Naughtea — Restaurant in Ankeny

TLDR: best kdogs in Iowa, cheese pull , limited seating, maybe vegan soon? Food: I love the kdogs here because they have a great cheese pull. When you eat it hot, the cheese pull is so cheesy. There's plenty of cheese on the inside, so when you bite into the kdog, there are no gaps of air. There is not a sweet chili sauce, which is unfortunate, but they do offer a variety of other sauce options. While I have tried them, I personally feel that sweet chili sauce mixes the best with the kdogs. My favorite to get is the hot Cheeto (with all cheese, as I am vegetarian). It adds the perfect crunch and flavor, without being too overpowering. It does become quite messy, so I don't recommend eating in a car or walking. They also have the classic kdog styles with potato (and sweet potato), and you can add sugar (for an extra cost), which are all good. It does not top the hot Cheeto one, though. I have ordered the boba here; it's not world shattering or particularly unique in my opinion, but it is still good boba. I would say it is one of the better places in the Ankeny area that has boba. However, I would mostly recommend this place for the kdogs, not boba. They recently added vegan options, but these vegan options are not actually available. Super sad about that because it would be the first place I know to have vegan kdogs, that also include vegan kdogs with fake meat. When asked when the vegan options will return, the answer is unknown. Service: The service is very nice. It's local and a small business, so the workers are quite friendly (and usually young). They do door dash and take away, so it can be a minute before they help you (despite no one else in line). Other: There is not too much seating available, a few booths and a handful of small tables (two seaters). When it's busy, I don't recommend trying to get a seat. The walls and decor are cute with signs and fun colors. They also play Kpop music in the background, which is nice...

When I'm in the mood for something familiar yet a little different I always think of Naughtea. The shop itself is small but it's full of life and character with funny slogans and photos on the walls. The staff are friendly and their Korean Dogs and Boba Tea are hands down some of the best in Des Moines and surrounding area.

I first tried them a few years ago and since then they've only gotten better which is what compelled me to finally leave a review. Their K-Dogs are unexpectedly large, low cost and tasty.

On my first visit I purchased two a mozzarella ones (and I have a huge appetite) and couldn't even finish them so if you're visiting I'd recommend only one full mozzarella one to start, and one beef, or go half and half which I find a lot more palatable and enjoyable.

As far as the options go, I like the S sweet potato coated 50/50 option with a drizzle of siracha myself but they have a lot of options and variety so you should experiment to find the one that's best for you. Some are a lot more sweeter and some are more savoury, all of them are tasty.

They're also pretty accommodating with their milk teas willing to make small adjustments to ingredients and sugar level which I appreciate.

Overall, for what it is and what it's trying to be I have no real criticisms for Naughtea besides the lack of calorific and nutritional information on the menu which I'd like to see as standard for those that want...

I feel like this place was unfortunately over-hyped. ): we got a large brown sugar jasmine tea with boba pearls & a small peach slushy with boba pearls for the drinks. we also got a hot cheeto half&half corndog & a potato half&half corndog. our total was $30 with a tip.

• pictures for size reference * the jasmine tea was something new for me & it was odd at first but grew on me. the boba is pretty small for being an add on & i have preferred another place that has larger pearls. the peach slushy lacked peach flavor but it was okay. the corndogs were pretty good, the hot cheeto being our preferred over the potato which didn't taste like much. maybe we needed sauce? but we did not want to pay additional for sauce. i feel like the prices are a little on the higher side - i enjoy another location whose drinks are a tad smaller but their boba pearls are larger for around the same price if not a little bit less. $30 seemed to be a lot for what we got, but, the corndogs filled us up. the service was good, nice staff. i don't think i would come again though based on the boba size & the price. i wasn't wowed...