Jesse's Embers — Restaurant in Des Moines

While visiting Des Moines, IA this weekend, I was in the mood for a great steak or pork chop. Several locals recommended Jesse’s Embers, so I decided to give it a try.

When I arrived, it was clear it was a busy Saturday night. The entrance felt a bit chaotic, and I wasn’t sure where to go for seating. Eventually, I found an employee folding napkins and asked for a table for one. Another staff member persistently tried to seat me at the bar—which I generally avoid due to the noise and rowdiness—but after being asked again, I reluctantly agreed, taking a seat at the far end.

Donna, one of the bartenders, took my order after a few minutes. She and another bartender, Joe, were handling the entire bar, which was clearly a challenge given how busy it was. The area was quite warm, and a customer seated next to me named Dan was loudly chatting with others and making his next date—exactly the kind of environment I had hoped to avoid. I ordered a steak with a salad and broccoli. The salad arrived quickly but was room temperature and wilting. My steak came about 10 minutes later; I had ordered medium, but it was more on the rare side. I went ahead and ate it, mainly because I was ready to leave due to the heat and the noisy atmosphere.

I will say Joe and Donna did their best under tough conditions. Before leaving, I spoke with the manager, Marty, who listened to my concerns and said he would address them.

Overall, while I appreciated the effort from the staff, the experience wasn’t what I was hoping for, and I don’t...

I've been coming to Jesse's Embers for decades. We were there again, Friday night. (A couple of months ago, now.)

I was sorry to hear of the passing of your long time Grillmaster. I enjoyed many a delicious meal, prepared by this talented man.

I used to exchange a few words of thanks, each time we went past the grill on our way out. A smile,and a "salute with the cooking fork", was his usual response. RIP

I attributed the change in the fare to be due to the change in ownership.

The story on WHO filled in the sad reason for the real changes at Jesse's.

My Mother in Law introduced us to Jesse's, decades ago, as a "special treat". And we returned many times to enjoy delicious meals.

My condolences to all, at his passing.

I do hope that you can find new talent that can, once again, take fire, meat, simple seasoning and a masterful eye to render the "magic on a plate" that we were all privileged to know.

Try, please, to recognize and to recreate the simple dining pleasure that Jesse's was able to do, night after night, that brought a smile to the lips, and a twinkle to the eye, of many a Des Moines diner.

Thanks for recognizing what it was that drew us back, time after time. Thanks for the "charge" to the next generation of the importance of "simple,...

My partner and I decided to go for a nice dinner and we decided to go here. We were sat down, no mention of any specials or specific items they were out of. When it was time to order i asked for lobster and waitress looked at me dumbfounded and said they had none like I was supposed to figure that out on my own. I then ordered extremely mediocre shrimp and my partner ordered a rare steak. He received a well done steak, but we are not the type to complain so we took it for what it was. What really bothered me is in the middle of our dinner was when a homeless person came up to our table, and harassed my partner for some of his steak and me for a piece of shrimp. I look around and while the owner made his rounds earlier i felt he took a blind eye to her and let her roam around the restaurant asking people for food. If I am paying for a high priced meal I expect the experience to be up to par with prices. The owner came back at the end of our meal, mind you no mention of the homeless person, and asked what we were doing after dinner. I expressed to him that I didn’t appreciate the uninvited guest to our table but he did not seem to care or bat an eye about our experience. Absolutely will never be...