Arugula & Rye — Restaurant in Des Moines

I travel a great deal. I usually have very little funds but decided to check this place out. I stopped here on my way to the plane and I am not disappointed. Debating between a sandwich or pizza; I asked for an opinion...again, I am not disappointed. I chose the option suggested for my hunger.

Pizza. 12" x 4" of great pizza. The crust was thin, flaky, but not overdone. I like a lot of sauce; and even though I would've liked a lot more, there was enough and didn't seem generic. I chose sausage and red onion, add mushrooms. Oh my goodness!! Expectations surpassed. The sausage had such an explosion of actual flavor...not generic ground. Red onion were perfectly done. The mushrooms? O yea! Cheeeeeeese u ask. Ha! It was a fantastical and beautimiss pizza

I cannot speak for other's opinions of this place. The food was excellent, but the two ladies behind the counter were even better.

UPDATE:

Won't allow me to do a separate review, so I'll just add.

A second stop for another $11 item. This round I chose a sandwich. The AR Cuban.

Sliced pork and ham, sauerkraut, pickles, cheese, and Dijon mustard on ciabatta. Sooooo good. I'm not one for the 'kraut or spicy mustard; however, I admit I was intrigued. I was not disappointed. The Dijon was a bit much, so I thinned it out a little, but made certain to leave enough. I really enjoyed the crunch combo of the 'kraut & pickles.

Different ladies this time, but still...

I tend to order a Cuban sandwich everywhere I travel in search of the "best". I even had them from the Miami area, so imagine my surprise when I experienced an incredible Cuban sandwich from the Des Moines, Iowa airport! Perhaps the stars were all aligned that day, but the sandwich was hot with a perfect crunch. The pork was almost as thick as a porkchop (which is not turkey from another review I read and can be a light pink which is totally fine for pork) and then of course the ham, melted Swiss, pickles and special mustard sauce. It was so juicy and tender that I went through a bundle of napkins. With tons of Cubans I've eaten over my many travels, this honestly was one of the best, perhaps "the" best thus far! The service was a little bit slow because the one girl was training the other girl, but that is totally understandable. The place was clean and tidy. My only complaint is that I will never be able to eat another one again unless I travel through an airport who has an Arugla & Rye. I bragged about this sandwich so much to my husband I was thinking of surprising him one weekend and using my frequent fliers miles to just fly us to Des Moines for the afternoon to...

Flew out Sept. 3 around 1:15, hoping to catch lunch before boarding. The main resturant was slammed and under staffed, so made the decision to wait for Arugula to open. Asked at 11:15 if they were open, I was told 10 to 15 minutes. There were three ladies in the resturant, but only one seemed to be prepping for food service. At noon I decided to grab an overpriced sandwich at one of the grab and go markets. The resturant opened at 12:10. I have no idea of the quality of food, but why wouldn't a resturant be ready for a lunch crowd before noon with flights scheduled shortly after noon. It appreared the workers were avoiding opening until after the lunch crowd. Surely we can do better for patrons of the...