61 Chop House

Would not recommend unless you have a lot of time. And it wasn’t at all busy on a Saturday night. Servers are slow and the kitchen was slower. Food was only ok, might have been better if it was hot and not lukewarm. We ate here under the previous owners and the food was awesome and the place was wall to wall busy. Very disappointed! Then try paying your bill! Waitress leaves the bill on the table but never comes back for payment. Went to the front to pay and were told, «you need to stay at your table and your waitress will take your money.» Two more couples walk up to pay, so our waitress comes and takes my cash, and their two credit cards, then takes forever to bring back my change and their credit cards. Will not be going back! Another thing… don’t expect your water glass to get refilled until you are ready to leave!

I drive by on Memorial Day weekend 2014 and it’s closed and for sale. I guess the owner moved out to the west coast to start a business.

Great Burgers. Very impressed with this place. Kudos to the staff and owners for an excellent job. It’s always nice to find a diamond in the rough!

I visited while passing through the area. The building is pretty easy to miss from the outside but the inside is comfortable and attractive.
I had the award winning burger and really liked it. It was memorable and the cheese sauce worked well with the high quality angus beef. The only let down was that my well done burger was quite pink inside.
The one item I found curious was the «accordion» style french fries. As someone else said, why make such an outstanding burger and resort to french fries from the freezer? They weren’t seasoned at all, which might have redeemed them a bit. What a shame… the fries reminded me of the ones I got at an ice cream stand
The contrast between the burger and fries cost them one star in my opinion.
Would I go back? Am I a fan? Yep! Great stuff! Order a different side though… I’d skip the fries.

61 Chop House
The décor is nice but somehow the tables and booths don’t match the rest of the theme, if that make any sense at all. But what the heck it’s about the food and the service. We’ll start with the service unfortunately the service we received was well below average. The initial contact was good but it was a slow steady decline after that. Our waitress managed to hit on both of my service pet peeves, my water sat empty forever and I had to wait an eternity for our check when we were done. Speaking of the check we found out later that she ran the tip through our debit card as a separate transaction. Hopefully she just had an off night and the other servers are better. Because overall the food was pretty good, I did have one head scratcher however. The place is owned and run by a «certified executive chef» and they serve frozen French fries that I do not understand. The menu made it very clear that the Barn Burger is what the 61 Chop house is known for so that is what I ordered. It was billed as one of the top ten burgers in Iowa for 2011. It was very good, the secret barn sauce and the onion straws were a nice touch, was it the top ten in the state? Possibly. The other diner’s at our table had a tenderloin and the prime rib which were both reported as very good. By the looks of the place and the website it looks like the 61 Chop House is very active in the community which is nice to see. Looks like in January they are revamping their menu, I’ll go back and try it again. Perhaps we will have a different waitress or by then she will have improved. I tried really hard to not let our service experience effect the food and overall score suffer. Service really does set the tone for a great dining experience.
Price range: (everyday, a night out, a special occasion only) everyday
Overall rankings all based 1 to 5
Atmosphere: 3
Service: 2
Food: 4
Value: 3
Overall 3.5
213 South Wapello Road Mediapolis, IA 52 637
(319) 394‑9222

I come here about twice a month and am always happy that I did. It truly is one of a kind for the area. The owner is a trained chef and knows what he is doing.
The first time that my boyfriend and I ate here, we were just driving around and stumbled across it. The front looks like an average strip mall but going inside surprised me! Bright colors, great quotes on the walls, everything was really nicely decorated!
The drinks were a surprise as well, reasonably priced. And the bartender makes a mean White Russian, a drink that’s hard to find around here.
The food, the food is amazing! I love their Barn Burger, it was rated one of the top ten in the state of Iowa. Their sweet potato fries come with a yummy dipping sauce. Their prime rib is every Friday and Saturday night and is phenomenal! It is the best around, flavorfull, tender and with a great spice rub. They do food well. A lot of the items on the menu are simple but cooked nicely and seasoned. They also have unique specials. I LOVE their crab cakes and my boyfriend had beef wellington last weekend which was phenomenal. It truly is one of the best restaurants around, if not the best!
The service can be hit or miss. In the dining room, there tends to be servers in high school that aren’t the most attentive but overall, you will be taken care of there. LOVE THIS PLACE!

Food is good, service is so so. Atmosphere is good in the bar area, the lower sitting area is a bore… Drive your 4×4 truck when going to this place because the parking lot is BAD, BIG holes everywhere…

I had the pleasure of eating at 61 Chophouse last night in Mediaopolis, IA.
From the outside, it doesn’t appear to be anything special. It’s attached to a small strip of 4 – 5 stores right off the main highway in a tiny little Iowa town.
The inside is a pleasant surprise. It feels like a cross between an upscale diner and a steak house. The restaurant is very clean, the walls are freshly painted, the carpets and tables look new. But enough of that — the food is what counts in a restaurant. I’d rather eat reat food in a dump than eat crap food off fine china.
Because 61 Chophouse is in a small town, it has to have a diverse menu in order to survive. There is pretty much something for everyone on the menu — salads, burgers, soups, as well as the steaks and fresh fish you would expect from the name «Chophouse».
I started with the fried cheese curds. What can I say, I grew up eating those, and I’m a sucker for cheese curds after living in LA for so long without. The order went in while I was still deciding on the entrée. Before I had decided and finished ordering from my attentive waitress, the runners had already brought out my app. So bonus for speed.
The delivery was on a nice side plate, the curds were put on a folded basket liner. The only issue I had was the runner slopped Ranch dressing into a saucer and threw it on the plate and it spilled over (after I asked for no ranch dressing). So a little attention to detail from the high-​schoolers would be nice. The curds themselves were executed about as good as can be. Golden brown, melted, but not cooked to the point where they leaked out of the crust and ran down the oil.
For my entrée, I ordered the 16 oz Prime Rib (Friday and Sat nights only) — Med, a baked potato, and the fresh cream of Asparagus soup.
The soup came first. It was very tasty, having the right consistency and temperature for a cream based soup. If I had to pull anything out of it, it was a touch salty for my taste, but not so overpowering that you could not eat it. Again, the timing on this was lighting fast. I had just gotten started on my appetizer, and the soup was delivered. I probably would have preferred it come about 2 – 3 minutes later, but if I have to choose between 3 minutes fast or 3 minutes late, the speedy server always wins.
I had the same experience with my Rib. I had not finished my app and just finished my soup and the rib was delivered. It was beautiful. Nicely marbled, perfectly cooked, with a nice salt and seasoned outside. This was served on a rimed steak platter with plenty of Au Jus. The very fresh baked potato was served with plenty of real whipped butter, on the same plate. If I had to pick nits, I would have preferred the potato be served on a separate rimmed plate on the same platter, or off the main platter altogether. It was a little sloppy on the presentation, but the food execution and taste was just lovely.
Price — the entire meal, plus a soda was $ 27.xx. This is a steal for the quality of meat I received, plus the large potato, fresh soup, and the cheese curd app.
On a scale of 100, I’d probably give the overall experience a high 80. Some professional servers to judge the food delivery timing, and a little better presentation would have push this meal into the 90s. I will be going back when I make my way through SE Iowa again.