The best restaurants in Des Moines

Des Moines eats a lot better than outsiders expect. The city has real steakhouses, a genuine Italian backbone, a Mediterranean streak, and a handful of chef-driven rooms that would hold their own in a much bigger town. This is the honest shortlist, the places worth a reservation, the institutions worth the drive, and, at the bottom, the jump-off points for a specific craving.

The special-occasion table

Proudfoot & Bird, inside the Hotel Fort Des Moines downtown, is the dressed-up room when the night actually matters. Marble, brass, a chef-driven menu, and a lobby bar to start in. Named for the architects who designed the hotel a century ago, it's the closest thing downtown has to a grand dining room.

For a quieter kind of special, Lucca in the East Village does a four-course prix-fixe from chef Steve Logsdon, a three-time James Beard "Best Chef: Midwest" nominee. Small room, serious cooking, the reservation you make when you want to be impressed without a scene.

For a steak

801 Chophouse downtown is the benchmark, prime steaks, a deep wine list, and the kind of clubby room that makes a birthday feel like a big deal. Out west, Ruth's Chris and Fleming's anchor the West Des Moines steak scene if that's your side of town.

But the steak dish that actually belongs to Des Moines is steak de burgo, tenderloin in butter, garlic, and herbs, and the definitive version is at Tursi's Latin King on the east side. It's a multi-generational institution and the one out-of-towners should be sent to.

Italian

Centro on Locust is the reliable, dressed-up Italian that's stayed packed since 2002, house-made pasta, a coal-fired oven, and a room that turns a Tuesday into an occasion. Pair it with Lucca above, and you've got the two Italian names worth knowing.

Mediterranean and small plates

Eatery A on Ingersoll runs a wood-fired kitchen through Spanish, Moroccan, and Italian accents, and its wood-fired pizza and half-price happy-hour pies are a genuine reason to go. For something more intimate, Aposto tucks Tony Lemmo's seasonal Italian-Mediterranean menu into an 1880s Sherman Hill mansion, one of the most romantic rooms in the city.

Sushi

The most ambitious sushi in town right now is Masao in the East Village, chef Phil Shires' sushi-meets-modern-French room (reservations via Tock). For a classic upscale sushi bar, W-Tao downtown holds it down with omakase and specialty rolls.

Southern

Bubba in the Western Gateway does modern Southern with real cocktails, shrimp and grits, biscuits, the kind of plate that ends an argument. A great "we want to feel taken care of" dinner.

The East Village all-rounder

Alba is the East Village room that's been quietly great for years, wood-grilled dishes, a good wine list, and a warm, antique-door interior. When you want somewhere excellent but not fussy, this is it.

When you want a specific craving

The "best restaurant" is often just the best version of the exact thing you want. We keep running local guides for that:

• The best steakhouses in Des Moines, from 801 Chophouse to steak de burgo at Tursi's Latin King.
• The best pizza in Des Moines, from Fong's crab rangoon pie to Detroit squares in Beaverdale.
• The best tacos and Mexican in Des Moines, from Tasty Tacos to birria trucks to Bar Nico.
• The best burgers in Des Moines, from Zombie Burger to the cult High Life Lounge.
• The best sushi and Asian food in Des Moines, from Masao to pho, Thai, and Korean fried chicken.
• The best breakfast and coffee shops for the morning, and the best brunch for the weekend.
• The best date-night restaurants, plus patios and rooftops and the happy hour guide.

New in town or figuring out where things are? Start with our neighborhood going-out guide, the East Village, Court Avenue, Ingersoll, and Valley Junction, and what each is good for.

A couple of rules

Reservations help everywhere on this list, especially on weekends, and the special-occasion rooms (Proudfoot & Bird, Lucca, 801) fill first. Restaurants change fast here, new openings, the occasional closing, so if you're driving across town for one specific place, a quick call to confirm hours never hurts.

We keep this list current, and every week we email the new openings, pop-ups, and spots worth trying before everyone else does. If you want the short version in your inbox, that's exactly what we send, one email, no noise.