Cheese Bar — Restaurant in Des Moines

Wow am I disappointed to say the least.

I have been to cheese bar multiple times when I lived near ingersoll. I had not been in two years and the quality and service has gone drastically down hill. I used to love this places, great quality, and great service with many different servers, they were all great in the past. But this last encounter has made me never want to go back.

First off, I’ve never had a waiter be so quiet and rude. He barely said 5 words to us, never checked how we were and literally gave us drinks and food and that was it despite him being our server. I have had so many amazing servers years back but all the current servers looked like deers in headlights. We waited 45-60 min for 2 sandwiches and 1 order of Mac and cheese.

The food was not good to say the least. The Mac and cheese was obviously made in their large group serving trays to go meals, which lead to the quality being abysmal. No small skillet in sight and the cheese was broken and noodles were mushy. For 18 dollars that is ridiculous especially because I have had their good quality Mac in past and they have obviously started cutting corners. This tasted like frozen dinner Mac and cheese, no exaggeration. Our sandwiches were luke warm and soggy, like they had been sitting for 20-30 min before it was served. Everything was slightly cold. And I had a hair in my sandwich which I noticed before biting into so I never even took a bite out of. I ate half the Mac out of desperation from being hungry and my fiance ate half a sandwich from also being hungry. Manager was somewhat apologetic, initially said he would comp the bill but then came back and said he would only take off my hairy sandwich and halfed the rest of cost. Nothing else was offered to us, in our opinions because we do not appear to have a lot of money, but you never know who does(big mistake).

After what I experienced tonight I would never go back especially with what the response was from the manager and poor service all around. Very disappointing for a spot that use to be a go to for me. I would not even go here for charcuterie at this point. They need to re evaluate and quit...

My opinion is probably in the minority but I miss the old Cheese Shop :( We've been customers of CJ since the very beginning but the new Cheese Bar just lacks the "niceness" of the Shop.

We visited for the 1st time on Friday and expected it to be busy and it was. No problems there. But like most open places these days, the noise level and crowding was just too much. At the Shop, it was always packed as well but the smaller space and wood materials somehow made it seem more "homey". The front serving area was wonderful for browsing cheese and meat selections while you waited for a table. The mustards and other gourmet items were constantly tempting you and reminding you of the quality of the offerings.

At the new location the high ceilings, open spaces and modern materials combined with hard angular surfaces, made the place a fantastic echo chamber, which killed any attempts at normal conversation. Plus it felt way too antiseptic and modern.

Also I felt there was an "over-emphasis" on beer in my opinion that overshadowed the cheese and other eats.

It's just not my thing.

The food was excellent but I think the location is just not what it should be.

I would pay DOUBLE to have fondue at the old Cheese Shop if possible! I miss that place :( I wish it could be available at both places.

At the Shop, when CJ once offered me a tour of the downstairs, I felt literally honored to be able to peek into the place where all the magic happened. The "cheese vault" as he described it to me, was my little slice of dairy Heaven. I wanted to stay down there forever :)

I have a terrible feeling that the same tour of the Cheese Bar would yield nothing more than the standard industrial kitchen found in so many other places.

So if you have no memory of the Shop, the Bar is certainly a great place to visit. Though I'm not sure if I'll be...

Why haven't I come here sooner?!? I am seriously in such awe with how well this business is run. We came in around 3pm on Saturday and each got a beer. They have a pretty decent tap list for being such a small place and you can't compete with these beer prices anywhere else in town! Andy was helping us at this time and he told us about the Happy Hour specials which go until 5pm. We ordered one of each of the bites they had featured for this menu. I also ordered the escargot + bone marrow because I was a little extra hungry.

The escargot was good but it was missing something in my opinion. It seemed like the escargot was served with more oil/fat than normal. Because bone marrow is so fatty already I felt like the dish needed more herbs or citrus to brighten it up. The staff happily obliged and cut me some lemon wedges which really helped round out the dish for me. It was a 10/10 after the addition of some acid The 3 appetizers we ordered were absolutely flawless and I have absolutely no complaints. We had some bread left over from the escargot so we ordered some pepper jelly to finish that off. I am not a jelly person, but this was fantastic! It had just the right bit of heat and tang. We went to their sister store afterwards to buy ourselves a jar.

For dessert, I wanted to finish with a cocktail. Wade was helping us at this time and helped me decide between two different drinks. He even did a special garnish for "the gram" so don't expect your drink to come this way unless specifically requested. Overall, a great experience. We sat at the bar which is my favorite way to enjoy a new restaurant. I feel like the setting is more intimate and you learn more about the establishment and what they offer. The staff obviously love their jobs and it shows in everything they do. Can't...