Drake Diner — Restaurant in Des Moines

You would imagine with the down time during the pandemic a small local restaurant would go over the details on there menu, including what they have to offer takeout wise. I recently ordered $9 wings from this place an were charged $15 bucks. I've worked in restaurants for more then a decade exclusively and after a phone call, banking proffered and emails I still didn't receive a refund. I spoke to Shannon the manager and though she was nice I don't think she understood that the menu hasn't been updated price wise on Google since 2010. I would think a $9/$12 difference would be updated mind you I was charged $15. That's a 50% mark up not including tips. Google works off a algorithm that directs you to the right food for the right price so this is very off. I live by a actual barbecue restaurant chain but wanted to support a local venue. That being said as much I wanted to support a local business it's almost like they couldn't admit they were wrong and refused to refund me. I even offer to just ask for a smaller credit though my account said otherwise.

I'll tell you what happen a staff took my order, didn't mention the actual price, had me sign and added a gratuity with out providing a service. In iowa price gouging is illegal and I consider this an example.

Convid 19 has us ordering take out and google is the easiest way to find information about what were looking for. If you can't update your menu to match your website I can only imagine what's going on in house.

Also the wings were incredibly salty to the point it stung my mouth and I tossed them and thought nothing of it until I found out I was 50%...

UPDATED FOR 04/03/2022 SEE NEW REVIEW AT END OF THIS REVIEW. SEE BELOW.

I was here for the Eggs Benedict. #1. They had a very good taste. Not overly seasoned. The Hollandaise was from scratch using egg Yolks. I ordered the poached eggs soft but they came medium. #2. These come with hash browns with or without cheese and an option for sausage instead of Canadian bacon. . #3. The price was $11.99 which that and the error of poaching of the egg should have brought it 4 stars. The English muffin was large, thick and soft. That kept it at 5 stars. I have a "top ten" list for Benedicts. #1 being the best. After my visit I rated these "Bennys" as #4 in my " top ten list" . They are worth trying and I will be going back again. The price is the drawback but it only carries 10% of my review . My rating is based on 3 weights : #1-70% = taste #2-20% = presentation #3-10% = price

I went back to have another "Benny". They were busy so I sat at the counter. I ordered the Benny with eggs poached soft. One egg was soft and one was medium. I let "Andrew" know about the medium egg. He said he would get me another one. By the time the replacement egg got to me the rest of my Benny was cold.

Don't get me wrong..... I will go back and get another Benny because they are very tasty. If they could only get them right. I recommend them just make sure they are right.

To top it off I will finish with my observation of Andrew, my waiter. He never smiled or showed any concerns to me. It was like I was a problem...

9/28/25

First time visitor at the Drake’s Diner. Very cool retro vibe when you pull up to the restaurant! Was very excited to try another local spot in the DSM area (coming from Cedar Rapids). My husband is vegan, so I always have to check each restaurants menu on the webs before deciding which one we want to try. Drake’s diner had lots of great reviews with a fun atmosphere! And they have a vegan section! 🙌🏼

When I started to look at the physical menu I realized they had a lot to offer but maybe a little too much to offer. I watch a lot of Gordon Ramsey shows and all I could hear was Gordon saying, “You’ve got to focus on quality instead of quantity.”

But anywho, I went with a chicken Caesar salad and my husband had an impossible burger, my kids had a pancake and PBJ sandwich.

My greens in the salad was okay, not as fresh. My husband enjoyed his impossible burger, my son enjoyed his PBJ and my daughter barley ate her pancake. I thought maybe it was because she wasn’t that hungry but I tried the pancake and it wasn’t that great at all. Which is weird because I’m used to getting amazing pancakes from diners similar to this one. So that was disappointing.

Overall a cool aesthetic restaurant but I won’t be coming back...