4.8* (out of 5) Food: 5* Atmosphere: 5* Value: 4* Service: 5* Would I go back / Recommend?: 5* (Definitely) Total check/person: $32 03/28/2026 We saw that Arcadia was a Top 10 Finalist for Iowa Burger of the Year, so knew that we needed to give it a try - and last night was our opportunity. Arcadia is a short drive north of Grimes in a newly developed area of Polk City just after you cross over the long bridge over Saylorville Lake. We were impressed with the new building as we drove up (told that it opened about 1.5 years ago) along with the lively, open atmosphere & modern decor as we entered the building. We started our meal with a couple of local craft tap beers - a nice selection was available. Since we came for the Burger of the Year contender, the Smashburger was one of our orders (see picture) and we opted for the Fish Tacos as our second meal (see picture). Both were delicious and highly recommended. While I offer my Kudos for offering Marshmallow Creme for a dipping sauce with the sweet potato fries (we haven't found many places that do this...and we LOVE it), my only knock is that it was way too watered down and runny - with most of it running off the dipped fries rather than sticking to them. We finished with a Salted Carmel Old Fashion...and yes, it too was delicious and highly recommended! More information on the drinks and Happy Hour specials can be found at: HappyHourDesMoines . If you found this review helpful, please show your appreciation with a Like or a Follow. Photos copyright: happyhourdesmoines.com & thefoodanddrinkguy.com read more

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Food was amazing. Nick & Carter at bar were fantastic & made delicious drinks. Had smash burger & gyro & both were fresh & tasty. Place was extremely clean with great vibe. Highly recommended. read more

Wonderful spot for lunch or dinner. Food is outstanding with a great idea variety menu. Service is spot on and staff very friendly and helpful. Open area for dining with patio dining available. Very clean with attention to detail. read more

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We've visited this place three or four times now and feel like it's worth the drive to Polk City. Today we decided to try their burger, which has recently been recognized as the best in central Iowa. It is worth the hype! Delicious! It was on our table almost as fast as we ordered! Our server was attentive and kept our water glasses full. We had a couple of cocktails and they were excellent too. They have a mix of booths and tables, and you can dine at the bar if you choose. The place is in a newer building and very clear. The parking lot is shared with a few other businesses but there is ample parking. Check it out, read more

Arcadia PC - Burgers - American Near Me - Polk City, Iowa

Hidden gem of polk city! Pleasantly surprise with this restaurant, the meun is very well versed and little something for everyone and even have gluten-free options. Our waitress was fantastic she was attentive and had great recommendation. The cocktail were really good especially the whiskey drinks, the summer old fashion and the smoke show were top tier. Meatballs appetizer was very good and had some bread with it. Main course was cajun, pasta? That had a great kick with chicken, sausage and shrimp, my husband had the chef Speical which was Pho the broth was amazing. Very cute spot right in the heat of Polk City worth the drive for south side Des Moines. read more

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People who rated Arcadia PC under 4 stars need their butt cheeks slapped because this restaurant is phenomenal. I had the shrimp pho, and let me just say, the broth was so rich and flavorful, and I also had the meatballs that were seasoned well. The Smokey Old Fashioned and Summer Old Fashioned were absolutely delicious and had a good mix of booze and aromatics. Our waitress was an absolute rock star as well. We will definitely be back. read more

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Loved it. First time here. Had the Smashburger and they are in the running for best in the state right now. We loved the drinks which are crafted by Antonio and his crew. We will definitely return. Sat at the bar. Had a few beers and my wife had some of their cocktails. I also tried the spicy margarita. Very good. It was a beautiful place. We hit the slow time, but the bar is large and they have inside and soon outside seating. read more

Arcadia PC - On the left is a special drink they don't have a name for. On the right is a martini called Carriage Club. - American Near Me - Polk City, Iowa

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Went to Arcadia for dinner and tried the smashburger and it was by far the best burger I've ever tasted. The cheese balls and egg rolls were delicious as well! Arcadia wil definitely be my go when I'm craving a great burger! The staff was very accommodating and it was a lovely evening to eat on the patio. All around good experience. read more

The food here was fabulous - bang bang shrimp, the jamaican chicken special, award-winning smash burger and tenderloin were all superb. Reason for 4 star - I made a reservation for 6 for Sat night 2 weeks prior. When we arrived the hostess and another worker struggled to find our reservation, the hostess trying unsuccessfully to operate the computer reservation system with 3 inch fingernails and the guy trying to help her struggled to find our reservation. Finally she said 'oh there it is, your reservation... unfortunately the table we had reserved for you was given away. Can we put you in the banquet room?" It was 5:55 p.m., you had a table reserved for us, and you... gave it away??? What's he purpose of making reservations then? On the way to the bare-looking banquet room there was an empty large booth for 6 sitting empty. I asked if we could sit there, and the seater said, 'oh I guess that booth IS empty, take it if you want it.' Such great food an atmosphere deserves better support staff. We had brought friends there for their first time and they looked at us like, really?? Reservation, but no reservation???? Anyway - bad way to start their introduction to a new restaurant. But the food WAS awesome. read more

Rated #1 burger in the metro. The food took forever and we only orders smash burgers. The food took 1 hour to come out. Burger and fries were not hot. The kids menu was sub par. They have chicken tenders but they are grilled. I'm sorry but what kid what's to eat a dry grilled chicken breast cut into strips? Need actual chicken tenders and Mac and cheese on the kids menu. I will say the bang bang shrimp and the cream cheese won tons were great. Service was alright. read more

Great atmosphere! The music was good too. I had the Bahn Mi and it was fantastic, I'll be sure to get it again.

