In case you missed the news, just a few short weeks ago, a new restaurant opened up in Uptown Marion. It's not a restaurant that's brand new to Eastern Iowa, though.

Short's Burger & Shine has two locations in Iowa City, but they have finally opened up a location a little closer to Cedar Rapids. The new Short's is located at 780 11th Street in Marion, right next to Uptown Snug. If you're not super familiar with the area, it can be a little tricky to find (I'm speaking from personal experience), but once you're in there it's so worth it.

A couple of friends and I planned to stop at Short's for lunch on Saturday, until we realized that they didn't open until 4 p.m. (I'm so glad somebody checked!). We decided to try and beat the dinner rush by going in at 4:30 p.m., and that was a success. We only had to wait about five minutes for a table.

The restaurant is pretty small, but still bigger than I expected. We were seated in the back dining room, which has some really cool decor. I especially liked the map of Iowa on the wall.

Courtlin
Courtlin
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We need to talk about the food, though. We ordered the cheese curds as our appetizer, and they were honestly some of the best cheese curds I've ever had. There's just something about the combination of the seasoning and the light flakiness and the gooey cheese... we even played 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' for the last one.

There were a lot of delicious-sounding options on the menu, like the Cajun Chicken, the Fish & Chips, and the Shrimp Po Boy, but I felt obligated to order a burger. When I visited the Short's location in Iowa City last year I tried the Burnside Burger, which was delicious, but I decided to try one of the other 25 burger options. I ordered the El Dorado Burger, topped with guacamole, sour cream, salsa, and pepper jack cheese. It was fantastic! And don't even get me started on the fries...

The other cool thing about Short's is that you can order any of their burgers as a standard beef burger, a chicken sandwich, or a black bean burger. My friend isn't a huge fan of meat, so she loves their black bean option. Oh, and I don't know what that sauce is that the restaurant keeps on all the tables, but I am now obsessed with it. SO GOOD.

By the time we left the restaurant, there was a pretty big line, so I'm glad we got there when we did. Overall, we had a great experience, so we will DEFINITELY be back soon! You can get more information on Short's Burger & Shine in Marion and see a full menu HERE.

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