Culver's

Is it fast food, or a restaurant? Culvers (located off of old Highway 30) makes an attempt to act as both. With prices this cheap, one could load up on grub for not a lot of dough.

The Looks
Typical fast food dining area, with tables and booths. It's always crowded around lunch, mostly with older people. It seems word has gotten out about the senior citizen discount. To combat the large crowds, Culvers seems to be pretty good about employing a small army behind the counter. They maybe a little slow getting you the food, but they are quick to take your order.

The Cost
Prices are not bad. Long gone are the days of a $2.99 value meal (or basket as Culvers call them). But most everything on the menu can be purchased for $5 to $7. And they let you purchase a sandwich by itself for a reasonable price, which I like. Some fast food places will overprice the sandwich (for example the sandwich costs $4 and the meal costs $5), which leads you to get the "value meal" even if you don't want it.

The Grub
A surprisingly large variety of grub for a fast food place. They have chicken, Soup, Salads, Pork Tenderloins, Rubens, Hot dogs, Shrimp, Fish, and of course their signature butter burger. Who knows what they do to this hamburger to make it so good, but it works. The typical value basket consists of a sandwich, crinkle cut fries and a soda. The Fries can be substituted for any number of sides, for example a salad. I had the Turkey sourdough BLT, which was just so-so. But I feel I did get my money's worth. Of course they also have a large selection of Custard frozen treats, in case your caloric intake wasn't exceeded by the main meal.

Culver's of Marshalltown
16 Iowa Ave W, (641) 753-9525