SPIRIT LAKE, Iowa – Toast on Hill offers a classy place to stop for a quick breakfast or coffee with friends in Okoboji.
The breakfast and lunch restaurant, 1604 Hill Ave, is open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. seven days a week, offering a classic American dinner menu. Owner Dustyn Wikert sees Toast as a classy place to get a quick breakfast or lunch in town.
Toast on Hill was formerly Family Diner. In 2022, business partners Wikert and Schuyler Johnson were approached about buying the restaurant. The pair are no strangers to the restaurant business, owning Nautical Bar and Grill, Portside Pizza and Boardwalk Bar and Grill in Arnolds Park, and Mother Nature’s in Estherville, Iowa,
“I contacted my chef and my business partner and walked through, and the price was right so I ended up saying yes to that,” Wikert said.
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After buying the space in May 2022, they underwent a massive remodeling, giving the place new flooring, new paint, deep cleaning and updating the kitchen equipment, new cabinets, new tables, a new bar top, updated bathrooms, and more. The original booths remained but were reupholstered.
“I think you can judge any restaurant by a bathroom, so I always think those should be the cleanest. So if you can take care of a bathroom then the kitchen should be good, ” Wikert said.
The doors officially reopened in October 2022. Wikert said there was a mixed reaction from the community, with many people excited about the new remodel and menu, and others missing the original Family Diner.
Wikert didn’t want to take anything away from the community and wanted to continue the tradition of offering great breakfasts without trying to be Family Diner. They decided to rename the restaurant “Toast on Hill” as a way to give the place a fresh start.
A complete menu overhaul took place, “but at the end of the day, breakfast is breakfast,” Wikert said.
Some of the standout menu items are the restaurant's unique “toasts.”
A “casual” toast is two slices of wheat toast with avocado and over easy eggs. A “Toast on Hill” is two slices of wheat toast with avocado, over easy eggs, blistered grape tomato, arugula and everything bagel seasoning.
The whole menu is al la carte, allowing people to pick and choose what they want, getting the perfect amount of food.
“I always say there’s one size and that’s full. Every time you leave, I’d rather have complaints like ‘that’s way too much food’ than saying ‘that’s not enough food,’’ Wikert said.
Another unique offering is free coffee Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. Wikert said it provides a place for the community to go and have a conversation with unlimited coffee.
“I think it’s a classy breakfast place where you can bring a friend and hang out and chat and get a good breakfast,” he said.
The lunch menu offers classic sandwiches, salads and sides.
Wikert credits the staff for the day-to-day operations of the restaurant, greeting customers with a friendly face while serving food quickly.
“We have great front-of-house staff and then just an amazing kitchen staff that pumps out food,” he said. If the customers agree, Toast on Hill offers a $14.99 menu item to buy the staff a round of drinks.
