TrailSide Tap — Restaurant in Ankeny

was visiting some friends in Ankeny and we wanted to find a good lunch spot. The weather was perfect and we wanted to sit outside. We opted for the Trailside Tap. First off, I LOVE what Ankeny is doing in this uptown neighborhood. Cute storefronts, plenty of options to shop, eat, and drink. I really liked this outdoor patio. There was a bar area, TVs, plenty of seating, even some shuffle ball courts. The downside was that my furry friend wasn’t welcome to join so she had to stay in the car. Don’t come for me, we took her out for a walk in the shade partway through the meal and had it running with the air on as well. :) this brunch burger looked awfully tasty with the everything bagel. The burger initially came out a little underdone, but the staff was happy to accommodate. The french fries were deliciously crispy and honestly, I was a little envious of this BLT. The sourdough, bacon, and fresh tomato, looked pretty much like summertime on a plate. However, I thought that my mediterranean grain bowl was exactly what I wanted. It was very flavorful, it had contrasting textures, was nutrient packed, and just the right portion. It came with kale, quinoa, kamut, feta, grape tomato, edamame, crispy chickpea, and a tahini lemon dressing. I added a salmon fillet and it was cooked perfectly. I didn’t realize that they only were doing the brunch menu on the weekend and was a little sad that I couldn’t order the seared shrimp lettuce wraps I had my hopes on when I looked at the menu....

I arrived at 3:30 pm with only one other car in the front parking lot. There were four other people there and it was quiet, perfect. I took a seat at the bar and ordered the trailside burger with fries and a light beer. I was given a glass of water before even ordering. The wait for the food was almost nothing. Burger cooked medium by my request was pink throughout and perfect by my standards. I did have some concerns though. You can taste the char from the grill, it's excellent. The caramelized onions could use some work though. Undercooked in my opinion. However, I like mine a caramel color and almost burnt. The burger itself had good flavor, the only thing stopping it from being great is the plate it's served on. The burger is so moist that you cannot set it back on the small plate unless you don't mind eating a soggy bun. Then the fries. They cater to a mostly older crowd, and their fries come unsalted. This should be an option, not the standard. They did choose the perfect fry though. Cornstarch exterior gives a satisfying crunch and texture. I was glad the bartender suggested having ranch with them. They also used dill in their ranch which is typically found in higher priced places but it lacked onion and garlic flavor. As I ate, more people began to show up, and the atmosphere became loud. All in all it was decent, but could use a better plating for food and salt on the fries. I...

My family and I were excited to sit on the patio and have lunch after the Ankeny farmer’s market today. When we walked up, the patio was under half full and we asked a young woman clearing tables if there was availability for the patio and she rudely stated that we would need to go to the hostess stand for her to check us in. No biggie, we weaved our wagon with our two kiddos through the patio and restaurant and waited for her at the front. She came back and snapped that the wait for the patio would be about 10 minutes. We decided to wait outside, about 35 minutes later we were notified that our table was ready. The food and atmosphere were both really great, although there wasn’t much of a breeze where we were sitting on the patio and when we inquired if the fans could be turned on we received a rude ‘I guess’ from our waitress. It seemed that there may have been issues with this because the fans were not turned on. In addition to that, we didn’t receive any refills on drinks, just one check in at the end of our meal and it took an incredibly long time to get our payment completed/ cash back with two young kids ready for nap time. If you know, you know. I don’t typically write reviews, and negative ones at that, but the rude service we received today from two separate entities was really off putting. I hope that it was due to the busy nature of the restaurant today and not the...