The Five Best Restaurants in Des Moines—2024 Edition

A tightly curated list that will help you decide where to eat next.

Wait. Why only five? Certainly, I’ve had more than five good meals in the past year, but a good meal doesn’t necessarily equal a great dining experience—one where everything, from the food to the service, becomes all of a piece. And in my experience, when compiling a list of 15 or 20 or even 30 of the “best” restaurants in Des Moines, it’s too easy to blur the line between “best” and “pretty good.”

So this list is about the best: the places that stood out to me as better than the rest. It’s worth noting that this reflects only the restaurants I had a chance to visit in the past year. There are some I didn’t get to—no one can cover them all—but I did make it a point to check out many of the most high-profile spots.

If there’s a restaurant you’re wondering about that’s not on this list, feel free to ask about it in the comments section. (That’s one of the benefits of being a paid subscriber.) Better yet, tell us your own five favorite restaurants of the year.

And now, the list, starting with my top choice.

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