The U Neighborhood Bar & Grill

The U is nowhere near as good as the previous occupant of this space. The boneless wings were previously coated in a homemade sauce in three levels of heat and were covered. These have been sold for beans and are now the cheap Tyson chunks found in every employee cafeteria across the metro with flecks of black pepper. The different heat options are gone as well with more of the «trendy» sauces present at a BWW or Hooters. The chips and dips option is gone too; only chips and salsa are available or nachos. Queso I believe was previously homemade and it is painfully obvious this is no longer the case. Crinkle fries and buffalo chips are gone too, replaced with standard straight cut fries, steak fries, and buffalo waffle. Seems like too many changes just to say they made changes.
Beer prices are decent; $ 3 for a 12 oz… buckets I believe are $ 13 and are 16 oz cans. Service was friendly enough but the waitress gave me the same strange look I always get when I request sour cream to dip my wings in. Overall I’d go in for some drinks but I’d skip the food. If the beer was more expensive this would be closer to a two star review, but the cheap drinks make it a three. When you replace a local favorite you should try to keep it as close as possible to the original and that hasn’t happened.

A new look on an area staple. Repainted the outside which was much needed. Inviting and fits the area well. Upon entering the layout is basically the same. It is an old gas station so there is only so much they can do since some of the walls can’t be removed. They added on where they could but it is an odd layout. The NEW tv’s were much needed. There is probably 12+ tv’s which makes this place a go to for sports nuts. Plenty of sit down seating which all offer views of tvs. You can sit at the bar which may seat about 10 or so. There are a few decent beers on tap plus your standard yellow swill which shall remain unnamed. They have revamped the menu which was needed. We ordered the nachos which remain the same. We ordered boneless wings which were pretty good. The sauces to choose from are interesting and the habanero and thai ones were fantastic. The chicken seemed a bit dry so may have been overcooked but I guess I would rather have it overcooked vs undercooked. I would try them again and would choose the other 2 sauces next time. The drink specials during games are great. The service was great and they all helped each other out vs only one of them waiting on certain tables. They all worked well with one another. The bathrooms are the same and basic. They meet the needs of patrons but could use an update which will hopefully come soon. They are clean and stocked well. Bartenders were good at their job and friendly. I recommend you try this neighborhood staple. We would return again. We couldn’t say that for the place that was here before this one. Family friendly setting during mealtimes and game times. I probably would not take my child here during games just because of some of the words spewed out of patrons mouths but that is not the owners responsibility. Try it out. Eat local.

Yikes.
The previous bar here (Victor’s) was pretty mediocre, but they had decent food and a nice sports-​bar-​neighborhood-​dive feel, so we were hoping maybe «The U» was an even better version of that.
Unfortunately, this place is… bad. They repainted to match Urbandale High School’s colors, which was a huge mistake. White bare walls with harsh red and blue accents does NOT make a patron feel cozy & welcomed.
I ordered a screwdriver, which was fine, and my husband ordered a draw of beer, which was cold and cheap, so no complaints there. But the food, oh man, the food.
We split a half order of Combo (beef & chicken) Nachos, and a small order of Boneless Wings tossed in Mild sauce.
The Nachos were literally something I would have made when I was 12 and home alone in the summer. They were DROWNING in ball-​park yellow «cheese sauce», overcooked and completely un-​seasoned ground beef, those rubbery chicken slices that you buy pre-​sliced in the cold meat aisle at the grocery store, and then some sort of weird «salsa» on top. No fresh onions or tomatoes, or olives, or veggies of any kind. Please don’t order them. We were both pretty hungry after a morning of yard work and we couldn’t choke down most of it.
The boneless wings were your standard Tyson/​Sysco frozen nuggets, which we expected, but the «Mild» sauce was just Frank’s mixed with… honey barbecue sauce, I think? They were strangely sweet and syrup-​y.
I know they just opened & are probably working out some kinks, but we ordered 2 things that are no-​brainers for even the most basic of bar-​food setups and they were both awful.
Long story longer: if you’re in the neighborhood and need to kill an hour, go grab a beer here. But eat when you get home.

