Lou Henri

Ever since this place changed its name to Sunny Restaurant, the was horrible. Went there thinking I would get a great Lou Henri breakfast and it was the total opposite. We had the worst service, long wait for the food (when there were only 2 other tables seated), I ordered the steak and eggs — very cheap/​bad quality meat. Not to mention reheated greasy hashbrowns. I would never eat here again nor recommend this restaurant anymore.

I only come here for brunch when I’m craving a breakfast burrito. I always get half a huevos quesadilla. Don’t let the name fool you, it’s a burrito stuffed with rice, black beans, eggs and cheese and topped with salsa. It is available vegetarian or vegan too (named the veggie quesadilla). It comes with a side of house potatoes.
The trick about this place is that the service is hit-​or-​miss (and the décor definitely leaves something to be desired). Be ready to wait for a table, to have the waitresses be confused about whose table you are, or for your coffee to get cold. If you’re committed to the food and have good company, you’ll be fine.
Best for tables of four or fewer, especially when it’s busy.

Lou Henri’s used to be amazing — my favorite brunch place in Iowa City — but it has new owners and a new name and has gone completely downhill. I went to have a farewell brunch with some friends last week, as many of us are moving away, and we waited two-​and-​a-​half hours for our food, even when the restaurant was barely full. They also messed up the orders. Two of our party had to leave because it took so long and never even got to eat. What a shame. This really used to be an Iowa City gem.

We visited Lou Henri recently and I was pretty blown away. Mind you, the interior itself is not super attractive; it’s a small place with cracks in the ceiling. (Though, I liked all the plants they had) The attraction with Lou Henri is that it is a quaint breakfast/​lunch joint with good food, great options, and great service at a reasonable price. And the coffee aint bad, either.
I had the garden jackson… basically poached eggs + veggies + potatoes + cheese + salsa. Oh my gawd, it was good. My boyfriend had the huevos rancheros and loved the salsa. I noticed they have a ton of great-​looking veggie options on the menu, such as a tempeh reuben… oh I’ll be asking that we return to Lou Henri on our next trip to the IC.

Kind of away from the business from downtown, I didn’t even know this place existed til I got lost on the way to a party and walked past it.
The food was actually better than I expected, the place doesn’t look like much and is never busy, but their breakfast dish with the english muffin, ham, poached egg and potatoes with melty cheese on everything was delish! I would definitely go back and get that again. Not to mention I love a place that serves breakfast the whole time they’re open (which isn’t very late for this place!)

Delicious! Great food, something on the menu for anybody, large portions, great prices. I’m dropping off my son for college (we currently live in south Florda). I wish I could find a nice place like this there. The décor isn’t fancy but it’s clean and pleasant. I highly recommend it.

Sadly I have to add to the spate of 3 star reviews of Lou Henri. We were one of only 3 tables in the place when we showed up, and it still took about 45 minutes to get our food. We ordered the banana nut french toast, the huevos diablos, and an omelet with 3 ingredients. The omelet arrived with 2 of the ordered ingredients, although I appreciated that the chef remembered he forgot the 3^rd ingredient so he brought out a little plate with it for us to slice and kind of add to the omelet. It actually worked out nicely. My boyfriend didn’t really enjoy his huevos diablos — sauce too heavy on the tomato flavor and not enough on the spiciness/​anything else good. We did love the hot sauces on the tables and trying all the different ones. My french toast was pretty delicious, although probably an acquired taste due to the difference in texture with the use of banana nut bread. Overall very generous with the amount of bananas and nuts, and the syrup was good. The home fries could use more seasoning and more of a crust. Basically, if the food had come out somewhat faster and one of our three meals wasn’t a let-​down, this would have been a solid four star joint.

Great breakfast place and the staff is usually very nice. just don’t look in the kitchen.

I really enjoyed Lou Henri!
I went on a Saturday right at 12 or so, so it was pretty bustling. I had fun people watching, this place has a nice, kind of cozy atmosphere. Because of the busyness, my service was a tad slow. especially for my coffee. But that might have just been my caffeine cravings kicking in, ha.
I had a ham and cheese omelet which came with some kind of breakfast potato and toast. The omelet was yummy, I asked for two eggs instead of three (it was suggested as an option on the menu). Honestly it was a pretty good sized omelet, so either they forgot that I requested that or their regular is just quite large. Either way, the fillings were great and the eggs were just fine. The potatoes were tasty. A few chunks were undercooked. so kind of inedible, but I’m giving this a pass ’cause of the rush. Now. The toast. This was like the best toast ever. The menu said it was whole wheat sourdough. I didn’t really taste the sourness but that was fine by me. Super yummy as it came and also with jelly. I kind of wanted more than just the one slice. Yum!
All in all, good breakfast, good atmosphere, reasonable service (given the time and day), good price. I’ll be back!

