First, the food is amazing, service was fantastic. That said, there's the odd; the restaurant is…read moreat the end of a building that hosts a hardware store, the odd part? Three restaurants share a lobby/hostess. I honestly wasn't sure I was walking into the right place, but it's a minor thing (if you know about it). Now for the bad: like I said the food is excellent, no complaints there. But I was more than a bit surprised to see on my bill that I was being charged for mixers!! A double Captain & Coke: $8 for the rum, $0.50 for the coke?!?! Really? The $8 for 2 oz of rum doesn't cover the couple of cents worth of soda? On the menu you can order a side salad as one of your sides, but if you want extra dressing? That's $0.75. This is too nice of a restaurant to be nickel and diming your customers.

Amazing food. Fantastic and consistent service. The ambiance and atmosphere here are great. BBQ…read moreplace on one side, seafood on the other and steakhouse with a bar in the middle. The steakhouse, you should consider no ball cap or shorts. Dress up a little won't kill you. The bar selection is great (Blanton's, Whistle Pig, Four Roses, Basil Hayden are typically stocked). Nice wine selection and the steaks are perfectly cooked and marbled. You'll be back!

I'm originally from the south, and oh boy this is the best comfort food I've found that isn't back…read morehome. Jennifer waited on me and was a joy to speak to and offered great recommendations on the whole menu (bottom line, sounds like you can't go wrong). The 'bee dust' is a nice twist on adding honey to your chicken, it's a dehydrated honey/pepper combo that adds a great flare. Unfortunately, I'm not in Des Moines as much I'd like to be, but next time I'm here I'll be waiting at the door before they open! 2 thumbs up, 5 stars, oh yeah!!

We arrived with a group of three for lunch on a Wednesday. It was not busy, maybe 1/8 of the table…read moreoccupied. Tables and restaurant was clean. Service was friendly and fine overall. Everything just seemed to take longer than necessary. We stood at the front maybe 10 minutes before anyone came to seat us and food took even longer, around 25 minutes (figuring out our order maybe took ten). I parked the meter for an hour and had to go refill. I ordered the Grilled Harvest Chicken. There is a creamy tomato pasta used to coat the chicken breasts. The cuts were good overall. This dish also includes two sides. I got the fried okra and goat cheese grits. Fried okra was good, around thirty percent breading that makes a nice savory balance. The grits were creamy and smooth. I think I would come again if I was looking for heavy southern. There were a lot of classic options to choose from that I could not try this time around. Though I would still be concerned with the wait involved.

This restaurant was right next to our hotel, so we walked over, even after reading mixed reviews…read more The food, service and atmosphere were all great. Bailey (girl) was our server she was awesome. We had the chicken parm, chicken picata, and the beef stroganaff. The fresh focaccia bread was the bomb. The salads were also great.

Easy online reservation system and parking. Pleasant…read morehostess. Beautiful restaurant. We sat more than 5 minutes before we were greeted and when we finally were it was to be told the server would be right with us. Absolutely unacceptable in any restaurant, never mind at this price point. Obviously by then we were ready to order. No apologies about the wait, no welcome or offer to answer questions, make recommendations, so on like you'd expect from this caliber of restaurant. We had a calamari appetizer that was average at best. I ordered the chicken piccata and mashed potatoes. The chicken was average quality and in preparation, taste was not at all like your traditional or typical piccata that you would expect. No lemon, buttery or caper flavor. Instead a pile of onions on top which probably drown out any taste there might have been. The mashed potatoes were swimming in grease. My friend ordered a steak which she said was excellent and prepared perfectly at medium as requested. She opted for the baked potato which was definitely better than the mashed. Our meals came with salad and bread, both of which were very good.

Cracker Barrel on steroids. Would definitely be 5 star but…read moreI need to try more items. The turkey Reuben was fire, the salad was delicious, and my friends burger looked scrumptious. Can't wait to come back. The service was great, and unique ambiance...

