The Best-Looking Dining Patios in Des Moines

I go beyond the usual suspects! Here are patios you might not know about … or that you might have forgotten about ... or that might have changed since you saw them last.

I spent much of past few days driving around and checking out dining patios in town. I’ve shared a few photos that I took of the most promising spots. Keep in mind these are dining patios—restaurants that are food-forward, rather than bars and beer gardens that happen to have food. (Nothing wrong with the latter—it’s just not the focus here).

Patio at the Latin King. I took this photo on a weekday afternoon. I bet it’s even better when the umbrellas are up, the sun’s going down, and the jazz is playing.

Note that I decided to mostly avoid the usual suspects. There are a lot of patios out there that everyone already knows about (the same ones that get written about in roundup after roundup, year after year, for good reason). These include Eatery A, Gilroy’s, Lua Brewing, Big Grove, The Art Center, Trellis at the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden, and the porch at Café di Scala. All are lovely places to sit—but you probably already know that.

Instead, I’m focusing on patios you might not…