Machine Shed Restaurant Urbandale — Restaurant in Urbandale

We were super excited to try the Machine Shed. Heard great things about it, lots of great reviews. Waitress was fantastic. It started to get busy while we were there but she handled it like a pro. I asked if the fried chicken was any good and she said if they serve old chicken it's not good but fresh was really good. I asked her to check and she said she would make sure I got fresh fried chicken. Our dinner rolls came out and they were in the dry side so we didn't ask for more than the 2 we received. Best friend ordered the BBQ combo platter. When the food arrived, the mashed potatoes on both plates were cold and contained large lumps of undercooked potatoes in it. My coleslaw was probably the best coleslaw I ever had. Chicken was luke warm but tasted great. The corn that came with was bland. I won't even salt or pepper my food, I'm a very bland eater and it was even too bland for me. Best friend had me try her food. They use a ton of BBQ sauce so if you like a normal or light amount, you should probably specify. I suspect it is used to drown out the dryness. The combo came with 3 meats, all very dry. Chicken almost tasted boiled. The baked beans weren't very tasty and the meat thrown in was dry. We ended up leaving over half our meals and didn't take a to go box. We will definitely not be back. They serve drinks in small Mason like jars and I would suggest they upgrade to the larger Mason sized ones with handles. The waitress has to refill a million times because they aren't large and the place is too busy for that. Do the waiter/waitresses a favor and buy larger jars, they will love that. Much less running around.

Positives : clean establishment. Friendly staff. Fried chicken, although not hot, was tasty. Best coleslaw ever. Good sized portions. Very nice atmosphere.

Negatives: super dry rolls, the 3 meats were dry on the BBQ combo, the meat was dry in the beans. Beans weren't great and corn was bland. The food was an extreme...

This was my first time visiting the Machine Shed in Urbandale/WDM. I drove 28 minutes to get there and left really disappointed.

It wasn’t busy, but I still waited about 10 minutes before anyone came to the table. No biggie. The drink menu was hidden behind the salt/pepper holders & ketchup, and the food menu was unclear. I ordered a chocolate milk while my family and I looked things over.

The menu clearly says: “Sandwiches are served with French fries and your choice of two Famous Shed style fixin’s.”

There was no list of fixins anywhere on the menu, which left me confused. I asked the server, and she gave a few random examples but didn’t explain clearly. Eventually, I went to order—still unsure—but since she had mentioned mashed potatoes earlier as a fixin, I asked for that with the burger, along with another option. She then said sandwiches only come with fries, and that fixins come out before the meal like coleslaw and something else she mentioned.

The menu says “fries AND two fixins.” Key word: AND. She wasn’t clear at all and kept referring to things that would “come out before the meal” while I just wanted to know what I could order with my sandwich. Twice I asked what I can get with my sandwich and I can’t get a clear answer.

At that point, I felt confused and uncomfortable, so I asked for the check. Paid $5 for a jar of chocolate milk, tipped a dollar, and left without eating.

I also want to note the online menu prices aren’t accurate—maybe they reflect smaller portions or are online-only prices? I’m not sure, but it was misleading. The dessert menu also had no prices listed at all, which was frustrating.

When you walk in, it looks really nice—welcoming host, clean space, cute souvenir section. But overall, it was a very disappointing first experience, and I don’t think I’ll be back. I really hope this can get resolved or at least clarified...

We hadn't been here for a long time, but decided to try it again. It was not busy when we arrived. The hostess was friendly and efficient. The server moved like a sloth, kept checking his watch, and acted like it was an imposition to wait on us. I said I had weight loss surgery and forgot to ask the hostess for a kids menu, so he went to get it, which took several minutes. He brought it to me, I glanced at it, he didn't even ask if we needed a few more minutes (which we did not), was gone almost ten minutes, finally came back, then was very abrupt when answering a simple question about the kids meal. Then he asked for my weight loss card, took it from me, and disappeared for five minutes. Rarely am I asked for it, but I'm happy to show it; however, he grabbed it from me and didn't return for five minutes, saying he had to get approval to give me a kids meal. When I asked about drink choices (that the menu said was included), he rudely said I was an adult and it was for kids and I shouldn't have asked about drink options and that he would charge me extra for it. I said no thank you, I would drink water (like I usually do anyway). My kids meal chicken strips and fries ($6.99) were hot and very good. The country fried chicken meal my husband ordered had a lot of food and extras (it should for $16.99 on a lunch menu). He loved most of it, except the mashed potatoes he said were blah. Afterward, I tried to quietly discuss the server issues with the front-end manager. His eyes pretty much glazed over and he said next time I could just request a different server. Really? The idea was to let him know what happened so maybe they could coach him on proper customer service...