The Irish Shanti
The small town of Gunder, Iowa may only have a population of 30 or less people, but the Irish Shanti sure brings the crowd in. You’d think the location of such a small town would make the restaurant seem invisible, but with their well-known Gunderburger, they know how to manage it.
The restaurant is decorated with an Irish theme and if you’re lucky enough, a quartet might sing to you! I was seated right away with a friendly smile and waited on with excellent service. I ordered their Southern fried chicken with French fries. My server instructed me that my meal came with the salad bar, so I went up there with good intentions. Everything you would think that should be on a salad bar was not, so I sat back down in disappointment.
Twenty minutes passed as I watched everyone get his or her food before me. The restaurant buzzed with excited energy and was comfortably full with seemingly satisfied customers. As I was patiently waiting for my food to arrive, I completely drained the Mountain Dew from my cup until I was drinking ice cubes, but I was never asked for a refill.
Soon after, my chicken arrived boiling hot with steam rolling off to the ceiling. There was no way that I could eat it right away so I started off with the French fries. I grabbed for the ketchup bottle but nothing would squeeze out. My waiter never bothered to ask how my food was or if I needed anything else. I had to wait almost ten minutes for my chicken to cool off before I could even touch it. I had no drink to wash it down yet either.
My main meal had such large portions that I only ate about a third of my food. I had a curious question of wondering how much food the restaurant throws away in a week? My guess would be a very substantial amount! I despise taking home leftovers because they never get eaten, but it was such an abundance of food that I didn’t want to be wasting all of that money. I will have to give credit to the Irish Shanti for the outstanding hospitality, a grateful environment, and how well prepared and delicious the food was after it cooled off for a while. It is definitely a restaurant that will feed your appetite.