Masao — Restaurant in Des Moines

Vibe and atmosphere is a comfy exquisite experience. Exceptional staff who aren’t hipsters. The other guests weren’t snooty but just food lovers. You could feel the energy in the air.

The real magic is in the food alchemy. Affordable small plates, opening room to experiment this Wonka world of fusion and maybe deconstructed art? I’m not versed enough to gauge it as deconstructed or not but it reminded me of extremely high end places from traveling. Making a hollandaise with uni sounds risky, so much I was told the chef was excited to make his first for the evening. My concerns of it being umami forward was proven wrong as it collided with flavors opening a parallel dimension in a universe that felt familiar. It was served below their foies gras which stood by itself, served on the fluffy pastry and uni hollandaise. This was frois gras on full display -just butter. Paraded with the uni hollandaise and pomegranate seeds, it was lifted towards the sky (as it deserved) on the fluffy pastry pillow. Glorious.

An easy win for me, is always duck, and tonight’s was immaculate with both crispy shredded leg meat and skewered breast chunks. Each donning different glaze or coulis. I had to ask what a coulis is (think raspberry sauce more than preserves) and by the end of the night both chefs came and visited our table. Not tired of the questions but interested in my excitement. First bite of the breast skewer raised my fists to my cheeks, left me giddy smiling like I just discovered true love. I’m in lust with this place.

The radish dish was $5 and you’d be silly not to try it. Daikon and radish with coins of whipped herb butter? Beautiful. We ate the flowers which were prob just a garnish, yet tasted freshly picked from Eden. My only complaint is there’s arugula on so many of the plates? Seemingly the only trend and unfortunately I don’t do arugula. But not eating that plant always saves me room to explore more!

Lastly, I must go bonkers on the mushrooms. Named “3 Way Mushrooms” for the way they are prepared as sauted oysters, roasted maitake, there’s truffle oil in the mix. But the mind melter mushroom was tempura Enoki! Imagine funnel cake like you remembered as a child, but it’s a mushroom cooked in clean oil?!?!? Wow.

I tasted a small bite of another dish. I don’t have words for it as I can’t remember the name or anything. But it was incredible. I leaned towards the French fusion, however the sushi chef I am told is world class.

I’m going back to test the soups and dessert menu. If you read this review this long...

Masao: East Village’s Posh Playground for the Brave Palate

Walking into Masao feels less like “just another dinner” and more like stepping into a fusion experiment where France and Japan decided to stop texting and finally move in together. The ambience is clean, minimalist, and elegant — subtle lighting, thoughtful details, and a space that whispers “classy” without trying too hard. Even the bathrooms got the memo: spotless, stylish, and more bougie than you’d expect (you know a restaurant cares when the bathroom makes you nod in approval).

The menu is bold and playful, changing daily, so you’re not here for comfort food — you’re here to taste things you probably haven’t tried before. Bring an open palate, because Masao isn’t pandering to the usual Midwest safe-zone.

The food highlights:

Vegetable Tempura ($10): Beautifully plated broccoli rabe tempura, but yeah — a little oily, like it lingered too long in the fryer. The dipping sauce saved the day.

Lavender Eggs ($18): French-style scrambled, soft as a cloud, kissed with lavender and topped with caviar. Half breakfast, half fine art.

Scallops ($28): Seared just right, resting on lemon beurre blanc with sautéed leeks. A bit salty solo, but mix it all together and it hits balance.

Salmon Sashimi:,($25) Clean, fresh, and plated so elegantly it almost felt rude to eat it.

Karaage Chicken ($25): The absolute rockstar. Soy and sesame marinated, fried golden, paired with Okinawa purple potato chips, and finished with a cheeky beet gel nail polish swipe on the plate. Crispy, juicy, and somehow luxurious. Fried chicken, but make it fashion.

The service takes Masao from “great” to “unforgettable.” The waiter knew every dish like they wrote the cookbook, offering non-alcoholic pairings that actually felt intentional. Then the chef himself came out, chatted like an old friend, and — plot twist — poured Hennessy VSOP shots into gold-rimmed glasses. That’s not dinner, that’s membership into the Masao inner circle.

And credit where it’s due — the owners are genuinely great people. They care about the community, support local, and it shows in how they treat their guests.

Final word: Masao is a must-visit for anyone who loves food with a side of adventure. Not every dish will be your thing, and that’s the point. Come with an open mind, a hungry stomach, and maybe a friend who appreciates fine plating and a good shot of Henny. This is East Village showing off, and it’s...

Overall experience was good. Food was pretty tasty, I can tell fish was fresh. From all the things we tried my favorite was mushroom three ways; my lady liked tuna caviar with Koshi and mushroom sauce. It was nice seeing uncle Miyabi, I wish he still had his famous scallop roll.

My negatives was mostly around service: First, we had reservation at 8:30 and we came at 8. Saw that it was pretty packed but had the space at the bar, asked if we could sit there. We’re told no, there was reservation. Ok, I see a table was done eating next to us, asked if we could wait until its cleaned up, again, were told no, have to wait 30 min for our reservation. Ok, fine. Came at 8:25, noticed there were 3 open tables plus the spot at the bar I was asking about were empty plus two more empty spots next to it. So in 30 minutes they had no people seated there even though we were told they were taken. Very weird management and decisions making.

Second, for sushi place, we were not given any essentials. Our waitress never brought us a menu, wasabi, soy sauce, dishes or ginger. I had to ask for it every single time she came back because I was waiting for it and then it seemed she never was going to. We never ended up getting ginger because I guess I never specifically asked for it, so I just gave up.

Also, on Saturday night they ran out of Eel and duck which is half of their overall menu; so that was basically 50% of options. Could not substitute any of the rolls with a different ingredient when we asked about it. Very weird.

It really needs to be ironed up, jot it against the food. The service needs a lot of work and better seat management, especially considering the price, I expected more of a pleasant service .

5 stars for food, 2 stars for...