Top 100 Restaurants in Central Iowa: Speed Reviews

As I mentioned in my summary of the summer, I stumbled upon a big list that the Des Moines Register made of the top 100 local restaurants (after surveying thousands of readers). As I am a big fan of eating local and most of the restaurants on the list are locally owned or local chains, it seemed like a great idea to start checking some of these places out.

Restaurants on the list that we had been to before I saw the list:

• Waterfront Seafood Market** (excellent fish and shrimp—service can be slow)
• Hickory Park* (cheap, good food—a real institution in Ames)
• Maid-Rite (never quite got the appeal of this—it’s a dry sloppy joe)
• Okoboji Grill (pretty good food—the one near us has lots of big TVs in the lounge/bar area)
• Great Plains Sauce and Dough Company* (great thick crust pizza with tons of cheese—definitely a notch above most pizza places)
• Iowa Machine Shed* (cute theme, good home cooking)
• Ohana Steakhouse (fun with large groups…a bit expensive for what you get)
• Tavern Pizza and Pasta Grill (this seemed like a very ordinary mediocre pizza place when we went)
• Granite City* (good the few times we’ve been there—great waffle fries)
• Maxie’s* (good food, really nice service)
• Chips* (the chips are good :)--they have a pretty good chicken salad sandwich too)
• B-Bops* (the best fast food burgers in Des Moines…hands down)
• Café Su (Americanized Chinese food in a shiny package…meh)

Restaurants that we’ve visited because they were on the list (have visited all of these places just once):

• Tasty Taco (great fried soft shells, good if you’re hankering for decent cheap tacos)
• The Radish* (good homemade chips—my chicken strips were delicious and unique—we’ll definitely go back to try more off their menu)
• Drake Diner* (overall tasty— their onion rings are always voted best in city view—pretty good, but I’m not a big fan of onion strings)
• The Urban Grill (ok—Rob enjoyed his pasta, my burger was overdone and Sarah Ann’s meal was just odd)
• Legends *(I had been to the one in Ames—but it’s more like a bar and grill than restaurant. The local Legends has little TVs at every booth. The food was very good)
• Smitty’s Tenderloin Shop (very fast and friendly service, food was just ok—might go back to try something other than the tenderloin sandwich)
• Ted’s Coney Island* (I had a very good gyro and Rob enjoyed his Chicago dog. The baskets come with fries and rings, but neither are very stellar.)

*Would recommend. **Would recommend if you're in no hurry.

Two restaurants that I would recommend that are not on the big list:
Brickhouse Grill (formerly Cheddars)
and Saigon Cafe