Best Restaurants

[Caroline in Oklahoma]

Hello Eccie Friends! It’s always good to ask a local...So tell me...what is your favorite restaurant in either Des Moines or Cedar Rapids? Any particular dish that you love?

[dsmiowan]

When in Des Moines...

The Latin King serves an awesome chicken spedini.

Avoid Baratta’s.

[The_baron]

Agree on spidini at LK but disagree on barattas as they have the best steak deburgo around. But those are both east and south side Des Moines. West Des Moines has more options out and delivered in.

Originally Posted by dsmiowan

When in Des Moines...

The Latin King serves an awesome chicken spedini.

Avoid Baratta’s.

[ClimaxBlues]

If you like BBQ, Smokey D's or Jethro's, both excellent.

[Golfer1]

Depends what you want. I don't live in Des Moines, but when I am forced to go there, I know a couple of places. Des Moines really struggles for a MSA of its size. I usually end up eating in a member only place due to this.

For somewhat authentic Sicilian, Tumea and Sons gets their inputs from Graziano Brothers, so it is o.k. for Americanized Italian / Sicilian, and probably the best and closest thing Des Moines has to offer.

Restaurant: https://www.tumeaandsons.net/

Buys inputs from: https://grazianobrothers.com/

With respect to steak in Des Moines, there are numerous places that most don't know about, but the issue is they are private, or semi-private.

Cedar Rapids and the surrounding area have an abundance of places, as shocking as that is. Unfortunately, most don't know about them, so many come and go, and it's hard to keep track of what's open.

Italian you'd need to go to Vino's. No Vito's, but Vino's. Sal had a place downtown, but I think he got chased back down to St. Louis, and he's on The Hill now.

Steak, you'd need to go to Moline, but that trip is worth it. Bring your wallet. They have really, really good steak at $32 per ounce. Which is actually very reasonable given what it is.

So Italian: http://vinosristorante.com/

Steak: https://www.bassstreetchophouse.com/

For what I classify as more "uppity" "nouveau riche":

https://cobblehillrestaurant.com/

And there are a whole bunch of hole in the4 wall places where surprisingly you can get fresh Mako Shark, shark tenderloin, Wahoo, John Dory, Dolphin Fish (incorrectly called Mahi in the USA), Scottish Salmon, which for whatever reason is extremely difficult to get in the Midwest, etc., ad infinitium...

But best dish, best restaurant is largely subjective, and largely predicted on disposable income. As an example, I don't mind paying $192 for a 6 oz steak at Bass St Chop House, but it irritates me to pay $25 for crappy Italian in Des Moines, or what passes for steak in that town.

[dsmiowan]

Originally Posted by ClimaxBlues

If you like BBQ, Smokey D's or Jethro's, both excellent.

Deathro’s gets a very hard pass.

[The_baron]

Vino’s in Valley Junction? Its not real good now. Their flat bread pizza is blah and the food is a pretty but pricey without much flavour and substance. But there is wine!

[Golfer1]

Vino's in Cedar Rapids.

[bobsalookin]

Steak: 801 Chophouse is still the gold standard (mushrooms as a side, skip the desserts)
Upscale date: Bubba is under-rated, Centro and Django are consistent...
Down n' Dirty Shushi: Wasabi
BBQ: Smokey Ds
Seafood: nothing outstanding, Waterfront in Ankeny a narrow best in underwhelming crowd
Lunch: Gateway market / Palmer's Deli
Dive Bar with meals: El Bait shop / Buzzard Billys
Pizza: Everyone's got a favorite....

[Alexia90]

Best restaurants in WDM I'm here today and would like recommendations please XoXo

[ClimaxBlues]

Originally Posted by Alexia90

Best restaurants in WDM I'm here today and would like recommendations please XoXo

Mostly just chain places in WDM, like Cheesecake Factory, Jethros, Biaggi's, Hu Hutt. A couple of Indy places are Nick's and The Club Car. The Tavern is good for pizza, Palmer's for deli. Most of the good places are downtown Des Moines.

[dsmiowan]

801 was good until I went to Fleming’s. I haven’t been back to 801 in years.

[KelseyBelle]

Golfer1 Does know his food. I’ve learned that’s from experience.

[les123]

Car salesman took me to a deli. I’m pretty sure it was west of valley junction, in a little strip mall. Very busy at noon. Anybody know what I’m talking about?

[bustaj]

That would have been Manhattan Grill. They went out of business and it's now something else.