To be honest and transparent, I was kind of hesitant to try out The U — on one hand, I love to check out new places in town but on the other I was disappointed that Victor’s had closed so suddenly. I realized it wasn’t the fault of the new owners and I really wanted wings and a burger so I decided to give it a try last night. I had sent a few messages via FB throughout the day and finally got a response to one of them several hours later. Upon entering, I didn’t notice any differences other than several pieces of the décor had been removed — they were clearly property of the previous owners. The waitress quickly took my drink order but 12 minutes passed before she came back to take my food order. She was young and seemed fairly friendly but she called my dining partner and me «hon» even though I could likely be her mother’s age & that is a major pet peeve of mine. The menu had typical sports bar fare and some interesting burger options — they had a respectable variety of wing sauces. One thing to note — there were no seafood/​fish options. I ordered the sweet chili wings — they were crispy and well sauced. The blue cheese was very good. My friend and I shared the patty melt and the philly cheesesteak. The quality of the meat was good on both sandwiches but they were very bland. There was no flavor/​seasoning. The bread on the patty melt was very soggy. The potato salad (spelled potatoe on the menu) was average at best — even with salt and pepper, it wasn’t anything special. The buffalo waffle fries were the star of the meal. They were well seasoned and had a lightly crunchy texture with a warm and flaky center. I had a draft beer and then switched to soda — I am very happy they have Coke products rather than Pepsi and my soda was promptly refilled several times. My friend had a few bottles of beer and her drink orders were taken fairly regularly as well. A guy who appeared to possibly be the manager was running around working his tail off to clear tables and deliver orders and drinks — he was very pleasant and it is always nice to see someone in a management position take an active role in the restaurant operations as needed. Another possible manager was visiting customers and sitting down with them at tables to discuss their dining experience. I overheard a conversation at the next table — a customer mentioned wanting a t-​shirt and he needed a large — long story short, the manager couldn’t find a large so he actually took the shirt off his back and gave it to the customer — he changed into a polo shirt, explained he had only worn the t-​shirt for 15 minutes and happily gave it to the customer. Neither of these manager looking guys stopped at our table to ask us about our meal/​experience. Our waitress was pretty good — she seemed a bit overwhelmed and frustrated at times so hopefully they figure out the staffing needs if they want to keep customers and the staff satisfied. I live fairly close to The U and I was hopeful that I would love it but it was really just a «meh» experience. There was a price discrepancy and while minor (79 cents), we wanted to see how the situation would be handled –at first, the waitress challenged us that it was the charge for the sauce but the menu stated the sauce came with the wings. She then took the check and reduced it by the appropriate amount. The prices were very reasonable and I felt a 33% tip was appropriate because she did work hard — even though she called us «hon» all night until the end when we were suddenly «ladies».

OK, the beer was very reasonably priced and cold, but they need to work on their service and food. We didn’t realize one of our favorite old haunts Victor’s was no longer there and we figured what the heck, we’d try the new place. We went yesterday, and it was apparently only the second night they’d been open under the new ownership.
It was pretty crowded when we got there but we noticed some friends of ours there that were getting ready to leave, so we sat with them so we could take their table. They had been done for a while, and finally got their check, but it took them 20 (more) minutes to get it, and then they had to go to the bar to pay so they could get out of there. As for us, we were there about an hour and 20 minutes to get a couple of beers and dinner. It took about 20 minutes to get our first beer, and almost an hour after we sat down to get food (40 minutes after ordering).
I had the buffalo chicken wrap, which was pretty good — pretty good flavor and lots of blue cheese. It came with what were supposed to be buffalo fries, but I’m not sure if they had any flavoring on them. The Mrs. had a chicken quesadilla, which had a combination of shredded and sliced cheese — kind of an unusual combination, and she said it was just OK-​not a lot of flavor. To get any salsa or sour cream, we had to pay for it ‘extra’. Seems like maybe it should come with something?
The manager did ask us on the way out how things were and we told him it was not so great. He said they still had some issues to work through and assured us they’d improve, so it may be worth another shot, but if you want more than a drink, you may want to wait a few weeks.