First St Grille

nice customer service, tastry food, place was clean & ventilated. prices are reasonable.

Great food! Ate there 3 times in 5 days… Visiting family. Wonderful service & great décor.

Food was decent service was slow and slightly confused. Fish and chips was 3 small planks of cod fries were decent left hungry. So I went around the corner to the ice cream shop and got a good sized and tasty cone for a buck.

First St Grille was one of the ten finalist for the best burger in Iowa annual contest. The restaurant is not a far drive from my Grandpa so the last time I was visiting we drove over to see what one of the contenders for best burger had to offer.
The restaurant is nice. It definitely fits in a small town with the rustic look and animals on the wall. The front part is set up as a restaurant and the back more of a bar setting. I like the division and how it caters to both families and people out for a fun evening.
We both ordered just the basic hamburger. There were a lot of hamburger options with various toppings that sounded delicious. The menu was also quite big and featured many options. There is little chance that one wouldn’t find something they liked there.
As we waited for our burgers we noticed pizzas being brought out to a buffet. The buffet did not have overhead heat lamps and the pizza trays were sat on top of banquet pans over the little burners (i am not sure they were lit, but doubt they would have really served a purpose if they were.) We chuckled and commented every now and again about the pizzas just sitting there getting cold. About a half hour latter some people came in and ordered the pizza buffet. They seemed to really enjoy and the boys at at least a half a dozen pizzas. I am not sure I would want it after sitting out that long myself.
Back to the burgers. It took a while to get our order. The burgers are cooked fresh and thick. As for the best burger, it was alright. Personally I found it to be overcooked and dry, but it had good flavor. Grandpa enjoyed the fries that came with his sandwich and the cottage cheese I ordered had an odd taste to it. Not like it was bad, just not a high quality cottage cheese.
Service was ok. There was one waiter taking care of everyone. Overall there were probably about 20 people in there for lunch and spread out through the restaurant and bar. This made it a bit hectic for him.
I would stop back by and try some other menu items, but I am not really sure how they made the top ten of best burgers in Iowa.