Alpine Tap — Restaurant in Des Moines

Avoid this place like the plague. Not sure how they stay in business. My wife and I usually like small "neighborhood" bars, but only if the bartenders are friendly like you would expect. We walk in at 10 pm on Friday night 4/18/14, and there are no more than five people total in the place. The couple we are with orders a beer and a water. The bartender, even though he was not doing anything else at the time, acts put out to even help them. My wife then goes to the bar to order shots for us. She can't handle the straight stuff, so she orders an "applesauce", a common shot these days but understandable if he did not know how to make it. She tries telling the bartender what's in it and he angrily says "we don't have that!", without recommending anything else. So she asks him to just recommend something. And he proceeds to rudely tell her "I don't know what you want!" and literally walks away from her. He didn't walk away to do other work mind you, but to just stand on the other end of the bar with his arms crossed, looking the other way as if we were just done with our order. So I chime in and said "excuse me, we have an order and you are ignoring us". So he immediately blows his lid and yells at the top of his lungs at me telling me "he was NOT ignoring us". So I tell him he's the rudest bartender I have ever seen and he proceeds to shout me down. At this point I told him he was a loser, which he was (think 50 year old with a mullet and zero interpersonal skills). I start walking for the rear exit because no way were we spending any money there....and he comes around the bar and gets in my face yelling at me telling me to get out (as if I was going to stay anyway). He was acting in a threatening manner so I asked him if he was going to try to get physical with me. I found myself hoping he would so I had an excuse...The ONLY thing that kept me from pounding this worm into the ground is that I know the bartender will always be on the right side of the law if the police are called. Even though he instigated everything. So I walked out and we exchanged words. He used a homophobic slur at me, so I said "nice mullet" on my way out the door. He insulted my wife and me numerous times. We are still scratching our heads at why he was so rude to us. We guessed that maybe we were dressed too nicely (I had a golf shirt on, my wife had on a nice blouse). It literally felt like he profiled us as being yuppies and immediately hated on us as a result. That old act is really weak. This place is unfriendly, dank and dirty, has very limited selection, and has no atmosphere whatsoever. It would get zero stars if I could and I have no idea why a person would go here when you have Wellmans, the Yacht Club, and Star Bar within...

This is a no frills neighborhood original bar locked in time, 70s or 80s depending on what parts, the place is meticulously kept and clean, you won't find "the most interesting man in the world" here, but you will find neighborhood originals that can tell you a story or two and a bar tender that will have your drink ready before the one your drinking is finished, the juke box, was maybe updated the last time rolling Stones released a real album, no food, good low key hangout with friends spot with no...

Been coming here for years. For the money and just in general it is the best place to grab a drink in the city. Bartending staff, especially Anne, is second to none. The new owner did a great job preserving a lot of the core charm that the previous owner and his brother cultivated over many decades, while putting his own stamp on it. You may hear people complain about how things used to be not understanding that this place has...