New SingleSpeed location delivers enticing atmosphere, delicious menu

As I locked my bike to the bike rack right outside SingleSpeed in Waterloo, my jaw dropped. It was three times as big as the one in Cedar Falls.

My family was taking a Mother’s Day bike ride and decided to try the new restaurant. We were all starving, so the smells of warm bread and fresh greens almost me made faint as we walked in.

The food wasn’t the only thing that gave me a warm welcome, the place was huge and had many different open areas. One area was the  dining area with big tables and booths, and it was more of a family friendly area. There was a chalkboard filled with kids’ colorful drawings. There was also a place to the right of the dining area where a family could eat and play games like UNO or SORRY.

As we walked around and moved to another room, we saw there were other seating options, such as a place to sit at the bar and drink, or long wooden rectangular lunch tables. They also had a room to brew their famous beer like Tip The Cow, which is a cocoa espresso milk stout.

The brewery was close to the size of the downstairs of my house, which is pretty big.

Since they are very eco-friendly and the name of the restaurant is called SingleSpeed, you would think they would include a biking theme somewhere, and they do. They have another area in the restaurant that has a huge bike rack to lock up your bikes. About 20 percent of the people there were wearing bike jerseys.

After we were done looking around the huge building, we sat down at our booth that was made to seat 10. Everything on the menu looked fabulous, so we had to order an appetizer. We splurged on the sweet corn and jalapeño hummus with spelt grain pita. The pita was warm, and when it is served warm you know the restaurant is on top of their game, and it’s going to be good. The hummus was also to die for; you could taste the garbanzo beans, so I knew it was homemade.

At the beginning, the service was a little slow and the waitresses wasn’t checking on us the most, but the dinner took care of the lack of attention. My brother and I both ordered turkey burgers with a side of vegetables. I got brussel sprouts and he got asparagus.

I usually love brussel sprouts but these ones had hoisin and peanut butter sauce and tasted off to my taste buds. So my brother and I switched, I also liked his burger better, mine was pretty good, but his had more flavor, and I LOVE flavor.

He wouldn’t switch his burger, though. He got the signature turkey, and it had this great gorgonzola cheese taste.

If one is not looking for burgers, they also had wings, salads, flat breads and tacos. One of their options under the wing category was chicken and waffles. So, if you’re a breakfast and lunch person and are looking for a healthy option, hit them up.

SingleSpeed is a bit different because the wings are oven baked instead of fried, and everything is fresh. The bread they use, everything from the buns to the flatbread is also special as it is made by Milkbox Bakery. Milkbox is a new local bakery and uses no preservatives, so it is very fresh.

SingleSpeed’s atmosphere is really what drew my family in. It joins the ranks of other great restaurants in the Cedar Valley. As my stomach got full and and my plate was being cleared, we knew it was time to bike back to Cedar Falls, or we might burst.