Best Neighborhood Gem Restaurants in Des Moines

Food was absolutely delicious! The service was amazing, and without my knowing they worked with my boyfriend to plan my proposal. It was so sweet! Definitely would recommend coming here, for not just the food but the service and ambience.

Superb, as usual. The carrot sformato was an unusual find and quite delicious. The addition of olives to the blood orange and fennel salad hit just the right acid note, Mama’s meatballs were pure beef with a strong dash of anise seed, and the accompanying marinara had been simmering for ages to pick up that deep complexity of flavors and great balance between sweet and slightly acid.

Christmas Eve at Duke's. Third year in a row! Warm greeting from hostess in charge, Hattie! First class service from Matt! Delicious food and a festive evening. Thanks so much! See you soon!

Christmas Eve dinner. Full restaurant but still as fantastic as always. More larger groups made the atmosphere noisier but that is to expected. It was still wonderful food and a great place to spend a special occasion.

We had Christmas eve dinner there & as always the food was great. Given how busy they were we were really impressed that how fast we got served & how good our waitress was!