very nice lunch today @GrazeIowaCity
— Food was fresh, nutritious, and delicious. Very friendly and courteous service. Nice outdoor dining area. Economical pricing considering the nice atmosphere and exquisite food. Conveniently located. The lunch buffet has a nice selection.

The best cocktails in town. I found this place by searching google since I could not find any place in IC that make good cocktails. The atmosphere was very nice and the bartenders were very friendly. Seem like they’re specialized in Martinis. The Grape Flower is a must!

Graze is one of my favorite restaurants in Iowa city. I’ve had the lunch buffet 5 – 6 times and the quality of the food is always amazing. I especially love the soups, chicken lips and spring rolls. The servers are really friendly and nice to talk to. The owner is mostly there at lunch time working hard, just shows they really care for what they do and are really passionate. Highly recommended!

The $ 20 per person to experience Graze is a great value and super filling! I loved everything except for the chicken lips — just didn’t happen to be feeling those. The string beans, pretzel bites, baby back ribs, and steak bruschetta were all to die for. The martinis are made right in front of you using fresh fruit and fresh juice as ingredients — and you can tell. The Ruby Slipper martini was really good as was one other similar one that I had. You really get the feel that everything here is extremely fresh! I will be returning next time I feel like spoiling myself

I went here for dinner with two other people and we shared a combination of items (I think it was called Amazing Grazing). It was really good, and included fondue, chicken, short ribs, pasta, green beans, and Caesar salad. I was pleasantly surprised! Not your run of the mill college restaurant food.

When asked where my favorite place to eat in Iowa City is my answer is Graze! The lunch buffet is my favorite and such a great value. Graze is known for their chicken lips which are chicken strips coated in a buffalo sauce and they are mouthwatering delicious! Now that we don’t live in Iowa City I crave them on a regular basis! They also serve a delicious macaroni and cheese with chicken lips. They have a great option of «grazing» where they serve small plates of starters a main course and dessert for a small group of people. We prefer to order directly off of the menu but I always thought it was fun that they offered that option! The martinis are also delicious! I love the bubble 007 which is served with dry ice so it arrives at your table bubbling. Overall a delicious place for brunch, lunch or dinner!

The food is way overrated and the service is terrible. I got the Mac and cheese side. The cheese was runny with little flavor which is disappointing for the price point. I also got the baked potato fries, which were mediocre at best. My biggest complaint though is that we went there specifically to celebrate a friends birthday. She really wanted the giant cake and had mentioned her excitement several times to the waiter. We arrived at 8pm and we were rushed out, even though on their website and on Unilocal it says they are open until 10. The waiter was rude and definitely did not make my friends birthday memorable and was not given the opportunity to even purchase the cake. After the crappy service, he also decided he should grat himself 20%. I would never recommend this over rated restaurant.

Not much to say other than service and quality has been going down hill. When they first opened they delivered. We loved their chicken lips and sliders. We ordered all the time. Then delivery stopped. I was missing the food and went in to the store. I was so disappointed. The waiter was so inattentive. The sliders are off the regular menu. The chicken lips doubled in price. Average food at an above average price and below average service.

My friend suggested we meet there for brunch when I was in Iowa City. I’d never been there but kept an open mind because I like patronizing small local businesses. The food was great and I have never had better service at a restaurant.
I asked if they had skim milk, knowing my friend wanted me to try spicy food. I told him 2% was fine; I just didn’t want whole. Two minutes later, the server came back and said the bartender was running to the store to buy me skim milk! I have never had someone do that for me at a restaurant. Makes me wish I lived in Iowa so I could come back more often!

Used to love this place. However they made the horrible decision to slowly remove their best items from their menu. Chicken lips are still available but were dry and lacking their usual spicy kick. Also took a ridiculously long time to get a salad and chicken lips. The lunch buffet is still okay but I won’t be coming back for dinner anymore.

This is a review of the items in lunch buffet.
Soups:
— baked potato soup: personally, I didn’t think this didn’t taste very good… It tastes very creamy and reminded me of mashed potatoes in a more liquid form.
— chicken tortilla soup: this was pretty good. Although slightly salty, the soup had a good overall texture and kick of spice.
Salads:
I tried a bit of both, and they were ok. The sesame dressing one tasted bette than the Mediterranean in my opinion.
Sesame string beans:
These are amazing! The highlight of the lunch buffet in my opinion. Slightly crunchy with a light dressing, this is a unique and healthy option of the buffet.
Egg rolls:
These tasted bland. Not worth more than a bite or two.
Pizza:
This was ok. Typical.
Big island burgers:
These were pretty good. The burger was cooked well, and the mango slaw complemented the slightly spicy chicken patty well. These mini-​burgers were a good size too, so you can sample these and the whole variety of the buffet.
Mac & cheese:
Nothing special. Texture is ok and not too heavy, but the flavor is not very strong
Chicken lips:
These were pretty good with the sauce. Just try to get freshly made ones — those taste less greasy and rubbery.
Tacos & lettuce wraps:
Didn’t try these.
Ruby slipper martini:
Sweet and featured dry ice! Tasted orangey and non-​carbonated. I would order this.
Peach dragon martini:
Tasted more strongly of tea and ginger than peach, and was somewhat sour. The aftertaste featured mint and peach. I wouldn’t order this.
Chocolate chip cookies:
These are given along with the checks. These were very sweet, overwhelming in my opinion. These were soft and had a nice texture, but I feel like they were store-​bought, not fresh.
Atmosphere:
Trendy, yet older songs were played, giving off the illusion of a hip place.
Value:
I have been here for dinner before, and this lunch buffet is a much better value. Many of the items on the dinner menu are on featured at the lunch buffet. It’s $ 10.99 M-​F for lunch and $ 12.99 Saturday and Sunday. Overall, I would probably come again, maybe once every few months.
Service:
Our waiter was fairly attentive and polite.