Good burgers, fries, chicken wings, etc. Good local place for dinner or lunch. Trying to get to enough characters here.

The staffs were friendly, fast, attentive. Food was excellent, we had the special BBQ plater which was very tasty. Grill pork tenderloin and smash burger were excellent. read more

Girlfriend said it was a light and refreshing drink to have, happy hour till 6 on Tuesdays read more

Arcadia PC - Breakfast Mule - American Near Me - Polk City, Iowa

What a miss! Let's start with the few positives that kept this from being a one star. The restaurant aesthetic is very nice. It's comfortable and upscale. The staff is friendly (positive), but disorganized and clumsy in service (negative). The big problem is the food. Almost everything was bad, and some inedible. The half priced appetizers we ordered were wings, potstickers, and mozzarella bites. The wings were good. The potstickers came out of a frozen bag and were poorly prepared. They had a bizarre herb Parmesan gravy as a dip. No, it makes no sense. The cheese was breaded with a very off putting herbed crumb. Not bad, but not good. Entrees were the worst chicken piccata we had ever tried to eat. I say we because three of us made an attempt and after one bite couldn't or wouldn't continue. The supposed top burger is far from good. The onions fried in rancid oil (yes, the odor and flavor was very oxidized), and the very sweet sauce were problems. The lettuce and tomato were so wilted they seemed to have been held hot for an hour prior to use. Don't even start on the flatbread. Unmelted cheese, strange sauce, chunks of barely cooked red pepper. Two of us had French fries. They use a shoestring fry, but they weren't hot at arrival or crispy. Isn't that the point of a shoestring fry? This restaurant needs to look deep into their operation. It has issues. I will not return. read more

Great food, good people and service. Real nice comfortable atmosphere. I really love this recent discovery in a great location as well. Mike read more

New restaurant. Excellent food and drinks. Nice atmosphere, outdoor dining. Friendly attentive service. Fusion menu with Asia, Mexican influences. Sandwiches and Dinner entries. read more

Five of us went to Arcadia to celebrate my birthday. Two of us ordered a breaded tenderloin sandwich as there was an advertisement on the table to vote for their tenderloin as the best in Iowa. It was obvious when it came that mine was way over done. It had very thick batter and was so burned the batter wouldn't stay on the meat. The other person had one similar but not quite as burnt. While the 3 others in our party had no complaints about their meals, this was probably the worst tenderloin I've ever had. Very disappointing meal. read more

first off the service was amazing, the staff was super friendly and the atmosphere was great. The food took about 12 minutes to get, but it was amazing, I had the Korean wings and they were amazing. read more

Dined on the patio last night, listening to live music , drinking good wine and ate a good meal. Service was excellent! They do need to step up their menu choices as more bar food than fine dining. A great filet would help. read more

Shrimp scampi had zero flavor and very watery. Think they forgot any sauce or garlic or any seasoning??? We had to ask for Parmesan but by the time we got it, food was cold. We even asked for salt and pepper. Server never asked how our meal was. Took it home and doctored it up and it was ok. read more

I'll begin with what earned them 4 stars overall- the food. Based on taste and quality, the food itself is 5 stars. To start, I ordered the potstickers. They were pan fried to perfection and tasted great. I would have preferred a more traditional soy sauce based sauce to dip them in, but the herb sauce wasn't horrible and it didn't take away from the dish. I do think that $10 for 6 pieces was high and that $8 would be fair. My Chicken Picatta was delicious. 90% of the time I am disappointed when ordering pasta at restaurants. My chicken looked like it was going to be a little dry, but it was perfect! It had good flavor and was moist. The sauce on the pasta had enough lemon flavor that you could tell it was there, but it wasn't overpowering. The amount of capers was perfect. Not too many to cause the dish to be salty, but enough to make their presence known. I appreciated that my pasta was not swimming in sauce. There was enough to coat the pasta and a little extra to soak up with each bite of chicken. The asparagus looked a bit overcooked, but I'll let that go as it had great flavor and wasn't mushy. Like the postickers, I think it was overpriced at $24. $20 with a small side salad or some garlic bread would still be a bit high, but much more reasonable. As good as the dish was, it's not something I'd order regularly, but save as a treat. The loss of a star comes down to service. For a restaurant with the that ambiance and price point, I have fairly high expectations of my server. Over Given the size of the menu, I expected the server to be able to explain and answer questions about each dish. One person asked what exactly was the "Mojo pork" on the Cubano sandwich. The server said she didn't know and explained that they change the menu and she wasn't sure. We had to ask her to find out. She came back with an answer vague enough that I still don't know what the Mojo Pork is. When the potstickers were brought out, no plates were brought with them. We had to ask for them. And a member of our group paid with cash and the server never brought back her change. That actually cost her as she would have gotten a larger tip than the change she kept. And it would have been nice to have the dirty plates cleared after we had paid and were still at the table visiting. read more

Great service, drinks and food. Will definitely be back! A great option in Polk City or from Ankeny.

Our flatbread pizza was served cold and the cheese was unmelted. We asked about this and were told no it should be hot...and that they would let the chef know. Never heard another word. It took 3 tries to get our bill correct ( yes, we paid for the cold flat breads). It was also very cold in the restaurant, enough that you had to wear a coat. Hopefully they can work out the kinks. read more