Located above One Twenty Six, 126 E. Washington St.
Downtown Iowa City
On March 5th, my partner and I went out to celebrate 13 years together. We had eaten at One Twenty Six before, but not the upstairs location, which is relatively new. It was only 6:00, and there was one table filled other than us, yet they still gave us the table right next to the filled one, despite empty tables next to the windows and across the 2 sides of the upstairs area. Why do restaurants do this? They pack you in like sardines even when they aren't busy... is it so that the wait staff doesn't have to walk any more than necessary? Maybe, but we had a different waiter than the table next to us! I shouldn't complain, because the one other couple that came in while we were eating were seated right at the entrance, next to the stairs, the host, and the traffic. If they would have offered me that table, even if the restaurant wasn't close to empty, I would have refused, but that's me.
One thing you might notice if you go is the half price wine menu. It sounds great, but then you look at the menu and it's all twice the price you would normally pay, or at least there isn't anything under $50/bottle on the "half price wine list". The wines on that list, by the way, are always 1/2 off. What a deal! So, if you aren't falling for the wine deal, you might want to try the drink called The Aviator. It tastes like licking wet ones, those sanitized wipes. We aren't sure how they did it. Oh, the drink does have a gin aftertaste.
We started off with some appetizers, the first was Pommes Fritas or french fries. We assume they were homemade (or restaurant-made) fries, with 3 dipping sauces: aioli, ketchup (pretty good ketchup) and something else. The aioli was the best. The second appetizer was kalamata and green olives in some oil and herbs, pretty good. And then we had the margarita pizza, which was good on a very thin crust. The bill came to about $40. The food was worth it. The drinks were not.
And let me mention the bathroom, of which I was only able to review the women's. First, I have a question: who is it that thinks all women's bathrooms have to be painted that color that is somewhere between pepto bismal pink and beige?! This bathroom was small and clean, but there is a pretty funky trim halfway up the wall that has an interesting way of getting around the light switches. At first, I thought it was a haphazard way of cutting corners, but then I realized that it really is something to look at and ponder while sitting on the toilet, and really, that is what all good art is about.
Environmentally: cloth napkins, hooray.
We went again in 2013 and the glasses of wine were about $11/glass. We tried the Pinot and the Berdoux. Neither were spectacular. I would recommend those if they had been 1/2 price. They had Glenfiddich scotch on the menu. I asked if it was an 18 year. No, it's a 12 year. Too bad. I might have ordered an 18 year scotch.
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