Starbuck's Drive-In

Outstanding. Talk about a small town find! The name is the only confusing thing but they have been here since 1956 so they got the bragging rights. We came for the ice cream and it didn't disappoint. Great soft serve, huge portions and low priced. The food menu looked awesome and I wished we hadn't already ate. The atmosphere was vintage 50s drive in style but I don't think they do drive in anymore. I think my favorite thing was how quickly we were served.

It's a drive in and that is how I rated it. What is better then normal is the food and service. Classic Iowa tenderloin sandwich and loose meat sandwich is what we had. The best tenderloin sandwich in Iowa.

Walked in for service. Two girls were standing at the counter. Neither greeted me, so I waited to learn who would take my order. I asked for chicken strips, but asked if they have a basket or just separate strips. I was told baskets were available with fries, so I asked for cheese balls in place of fries, the other girl jumped in and said no substitutions. I received my food, no napkins, no dipping sauce. Lame. Maybe I should have known what service to ask for, I don't know. Also the outside table area smells like poop and that's where workers take smoke breaks.

Returned to Story County Staple Starbucks Fast Food today. When I walked in an employee was taking out the trash, which is always a good sign! Counter help said they were very busy today, so its easy to see how cleanliness can get overlooked... Service was fast and friendly (for me). I had the jumbo beefburger and fries, with everything, good as usual, fries were almost perfect, not greasy at all. Only complaints was the meat was a little dry in the burger, and the ice machine was out of ice, and restaurant needed sweeping. Overall, in a business run by probably high schoolers and college peeps, not bad. I will return!

I’m not sure if they’ve changed their pork tenderloin breading recipe, but it was definitely different than the last time I ate here. Chunks of what look like saltine crackers in the breading. And they’d been fried too long, they were very tough. It’s a shame because when I was here in 2021 it was the best pork tenderloin in Iowa! Fried mushrooms and the shake were good, though!