This is one of our traditional sports before a Hawkeye game… we find free street parking, eat breakfast, walk downtown to browse and then check a bus to the game. Great select of traditional foods with a unique twist. Some of the items are pricey, sometimes it takes awhile to get your food; however your coffee cup tends to remain filled during the experience. Love the hot sauces on the table.

If this place was anything but a breakfast/​lunch space, I would give Lou Henri a considerable amount more slack. Since it has focused its existence on operating in the early morning hours, I have to judge it along the lines of the many other places that I’ve eaten that keep 7a-​3p hours like it, both in small towns and major cities.
Lou Henri is certainly low on my breakfast food chain. It’s above hamburg but below Bluebird, Leaf Kitchen, and Breakfast House in CR (a very nice breakfast spot that’s in a weird location). I love hipster waitresses, so the fact that Lou Henri has them in spades is nice. The coffee is also good there, which is important. The problem for me comes with the actual food. It’s not that awesome. It’s fine, but not awesome. The omelets are fine, but when have you ever gone to a place and had a truly terrible omelet? It never happens. It’s never going to be vomit-​inducing.
The other stuff I’ve had was largely forgettable, which is not good in my mind for a breakfast spot. The best ones leave you with a vision of what you had like the biscuits and gravy I ate in SF or the HUGE blueberry pancakes in Oberlin, OH. Lou Henri just doesn’t do that for me, and the fact that I can’t figure out why really bothers me.
If this half-​stepping on the food weren’t enough, this place has, easily, one of the worst ambiances in Iowa City. It’s really dark, brightly lit, and surprisingly uncomfortable. All downsides for a breakfast spot. If this place brightened up their décor a bit and make me not feel like a vampire when I leave, I’d be more prone to going back there than I am in its current state with its food. As of now, I can’t say that it’s a place high in my breakfast queue.

This is by far the best brunch place in Iowa City.
When I come back to Iowa City to visit, this is the #1 stop I make. The menu has great seasonal food that offers plenty of interesting breakfast and lunch choices. I like that while the food is down-​to-​earth and unpretentious, it’s more creative than a typical diner brunch and incorporates lots of fresh produce. Try the huevos ranchos or the tempeh sandwich. Great variety, too — your steak-​and-​potatoes Iowa-​guy dad and crazy vegan roommate can both find things to enjoy here.
It’s also a great place for people watching, running into old friends, and long, relaxed conversations (rather than being hustled out to let in the next wave of brunch-​goers). The vibe is artsy, local, and full of character. I’m genuinely surprised that it doesn’t have higher reviews.

The staff was friendly. The food was pretty good. My biggest problem was that I ordered their «to die for» french fries with my sandwich and the waitress brought me breakfast potatoes instead. Not exactly the same thing. I would go back though and try more things.

We’d heard a lot about Lou Henri and decided to check it out this weekend. It’s housed in a relatively non-​descript building just outside the downtown corridor off Iowa street. We walked in and found a place that has probably looked the same since the 50’s when the building was probably built. Combos of booths and tables that were reminiscent of a place your grandparent’s probably ate when they had a night on the town! Some interesting art on the walls seemed to have a canyon/​rock theme that seemed to work well!
The waitresses that we interacted with were very helpful and all very pleasant. My wife had the banana nut french toast and it was pretty delicious! Good bread, good bananas and some decent syrup. It would turn to amazing if the syrup has a little more pizzazz. I enjoyed the Pueblo omelette and it was seriously good! It had just enough chipotle flavor to make me believe it was inspired by somewhere other than Denny’s. The wheat toast was good as were the potatoes. The side of bacon left something to be desired — after all, we’re in a state where pigs out number people and getting some thick cut Wilbur isn’t a problem!
Hot chocolate was excellent and the coffee was good. Not a huge fan of organic coffee, but their Columbian roast was decent.
Trending hipster waitstaff that seemed to be having a good time and gave the place a little character. Without them, it reminisces of a place with a waitress with a cigarette half way out of her mouth and a hairnet.
The long and short was that this is a good spot, not a great spot. It’s a diner-​esk place that has a hipster string woven into it and when the two mix, it feels like they can’t make up their mined. It gets 3 stars in large part because of the service and the price. Most breakfast plates were around $ 8 and you get plenty. Definitely a good place to go with friends for a more authentic IC experience, but overall not quite as good as other similar places in town. We’d take Hamburg Inn or Bluebird Diner if given the choice as Lou Henri is closer to a mix of the two. Food like Hamburg Inn and ambiance similar to Bluebird. Step up from chains, but still room to move as compared to other local establishments.
Worth trying and might be a place you really enjoy. Somewhere we’ll try again and will probably bring friends who want to try something a little different.