Machine Shed was a bit of a mixed bag for us. The overall vibe reminded me a little of an older,…read moremore worn-down Cracker Barrel. There's carpet throughout the dining area, which unfortunately makes the whole place feel a little dingy and dated. One of the coolest things about the restaurant is actually outside. It's located near what used to be a farm, and there's a chicken coop along with a nice herb and vegetable garden that you can walk through. It was a fun and unexpected thing to explore while waiting for our food, especially with a kid. The food itself was very hit or miss, and nothing really wowed our group. I ordered the sirloin medium rare, but it came out closer to medium, and I didn't think the quality of the steak was particularly good for the price. The presentation was also a little odd, with the steak served on a very well-used tin-style plate that had definitely seen better days. Other dishes were mixed as well. The onion strings were a hit, and one person really enjoyed the Reuben. The corn was excellent, and most of us liked the coleslaw and rolls. There was also pieces of spice cake or pumpkin bread tucked underneath the rolls, which was an unusual but surprisingly nice addition. On the other hand, the liver was dry, the prime rib was fattier than expected with quite a bit that wasn't really edible, and the mashed potatoes were very dry and bland. They also bring several family-style sides to the table whether you order them or not, including things like cottage cheese. It felt a little strange and somewhat wasteful since we didn't want or touch some of it, and overall it creates a LOT of food on the table. The meal wasn't particularly inexpensive either. Before tip, we spent about $70 for two adults and a child, which felt pretty steep considering the overall quality of the food. I will give them credit for the country store area. These types of restaurant gift shops can sometimes be filled with a lot of random junk, but this one actually had some interesting Iowa and farm-themed items that were fun to browse. Service was perfectly good, but overall this was more of an interesting one-time experience for us than somewhere I'd be eager to return to. We were invited here rather than choosing it ourselves, and I'm glad we tried it, but there are too many better dining options in the Des Moines area for me to be clamoring to come back.

We have been to Irina's a few times and it has always been a delicious experience…read more Irina's has one of the best steak offerings in the metro. Their sides are always delicious as well. We tried the bang bang shrimp for the first time and is now an all time favorite. The service is always a bit slow but it's a restaurant that creates that kind of culture, so not a big deal. The ambiance is dark and moody, but the vibe is great. The servers are always kind and attentive. Definitely a must visit steakhouse.

