Purveyor — Restaurant in Des Moines

I've picked up tons of charcuterie boards here for different events--photoshoots, get-togethers, etc. I dined in for the first time last year. I did a wine flight (selection of 3) and shared a half board (2 meats & 2 cheeses). It was a great pre-dinner snack! Tonight, we got some tapas (hot and cold) and the Purveyor sandwich. I think next time I'll try the Cuban sandwich. The guy sitting next to me last year was raving about it! The space is mainly set up for quick pick-up/take-out but there is bar seating, tables downstairs for several small and one large group. There are also tables upstairs before the catwalk where they can seat 6 people comfortably. There were people there solo, some studying, some doing work, and a group rendezvous. We were there for our weekly date night. The staff is always amazing here. Also, the lighting/ambience along with the music and food make the setting extremely intimate. We love it!...

We were extraordinarily disappointed in Purveyor. The charcuterie could be described as dreadful. It tasted like we were served Oscar Meyer ham and grocery store cheese. The water crackers also tasted like generic store brand. The portion was also pretty small for the price. The wine was perhaps even worse. It tasted like a $10 glass that came from a $10 bottle. The lack of a vineyard, vintage, etc. was obviously a red flag we missed. Lastly, perhaps our expectations were wrong, but we were thinking this was a nice wine bar. It was more akin to a deli that serves sandwiches at 12 PM on a Monday. If you're looking for wine and charcuterie, your money is better spent elsewhere in Des Moines (such as at The Cheese Shop). This is in a great location, so hopefully this is taken as constructive criticism/areas for possible improvement. Great concept but fell short of...

It's a really cool vibe there. Very small but it wasn't busy at 7 on a Saturday night. Food was pretty good, definitely some interesting takes on a few things. Like the meatballs and stuffed peppers were fantastic, but the cold scallop on top of egg salad was just an odd combo. The octopus with potato was very mediocre. There's a ton of stuff to try so I know there's gonna be some things that hit and some that miss.

Service was mostly fine, nothing actually bad about it, just wished they had taken the time to explain what they do there and give an explanation to at least the charcuterie board. We had to eat hustle another table get the run down to know what we even had.

It's definitely a spot I will return to and explore more...