Centro Restaurant & Bar Review

Excellent restaurant with a Italian style. Great pizza, salads, wonderful home baked bread. Can choose a steak, pasta and and tasty desserts as well.

One of my favorite places to eat in downtown Des Moines.

The food and service were both thorough and excellent.

Good food, especially the home made pasta. Good service and open on Sundays.

Fantastic food really good ingredients. Pizza and drinks.

One of the best upscale Italian restaurants in downtown DSM. For the first time, I ordered the Truffle Mac and Cheese for lunch. The dish was $16, but worth it based on how large the portion was. Plenty of noodles and applewood smoked ham, and the truffle cheddar cheese was amazing.

Portion size is fairly large for many meals, making it ideal for sharing dishes with others. While competition for pizza is high in DSM, I'd recommend giving theirs a shot as it is high quality and at a comparable price to other places in the area.

First time eating inside last night. Our waiter was very inventive and pleasant. I started off with cucumber mule and I absolutely loved it!! Then we got onion rings and requested sides of ranch. The homemade ranch the best ranch I have ever had. Rings dipped in ranch was fantastic!! We seen the pizza half off. So we got Italian sausage pepperoni. Pizza was good. Cant wait to come again to try other entrees!!

Overall my experience wasn't terrible, but when I measure Centro up as a fine-dining establishment where the main entrees are in the $20+ range I found it to be lacking and probably not someplace I'll be going back to.

Seating
When my wife and I ate there it was relatively early (5:30 PM) on a Saturday night so it wasn't too busy yet - I think this helped considerably because, as the Google Maps Photos and other reviewers have commented, if the place was packed then you'd have people sitting 2 feet to either side of you. I know it's not a very large venue, but I feel that trying to squeeze as many seats into the space as possible is not the solution.

Food/Drinks
I had the Spicy Sausage Rigatoni and my wife had the Chicken and Prosciutto - The food tasted good, had good presentation and we both had enough leftover to take home for a healthy leftovers portion. We each had a drink - I ordered a Bellini, which I would not order again, and my wife ordered a Pomegranate martini which she liked. I found the drink-selection process to be cumbersome because they brought us a tablet with an interface that didn't really work very well and on the whole was not an improvement over simply printing out a drink menu with what alcohols were available and what their specialty drinks might be (back to the old adage that Less is More).

We were surprised/disappointed that there was no desert - or at least none that was offered to us.

Service
As I mentioned, it was early on a Saturday evening, and the crowd of wait-staff that were standing around just watching us as we talked, ordered, and drank/ate was a bit unnerving. Our waiter himself was okay, I wouldn't say that he was great. He seemed polite and professional but considering the place was not busy at all he didn't spend any more time at our table than he had to.

A small issue I had, and maybe a little trivial, was that I was very much disappointed that our waiter did not grate fresh Parmesan cheese on our meals for us. After having that service at chain restaurants like Olive Garden and Bravo, I was very surprised that Centro skimps in that regard.

One other thing - we thought it was a little peculiar that he didn't offer to send the remainder of the complimentary bread home with us.

Nice location and decor, however they had the audacity to charge $24 for spaghetti, and sub par spaghetti at that. The meatball was massive and extremely overcooked and the sauce was worse than that which you can buy in a jar at walmart. Sad

Food and service was outstanding, great spot for mom's birthday

Wide variety of comfort and refined choices. Very fresh. Get the Tomato Basil soup!
Our server was excellent.

"A Tree grows in Brooklyn" " A good Pizza in made in Iowa"

Took out a small Sausage and mushroom pie. Cheese was nearly to the edge, fresh mushrooms, too. Very delicious!

Awesome food every time! The wait staff is very friendly and fast.

Had the scallops, I'm pretty picky when it comes to cooking them correctly and these were magnificently cooked to perfection. I like em just like a medium rare steak and these babies were good sized too. Can't wait to go back and try some other dishes.

Stopped here for lunch while driving through Des Moines. Had a great experience with friendly staff, good food and excellent speed of service. Waiter recommended the Kill Bill sandwich that had initially caught my attention. Because you only live once I went all in in the enormous pork tenderloin topped with ham, bacon and a fried egg. An excellent choice for a strong appetite! The fries and pickle were great complements as well. The environment was pleasant and felt more expensive than the meal itself.

DELICIOUS food and a beautiful atmosphere. Kind and friendly staff! Can't wait to go back!

I wish I could remember our servers name, she was amazing! Portabella mushroom fries alone were worth coming back for

Good food (great mussels & osso buco) & romantic atmosphere for a date night

Great food and a beautiful patio. I really enjoyed the pizza and salad lunch.

It was first time I had the worst calamari but service was good.

Celebrated my daughter's 19th birthday with a group of 13. Food and service were both excellent!

Somehow, Centro managed to blur the line between elegance, timeless class, casual dining and a family friendly atmosphere, and all in the best way. My party and I were greeted with a smile on the way in, and somehow we were seated within seconds of our walking in, despite the busy-ness of the restaurant. Our waitress was very helpful and friendly, and remained professional but didn't mute her personality. The food was phenomenal. A classic Caesar salad tied together the end of a long day of travel, and house-made Cheesecake left me with a happy palate and ready for bed nearby. On the way out, the manager or maitre d, told us that he expected to see us every Monday night from now on. We all got a laugh, and frankly, if I lived in Des Moines, they would be seeing me weekly! I also have to add, everybody inside felt very relaxed inside despite the hustle and bustle. Large tables of people (6+) were all sitting around laughing and visiting with each other, despite having already finished their meals, and their plates, having been taken.

