Michael’s

My wife had penne with alfredo, and I had chicken parmesan. The food was just average. Nothing fancy or exciting. Our waiter was very friendly and our water glasses were never empty.

OK I’ll bite. I know the owner and once you figure him out your realize he is a very nice guy who comes across as a contemptuous jackass.
The faux comment by the san franciscan’s review of this place regarding Farmers along side of college porfessors seems to paint a picture of kumbaya diversity. Being a native Iowan who has lived «out and about» in this world I assure you this place isn’t any scene of grey haired-​bow tied bookworms sitting next to big fat guys in overalls. In my 500 + visits to this place the food has always been fresh and the service nice. Don’t get your hopes up on the San Franciscan’s contrived story of professor farmers though. Take it for what it is. An italian eatery in middle america where 99% of the clientele are white midwesterners with the occaisional xenophobic college student who left campus to go make fun of the locals.

We ordered two take-​out pizzas on a Friday night: cheese and taco. The cheese was heaven, with lots of cheesy goodness and a thin crust. The taco pizza is an Iowa phenomenon, and Michael’s version came with chunky tomato, shredded iceberg lettuce, white corn chips, and sides of sour cream and salsa. We devoured it.

My review is relative. I give this place 5 stars for poor, starving college students wanting a big heap o’ Italian food for not much money. Jaded, upper-​middle-​class San Franciscans will probably find this place to be a 3. But it’s my review, and I’ll write it how I wanna write it.
Michael’s makes a decent pizza, and will deliver. But that’s not what this review is about. This review is about their pasta and their dine-​in experience, in a little tiny restaurant of maybe 15 tables, where you will eat with college professors and post office clerks and farmers and their wives. When you go, have the fettuccine Alfredo. It will be massive, and creamy, and cheesy and about 2500 calories and absolutely fantastic. I would estimate it has about 1.5 sticks of butter per serving.
I also have to give Michael’s credit for turning me on to wine. In fairness, it was white zinfandel. In fairness to me, I was 20 and my previous wine experience was limited to Reunite (I liked Rose best, but Red was also good).
When I lived in Grinnell, my girlfriend (later fiancé, later and currently wife deluxe) and I would save our pennies for… about a month, in order to go to Michael’s and have a dinner that would cost about $ 30. I would gaze into her eyes, and she would gaze into my eyes, and we would ask ourselves if we were going to be poor for the rest of our miserable lives. And then someone wearing a Garst cap would bump the back of my chair, and the magical moment would be over.