Meh. Ate here with a group of girlfriends, the service was slow, they were out of a few dishes, and the prices were way too high for how small the plates were. The drinks took foreeeeeeeever to get to our table. Overall, a pretty big disappointment. Oh, the chicken lips were good though.

Best bar and gastropub around! The bartender Mark pours up some of the best martinis. Great selection of cocktails — super tasty. They have a fully stocked bar — every type of vodka you can name. Try the chicken lips — awesome twist on hot wings. The baked dynamite rolls are really incredible. College kids don’t bother coming — the food and drinks are much too incredible for you to appreciate.

Went to Graze for what I thought might potentially be a nice, romantic dinner with my boyfriend. I had looked at the menu beforehand and it was decently priced so I thought the ambiance might be nice as well.
We were seated right in the middle of the restaurant, which would have normally been fine but for some reason at 6:00 the people at the bar were abnormally loud. Screaming to their neighbors instead of talking in a normal voice. Not blaming the restaurant for that, but I am blaming the restaurant for playing terrible music at an incredibly loud volume.
Now food was quite good. The chicken lips are excellent, a bit pricey since they are basically glorified chicken finger, but they were good and the dish contained 4 large fingers so couldn’t really complain. We got the pretzel fondue for appetizer, again quite excellent. The burger sliders just so-​so, a little dry.
Had the pink lemonade martini. Tasted excellent though not sure there was actually any alcohol in there. Good thing or bad thing I’m not sure.
The reason for the two stars is the service. Our waiter seemed very full of himself and didn’t really seem to care if we were having a good experience or not. He would bring us our dishes and jet right off without saying a word. When he grabbed our check he ran off before we could tell him how we wanted it split between the two cards.
Overall, the food isn’t too bad, the drinks are good though pricey, but if you are looking for a nice date spot, I would choose somewhere else.

This place looks great, but the food doesn’t rise above your typical bar fare.
First, I’ve gotta say I loved the drinks. I got a passion fruit martini and it was smooth and delicious.
Service was so-​so. Considering our table ordered lots of different food, I’d expect our waiter would be back more often.
* Pretzel fondue — Fairly decent pretzel bites with a cauldron of melty cheese sitting above a candle. The problem is, the pretzels were fried or something. They smelled vaguely like fish sticks. I’d rather have gotten a Super Pretzel and chopped it up myself. Still, pretty good. (But $ 10 good? Not quite.)
* Big Island Sliders — supposedly «spicy chicken burgers with mango slaw.» But these things hardly looked like chicken. They were sad little things on flavorless buns. If you’ve ever wanted your chicken grey, these are the sliders for you. What’s worse, they weren’t even hot. Barely warm. They looked and tasted like failures.
* Kazu Sliders — Better than the chicken version, but not by much. These are ground burgers with cheese and onion crisps. You get 3 for $ 9. Was each one worth $ 3? Not remotely. You’d be much better off at BK or McDonald’s.
* Steak Tacos — Actually very good. They come with peanut sauce, which is interesting.
* Hand-​cut Fries — Also pretty good, but you don’t get much for $ 5.
Graze should cut the prices of all their food in half. You’re paying a fortune for very little. In the case of an amazing tapas restaurant, that’s fair. But this food doesn’t merit destination dining.
Venture elsewhere, my friends.

Don’t waste your money eating here! I ate there last month while visiting. I picked the restaurant for the ambviance, looks nice, like a martini bar. I wanted to eat at Giovannis, but it was closed.
The problem is the staff AND quality of food.
Food was horrible. The hand-​cut fries were bad (too overcooked and small), the californication roll tasted old and stale, (better sushi rolls can be plucked off of a grocery store aisle), the chopped salad was generally flavorless, the coleslaw that came with the fish and chips was horrendous.
The only digestable part of the meal was the deep fried-​greasy-​as-​all-​get-​out chicken lips and a better descritption would be «enormous boneless wings.» It was such a large portion that it should be against the law to serve that much deep fried food on 1 plate.
The macademia goat cheese appetizer was allright, but was not served with enough toast.
Service was horrible, slow, and the wait staff (immature) working couldn’t give a damn. We had a party of 7 (2 were under 2) and had the TIP INCLUDED, which was annoying.
We did not desire to stay for dessert.
What a waste of $ 145.00.
*Note on kids, there is no diaper changing station in the restaurant. In other words, kids in diapers are not welcome. Also, there are only 2 high chairs in the whole place.
I doubt this place will be in business long.

We miss the Graze that was in West Des Moines as we often crave Chicken Lips. To satisfy our craving, we stop in Iowa City on our way to Illinois.
The Chicken Lips are never disappointing. The Budweiser Blue Cheese is the perfect match for them. The Portabello Fries are a tad bit salty for my taste. The Dim Sum Beans are also enjoyable. We tried the Chicken Tortilla and Potato Soups. I liked the Chicken Tortilla better than the Potato. I do agree that the prices are on the high side.
Thye have wonderful martinis and use good vodka! I’ve never had one that I have not enjoyed.
We will continue to stop during our travels.