Central Standard Craft Beer & Burgers — Restaurant in Waukee

Good, not great. Went for lunch today for the first time with my husband. Sounds like they've been open for approximately 3 weeks. Despite other open tables, was seated closest to the kitchen and bathrooms. Server showed up immediately, almost too quickly. Hadn't even had time to look at the menu. Soon decided on a beer and mocktail (the business).

Didn't take too long to get our drinks, although part of my mocktail splashed onto the table and menu when the drink runner delivered it and never came back with a towel or anything. Settled on the buffalo chicken tater tots to start, the fried pork tenderloin with the handcut fries, and the smoked brisket melt with the bbq brussels sprouts. Server didn't seem fully acquainted with the whole menu, had to point at the items on the menu when ordering.

Ticket time was pretty good, although the entrees showed up before the appetizer. The food was delicious! The tater tots I would highly recommend. Tots stayed crispy, toppings were plentiful and balanced well. Pork tenderloin was good, nice thick cut and not all breading. It came with garlic aioli, which tasted more like just plain mayonnaise. Could have used twice as much for the size of the tenderloin. Would have enjoyed a good spicy brown mustard as well, but only Heinz yellow mustard and ketchup were available. Handcut fries were tasty, but seemed underseasoned. My husband reported that the brussels sprouts were good and the brisket melt was as well, but that the bread was getting a little soggy by the end of the sandwich.

Server didn't come back to check on us until we were more than a third of the way through our food. I had ordered a refill on my mocktail at that time, which didn't come until we were almost done eating.

Also noticed that the kitchen door and bathroom entrances are placed in such a way that patrons heading towards the bathroom had several near misses with servers exiting the kitchen with platters of food.

Tl;dr - good food, server slightly awkward, timing could use improvement

Would recommend, just need some...

Worth the wait!! Unfortunately, this restaurant does not offer call ahead seating or reservations. We went for dinner on a Saturday night (during State Wrestling) and had to wait about 30min. We were originally told 40min, so we were pleasantly surprised when we were notified earlier that our table was ready. While we waited, we ordered a round of drinks from the bar. They have over 20 local brews on tap, so I can imagine there is something for everyone. There are ciders as well.

We sat at a high table in the bar area and were comfortable. We ordered the Parmesan Pretzel. When I asked the waitress if it would feed four, she laughed at me....and rightfully so. The pretzel arrived and it could have fed a family of 8 easily! It was so tasty. I really like the Honey Mustard, but the Marinara and Gouda were also good for dipping. We had 4 people nibbling at the pretzel, and we weren't able to finish it - but we did certainly try. The other appetizers on the menu resemble typical bar food with an elevated flavor like the pretzel I imagine. I hope to return to try the Spinach and Artichoke Dip.

Our waitress, Chelsea, was so friendly, she also happened to be one of the bartenders that we ordered drinks with during our wait for our table. She took our order from memory which seemed to impress my younger sister. I ordered the half-order Spinach Salad and Sweet Potato Fries. I order sweet potato fries as just about every restaurant I can, so I've had my fair share. I nearly finished these - they were thinly sliced and cooked with a good crunch. The side order can easily be shared. Other items at our table included; Buffalo Chicken Mac, Buttermilk Fried Chicken, and the Crispy Chicken Ceasar Wrap.

Everyone enjoyed their meals, and I imagine this will be a restaurant we return to in the future. The atmosphere is fun and upbeat! I would recommend this to family and friends visiting or living...

My husband and I stopped by for dinner early tonight at 5:15pm. The restaurant was very busy, but we were seated immediately. That restaurant was nicely decorated, but, the acoustics could use some work as it was VERY loud in there. Considering the number of seated tables, we waited a reasonable amount of time to get waited on by our server. My husband ordered a beer and I, a water. We then ordered cheese curds for an appetizer, as well as a sweet and salty milkshake. Those came out also in a reasonable amount of time. The milkshake looked amazing, but really should have been called "chocolate milk with decorations on top" as there was no frozen aspect to the drink. It did taste good, though. The cheese curds were the best part of the visit. Light, melt-in-your-mouth crispy batter and flavorful chipotle ranch. The cheese was high quality. Delicious, although maybe a but overpriced at $11. We ordered burgers also. I got the fire and smoke with jalapenos on the side and sweet potato fries. My husband got the pub burger with regular fries. They came out in an appropriate amount of time. The buns were dry. The burgers were dry. There wasn't much flavor to the burgers. Considering the number of toppings accompanying the burger, we expected more flavor. The fries were well cooked, but just ok. The total cost of the meal was $56.71. Next time I'm looking for a specialty burger, fries and a shake, I'll just go to Zombie Burger. The food wasn't inedible here, just unimpressive and didn't meet the hype we'd read on Food Lovers of Des...