Anna Dolce Ristorante — Restaurant in West Des Moines

What a great new restaurant in the West Glen area of West Des Moines. From the outside to the inside, the decor is beautiful with an obvious upscale Italian vibe.

We made reservations ahead of time which I will always recommend if available, but being a new restaurant, I don't think the wait is too long just yet. But I imagine in the future, once discovered more, the wait time may increase if you go without a reservation. We also went on a Monday night. The restaurant did not appear to be busy at 7pm when we went.

Our waiter was very pleasant and offered plate suggestions. He emphasized the desire to give us a dining experience which may have been why we waited so long between courses. He didn't seem to let us order all our plates as once. We order appetizers, got out appetizers, waited a bit, ordered drinks, got our drinks, waited a bit more, then finally ordered dinner. However, once ordered, all of our dishes came out quickly and warm.

We ordered Calamari Fries and the Meatballs for appetizers - they were served warm, well seasoned and very tasteful. The Calamari Fries are a MUST! Seriously! And the Meatballs were the perfect texture, but they did have a bit of spice to them. I ordered the Salmon and unfortunately it was too spicy for me to even eat, but the Risotto it came with was really good. I just picked at the other plates our group ordered - Chicken Alfredo and Chicken Parm. Both noodle dishes and most prepared and served warm.

The dishes and dining experience are definitely more upscale and catered more towards adults. There is indoor and outdoor seating (booths, tables and bar seating). I would say this restaurant is off to a good start but from reading other reviewers posts, I think there is room for...

Probably won’t eat here again. Menu offerings were decent. However the following items need to be addressed: SERVICE- We weren’t “offered” cracked black pepper for our salads, weren’t “offered” grated Parmesan cheese for our entrees. Had to ask. Service not in line with menu prices. Service should be offered, not asked for. Servers were pleasant, just not trained in higher end serving environments. Great for the village inns, etc. AMBIANCE : very noisy even though we asked for and we’re seated out of the main dining area. Difficult to have a conversation with dinner partners. This was at 6:30-8.30 pm. May be better at a later time. The music was way too loud and the selection was distracting ODD for an Italian restaurant. Misic was Johnny cash and other 60-70’s greats. Who picked this music?? Good music but TOO loud and NOT anywhere near Italian. FOOD: HUGE portions. Appetizers, salads, and entrees. If you want portions of this size, go to the Golden Corral restaurants, etc. Anna Dolce could go with MUCH smaller portions (and lower the prices on the menu). Brussel sprout appetizer was chopped brussel sprout leaves on a bed of hummus. Not bad but rather odd. Would have preferred whole or halved sprouts. My chicken Parmesan was nicely prepared but 3 out of our 5 diners thought the food they ordered was unremarkable. Espresso martini was great! Note to management: instruct employees in service behavior expectations in higher end restaurants. (Our bill was over $300) PLEASE Set the music stations to appropriate Italian or classical music. Turn the volume down so clients can visit. Put more than one candle on larger tables. Overall quite...

Based on all the 5 star reviews, I thought I'd check this place out. We arrived on a Saturday around 5:30. We were greeted promptly by the front hostess and were seated. Our waitress was pleasant. I had to ask about the specials. We ordered the prime rib and lobster ravioli. The prime rib and sides were good, and the ravioli good too, just not what we'd consider "5 star". While the prime rib came with mashed potatoes and carrots, my ravioli was it, no sides. No table bread or salads. So while my husband was still eating dinner, I was done. I felt the waitress, seeing this, would have offered the bread. It would have been nice to at least have some to soak up the left over sauce from my ravioli while he finished. I see now in a different review they noted you have to ASK for bread. (there was no one seated near us to see if the bread option was true) For the prices I think it should be a given, or offered at least. Or on the menu somewhere have the "unless noted, all entrees served a la carte". Also my first martini drink was almost too warm, like the glass was just washed and not in the freezer long enough (the second was colder). For a first impression I was not impressed for the price paid. We definitely had no leftovers. The vibe was nice, background music at a good level. Maybe my expectations were skewered too high by all the 5 star reviews. I can spend less money, get more of just as good food at many other places around the metro. Unless someone gives me a gift card, most likely...