Food & Drink

Coffee Emporium became Midnight Coffee in 2025, keeping its locally roasted beans while rebuilding the Market Street room around a warmer identity.

Northside · coffee meetings · working

A Highway 1 taqueria that began with a truck, now serving fourteen menu categories beside the family's separately licensed grocery market.

West Side · tacos · casual lunch

An entirely vegan Prentiss Street restaurant and full bar where dinner service shares the room with an active calendar of live music.

Downtown South · plant-based dining · date night

Founded in 1994, Java House grew from a one-cup coffee bar into an Iowa City cafe group whose beans are roasted nearby in North Liberty.

Downtown · studying · coffee meetings

Look beyond the grocery aisles for house-made breads and crusts, on-site gelato, market-counter cooking, local beer taps, and a serious meat case.

Downtown · quick lunch · groceries

Opened by first-time restaurateurs in 2004, Oasis serves falafel, hummus, Tofu Mangal, kebab sandwiches, and Greek salad with tahini balsamic.

Northside · quick lunch · falafel

The Palace Special connects Pagliai's thin-crust present to its 1962 Pizza Palace beginning, with house-made sausage and ovens in full view.

Northside · pizza night · families

Look down for the preserved mosaic floor, then order all-day breakfast or a pieshake in a Northside diner shaped by generations of local history.

Northside · all-day breakfast · groups

A family bakery in University Capitol Center, open since 1983, making nine cookie flavors, cookie cakes, and its popular Monster throughout the day.

Downtown · sweet breaks · gift boxes

A French-American dining room where house-made breads, sauces, burgers, and fries share a menu with six considered vegan dishes.

Downtown · date night · vegan dining