White Star Ale House

305 2nd Ave SE, Cedar Rapids
(319) 362-2000

Recent Reviews

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Eileen Yeisley

VERY limited menu. Not the restaurant it used to be . Hardly anyone there at 7:30 yet it took too long to get a drink.My husband had the salad with chicken and the chicken breast was dry, overcooked and rubbery. When we told the waitress she really had nothing to say. Poor for an $18 salad.My quesadilla was good. But not something I would usually order.

hawkeyemomkaye

We went to White Star on Sunday night. There was a comedian in town and every place was packed but White Star. We walked in and had to ask someone to seat us as no one noticed us, We were seated and our waiter came over fairly quickly. We actually put in our order at the same time he offered to take our drink order. There was a limited menu so we ordered off that.We knew we only had about an hour and 15 minutes to eat before we had to go to the comedian. We ordered our food at 5:50pm. By 6:30 we still did not have our food, okay fine- we assumed we would get our food soon, scarf it down and go. Our waiter checked in a few times, got my husband another beer and then he was running around with his other tables. I only saw one other waiter and the place was getting more and more busy as we waited. By 6:55, over an hour after ordering our food, we flagged the waiter down and told him we needed to leave and how much longer would our food be. He checked with the kitchen and it would be 15 more minutes, making our wait for food almost an hour and 30 minutes. We ended up asking for our check and leaving, haven't eaten anything at all. I know every place is understaffed but waiting almost an hour and a half for food, then never getting it to eat because it took so long, is totally unacceptable. We felt awful for our waiter, so we left him a big tip after paying for our beers and then went to the show and at nachos at the show since we were starving. Again, I understand there are staffing issues, but this is completely ridiculous. We love White Star and their food but it's just not the same, as I know this never would have been acceptable last year or the year before.

Kishor Prasad

The restaurant is located in an old nostalgic building. Our server Hannah was excellent. The on tap beer selection is wonderful! We dined on the calamari, Lamb shank, chicken and Monterey burger. The food was really good and the price was about half of what we would have paid in the Chicago area. I was happy. We both ordered the steak under restaurant week. Was a beautiful blue cheese potato side along with the perfectly cooked steak. Stick to the beer, cocktails were a little unbalanced. Service was awesome. Environment was relaxed and styled.

Celestine Karmbor

The restaurant is located in an old nostalgic building. Our server Hannah was excellent. The on tap beer selection is wonderful! We dined on the calamari, Lamb shank, chicken and Monterey burger. The food was really good and the price was about half of what we would have paid in the Chicago area. I was happy.

Teresa Fettkether

Horrible experience! We went for their happy hour and bought two drinks and a pint of beer. We were told it was happy hour and drinks were half off but our bill came to $28. When we questioned our server she said the drinks we ordered weren't included in happy hour prices!

Rebecca Smith

Just ordered the burger. Left items off. The side of mac and cheese was cold. The fries were cold. Best part were the sautéed onions, nothing else good to say. I did return the burger to get the extras put on. When we received our food, we ordered a second round of drinks. They didn't come until we were done eating. And it was wrong. We just wanted to leave after the disappointing food and drink service.

Carey Daniel

One of the best burgers I've had in long time. And the bread pudding was very good. Ask for the server Ella. She was delightful!

Brook Sternberg

We visited on 7/29/22. We arrived about 7pm for dinner, the place was dead. Should have been our sign to leave. The kitchen was SLOW. Took just about 60 minutes to get my tacos and my husbands salmon wrap. Tacos were meh, my husband liked his salmon wrap. Waiter was friendly but not around much. We were super disappointed overall and its pretty pricey. We left about 8:15pm and not one person was at the bar…on a Friday night!It’s a hard pass for me, I would not recommend to anyone. We have too many great restaurants in Cedar Rapids to ever go back to White Star. Too bad, since we really enjoyed the place pre-COVID 2020.

Paul Bicket

Very pleasing atmosphere. Sound dampening makes the restaurant and bar quieter than in the past.I had the baked salmon over mango rice. Exceptional flavor. This beer list is extensive. I would definitely recommend. I look forward to return visits

katebA5003EU

Average. First time coming back since reopening. Limited menu. Burger was good, but the options that used to be delicious were not great. Could have been an off night, but we were 1 of only ~3 tables. White star used to be a favorite of ours - disappointing this time around. Will give it some time before we return.

egkosek

A made reservations for Easter Brunch. We some us arrived early and we were seated promptly and were told that they were still setting up which was fine because part of our party didn’t arrive Until the actual reservation time. We had already ordered drinks before the others arrived and they ordered drinks also and the meal service was announced at that time. We all visited a short time before proceeding to the buffet. When we got our food it was lukewarm the buffet was setup in random order Cole slaw and potato salad by the deserts etc. To top it off we were asked to vacate our table less than 1/2 hour after our scheduled reservation. I would not recommend this restaurant for holiday brunches as the planning and execution were very poor.

Fay Nihart

This restaurant does not even deserve a 1-star rating. It took an hour to get our food and it was terrible! The Mac and Cheese had tons of chunks of pork fat in it. The “Egg Roles” were cold. Our server disappeared 10 minutes before our food came out and we never saw him again. We had to ask another server for our bill after waiting a long time when we were finished.

Brad Franzwa

Quite possibly the worst service we have ever experienced. Unapologetic owner, untrained staff, and nothing but one horror after another. Be warned. Bring your own drinks and food if you want timely drinks and food. Would never return.

Sandy A

Service was terrific. I had salmon on rice pilaf, which was good but nothing special. The coleslaw was interesting and I liked it a lot. There was some familiar flavor which was unusual to coleslaw but couldn't put my finger on it. Tasty nonetheless

Jasmine Ortiz

Returned after the sale of the restaurant and I was happy with the food items we ordered. The Margarita was heaven, the cheese logs are huge, pork belly sliders are great, meatloaf, Mac and cheese with bacon, mashed potatoes, I was so happy, definitely coming back.

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