Ricochet — Restaurant in Des Moines

I had one of the wildest and most humiliating experiences of my life at Ricochet. I was speaking with two older ladies about a mutual friend. One of the women happened to be the bartender’s mother. Out of nowhere, the bartender started giving me attitude and accusing me of hitting on his mom. I explained multiple times that we were only talking about a mutual friend, but he kept insisting, “That’s my mom, don’t talk to her.” I grabbed my beer and went to play table tennis with a friend, trying to move on. Instead, the bartender came back and tried to start a fight again. He even threatened to call his friends to fight me. At that point, his mom’s friend had to step in and drag him away to explain the situation. Things should have ended there, but it got worse. Another bartender, who didn’t know what was happening, started yelling at me and demanding that my friends and I leave. Before I could even take a sip of my beer, 4–5 men grabbed me by the arms and neck and physically dragged me outside while shoving my friends around. We weren’t even allowed to grab our drinks or my friend’s glasses that help him see. A group of wannabe heroes blocked the door, threatened to break my friend’s glasses, and acted like tough guys over nothing. The entire incident left me feeling disrespected, humiliated, and unsafe. All of this happened because of a bartender with “mommy issues,” a clueless coworker who jumped in without knowing the situation, and a group of wannabe superheroes trying...

Great idea. DSM needs places like this. On a busy Saturday though, there are some serious logistical issues. There are only 5 maybe 6 if I miscounted ping pong tables. There is no time limit on these tables. You must pay $10 to be able to use the ping pong tables and other equipment. You could pay $10 And never see a ping pong table match with you and your friends. The night I went there was a party reserved and 3 tables were not available. This is on a busy Saturday and there were many people there. That's another thing, the space is not arranged for many people playing games and drinking. The Cornhole setup is in the middle of the room with tons of people dodging bags flying and it's annoying if you're playing a game. The saving grace is the huge rectangle bar in the center. The drinks were served fast.

Great concept. Execution a little lackluster. Maybe add some games and take out tables? Maybe it will be better when it's not busy but surely a place wants to stay busy , no?

P.S. no food at this place which is fine ofc cause you can bring your own food from outside. Thought some people might want...

Just an incident — an unfortunate night that escalated way more than it should have. Just a few wanna-be heroes in the crowd who decided to play tough guy. Ahmm… you know how it goes at bars sometimes.

Amanda, the GM, handled things with absolute professionalism and empathy. She stepped up immediately, listened to us, and took the situation seriously from the start. Honestly, people like her keep places like Ricochet running smoothly — def needs a raise!

The next day, Brad, the owner, personally met us and apologized on behalf of them. They assured us that the issue is resolved internally, which means a lot.

The issue’s been resolved. It was just one of those nights — unpredictable, a little chaotic. Sadly, Amanda had already left early… and well, two people power-tripped and dragged the whole thing down, haha. Ricochet reimbursed me for the damaged glasses and handled everything promptly and...