Stella

I had the bbq shrimp on cheesy grits and it was fantastic. The shrimp were cooked well. The sauce was smokey and spicy with a hint of bbq. The grits were very cheesy and smooth. It was one of the best things I have ever eaten!

Stella is great. They have a broad variety of burgers and their gumbo is on point! I’ve been here quite a few times since I work down the street. Highly recommend. I’ve yet to try everything on their menu. It gets crowded during lunch but they have a pretty cute outdoor sitting area as well.

Absolutely wonderful atmosphere here on the corner of Melrose and Koser. Cozy outdoor patio with nice ambience provides a wonderful place for enjoying food with friends. Their burger menu is lengthy and leaves you with some tough decisions because they all sound so good. I went with arion which is a Greek-​inspires burger with melted feta on the patty. Mouth-​watering and very filling! Meat was a little over cooked for my liking, so next time I’ll ask for it more medium-​cooked. The servers were wonderful, constantly staying on top of water refills. Great restaurant overall!

The food is above the Iowa City average, but the servers are generally rude. The cajun menu is half price after 6 pm on Tuesdays, and that is the only time it is worth the money. The burgers and fries are always good though. They are basically the same as Short’s. I would go more frequently (Love their patio!) except the service really makes me mad.

Excellent service and great food. Had the roasted corn and cauliflower soup. Omg! Then the steak salad special. Highly recommend!

We are at Stella’s for lunch it was just delicious. Service was great food came out quickly and looked and tasted wonderful. There is outdoor seating with nice music. Definitely would eat there again.

Stella changed their menu a couple years ago and simplified their offerings down to a Cajun menu, grilled chicken sandwiches and lots and lots of burgers. The hand cut fries are awesome and the burger options will make your head spin but you’ll find something for you. One of the best choices for al fresco dining in the area.

Their burgers and sandwiches are fabulous. It’s a little pricy and my husband says he always leaves the restaurant still hungry but the food is great and the menu options are wonderful. The sister restaurant is also good, Shorts, but I wish their downtown store offered salads. Only fries as a side are offered currently.

In the winter time it’s small since you can’t eat outside can be very loud but food is great! And the special sauce with a kick with french fries is delicious

I ordered pork tenderloin with mango salsa. The pork was tender and the salsa was tasty. However, My side vegetable was too salty and I smelled like fried onion when I came out of this place!

Good food, same as Shorts… no need to drive all the way out if its not near you. ps they take advantage of being next to hospital and stadiums charging a minimum of $ 7 a beer

Polished informal intuitive service and imaginative menu. Dozens of variations on a theme. Everything served HOT and fresh. Not too pricey. Three of us loved every bite

Its ok not where i would be like i have to go. The first time i went there the food sucked but i went again last week do to coworkers going an it wasnt bad. The service was great. But fyi there is not a lot of seat for large groups

Went to Stella for the first time, I definitely enjoyed it. The beer chicken was delicious and perfectly cooked and the local beers did not disappoint. Really enjoyed the overall setting and ambiance as well. Excellent dinner spot and will be back for sure.

There are two atmosphere’s to choose from with Stella. You can either sit indoors, where the scene is darker and very pub-​like or, if you sit outside, the atmosphere is brighter and calmer, awaiting quiet conversation to begin. Because of this, I think this is a great destination for a dinner on a warm summer day. The restaurant isn’t huge, therefore when it gets busy, it seems you are in very close proximity to your many dining peers, another reason why eating outside is a must in my book. The terrace is romantically lit and the exposure to the open air prevents claustrophobic feelings from arising.
Once you have been comfortably seated under the setting sun, it is time to choose from the menu that ranges from traditional creole dishes to a full page selection of burgers. Honestly, I was getting dizzy looking at the extensive burger menu, so I decided to stick to what set’s Stella off, their Cajun flavors. My dining partner and I shared a crab cake to start which I enjoyed. It had a meaty crab flavor with a nice kick to it and the mango-​jalapeño salsa it was paired with added the perfect amount of zing!
For the mains, I had a small Crawfish Étouffée which was good, not great though. The crawfish seemed to be lost in a sea of mundane tomatoes and rice. My dining partner on the other hand ordered the Jumbalaya, aka a bowl of excitement! It bursted with flavor and was filled to the brim with shrimp, pork, chicken and Andouille sausage sans a lot of filler foods like rice to bulk up the plate. Unless you luck out with a generous dining partner like I did, I recommend ordering the Jumbalaya if you want a taste of Louisiana in the heart of Hawkeye country.
Now that I know what makes for a good experience at Stella, I can see myself stopping by again, but next time, the waiter will be placing the bowl of Jumbalaya in-​front of me instead of across the table!

The Good: Good food. good atmosphere, especially in the summers. Great location.
The Bad: average drink selection

A great summertime spot. I’ve only ever sat on their outdoor terrace and always with good friends, so my review may lean on that. A nice, friendly ambiance and within shouting range of the hospitals and the stadium. The burgers are really very good, and the pints are cold. Nice that they’ve got plenty of heaters to make the patio liveable in early spring and into late fall, as well. Definitely a recommended stopover in University Heights.

Recommended by hospital staff, we will certainly come back based on our lunch experience. The chicken quesadilla appetizer was fresh and took the edge off a starving child and the rest of the table. The butternut squash soup of the day was fresh and hearty, rivaling my mom’s homemade version. The mushroom polenta was delicious and rich, and the eggplant Parmesan was nicely breaded & generously sliced. The only sour note was not realizing how spicy the jambalaya would be…5-alarm with a creeping heat and not edible for the aforementioned starving child.
The server was very cheerful and attentive. Clean restrooms are always appreciated!

This place is a fun neighborhood pub in the University Heights area. Stella is a sister restaurant of Short’s Burgers in downtown IC, and so has the same lineup of hamburgers and black bean burgers. Stella has some Cajun and Creole dishes that I haven’t tried. The black bean burgers are pretty tasty, solid pub fare.
The beer list is also worth noting. Their draft list is full of Iowa microbrews, such as Toppling Goliath, Peace Tree, Millstream, Backpocket, and Confluence. You can do a flight of four 5 oz pours for $ 7. If you just want to try one beer, you can get it in a 5 oz, 11 oz, or 16 oz pour, which is a very nice option to have.
The atmosphere is also nice. If you can get outdoor seating it’s great for people watching. The interior has more of a pub/​sports bar feel, but on nice days they open the doors to the patio so that it almost feels like you’re sitting outside. The customer service has always been friendly, even on nights when they are jam packed with customers. In other words, if you’re looking for a comfortable neighborhood pub experience with good burgers and beer, this is a great place to check out.

My brother lives in Iowa City, so we hit Stella for takeout. I don’t know if it’s fair to rate a restaurant when you only stopped by for 60 seconds, so this review is based solely on the food.
I ordered a burger. The Baxter, to be specific. (Blackened burger, bacon, provolone.) It normally comes with chipotle mayo, but I skipped that.
I loved it. Juicy and big, just as a burger should be.
The fries also stayed crispy, even as we took them home. Takeout fries are usually the worst.
I’d go back in a heartbeat.
You gotta wonder why they don’t have a website, though…