Local. Best lasagna in town. Best Cajun Tuna sandwhich paired with roasted red pepper soup…read more You can't go wrong with anything on this menu. Everything is to die for but my favs are listed. Have a family get together get the pain of lasagna to bake at home. 100% a guaranteed crowd pleaser. Get the mix sauces and you might just host every holiday party at your house - not kidding this place is that good

This place is setup to serve a lot of people during the lunch hour in the sky walk. I had a half…read moresandwich half soup. The soup was great with some real spicy kick to it. The sandwhich had some stale bread to it but tasted okay. Overall a great place to grab a quick bit.

Italian in the midwest for me is usually incredibly underwhelming. But this place is an outlier…read more Tumea & Sons aren't afraid of seasoning or garlic, the food was portioned for normal sized humans and tasted amazing. Usually I don't see Italian places offer angel hair so was happy they offered that for some of their dishes. Desserts they offered a variety of nice options such as tiramisu, lemon cake, peach dessert and more. Nice mom and pop restaurant. Speedy service too.

In town for the Junior Olympics and needed to carbo load. The place was packed on a Wednesday at 6…read morePM, but the service was still fast and friendly. The meatballs were easily some of the best I've ever had. The wedding meatball soup also hit the spot, and the Diablo pasta with shrimp and steak was delicious with a big kick of spice. I'm talking clear your sinuses SPICY. The manicotti and the bread were just okay. And the chicken tenders weirdly looked like calamari lol. The tap water had a really strange taste to it. Overall though, good portions and reasonably priced. Get the meatballs!

We came here for dinner with a reservation, which I definitely recommend making ahead of time. We…read moregot complimentary bread, which was very soft and delicious. You don't have to do the four-course meal for $60--they also let you choose just one course if you don't want to spend that much, and they give you a larger portion when you choose only one. My pasta was $22 for the Ragu Rigatoni, and my mom's was $16 for the Gnocchi Sage, which was homemade. They didn't give her a lot, but that's probably because it was handmade. It was delicious! However, I couldn't eat my pasta because they don't list the ingredients, and after taking my first bite, I realized it was pork. I don't eat pork and avoid it like the plague, so I had to spit it out. I ended up getting it to go and was disappointed that I hadn't asked about the ingredients beforehand. So, if you have any dietary restrictions, definitely make sure to ask before ordering. They packaged up our pasta for us, and the staff was very friendly. It's a cute, small restaurant with a really cool kitchen in the middle where you can watch them prepare the dishes in real time. Our waiter even left us some bread and butter in our to-go bag, which was really nice. I'd definitely come back next time I'm in town, but I'd probably try the spaghetti and pepper dish!

Lucca is one of THE best dining experiences in Des Moines. The menu design is a four course meal…read morewhere you can choose your own adventure each visit. The meal begins with a salad course followed by a pasta course. The cod cake salad was incredibly delicious! Both the gnocchi and the amatriciana were standout pastas. I had the pork ribeye which was succulent and cooked to perfection and served with a tomatillo sauce that was so tasty! Dessert is family style with an assortment of desserts for the table including a lemon cake and a tres leches cake. The service was great from start to finish including making the reservation (which I highly recommend). We were greeted the moment we walked through the door and quickly shown to our table. Since we were dining early, the venue was quiet for the first half hour or so, but diners kept coming in and by the time we left the place was hopping. It is very cozy and intimate but not so much so that you feel like other diners are on top of you or that you are listening in on their conversations. We brought our own wine, but there is a vast assortment of wines available. We enjoyed Lucca so much that we have made two future reservations already and are very much looking forward to dining with the wonderful crew there soon!

Aposto is literally the best meal I've had this year. I cannot express how f*cking delicious our…read moremeal was. The bone marrow starter was pretty good. But the PASTA I had... my GOODNESS there isn't anything else in Des Moines that even holds a candle to it. 147483919374/10 ambiance for this freakin good pasta. Also! My cocktail, the Pear Butter, was EXQUISITE. So unique and delicious :) Also our server was funny. Definitely would recommend him.

Incredible everything- food, service, cocktails, vibe. Shannon was fabulous. I'm excited to return!read more

To follow up... I was told I would receive a callback from…read morethe manager, this still has not happened.

Amazing fun place!! One of the owner's Dannie is amazing and provides an excellent hospitality…read moreexperience! The thin crust pizza has zero flop and great flavor profiles. A fun Des Moines must!

This is an old school gem! Staff is personable and friendly…read more The food is always excellent. The fried chicken is some of the best!

