The town is 31 people. Figure it out. Super clean, friendly owners, bar food plus. Owner stops by…read morefor conversation, had wings and tenderloins, plus cheese curds. Wow. This is real Iowa.

The food was really good. Kick The Pig was great and giant. We loved the garlic cheese curds.read more

Pickles Pub is central Iowa gem. Hidden on blue Highway D 41 in Kamrar. The building is lovely with…read morea great hometown bar & grill vibe. Always bustling on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday Fun Day, Pickles has a great staff of friendly, small-town folks. They hustle! Food comes out timely, and is good quality. We had a combo plate with fried mushrooms, pickles, and corn nuggets. It's all frozen stuff, but good quality. My wife had the French Dip sandwich and loved it (although she never dips her sandwich... wtf). I had the Patty Melt. It was cooked well on marble rye and was delicious. This is the ultimate roadside joint for a beer and bite. Nothing but positive energy for Pickles Pub!

I'd like to start out by saying; the experience exceeded any expectation I had!…read more My boyfriend and I visited on a Saturday evening. We had an app, 2 steak dinners & 2 drinks each for around $75. Great prices, good food, friendly staff. They weren't packed but as we sat there the place filled up very quickly! Classic American pub. I was not expecting my sirloin to be so well cooked & seasoned. It was the most perfectly cooked Medium steak. WORLDS better than the crap Texas Roadhouse puts out. I did ask for steak sauce or "A1" and one of the server's (not our server) looked at me like I had 5 heads & shook her head no. This dumbfounded me that she had no clue what steak sauce was. Our server grabbed the steak sauce so no harm no foul! We will be back to try the pizza which seemed quite popular there. This is also a great establishment if you have a larger party for dinner, they get the food cranked out pretty quickly.

I really wanted to love this place but it was a big let down…read more First, we were there on a Friday, just before what is likely a very busy time. We sat at the bar. The servers were there, obviously waiting for customers to start arriving, and they were all congregating at the end of the bar, chatting it up. It was super unprofessional and pretty annoying. We were glad when the food came out quickly so we could just eat and leave. To be honest, I don't recall what my husband ordered. I got the pork tenderloin. The tenderloin was very tough and had zero flavor. Like, I don't think they even put salt in the coating, let alone any other seasonings. This is Iowa, if you can't make anything else at all, you should at least have a decent pork tenderloin. This was our second time trying the place. Both instances were equally underwhelming. I wanted this to be our "go to" place but sadly we won't return.

Called ahead of time to watch the Iowa State game. They said they'd have it on with volume. We…read moreasked politely to have the music turned down to hear the game. They refused. I went to the bathroom and heard the dish boy/cook using foul language stating he wasn't going to accommodate the request. He was super rude and sarcastically clapping at the game to make a point. We planned to all have dinner but left to a more accommodating restaurant. Any restaurant in town would be more accommodating and respectful than this place. We'll never return or spend a dime here again.

I stopped by when I was passing by on a bicycle tour called RAGBRAI. The service was great. The ice…read morecream was great. The prices were reasonable.

From the owner: Multiple flavor Ice Cream in a cone or a dish. When is the last time you had a float? We have those…read moretoo!

Can't believe I'm the first to review this place. It's fantastic. Small place run by just one lady…read moreI believe. Sat down and quickly had our order taken. I got the cevapi and my wife had the roasted chicken with potatoes and vegetables. Complementary beef and noodle soup came out which was delicious in the chilly morning. Not long after our orders came out with fresh baked bread and a Bosnian coleslaw type dish, both fantastic. Bread was soft and flavorful, coleslaw was crisp, refreshing and acidic which paired perfectly with our mains. The Cevapi were plentiful and cooked perfectly, still juicy, the bread soaked up all the juice. And the sauce was a house made sour cream and it goes really well with it. The roasted chicken was perfectly cooked, not overdone but still tender and juicy, and the vegetables went nicely with it. Nothing fancy, just very well done Bosnian home cooking. Can't wait to go back.

