Village Inn

Visiting Dubuque for Thanksgiving. Was seated fast. Friendly staff. Good coffee for a «diner». Food came fast. Food was good. Wait staff was attentive. If you order coffee, they leave a «pitcher» on the table. The orange juice is only so so. There are TV’s all over the place. (Thats could be a good or bad thing.). I don’t remember if any of the TV’s had the volume up or if they were all on mute, as we came at lunch so it was busy. If you’re looking for yummy breakfast food that comes out fast with a smile, give The Village Inn a try.

Great experience today. Walked in with a large group and got seated almost immediately. Great food as well. Highly recommend this restaurant!

For our 1 week visit to the area, I expected to eat breakfast at a different place each day. My wife had the French toast and liked it so much that we returned every day. It reminded me of IHOP (one is practically across the street) and Denny’s in that they offer all kinds of combinations (eggs and pancakes, eggs and French toast). Very friendly staff. Gave me the feeling of a family owned and run place (no idea if it is). I liked the build your own combination option which let you build your meal from selections under 4 categories. One day they even had a free slice of fruit pie special with every meal. Being used to NJ/​NY restaurant prices, I thought it was really cheap for a lot of good food.

Nice breakfast place. Has a good selection of food. I really like the pancakes. The staff is friendly.

Nice place to eat and staff is very friendly… My only suggestion is to put more gluten free items on the menu.

How can a place go from bad to great in two weeks? I had a wonderful time here this time. But it was also prime time Wednesday night and not after eight on a crusty Friday evening. Drop by fie a dress slice of fruit pie wIth any order. I prefer skillet and chose the chicken fried steak. Very tasty. This time I asked fur a large glass of water and fit it rather than refills of the tiny starter glass.

Great food. Very friendly staff. Fast service. Everything you could want in a breakfast place. The place was packed almost completely when we arrived and it took maybe 20 minutes to seat a family of four. I would recommend this place to anyone.

From the outside this place doesn’t look like much. It looks like your plan Denny’s or something, which is why I originally was not thrilled about coming here. If you read my reviews, I’m in love with Caroline’s in Dubuque, however, after my breakfast here, Caroline’s has competition.
This place was excellent. Something about this hash town with cheese in combination with the sausage links and eggs (over hard) was excellent. Put some ketchup on that wow! Amazing!!! On top of that… Also with the meal, I got half a waffle and if a place knows how to make a good waffle, they have the key to my heart lol!
We went on a Sunday morning around 8:30. Phew! I say that because around 9am, there was basically a line out the door. I went to college in Dubuque for 4 years as never came in this place, but don’t judge a book by it’s cover. Yes, this place clearly has been here forever and the outside décor shows, but the inside is super cute! Too bad I didn’t get to try the pumpkin pie! Dang! Next trip, because it looks like Caroline’s is second best :-/

Best eggs ever!!! All other food was Excellent as well! We came on a Wednesday (not knowing there was free pie) and the service was fast and friendly!!! Great place to eat!

I LOVE BREAKFAST! I heard this place had been around since the 70’s it is a very retro, I loved the atmosphere! The staff was very friendly and helpful. If you go bring your appetite! The portions are perfect with that said… if your on a diet this place might not be for you! I would suggest if you go to get there early even though it was our first time I could tell we arrived just in time. After we were seated people started pouring in… and nobody left because of the wait. This place has INCREDIBLE food! Go and enjoy!

Best restaurant in Dubuque. Contrary to other comments its not noisy. Go to Buffalo Wild Wings for that. Also not limited to Iowa. I know of several in Phoenix. This and several in the area are all owned by the same company. All the good comments are correct. We’re here several times a week. Great manager and staff. Try it and no I’m not paid to write this. It’s just good.

Best strawberry rhubarb pie ever – the sign as you walk in brags about the pies and they weren’t kidding. wonderful apple too! The turkey melt was fresh and good – real sliced turkey. Perfect slaw and soup. Service typical of Dubuque. Nicest people in the world.

Nice friendly atmosphere! There is always a wait when we go for breakfast but, they always end up seating us in about fifteen mins or less! The pancakes are to die for!