I finally visited Noah's Ark - I feel like you can't be a local without visiting this place at…read moreleast once! The interior and history is detailed and unique to Des Moines. I ordered the spaghetti with meat sauce and it was good, the serving size was huge! It came with salad, along with bread and butter. Next time I'm going to try the chicken Parmesan! Our server was very friendly and asked if we wanted dessert. Which I 100% recommended going for anytime you visit. Their red velvet cake is amazing!

The service is this place's only saving grace. I ordered the biscuits and gravy. The biscuits were…read morebarely baked through, but the cardinal sin was the ice cold gravy. My server was so sweet I didn't have the heart to ask her to just microwave it. Decent coffee.

Great food, service and wonderful staff. Made us feel right…read moreat home! Kevin, Sunny, Julie, Tyson and Chef were exceptional in providing service and even history lessons!

This has been in the Beaverdale neighborhood in different iterations since nineteen fifty-two…read more Started by old Italian families of Des Moines. Its current ownership (Simon started when he was 22yrs old) has been there for over twenty years(Feb 2005). I think it's still a secret gem of Des Moines. Everyone is understaffed, so I always appreciate the service staff who are working. Remember they're busy because they're good. The restaurant opens at five o'clock and you'll always see a line outside , waiting to get in. I usually go about 6:30 and sometimes get in right away, and sometimes I have to wait thirty minutes.This restaurant still has that old time feel, it's a definite classic Italian neighborhood type vibe. The owner's wife is a server and the owner many times seats people. The owner also walks around the restaurant table to table , asking how people are. General servers have always tried to make sure I am happy. It can be a busy place so depending on the time you may have to wait but they move people through quickly without being intrusive. The owner has developed an adjacent bar waiting area where you can have cocktails and talk to your friends while you're waiting. It's filled with very comfortable chairs and both times I've been in there.The bartender was a great mixologist and moved very fast. They have excellent cocktails, a nice wine list and a good beer list. I go every few weeks with the right attitude of either going right at four thirty to wait in line to get in with the first group or to go later to get in with the second group around 6:30. Car pooling is a good idea because parking can be limited so many people are coming. I've enjoyed appetizers like onion rings, stuffed mushrooms and Bruschetta and main dishes like lamb chops, scallops , different types of steaks including classic steak de burgo, beef tenderloin, and Sirlion. Don't forget to add the fabulous portabella mushroom sauce to your steak. They have lots of chicken dishes as well. Lots of fun Pasta too and they are I enjoy their lobster bisque! I took my friend there for his birthday and he had one of my favorites lamb chops, which were prepared excellently , and I had scallops, always a wonderful choice. They also have great Italian sandwiches and pizzas for a family or group eating. The waiting is worth it and can be fun drinking, relaxing and chatting. I forgot to mention the long tradition of everyone in your party getting a little bite of sweetness with complimentary homemade red velvet cake at the end of your meal. It's the kind of place you could bring anyone from out of town from any city and feel confident they'll have a good experience.

Fantastic dining experience in Des Moines. Come early to stand in line or hang out at the little…read morebar area. Food was amazing! Delicious bread, amazing onion rings and beef stroganoff like no where else I've ever been. Cozy little restaurant with fantastic wait staff and a cult following: what's not to love?

We hadn't been in a Scornovaccas since the 1980s when Val Vacca had a location in Pleasant Hill…read more.. we drive by all the time and decided to drive down from the East Side... We were seated immediately and placed our order quickly getting cauliflower appetizers and drinks quickly The all meat pizza was cooked to perfection and loaded with lots of toppings... Our waitress Mariah P deserves special recognition as being attentive and friendly making sure we were well taken take of even though they were busy... her personality shines! I appreciate a person with a good attitude who likes people and Mariah is an asset who needs recognition! We tipped accordingly and I believe in catching people doing things RIGHT! And she DOES! We will definitely Be back!

Went to a wedding where said they could cater pizza and salad to 250 guests. It was horrible!!!…read moreThey had no way of keeping the pizza hot!!! They just brought boxed pizzas in and stacked them on a table. For the time it takes to feed that many people the food was cold!! They ran out of plates so guests were using napkins for their plate. And they said they would bring the nice plastic plates NOT!! They also said they would set up and CLEAN UP NOT!!! Once again they lied!! Food and messy plates were stacked everywhere!!! NEVER HAVE THEM CATER!!! When they were asked if they could accommodate that large a job they should have said NO!!!!