From the owner: We are an authentic Bosnian restaurant, prepared by a Bosnian lady that has been cooking in…read morerestaurants for decades, she loves cooking and it shows in her food. We are new owners of this amazing restaurant. Owning a restaurant was a dream I had with my father, but we weren’t able to attain it before he passed, so now I am here with my partner Medo to make everybody happy with food. Full bellies, bring smiles, and we need more of those. We have Indoor and outdoor seating. Bring your friends, your family or come alone, laid-back friendly environment, dine in or carry out.

Always the same folks serving and preparing your food. Friendly , spotless and delicious. It's more…read moreFamily than crew. 5 Star!

After being out for a hike at one of the parks nearby, I needed to find a place to replenish my…read moreenergy and took to Yelp to find a diner or something similar to get the job done. Sunrise Cafe immediately piqued my interest, and it was all I hoped for. The sign on the wall when I walked in stated "if you leave here hungry, it's your own fault" and based on my experience that's 100% true. I ordered the meat lovers skillet and the skillet was absolutely overflowing with hash brown, egg, and meaty deliciousness! If I'm in the area again, I know where I'll stop.

If you are reading this, I would guess that you are traveling across Iowa on Hwy 20, or even up…read moreI-35, and you're searching the Internet for fresh food, and this stretch of highway looks pretty bare for hometown restaurants...but, you are in luck! Just detour into Steamboat Rock (five minutes off Hwy 20), and find yourself in another world, possibly another century. Mama's Family Diner is in the downstairs lunchroom of the local schoolhouse (formerly called the Schoolhouse Diner). You'll find yourself feeling like a very lucky grade school student, where the lunch ladies serve fresh made tortillas for your Mexican fare, and Iowa favorites for the nostalgic. The day we visited, the lunch specials were either burrito, enchilada, meatloaf and mashed potatoes with dessert, or goulash with dessert. There is also a Mexican menu of soft tacos (ground beef, chicken or steak) and quesadillas, etc. There are none of the tired old bar food menu items, the American fare is limited to the specials, and the Mexican food is geared toward Iowa palates, but this may change as the restaurant gains popularity. Your food (plenty of it) is served on real restaurant china, by Mama herself. And the burrito was muy grande, as you can see from our picture. Do yourself a favor, drop off the beaten path, and, when you step out of your car onto the quiet, peaceful street, bordered by old growth trees, and walk down the sidewalk into this renovated schoolhouse, you'll remember the good times when school lunch was the best part do the school day! Three stars because the menu is very limited, but five for home town atmosphere...this is what Iowa small towns are really like, hence the four star average.

Best home cooked Mexican food ever! Every time we visit Steamboat Rock, we have to come here…read more Everything on the menu is delicious. Went here with a vegetarian friend and Mama made the best vegetarian burrito she's ever had! Definitely worth the short drive off the interstate for some authentic home cooked food.