Both kids had stuff going on and I had the chance to slide off to a last minute invite for dinner…read morewith a few friends on Friday evening. Although I really miss the old location off of Hickman I still get over to Irina's now and then... I was the first to arrive and soon after the hostess had seated me Dmitri came over to say hello. It's always great to see him. Irina was under the weather and wasn't on site. I've gotten to know both well over the years and I really enjoy catching up with them both. He knows how I felt about the old location and I'm in my 50s now and don't always deal with change well. The current location is beautiful, and I'll get used to it, but I still miss that old wooden horseshoe bar and the more intimate feel. This visit was to see a friend who has since moved out of state (Tena). Our reservation was for eight at 800 PM on Friday evening. We went over our planned eight and Dmitri quickly helped expand our table to meet our needs. The first time I met Tena was actually in Irina's (the Hickman location) back in early March of 2021. I was in Irina's trying the poutine that had been added to the menu not long before that and Tena was there planning a birthday party. I recognized her from Facebook...along with a very big pink unicorn pinata she had recently purchased, I introduced myself, and I've been friends with her and her husband since then. As everyone arrived over the first few minutes our server was quick to take drink orders and we moved on to food once everyone had arrived. I started with an espresso martini. I don't think there was an introvert at the table so conversations flowed like efficient drink refills and if service was slow I'm not sure I would have noticed it. We ordered quite a few appetizers that were shared around the table. Bang bang shrimp, tuna tartare, calamari, philly cheese steak eggroll, and stacks of onion rings. I can't honestly say I can remember what everyone ordered for entrees. I had the almost famous lobster macaroni with a side of grilled asparagus and I know Tena had the Iowa farm pork chop that came with a glaze, garlic whipped potatoes, and brussel sprouts. I will say that I was expecting the normal lobster mac n cheese with chunks of lobster meat and I was pleasantly surprised when my bed of macaroni came out with a very nicely sized lobster tail perched on top. The lobster was cooked perfectly. The meat had already been separated from the tail so it was no muss no fuss. Her pork chop was a HUGE chunk of meat balanced on an end making it a can't miss focal point. Presentation at Irina's has always been something that is going to be really hard to beat anywhere else... Say what you want but they put out some picture perfect plates. We wrapped up after a couple of hours and said our "see you laters..." Goodbyes don't really seem to happen with this group. More like... Until next time! I think we all enjoyed the food, I know I did mine, but sometimes dinner is really more about the company you keep at your table. In a lot of ways Irina's can be as divisive. Mannnn... I've heard good and bad. But I can only judge on my personal experience. Yes...I know Irina and Dmitri, however when I go in they are not always on site and their staff doesn't know me from Adam. Maybe Daniel would recognize me... I've been a customer for well over ten years, I don't consider myself a regular though, and I've never been treated rudely or had a bad meal. In fact it's a business I take visitors to from out of town and one I recommend. Are there going to be off days? I'm sure there are. Like any other business in 2024 they sometimes face both staffing and distribution chain issues. Have I experienced slower than normal service there every now and then? Sure have. And I've had that at many other places too that I continue to go back to also... I've always found that easy to forgive for good food. I've written a couple reviews over the years and I've tried highly recommended places and I've went to places intentionally that received pretty bad write ups. The one thing I would always stress with anywhere... Reviews are subjective. Even mine. Don't let a couple of bad reviews, or something you hear, dissuade you from trying someplace new. No one else is writing your book. If someone is going to be the one putting your pen to your paper to tell your story... Let it be you! If you've been putting off a visit to Irina's go ahead and give it a chance... You might just really like it... I know I do! https://www.irinassteakandseafood.com/

If I could do negatives stars I would. The food was horrible & the vibes weird as hell. Got the…read moreribeye which was GRAY, then a Caesar salad, BLT club, and the flatbread. All tasted and looked like an elementary school cafeteria food. Not to mention the wine that was poured from a half open bottle was $14 a glass. & that was apparently the cheapest red wine they had. SMH

I had the hamburger, onion rings and a side salad. It was fantastic. The burger was cooked to…read moreperfection and had a great grilled flavor. I enjoyed all three and would recommend trying it.

Ordered the family meal with fried chicken breasts, and sides of hash brown casserole as well as…read moregreen beans with enough servings for the next day. Eric, the day manager promptly called to state they were out of cold slaw allowing me to substitute the second side with another choice. The prices were reasonable with a pick up that was seamless and quick allowing me to maneuver through an environment full of delightful customers.

I would like to leave a review about the seasonal campfire meals. However, I can't…read more We came in and were seated promptly. Then15 to 20 minutes went by with no recognition that we were taking up space at a table. The restaurant was not even busy. Then the folks that came in after us were seated, got their drinks, and placed an order. Still nothing for us - a party of 2. We finally left after it ea apparent that we were not going to get served. Been a very long time since we had something like this happen anywhere.

A couple of us went in for a quick dinner and sat at the bar. The service was attentive and…read morefriendly and the food was great! We had hamburgers and fries. Well worth the visit!

Came in for a quick bite to eat but slow service prevented the quick part. However, the food was…read morepretty good. I had the French dip and there was plenty of beef. The fries were plain if you don't like seasoned. All other sides is extra $. Someone at the table ordered the plain cheeseburger with sweet potato fries. They said it was ok, nothing special. We both received plenty of fries which was nice. The place was loud but we were still able to hear each other at the table with no difficulty. There are several TVs if you are interested in seeing a game, it looked like every seat had a good view.