The Urban Grill — Restaurant in Urbandale

I had the most disgusting restaurant experience of my life at the Urban Grill last Saturday, and it had nothing to do with the food.

I want to preface everything by saying our server, Justin, was wonderful. He was attentive, kind, hilarious, and gave great recommendations.

We weren’t able to land a patio seat, but we were seated in the rear corner right next to the patio door so there was little to no foot traffic past our table. All available tables in the restaurant were occupied.

Partway through our meal, 2 middle-aged couples walk in together and post up at the corner of the bar, and announce to Chad (the manager) that they just ran into his dad (the owner), which is how the rest of us were even aware they knew each other. I don’t really know how to describe the next 60-90 minutes except to say one man in that group spent the majority of it leering at everyone on our side of the restaurant, “silently” urging us to get up and leave our tables so they could have one. He approached a couple further down the bar, pushed himself in between them and put his arms around them, as if they were old friends, all sans mask. Eventually, this couple just gets up and leaves.

Next, he walks over to the 3-top across from us and sits at their table, again uninvited and without a mask, and is asking them a bunch of petty questions, like if their entree is fish or chicken, etc. The eldest of the 3 asks him to leave and he pushes away from the table, rolling his eyes, loudly saying “okay, you’re no fun....” and ended his announcement with name calling that he intended to be derogatory and hurtful, based off his assumptions on their sexual preferences. Rightfully so, she was shocked and angered, but one of the younger kids begged her to not say or do anything and just let it go so they could keep the peace and enjoy their meal.

I immediately went to the front desk and informed them this man has been getting way too close and verbally harassing several tables and he’s got to go. They said they would grab the manager to get him out. I walked back to the 3-top and told them the manager was on his way to show him the exit. She thanked me and continued eating.

The manager never came.

Next, the man is trying to instigate problems with this woman saying “THIS LADY OVER HERE HAS GOT A PROBLEM WITH ME,” and she replied in what was the calmest tone I’ve ever heard, considering they were harassed all night. He yells to her that she “doesn’t like anyone of a different gender than her own” and then yells “WHY DON’T YOU SHUT THE F* UP!”

I ran over and stood between them, used some colorful language of my own, and then he yelled at me to “SHUT THE F* UP” too. I asked why he’s been harassing them ALL night. One person at the 3-top is head-in-hands crying, embarrassed and upset. This is what it took to FINALLY get the manager to come over: 3 adults yelling at each other in the URBAN GRILL, with a fourth VISIBLY upset, at 9pm - lest you forget and think we were at a bar on Court Avenue at closing time.

The man claims he was simply asking everyone how their food was, and a person at my table corrects him. His friend finally gets him to leave, and for his swan song, he ranted about how we were all “what is wrong with America today.” The entire time this is going down, the two women they’re with are standing at the bar, GIGGLING, amused at his performance. It was truly pathetic.

Justin was the one consoling the patron who was upset, and apologizing that it took so long to get it handled. Eventually the manager, came over and told us we could have dessert and drinks on him and acted like he was dazed and in disbelief. He said he didn’t even know what to say about it all... Nothing was hard about the situation. We received more apologies from other patrons than from anyone in charge. Insult to injury, it appeared the 3-top even paid for their ruined meal, after ALL of that!

There was not a single backbone in sight at that restaurant....

Wow. This lovely ‘hidden’ gem never disappoints and dang it all if we just don’t get here enough…quick side note that the last visit with my son was summer of 2022 and the spinach artichoke dip is something we still talk about.

When we arrived, a nice young gentleman said it might be a 15-20 minute wait, but quickly assured us that a table had cleared and it would be a just quick minute. In all that super quick time, he checked in on us three times and we were at our table in less than 3 minutes. His care was impressive, and he was running tables. How do you hire team members like that, always a marvel.

Our server Danielle was with us immediately. Brought our drinks, and my wife who is usually not a “can you bring me something I didn’t order cause I know you don’t have any other tables”, ordered hot tea after our drinks arrived and this freaking Danielle person smiled wide and instantly appeared back with piping hot water, wedge of lemon and several varietals of tea….she never broke her Star Search award winning serving smile.

We started with the mussels that were steamed amazingly with a butter, garlic, green onion ‘sauce’ and the portion was soooo generous. Danielle brought out two puffed up rolls to soak up the butter “if we wanted”…and yes, she said it with a glowing smile. This girl was crazy quick…

My bride ordered the 8oz filet and requested the Deburgo side to dress the steak, cooked to a perfect medium rare. She enjoyed an included side of baked potato soup. Her steak also was served with fresh zucchini, summer squash, broccoli and carrot wide cuts, cooked to an al dente perfection.

I had the Ahi seared tuna which included a side salad with a delicious house made creamy Parmesan dressing. But the star of the show was how perfectly cooked the tuna, never had I had it cooked so perfectly, rare and seasoned with that chef’s kiss. There was a side of ginger soy vinaigrette and it was laid on a julienne bed of squash and carrots cooked again to al dente perfection. There clearly was a ton of “Yes Chef” happening in that kitchen last night. Also, my side of Brussels sprouts were cooked perfectly. Both plates were just so attentive to a foodie lovers detail.

Our server Danielle was exceptional. I am a huge soda Diet Coke drinker, and she never had that glass below 1/2 way…and that is just a micro of her superb service.

We will run, not walk back to the Urban...

I remember when The Urban Grill was a cool place with great food. Sadly, that doesn't seem to be the case any more. We ordered carryout from them on 4/27, and got some incredibly underwhelming food.

My wife and I both ordered pasta dishes. I really dislike penne, so I was thrilled to see that their online ordering allowed you to pick your pasta type. I ordered the "Fire Shrimp" with a side salad and linguine.

We received two hamburger boxes of lettuce with no dressing of any kind. Those went into the trash. Similar boxes contained pieces of burned, dry toast, which I assume was meant to be a bread stick, or maybe garlic bread, although they completely lacked and sort of butter or seasoning. My pasta was, of course penne. Not only that, but the "sauce" on "Fire Shrimp" seems to be about a tablespoon of olive oil. Some kind of stringy shredded cheese was melted to one corner, although I can't say whether or not this was intentional. The 6 steamed shrimp were unseasoned, but they were, at least, shrimp.

There's no way a waiter would look at that plate of food and think "the customer totally won't send this garbage back", but we were doing carry out, so I suspect they assumed I'd just throw it away and eat a peanut butter sandwich, which is what I did.

Serving subpar, incorrect garbage to carryout customers during the pandemic is, to me, inexcusable. Prior to the pandemic, my extended family stopped eating our monthly family dinner at UG, because my uncle got tired of being shouted at by the world's loudest waiter.

I can now think of absolutely no reason to eat at (or from) The Urban Grill, which is a shame. Their Korean tacos used to be great, and they used to serve a pretty good ribeye. Maybe they still do. I won't know, because I'm not willing to roll the dice after receiving a box of oily penne in place of my dinner.

I've given them two stars because my wife's chicken pasta was, at least, edible, and I didn't have to go get her...