District 36 Wine Bar & Grille — Restaurant in Ankeny

Preference that I did pick up so I can't comment on atmosphere or table service.

To start STAFF: Those that I did interact with were great, friendly, accommodating, and leaving with a smile is a perfect way to say thank you and bye. As my family has allergies I called to place the order over the phone. The woman who took my order sounded nice, careful with the details she wrote down, was up front that there are the allergens in the kitchen but she let the chef know and they will take precautions. I felt comfortable with her response. When I passed out the food at home the dishes had the specific allergies of that person for everyone to be mindful. That is a level of service. There are still far too many restaurants that don't understand what cross-contamination means and some simply measures that can be put in place to make a big difference. I was impressed. If I knew the woman's name I would give a big shout out to her. This is worth 5 stars.

FOOD: I was disappointed in the steak. The medium well filet was fine but my medium rare filet was a little over cooked. No red juice coming out when I cut the middle and not as tender as I expected for a filet. Unfortunately it is a common mistake when you order medium-rare from a place other than a steak house, however with the prices being charged and how they advertise their steak I expected more. My kid go their burger and it was fine, tasted good, good portion size. The asparagus should have been cooked a minute or two longer but overall it was good. The baked potato was good. Sadly my purpose for going was the steak as my first choice restaurant was closed and I needed to stay in the Ankeny area. If the meat is good quality a little bit of salt and pepper does the trick for a medium rare steak. I understand now why they normally add toppings, I had requested without. (Also the desserts that have a heavy price tag to them weren't good-chocolate cake and key lime pie.) For a take-out bill (w/tip), no drinks or apps, for 3 people I expected a little more for a dinner that cost me over $160. This is worth 3 stars.

I give 4 stars due to the staff and hope that maybe their other things, like their pizza, are good on the menu. I think the restaurant has potential but might want to up the food quality and either look into the process of making the food or potentially the equipment being used needing some updates. I did hear the word "Fire" coming from the kitchen twice while waiting for my order. It was a...

I recently had my baby shower in the wine room at District 36 and feel compelled to share my experience. Back in March I visited with the owner, Sean, and signed my contract to hold the room on May 17th. At the beginning of May I emailed twice with my guest count and food choices with no response from anyone at the venue. Since it had been a couple of months I was worried about the lack of response and asked my husband to contact the venue to check in. My husband called twice to speak to someone, and each time had to leave a message with the host requesting a call or email back from someone that could confirm some details and go over some things with me. I had not heard back from anyone after 4 attempts and was very worried about how the day was going to go. On the day of my shower my best friend showed up before me to begin decorating and setting up. When I arrived the first thing they told me was that they hung a small sign with a couple pieces of tape and that they were treated so poorly by Sean about the tape on the wall. I had neglected to tell my friend that we cannot tape anything to the wall, no matter how small. It was in the contract that I had signed. A couple minutes later I saw Sean and immediately apologized about the tape, and it was my fault for neglecting to tell them what the contract said and assured him nothing else would be hung and we would remove the sign carefully. Sean again explained that he has had to repaint the room several times due to tape ruining the wall and he did not want it to happen again. I understand that rules are rules, and I made a mistake but there is a professional way to conduct yourself and Sean did not do that. I was so embarrassed about how Sean was treating us and making an uncomfortable situation over a couple pieces of tape. I spent the next couple of hours feeling like a burden and inconvenience for being there. Sean did not check in or exchange any kind words with me the entire time I was there. At one point our waitress told us he was “high strung today” due to Iowa State graduation being that same day and it was a very busy day for them. As someone who works in healthcare, I can completely understand a busy, stressful day but that should never be taken out on paying customers. It is very sad to me that the behavior of the owner of the establishment overshadowed my experience. I hope this feedback is taken constructively, as customer service should always...

Went for a birthday outing so 10 in our group. Came in at 630 for our reservation, seated right away and took our orders pretty quickly which was nice. I've been here before and agreed it's a nice place for a dinner.

Took about an hour and a half to get the food though which seemed out of the norm. Unfortunately everyone who ordered steak got cold steaks. Not super impressed with that. The pasta wasn't impressive, and the chicken had a weird after taste. I made it through maybe half my steak sorry just couldn't do it cold lol. One out of the 10 people in our group actually liked their food so A+ for that. Another person couldnt eat theirs at all so it just got tossed unfortunately. The waiter was friendly, though she couldn't really do anything about it besides offer a discount initially (the manager ended up turning that down because people still ate some of it.)

Which, okay fine but if when you're spending 50-60$ a plate with an automatic 20% gratuity added, you just expect a little more. I've never seen a group of younger people actually openly admit when the food is bad. Usually they just deal with it because they don't wanna look like angry old people. On that note.. impressive. Birthday person was pretty upset and felt bad inviting people here. She chose this place because it looked super nice and I told her I'd been here before and it was pleasant. I've asked others about this place and it seems quality must be declining. Then I read some of the more recent reviews and realized it's not just our experience, but multiple others. Did a chef leave?

Really hope this place can turn around some like it was on my previous visits. It's not an awful place, the quality is just lacking and management didn't really seem to want to do anything for it. I know our friend group isn't the type to come in every weekend and spend that $100 a plate, but I don't see us ever coming here for a special event again.

Also I didn't ask to reheat my steak because 1. Reheated steak is depressing It already took 1.5 hours to get the food, I didn't want to wait another 15 minutes lol

On the plus side I did get some Key lime pie and it was just as good as the times I've had it before so...