Maid Rite

An adorable, very clean, pleasantly decorated place to eat. The service is good and they have a very good selection of food — it’s a bit of a farm-​style place. Broasted chicken, chicken tenders, huge baked potatoes and plenty else. They were the BEST BEST BEST chicken tenders I’ve ever had! And I like chicken tenders! Also amazing green beans. Highly recommend.

A trifecta! A great place to eat, nice gift shop, gas right across the way. I drive to LIttle Rock several times a year, and this is a regular stop for gas, food, and a little shopping. This time I had the homemade Tenderloin sandwich. Golly! l I literally ate a quarter of it. Imagine a hamburger bun and the breaded tenderloin the size of a dinner plate. Really! I trimmed the edges around to fit the bun, ate half of it, then had the rest for supper when I got home. And the best part is, now I have a dilemma – the maidrite or the tenderloin? Which to choose???
Pay attention as there are two exits signed for Lamoni – this is the first or most northern exit.

I always have a meal here when in the area. Great food, fair prices and a friendly atmosphere! Attached is a very nice Amish store as well. Don’t miss it!

My husband calls them «Sloppy Good» and they are. You will need a fork or spoon to gather up all the loose meat goodness that gathers outside of the sandwich. Remembering these as a child and just tried one again while driving through. I miss these. These are not to be compared to a White Castle. Although the ingredients and flavors are similar the Maid Rite is much more heartier. It is a large sandwich. It would take about 6 WC’s or more to catch up to this quality Mega sandwich. They are good!!! Someone complained about the cost…$ 3+…DUH…then compare it to buying 6 WC’s at over $ 4+. NO BRAINER!!!

This is just ok food that is way over priced. Service was good an friendly. Tried the maid rite and it was ok but I would not recommend it. I did have a peanut butter malt and that was good.

California has In-​N-​Out and Fatburger, Iowa has maid-​Rite. All are special for their own reasons.
I order mine with ketchup only, because mustard tastes like ass and pickles ruin everything you put them on. Haven’t had one of these in at least decade and a third, and my two sons had never had one. None of us were disappointed.
The place is spotless. The manager was beyond polite, accommodating, and professional. The sandwiches were perfectly made, wrapped, and presented. The shakes were fantastic.

Fun, new experience. Great twist on the American burger! We loved it and will come back the next time we are in town.

It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. The salad dressing was pretty bad, but the lettuce was great. The BBQ was good, but not great.

After much background discussion and build up. I just had my first Maid Rite original. It came with pickles, onion, mustard and ketchup. My insiders told me that they originally came sans ketchup, but I was happy to have it. Bottom line is it was a moist, good-​flavored burger. It was just crumbly, which I barely noticed as I inhaled it. Our chocolate malt was also very good, but not why we stopped.

I think the reason Maid-​Rite never really caught on outside of Iowa is due to a couple of factors. Firstly, Iowans are weird. Secondly, it’s a hard sandwich to market. Down in Wichita, they call them «crumbly burgers,» which sets an expectation that’s impossible to live up to. No one can be satisfied when they have a picture of a burger in their minds, sit down, and unwrap a loose meat sandwich. Not that «loose meat sandwiches» is any better — it denotes a sandwich that needs to improve its morals; a sandwich that can’t take itself seriously. But what are you going to call it — a sauce-​less Sloppy Joe? The sauce MAKES the Joe.
Logically, there’s not too much difference between a lose-​leaf Manwich and a hamburger — they’re both sandwiches made from ground beef, but there’s quite a bit of finesse in the latter, where the former is little more than beef that’s been pushed around a bit to brown on all side. That’s the reason why Sloppy Joes became so popular in home kitchens — it’s incredibly easy, and hard to screw up, which is probably why entrepreneurs thought it would be geared well to a fast food franchise, but is also why the public thought «I could do this at home».
Still, the moose-​meat sandwich isn’t bad by any means, but it’s just about exactly what you would expect. The full-​featured version contained all the popular condiments, and it was overall pretty fun on a bun, though fleeting. Whether you consider it a taco burger without the seasoning, a Sloppy Joe without the sauce, or a hamburger without the feeling of satisfaction, Maid-​Rite remains a slowly dwindling Iowa staple, and something to try at least once for the novelty.

Traveling back to places where you used to live, brings the opportunity to revisit old favorites. While this particular establishment was not one of my regular haunts, it serves one of my passions Maid Rite sandwiches. As the other reviewer of this place states, it could me a love or hate relationship… he took the hate side… I will take the love side.
Loose meat hamburger in a light soy tasting sauce with onions, pickles and mustard. Whats not to love. This particular store right on the Missouri/​Iowa line offers a little oasis from I 35. Housed in a large barn appearing building, it offers tons of space and seating, very clean dining area, with a 50’s style ordering counter
Also sharing this building is the Iowa Welcome Center and an Amish General Store, selling goods, and edibles from the local Amish community., ranging from art and quilts to jams and candy.
My sandwich was hot and fresh, went back for a second, in fact. Since there is only one place in the Kansas City metro to buy one… I loaded up while I was here.
One table in the dining area appears to be a rustic hand carved picnic table.(see photo)
A little mix of Amish flair in a fast food diner. Beware, driving in and out, there are lots of horse and buggy traffic around this area, so keep your eyes on the road!

Maid-​Rite «burgers» must be something you either love or despise. Unfortunately, I am in the latter category. I had no idea that Maid-​Rite «burgers» were «loose meat» sandwiches (basically a sloppy joe without the sauce). I was very disappointed.
The staff was polite, the place was clean. It shares a building with an Amish store that has lots of cool stuff, so come for the Amish store and go elsewhere for your «burger.»