Kalmes Store & Restaurant

I went on a Friday night after 6. The place was very busy! There was 3 of us and we got right in! We all got the fried cod all you can eat special it had 3 large pieces of cod, potato and salad bar. Their salad bar is average just your normal iceberg lettuce, dressings, cottage cheese and a few pastas. Overall the fish was good. The restaurant itself was a mix of a bar, restaurant sitting area, banquet area and a market. It was a little congested with all the people but that is probably what you get for going on an all you can eat night!

One of my all time favorites! Prime rib and all you can eat cod specials on Friday nights, good salad bar, hometown feel and won’t break the pocket book. I would recommend making reservations on a Friday or Saturday night but it’s not necessary! Kid friendly, bar is separate from the restaurant.

If you are passing through, stop by and get the smoked sausage, last time we asked for and got smoked (I believe) rib-​eyes., Hand cut from the kitchen, maybe the best steaks we have ever gotten in 40 years of steak buying. Worth the stop, bring a cooler!

WOW… I feel almost SILLY writing about this place. Why? Because I grew up in the area and my dad said we have been there on numerous occasions. I thought this place seemed familiar when we saw Alton Brown on TV there. First off… this place does NOT need a celebrity NOR me Unilocaling about it to be well established. It’s been there forever and the longevity speaks for itself. The food was as remembered/​expected. Service was like I remembered places having when I was a child. We purchased some smoked pork sausage to bring back to Florida with us… OMG I should have purchased a BIGGER COOLER! Their sausage puts Webers to the test! LOVE IT! I hope this place stays true to its roots. This is one of those places that has fed more than it’s share of farmers, rails and hard workers. I would hate to see Smelly Hipsters (actually I only assume they smell bad because they look like they never bathe) take over. If you see greasy dudes in «skinny jeans» heading into this place, just shew them away… it won’t take much.

A quite nice omnibus of St Donatus, Iowa, this multivalent establishment possesses a really solid (and really inexpensive) draught list [Old Style, Leinenkugel Honey Weiss], full bar, and even boasts a full dinner menu (with a very continental buffet, along with a salad-​bar, situated in the back dining-​room). Also a one-​pump petroleum station and purveyor of sundries, this Highway 52 stop in Iowa’s Little Luxembourg is perched across the street from the historic Gehlen House Inn and its adjoining barn (the Gehlen Barn), which — having been constructed in 1839 — is the oldest barn in Iowa.
The beer from the draught — while nothing extremely special — was refreshing (and refreshingly priced), and well-​paired moreover with the food-menu’s offerings: the fried cheddar curds weren’t transcendent, but certainly super-​par; the fried Chicken livers — littered with grilled onions — were, however, superb; and the excellent buttered noodles, which appeared to have been quickly blanched and then fried al dente, formed a superior side. From the quick sampling I enjoyed, the housemade-​sausage sandwiches were likewise quite good.
If you’re on road to or from Dubuque — or simply on that stretch of the Mississippi — this is quite the hidden gem to patronize.