Niland's Cafe

Niland's Cafe Historic Cafe, motel, and gas station museum located proudly at 24 Lincolnway in the small community of Colo, IA. The restored Colo Motel reopened in 2008.
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Full service restaurant with homemade comfort foods! Motel reservations or questions contact kelsey 6415218311 "Great Food With A Side of History" -Niland's Cafe was restored in 2003 along with the Reed Service Station. Outside self-guided tours and information, Station open during special events, historic Jefferson and Lincoln markers on site, museum displays inside restaurant. At the intersectio

n of the historic Lincoln and Jefferson Highways. The Lincoln was the first east-west transcontinental road running from Times Square, NY to San Francisco and the Jefferson the first north - south running from Winnipeg, Ontario to New Orleans, LA. On the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway.

06/02/2026

We have switched cash register systems so our old online ordering will no longer work. Stay tuned for the new one!

Heading towards all the events we have coming up has me caught between a hymn and a Whitesnake song. I don't know where ...
06/01/2026

Heading towards all the events we have coming up has me caught between a hymn and a Whitesnake song. I don't know where I'm going but I hope the road blessed! A quick recap before I post specials.

Sunday, June 14th our lil Cafe turns 100 years old and we are celebrating BIG! We're extending hours for the day, offering merch for the first time under this management, offering free games and activities for all ages and free live entertainment across the entirety of "Niland Island". It's going to be a great time celebrating history while making new friends.

Sunday, June 21st, Father's Day! We have some amazing specials planned featuring a brand new chicken fried steak bowl!

Wed, July 22nd RAGBRAI will be coming thru and we are going to be all hands on deck to make sure people can rest, hydrate and eat quickly and efficiently, without feeling herded like cattle.

And finally specials for this week are...
Tues- Cavetelli w/ side salad & garlic toast $12.95 (pasta, meat sauce, onions, peppers)
Wed- Cordon blue burger w/ +1 $12.95 (1/burger topped with ham, swiss and dijon)
Thurs- Chicken n noodles w/ veggie or cold side $12.95 (a classic over mashed potatoes)
Fri- 1/2lb fish &/or shrimp, fries & coleslaw $14/17combo (grilled, original, beer battered)
Sat- Crispy chicken bowl w/ veggie or cold side $12.95 (crispy chicken, mashed potatoes, corn and chicken gravy)
Sunday- B&G omelet w/ $ cakes or potatoes $12.95 (3 egg omelet w/ sausage, biscuit & country gravy inside)

All specials include any drink in the price ☕️ 🍺 🥤 🍸

05/28/2026

I’m going to try this again. Someone dumped this dog outside of Baxter a year ago and I have had her every since. She was skin and bones when we found her and is completely healthy now and up-to-date on rabies shot. Looking for someone to rehome her. I don’t have the space at my house in town for two large dogs and my old dog does not care for her. Vet thinks she is around five years old. She is super sweet and needs to be able to run as she is putting hot laps in my yard. Does well with a wireless fence collar. Cannot eat with other dogs, she will take their food and fight over it. Other than that, she is the sweetest girl ever and knows all of her commands. Has no problem taking care of raccoons and other rodents. Probably shouldn’t go somewhere with free range chickens as she got one of ours that got out. So if anyone has it in their heart to take her in and give her a place to run, please let me know. She is outside all of the time. Her name is Molly.

05/27/2026

I know we had a 100 year celebration for the start of the corner a few years ago, but now it’s time for Nilands actual 100 year anniversary! Along with our new landlords grand opening celebration! Please come join us for a day filled with family fun to celebrate on June 14th 2026. We will have a clown, fiddler, Lincoln Highway band, food, drinks, desserts, outdoor games, bingo, face painting, pie eating contest, pie walk and more! Bring your family and friends and win some prizes and gift certificates!

Sunday, June 14th 2026
Nilands will be open from 8 am until 7 pm that day.
The celebration will be from 11 am to 6 pm.

05/26/2026

Before I post specials, I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday weekend and took the time to honor those fallen. "We do not know them all, but we owe them all" 🇺🇸🇺🇸

Staff helped me pick this week's specials and I think they are for sure winners.

Tues- Egg salad sandwich, baked beans and cold side $12.95
Wed- John's famous meatloaf, mashed potatoes n gravy w/veggie or cold side $12.95
Thurs- TX house chicken sandwich w/ +1 $12.95
Fri- 1/2lb fish &/or shrimp, fries & coleslaw $14/17combo (grilled, original, beer battered)
Sat- Meatball sandwich w/ side salad $12.95

All specials include any drink in the price ☕️ 🍺 🥤 🍸

05/23/2026

I am looking for a used upright freezer if anyone has one they are wanting to sell fairly cheap.

05/19/2026

With the power going out a couple different nights, our fridges and freezers were obviously down. We had to toss all of our food. One of our new outdoor tables is broken. And we are now down a freezer. It was a long day yesterday, but we are restocked and ready for business. Come on in at 11 am!

05/17/2026

A couple things before I post specials.
Thank you to everyone who has shared all their special occasions with us this week!! Graduations, birthdays, anniversaries etc, it's been awesome! We seriously thought we were going to have to close early today because we were running out of food! You guys are amazing!!
5/19-5/23
Tues- Smoked turkey rueben w/ potato salad $12.95
Wed- Goulash, garlic toast & green beans or side salad $12.95
Thurs- Coney dogs +1 $12.95 (1/4lb dog w/ chili, cheese, onion)
Fri- 1/2lb fish &/or shrimp, fries & coleslaw $14/17combo (grilled, original, beer battered)
Sat- Tenderloin bowl w/ +1 $12.95 (our signature Tenderloin, mashed potatoes, gravy & buttered corn)

All specials include any drink in the price ☕️ 🍺 🥤 🍸

05/15/2026

If you were wanting a motel room tonight, we just had one open up. Ive had several calls for the night but didn’t have any available rooms at the time.

1 room open for tonight only. Please message or call Kelsey at (641) 521-8311 if you would like one

05/14/2026

I know it’s windy out but we now have 2 outdoor tables anyone is welcome to eat at. Please order your food inside and then our staff will bring it out to you so we don’t have menus flying all over. The umbrellas are secured and have lights inside them 🙂Please be patient with us while we figure out the smoothest way to serve you, but we can’t wait to try it out!

Address

24 Lincoln Way
Colo, IA
50056

Opening Hours

Tuesday 11am - 7pm
Wednesday 11am - 7pm
Thursday 11am - 7pm
Friday 11am - 8pm
Saturday 8am - 8pm
Sunday 8am - 2pm

Telephone

+16413773662

Website

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