Good food, took 40 min to arrive. We were hungry… so we weren’t very happy about the wait. It wasn’t that busy. Might be trying to hard to be «hippie»? Just can’t put my finger on what’s missing… oh yeah… the food.

I so want to like this place, but my experience here has been so hit or miss that I can’t give this place more than one star.
I have been rudely treated by the waitstaff to get us to leave (and we hadn’t even finished our meals yet), I’ve been ignored by waitstaff, and on the very rare occasion, I’ve had good service.
The service is beyond inconsistent. Having your waitress walk past empty glasses and then sit down at a table with some of her friends for over 20 minutes, only to ignore your still empty glasses when she gets up is unacceptable in any establishment.
The food, when the kitchen is ‘on’ is very nice. It’s too bad that you can’t actually get it without playing the ‘circle of suckage’ with the waitstaff.
Before you rant back, I’ve waited tables for many years, so I’m not the ‘unsatisfiable’ customer, either.

This place rocks. As others have said the ambience is pretty eclectic on the inside but it suits the place well. The inside was very clean, the waitstaff was very nice, and the food was delicious.
They have a great selection of food on their menu including several tasty sounding veggie dishes. The portions are also decent sized so I don’t feel ripped off like I do at other places in the area.
Yes the food was a bit slow but they say they make it when you order it. If that bothers you, get the homefries, apparently that takes less time. Or do what I did… don’t go there with someone you hate talking to.

A haiku for Lou Henri’s banana nut bread french toast:
banana nut bread
french toast topped with sugar, nuts,
and bananas. BLISS!
—-
Additional notes:
* Lou Henri is one of the (surprisingly) many breakfast places in Iowa City. Why eat at IHOP when there’s little local places like these here?
* They use organic ingredients and eggs from caged-​free hens, if those things matter to you.
* TMI: I have recurring thoughts of pouring syrup all over that sexy banana nut bread french toast. Mmm… all the banana nut bread french toasts are belongs in my mouth.
* Totally diggin’ the pictures of the canyons of the Western US. It’s like going on a roadtrip from CA to IA all over again.

The food is really good when it gets there, but you have to wait a long time for two reasons: the wait-​staff is terrible and they tell you it is because they cook your food to order. So what? They cook my food to order at Hamburg Inn and it didn’t take me an hour and 45 minutes to get an omelet. Another problem I have with this place is how expensive the food is… 4 of us went for breakfast and spent $ 60 without trying. I could (and would rather) go to brunch at Iowa River/​Power Company for that price! I will say that we ordered some sides — 2 people ordered a muffin with their food, but certainly nothing extravagant. You pay for juice by the glass with no refills… when you wait for almost 2 hours for your food, you go through a couple glasses of OJ too.
I will not eat here ever again, despite the interesting and tasty food.

Why does everyone always forget about this place? If you’re looking for the hipster waitresses that you’d normally find at Hamburg, but with a brighter atmosphere and food that’s a little more upscale, come to Lou Henri.
They’ve got really great vegetarian and meaty dishes, and a really nice variety of ingredients and entrees. Their french fries are pretty much to die for, and they’ve got the thickest, juiciest restaurant sausage links I’ve seen in a very long time. They’re also environmentally friendly, in that they’ll give you a 10% discount off your meal if you rode a bike to the joint!
I’ve really only got two beefs with them, which is why I only gave them 4 stars. One is their crazy hours. I need more Lou Henri! Two is that the waitresses border a little on flaky. I went with a friend once, had our order taken, and then waited for a half an hour before another waitress came up to us and told us our first waitress had gone home sick and hadn’t submitted our order, so she had to re-​take it. We were provided some free fruit to compensate for the wait, but it still sucked that we were there 45 minutes before we got to eat, when the place was deserted.