Been going here for years, although my attendance has dropped off significantly since the remodel. Aside from being an odd choice of aesthetics that addition of flat panel TV’s around the dining room removed a lot of the charm of being a down home breakfast diner. Still good food, but not that place I like to go and sit with friends at anymore.

It’s the Village Inn. One of those crazy diner chains only in Iowa (I think).
Like another reviewer stated. We’ve never had a bad experience and never had a really good one either. I can certainly state that the VI is an experience though!
We usually end up either going for breakfast or for pie. This last time was for pie, but they do an ok breakfast too. I’m not going to call it great, but it’s what you’d expect from a place like this.
The best part is the Muzak elevator music. This time around we heard instrumental versions of bad 80s pop followed by the Beatle’s Penny Lane.
Service at this place (like all of them) is very hit or miss. Usually not bad, but only occasionally really good.

It’s Village Inn, the following is true in my book:
I’ve never had a bad meal here. And I’ve never had a great meal here. But I’ve had many pretty good, Village Inn meals here, and that’s good enough. I’m a breakfast for dinner sort of lad, and am delighted that I can do so at all hours of the day at VI. Portions are pretty good and diner sized. I’m a fan of the skillets and I almost always take the pancakes home for a post VI snack.
Some random things:
Go in for lunch on Wednesdays and get a free slice of pie. Sadly, the French Silk is not free-​able.
But that said, the French Silk is worth buying. Wow.
They have TVs, but they are always on The Weather Channel, The Food Network, of The Disney Channel. Not sure why.
I am a fan of the fact that if you order some coffee, they just bring bring an insulated pot of it to your table. Saves the waitstaff of having to stop by ever five minutes, and you are never coffee-​less.
I’m always impressed at how generally happy the waitstaff seems to be. I am not sure I have ever had less than good service.
In all, VI is in my regular breakfast rotation (with Caroline’s and The Sunshine Restaurant; I lovingly call them The Big Three). Good times.

For what it is, well worth it. Breakfast all day. Diner food. Crepes. Lots of pie. It wasn’t too long to be seated, the food was solid, fairly priced, service was good. Noticed that the kids meals were priced the same or less than a fast food kid’s meal, with a better selection.
It’s also noisy, the TV had the weather channel on, and a bit crowded. But if you’re looking for something on one of those days where some want breakfasty stuff, some want lunchy stuff, some want sweet desserty stuff, this is good. And for the amount and quality food you get, the prices can’t be beat.
Plenty of parking, but be careful — a lot of people wait to get picked up in the lot, so be patient if Nana or Grandpa are waiting for their ride to swing round.
I’d do it for the step up from fast food, when you have time to sit, and want just something a bit more, but don’t want to go ‘out to eat’.

This place has been here since the ’70’s, and the folks just keep coming back.
They say this is the place for pie. Don’t be fooled by that, they do so much more, so very, very well.
If you are on a diet, you might wanna drive on by…
If not… what are you waiting for? Get in here!
Every dish we ordered was well prepared, well composed, and tasty. Who knew they knew bupkus from latke in Dubuque, but their potato pancakes are to plotz over, seriously. Dubuque? Who knew, who’d a guessed?
Enjoy!

7 of us were seated about 30 minutes after I put my name down. Fair enough — it was fourth of July weekend, so I’m not complaining.
The drinks were brought out in a timely manner and our server was really really nice.
Why 3 stars then? My Garden Skillet was very sub-​par. The broccoli was way way way overcooked. Either that or it’s been reheated a few times. The skillet wasn’t hot and parts of it were lukewarm.
Otherwise, everyone seemed to enjoy their meals. My husband got a breakfast burrito and gave it a solid 4 stars.

This is my favorite place to go for breakfast and they serve it day or night. The breakfast supreme gives you plenty of food, ham, bacon, hash brown, eggs and your choice of flavored pancakes.
The chicken fried steak is good also and they have daily specials too that you can add a pie for dessert for just $ 1. Guess you can tell I’ve been there many times. Just be forewarn that there’ll be a waiting line for breakfast on weekends.