Echo the above...Maude's probably feels nicest (low lighting, etc), the Spice is great if you like Thai/Asian, and also the Cafe (however I don't think they take reservations ), +39 was pretty good. I think would have been better if we went on a busier evening, if that makes sense.
Ames Upscale Dining
- Thread starter jbindm
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10+ years ago I took my wife (then girlfriend/fiance) to Aunt Maude's, and dinner/desert/a beer/softdrink always came to $100+ after the tip. It's not expensive by US standards, but it's expensive by small-town midwest standards.
Edit: Just looked at their menu online, and it looks like their prices haven't changed at all since the last time we went which is surprising. I also saw they don't have the duck breast with cranberry and sausage stuffing anymore, which is too bad - that stuff was incredible.
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when i saw the title of this thread my first thought was "Does Ames even have any fine dining restaurants?"
I'm not sure Des Moines has more than one or two, if even that many.
I think all of those places listed in this thread are all good restaurants and I'm fairly certain they all have a menu that better fits my tastes but I think we have different definitions of fine dining.
just a weird phrasing to me i suppose. Generally those types of places are called steakhouses right(even if they're not really known for steak)
I definitely wouldn't classify the places being mentioned in this thread as steakhouses. Fine dining, no but not steakhouses either. Some would be classified as cafes while others fall somewhere between casual and fine dining.
- Mar 27, 2006
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Wait, are you saying the restaurants listed are usually called steakhouses? Or fine dining restaurants are called steakhouses? I'm confused.
this one. Apparently I was wrong on that anyway. Maybe family restaurant works better as a catchall.
Probably the only one but I am not a fan of +39 - slowwww service and were out of several menu items the last time I was there. A friend of mine went there the other day and they had run out of bloody mary mix. I'll try it again but you can never go wrong with Aunt Maude, all time favorite of mine.
Yeah, it's all relative. I could have clarified by saying that I don't want to go to a chain restaurant or Hickory Park. I'm not expecting a Michelin four star restaurant or anything, but a place with a comfortable atmosphere, a decent wine list and a creative menu will do the trick.