I claim Dows IA as my hometown. That's where I grew up. I left there four days after I turned 18…read moreand was on a plane to recruit training (aka boot camp) in the US Navy. After I got out of the Navy I moved to the Des Moines IA metro. Dows is a little town of 500 in the middle of nowhere about 1 1/2 hours straight north of Des Moines IA not far off of I35. I graduated in a class of 16 before everything consolidated... Truth be told though...I was born when my parents lived in Bradford IA. Bradford's population is about 100 and it's about 15 miles straight east of Dows IA in Franklin county There are two Bradfords in Iowa...one in Franklin county and one in Chickasaw county... I hadn't been in Bradford since I was probably in junior high (I'm 54 now). Stumble Inn had been on my radar for a couple of years. My brother and sister-in-law who live in Alden IA have encouraged me to get in there, but they do that small town thing where they have a break in service. Open 11 AM - 100 PM and then open later 400 PM to 700 PM or 800 PM Monday through Saturday. Open 900 AM - Noon on Sunday. Every time we were in the area we seemed to be in that mid-day gap. Yesterday we had nothing better to do and we decided to make a special trip up there to try the tenderloin (and hit a few consignment/antique/thrift stores too). Lots of memories flooded back as I wound my way off of I35 down Heather Rd and Stockdale's blacktop that I won't bore you with. What's special to me probably won't be to you... It just wasn't a plain old road trip where it's all cattle pastures, cornfields, and rural roads...at least not for me. Stumble Inn sits a little off the pavement when you reach your destination towards the West side of Bradford, but it's only about 50 ft of gravel if you are too worried about your paint... From the outside the building doesn't look like much, but we all know...some of the best food isn't found in fancy buildings. The inside is open and has an L shaped bar with seven or eight seats. The rest of the seating is a combination of high and low top tables and chairs. It's seat yourself. The place was clean and we were greeted and presented with menus right away. The kitchen is open and you can see the magic happening. It's a typical rustic small town bar and grill. My gf isn't a huge tenderloin fan. She enjoys one now and then, but it's really my deal. Besides a standard breaded (crispy) and grilled tenderloin (not crispy) they have a couple different variation including a high ball (tenderloin and a hamburger patty) and a barnyard (tenderloin, hamburger patty, chicken breast, bacon and cheese). I'm probably missing some components of the high ball and barnyard, but you get the idea... The guys at the table next to us had a combination of high balls and barnyards... It was hard not to stare. They'd traveled the 50 min or so down from the Clear Lake IA area for lunch. I ordered an appetizer of white cheese balls and the standard crispy tenderloin with onion rings (small order), a beer, and an iced tea. The gf ordered the spicy chicken sandwich with tots (small order) and stuck with just a water. The total was $47 before tip. Now what you've waded through the above paragraphs for... The tenderloin. The crispy tenderloin has a seasoned breading with what I think is probably a mix of corn meal and panko. The pepper used in the seasoning came through, but no part of the seasoning was overwhelming. It was served HOT! I mean still steaming when it broke open... It was the traditional football shape. Oblong and probably 12 inches from tip to tip. Cooked perfectly and drained properly... Thick...but not too thick. I'm not a thin tenderloin guy where all you can taste is the breading. I want to taste the pork too... I got mustard, pickles, and onion on mine, but you do you... Well worth the 1 hr and 45 min trip! Easily in my top four in the state. In no particular order... Stumble Inn in Bradford IA Tojo's in Jamaica IA The Lucky Pig in Ogden IA Goldie's in Prairie City IA Nick's in Des Moines IA (deserves an honorable mention...now closed) Always at the top of our state' tenderloin competitions but the Stumble Inn has never won 1st place...yet. To me that shows how slanted some of these contests are. My gf and I have eaten tenderloins from MN to AR and from NE to IN. It's always subjective, but some of the award winning tenderloins really aren't that good... This one is. Great service! Everything we got was cooked perfectly! Our server was fantastic. The owner stopped in to visit for a while. The gentleman cooking even checked on us to make sure everything was okay. Typical small town Iowa nice! If you claim you're into tenderloins...are traveling I35 and you see the Dows IA exit... Put on the brakes and make the 15 min detour off the interstate. This one is worth your time! https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063668736193&mibextid=LQQJ4d

Superb tenderloin in this quiet little town. Flavors were excellent on the sandwich and ingredients…read morewere fresh. The waitress was extremely friendly and polite. Save some room for their homemade mints before you leave!

We called in for dinner while passing through town. The food here is to die for. The calamari was…read moremelt in your mouth fresh (so good we had to order a second round), salmon with mango salsa, jambalaya pasta and rib eye steak were all flavourful and delicious. Great service too. Can't wait to go back!

Mushroom Risotto $19 It was very good would order it again…read more Lobster Roll $26 It wasn't bad. The sauce was very thin and drippy runny. It tasted fine but it completely over powered the lobster. There was no lobster flavor at all, so whats the point? I wouldn't order it again. Very nice looking place. Everything appeared clean. Booth seats were very uncomfortable. Too low, too far from table, not enough cushion. Sitting forward as I had to to reach, had the frame of the seat digging into my legs. I'm not short. But they were pretty. Our waiter was wonderful.

I understand Ragbrai was coming through. What doesnt make sense is they locked their doors, which I…read morebelieve is a fire code violation. Unsure if guy running door was owner or employee but he was not doing a very good job. Menu was limited to just pizzas. Saw some come by and was not impressed- they reminded me of totinos frozen pizzas. We got the one round of drinks and continued to look for dinner. Ended up at Pizza Ranch which was very good.

Walked in , no one ever came to seat us. We waited 10 minutes, nothing. Locals only kind of place…read moreI guess. We left.