Django — Restaurant in Des Moines

Disclaimer: This review is just a little biased because I actually got stood up, or "ghosted" as the millennials would say, for this dinner. So I probably wasn't in the perfect mindset to truly enjoy the food as much as I would have if I had good company with me. But as it turns out since the other person was a no-show anyway they weren't capable of being good company. But alas, I digress...

French cuisine, which I'm not used to, but I went in knowing full well the theme of the flavors was best described as "understated."

Light, delicate flavors is exactly what you get - mostly. My crab appetizer came with some toasted bread had a bit of an unexpected flavor in the bread which wasn't light or delicate at all. In fact, it was strong !!!

The crab portion of the appetizer, had a flavor I couldn't place that overpowered the flavor of the of the crab, so I couldn't place what the dominant flavor was supposed to be. The toasted bread underneath had a flavor that implied it was cooked directly next to a few burgers, or where a few burgers had been cooked and then the bread was cooked in that spot on the grill. In other words, the bread tasted like burger meat. In most cases I would have been like "Oh wow, it's meat flavored, awesome!" but not when I'm dining on French cuisine. It just seemed very out of the blue and didn't make sense So this appetizer was a bit of a misfire from the kitchen. It wasn't overcooked and I'm not an expert on the dish, so I didn't send it back and I didn't complain. Maybe it's actually supposed to be that way ?

The Caesar salad was good, but even the Caesar dressing had an understated, light and delicate flavor not typical of Caesar salads, but maybe intentionally more in the true fashion of French cuisine. Again, not an expert.

The server made a nice recommendation, Beef Bourgignon. At $27, this was very much a middle of the road item as far as the price point on the menu. The meat was wonderfully slow roasted, and could be pulled apart effortlessly with just a fork and another utensil. The carrots and onions in the dish were cooked perfectly, soft on the inside and firm down the center retaining the integrity of the vegetable, but allowing them long enough to cook to open up the flavor. The type of sauce on the dish I don't remember so I'm just going to go full redneck and call it a light gravy, because well, that's what it tasted like, but much lighter. It was red wine based, and again was a light (gravy) and understated in flavor, but a nice balance to the items on the top of the dish.

Finally, the noodles A very wide, flat noodle, which I believe may have been made in-house. I'm guessing this to be true because they were not al dente, like you get many times from a dry pasta, pre-made and then cooked when ordered, nor were they overdone. That being said, I don't know if this pasta was a good match for the dish. Maybe a gnocchi or potato croquettes would have been a better pairing.

Overall the food was good, a few surprises here and there, but that comes with a new experience. I will most likely go back and try another item on the menu before reaching a full decision about this place. One night at a restaurant can never give you the full assessment of a place. 2nd chances can be a good thing, but we don't just go throwing those around to anybody who stands you up for French cuisine,...

Wow! This place exceeded all of my expectations!

The moment I walked through the door, I was greeted by a smiling friendly staff who I could sense were actually happy to see me and who also promptly took me to my table and thanked me for choosing Django for dinner. I immediately felt incredibly welcome. Our server arrived at the table within moments with water and a fresh basket of warm bread and a small crock of butter. BOTH the bread AND the butter were delicious. She took our drink orders, made some excellent food recommendations, and was off as fast as she came to get our drink orders completed by the house bartender. Now, for the food. I must be honest... I came for the oysters. I had heard many great things about the oysters here but I had to find out for myself. As a lover of seafood, I have high standards when it comes to oysters on the half shell, and oh my, Django did not disappoint! Not only were there multiple preparations to try but the oysters were incredibly fresh, with a deliciously briny and slightly sweet flavor that was perfectly complemented by their delicate texture. Each oyster was shucked to perfection and served on a bed of ice that kept them at the perfect temperature. Also, the various types were separated by a decorative wedge of lemon to make it easy to tell the difference between the oysters that we were trying. Not only was it quite clear that the restaurant took great care in selecting the highest quality oysters available and showing them in an impeccable presentation, but you could also tell that they wanted to present the oysters in a manner that the novice oyster sampler could be comfortable with, too. I was impressed But it wasn't just the oysters that made this dining experience so memorable. It was ALL of the food! Django is certainly a fine dining restaurant with many $30 and $40 entrees available and even $100+ seafood platters available. But, they also have a spectacular selection of burgers available for under $20! My dining companion chose "The Américain," which the menu describes as "Two 4oz Iowa beef patties seared “Oklahoma-style” with onion, special sauce, house-made cheese Américain, red onion and pickles." He was in heaven and told me that it was one of the best burgers that he had ever had. I had the hangar steak and can say, definitively, that it was most definitely the best hangar steak that I had ever had. Anyways, I'm rattling on. I just wanna say that it was definitely one of my more enjoyable dining experiences that I have had in quite some time! The combination of fresh flavorful seafood; incredible burgers and steaks; impeccable and attentive service; and a friendly welcoming environment, truly made for a a dining experience that I will not soon forget. I can't wait to go back and enjoy Django...

I want to start off by saying that I'm very frustrated writing this review. My wife and I have come to Django for the last 5 years for the odd special occasion or nice night out for happy hour, and when we first started the food was amazing, the service was through the roof, and it was an easy choice for us. As of this review, we will not be going back. The last several times (4 or 5) we have visited, we were treated poorly by wait staff and management, and the food has sharply declined in quality while increasing in price.

Tonight I took my wife here for her birthday, hoping for a good experience and left very disappointed. To start, we had enough time to pick our drinks and food before our server acknowledged us, and when he finally did he was curt and cold. Our server never asked if we would like bread, and then we had to wait for him to come back AGAIN before getting a chance to place our drink orders. Finally we get our drinks and the happy hour oysters we ordered (which have gone up in price), and the oysters are tiny and clearly not very fresh or cleaned well as there was sea lichen still on some shells. We move on from oysters and I ordered the Duck, which I would now highly recommend against. For $39, all I got was maybe 3oz of over cooked duck, maybe 3 tablespoons of burnt potatoes, and some stringy celery. Luckily my wife ordered the salmon and did enjoy her dinner. I then had to tell the server that it was my wife's birthday unprompted and while he gave her a free dessert he didn't wish her a happy birthday or try to connect with us in any way.

This is just the final, in a sequence of similar occurrences the last sever times we've gone. For the amount of money one pays to eat here, excellent service should always be expected and the food should never leave one disappointed or still hungry (like I was tonight). The fact that this has occured several times over several visits tells me that this is a problem from the top down starting with the owners. I refuse to patronize a restaurant whose owners so clearly care more about profits than customers.

Not all experiences may be the same here but I hope this review will help others make a more...