Had a great time and an amazing meal. The New York strip is an absolute must have.

Great food, great drinks. The server was lovely and treated us all with an amazing service, definitely will come back

Always good! And they now have vegan cheese for pizzas!!

Not impressed. Had to send food back because it was under cooked. The food quality for the money they charge isn't worth it.

Very good food, my only complaint about fine establishments like this not enough lighting to see the meal or menu.

My 2 teenagers and I were here almost a mth ago with a family friend for lunch. We enjoyed everything ordered, which included calamari, steak & grilled salmon. The service was also good!

The decor makes my wife feel like she is back home on the East Coast.

Great place to meet family for lunch. I had the kill bill sandwich which was amazing! My wife has a vegetarian burger that she says was good.

Centro is always a good experience! We've been several times and they're always happy to make little substitutions for us. The service is fantastic and the food is scrumptious! We've come for the whole experience and other times just to get dessert.

awesome place. yes, it is expensive, but 100% worth it. Service is awesome and love the atmosphere and decor. will come back in the future

AMAZING food, impeccable service, reasonable prices. Make reservations.

We went to dinner at 801 Chophouse for the first time for our anniversary dinner. Their customer service was fantastic and spot on. The waiter took excellent care, attention and even had the table dolled up for our anniversary.

Mondays are half price pizza. The best pizza in Des Moines!

Delicious upper scale Italian restaurant in Downtown Des Moines. Food was pretty good for the most part, but the flourless chocolate cake was out of this world amazing. I would go back just for that. Pasta and Steak were good but nothing I need to go out of my way for again. Drinks were good. Make a reservation ahead of time to avoid a wait time.

Beautiful place to eat. Enjoyed the environment and the service. The food was great.

Great food and great service. Came for a lunch meeting and was not disappointed. Very attentive staff and the food was accurate and delicious.

Very very good for Iowa ..:) the chicken and pasta had solid flavor and burger was great..

The service was excellent, the food was average but the ambience is awful, it is the worst dining environment in town. The noise is beyond description. The kitchen is in the dining area and the constant sound from that work area causes diners to yell so others at their table can hear. This place makes Chuck E. Cheese's seem peaceful.

I found that a glass of wine was way overpriced ! Ridiculous ! This is Iowa not NYC !

They have amazing salmon. Also the cup of soup is a must have to start.

Great atmosphere. The food was delicious and the service was fantastic!

Ordered the Kill Bill pork tenderloin sandwich. The pork fritter was perfectly breaded. The ham very tasty. The bacon sublime. A very large sandwich, but I thought I could finish it off. It kicked my a$$! I recommend it highly. But the best thing I ate was the portobello fries. Do not dine here without having an order of these. My wife and I were there with a large wedding party. My compliments to our waitstaff. Service was seamless.

Amaizing food, Menu, staff, atmosphere and fair pricing. Downtown right by all the attractions.

Really good atmosphere for some the start of a night. Food is always fresh and delicious, I recommend the pizza anytime. Great drink selections as well.

This place is phenomenal, I truly can not recommend it enough. Went here for a date night and now it's one of our favorite places.

Perfect food! Perfect service! Perfect atmosphere! Every time!

Two nights in a row I ate here. First night for business with coworker and business contacts, second night for pleasure with my wife. The food, service, and atmosphere were all exemplary. Particularly want to recommend the lamb and also the scallops.

Go to Centro a lot and always have a good experience.

Great service and amazing food! HIGHLY recommend the pancetta wrapped shrimp appetizer!

Food was fabulous, wine was wonderful and our waiter/server was awesome! He was informative, suggesting foods that would please the palate. He was very kind in serving this old gal her birthday sundae too! Thank you!

I chose Centro for my first dinner in Des Moines. My friend and I were welcomed and shown a table immediately. All was well till the server came along to take our order. Clearly she did not want to serve us - no eye contact, no smile. Once she delivered the food, she made a point of going to the other tables next to us to check on them and ask how everything was, but not our table. Although the food was great, this behavior of one server in particular left a sour taste and we decided not to continue on to the next course. And yes, we are Asians. Very disappointed in the way we were treated today in this day and age.

8 bucks for a beer on tap. Pizza was cold when arrived at table. Honesty, this place is not worth the price.

Food was served hot, fresh ingredients and terrific flavor excellent service too staff are courtious

Was expecting a smaller portion for the price and atmosphere, was pleasantly wrong! Pizza was incredible, onion rings were fancy, well-priced and delicious.

Girlfriend and I had an incredible dinner here when we visited De Moines. The ravioli was absolutely incredible, and our dishes definitely satisfied. The waitstaff was very kind and helpful. The food is pretty expensive, but we knew that was the case and were expecting a high-ish price tag. Definitely good spot to take your friends and family for a high class dining experience.

One of my favourite , blackened Salmon with Salad!!!