Canteen Lunch In The Alley - Ottumwa

The Canteen is a staple of life in Ottumwa, and as someone who grew up coming to Ottumwa every weekend and ate this regularly I can say this is the best of the best and a must eat if you’re in Ottumwa. If you came and didn’t have it, turn around and go get yourself one! There’s something so special about this place that’s hard to put to words for me! What helps is to simply try the food and you’ll fall in love immediately! My go to is one with ketchup, cheese and onion but you can’t go wrong with any combo of their toppings! Oh and save some room for a big slice of pie!

Food is great, very personal eating experience, while the loose ground beef doesn’t make the burger a wow food, it is still simply tasty.

Canteen lunch is history at it's best. Stop in Ottumwa and enjoy lunch.

This place is very unique. Good loose meat sandwich. Some may call it a maid rite. Not a lot of interior seating.

This famous, 100-year-old, hole-in-the-wall eatery lives up to its reputation for loose meat sandwiches and an enormous variety of really good pie. Sorry I didn't take any pictures. I was too busy enjoying the pie