Ruth's Chris Steak House — Restaurant in West Des Moines

My wife and I had reservations for 6:45 on the Saturday before Mother's Day. The restaurant was quite large and busy but that is to be expected for a Saturday evening at that time. We arrived about 1 minute prior to our reservation and were told the table was being prepared and had to wait a few minutes to be led to our table. We were told our waiter would be with us shortly and left with no water. Once seated it was another several minutes before we were greeted by our Waitress, Spencer. After taking our drink order (beer and a soda) were then left for several minutes before returning.

We eventually placed our dinner order which consisted of salads, an 11oz medium filet with a truffle crust topping, a medium rare bone-in New York strip and a side of mashed potatoes to share.

Our salads arrived and we thought things were finally beginning to look up. My wedge salad was good but nothing out of the ordinary. My wife’s Caesar on the other hand had a very light amount of actual dressing. It may have had more parmesan than actual dressing. We brushed this off since it may have been intended to be this way.

Our salads were cleared several minutes after we decided to leave room for our main course. However, after a prolonged wait and our waitress being out of sight we began to worry when the table behind us had to ask someone who wasn’t their waiter where their food was. It was at this time we began to reminisce on our good times spent at other local eateries such as Johnny’s Italian or Greenbrier.

After the other table eventually received their food at the hands of the manager, our waitress returned to refill our waters and drinks, which were very empty, and quickly assured us our food was on its way. It was about now I wished I kept my salad to have something to nibble on. Did I mention you do not get bread here?

Our steaks finally arrived at the hands of another waiter who did not know who ordered what and warned us that the 500-degree plates should not be touched. Our waitress came shortly after to ask if we needed anything but forgetting to perhaps ask us if our steaks were cooked to our liking. She then disappeared for some time. We attempted to grab another waiter’s attention, but they seemed quite busy and had their hands full as they cleaned up from a larger table that just left. When she did arrive my wife and I had shared about 2/3rds of my steak which was cooked mostly medium rare but lacked any type of sear that would likely come from a 1800-degree broiler. My wife’s steak on the other hand was a cool purple on the inside and she apologized taking the plate back to be cooked further without asking if we wanted it at all. The table behind us was now going to pay their bill at the host stand because their waiter was nowhere to be found. My wife and I were now ready for this evening to be over.

My wife’s steak came back some time later at the hands of the manager who seemed very stressed out but apologized and assured us he would remove the $68 Steak from the bill. He also gave us more mashed potatoes. The manager didn’t stick around to find that the steak was essentially cooked to dry well done condition. At the next sighting of our waitress, we asked for boxes for our copious amount of potatoes, a chocolate cake to-go and our check.

There are many things we can do with 2 hours and approximately $170 (our final bill after tip) and visiting Ruth Chris again is not at the top...

A+++++ (5 Star)!!! I recently contacted the restaurant stating that I would like to take my now fiance to dinner there so I could propose and I wanted to make it the most special night ever for her. They put me in contact with Johnny K, there and he took care of me. Johnny came in on his day off to make sure it was all taken care of. He organized with the staff for an amazing meal as well as the best hospitality possible. He reserved booth #17 for us which was more private yet public so I could make the proposal when the time was right. He already had discussed how the event was going to go for me and how we would end the night. We when we arrived our table was completely covered in rose petals. We were celebrating one year of being together yet my fiance had no idea of what was coming. I began the night with a gift necklace to throw her off as to think nothing more was happening that night. She was very inquisitive also of how I knew Johnny so he helped me find something we both had in common to strafe her off of the investigative path. We started the night coming in with some wonderful appetizers of lobster bites and Wagyu with soy sauce. We then proceeded with two different types of salads before our dinner of an amazing Tomahawk steak shared between myself and my fiance with some amazing side to go with it. We had planned at 8:30 for her mother to show up also as a surprise so she could watch the event happen. Her mom was exactly on time, and the staff positioned her so that my fiance would not see her mother during the proposal. Johnny worked with the sous-chef to prepare an amazing dessert board with several options (this is not on the menu), and the ring was in its box centered on the board. He and several staff members recorded video as the brought the tray out and as I sat there with her she explored the wonderful dessert options that were presented on the tray and had no clue the ring box was in the center. Instantly she froze and opened the box, I pulled her out of the booth, went to my knee and proposed to her. She said yes, and the whole restaurant cheered; I instantly grabbed her and picked her up and kissed her and they cheered even louder for us. Such an amazing and magical moment for the both of us and I truly believe it couldn't have happened without Johnny being a part of it. His communication, friendliness, creativeness, and eagerness to make this moment amazing for my finance was beyond compare. I would highly recommend him to anyone for planning any special event. If the restaurant is reading this, this man truly deserves a raise!!! You have an employee that cares for his customers and goes above and beyond what can ever be imagined. You, no Johnny has definitely earned continued business from us and new business from many of my co-workers and friends. Thank you again Johnny and Ruth's Chris for making it the best moment...

My Special Ladyfriend and I went here to celebrate a recent major life event. We were really looking forward to coming here, but were completely disappointed.

I will start with the good.. We arrived for our reservation early, so we decided to have a drink in the bar. Our drinks were good and the bar staff were awesome. In addition to this, the crab cakes, stuffed mushrooms and the porterhouse steak were all very good.

Now the bad.. Our reservation was at 5:30 PM; we arrived at a little after 5 and made our presence known at the door. They said that they would get us when we were ready to be seated. At 5:40 PM we still had not heard anything, so we asked the bar staff, at which point, someone came to seat us.

More bad.. When we made our reservation, we specified a low table in the dining room. The person that came to get us tried to seat us in the bar, which we let them know that was not what we reserved. They showed us instead to another table in the dining room.

More bad.. When our waiter came, the seemed like he didn't even want to be there. He was terribly difficult to understand and we were told nothing about some items that we overheard from other wait staff at other tables after our order was placed. Hearing these, our orders may have changed. Every time that he came to the table, he was rude, hard to understand, and seemed like he would rather be elsewhere.

More bad.. While the appetizers and the steak were very good, the sides were totally not worth the cost. The au gratin potatoes had way too much garlic and the cheese wasn't even mixed into the potatoes/sauce. The grilled asparagus was ok, but again, not worth the cost, much the same with the lobster mac and cheese as well as the Brussels sprouts.

The worst.. While finishing the last sip of my very expensive scotch, I also got a piece of broken glass in my mouth that must have been at the bottom of my snifter. I told and showed the waiter and he tried to get me to put the glass on the dishes that he was taking back. I let him know that it would not happen and that I would speak with his manager at the table.

The "resolution".. The manager did in fact come over and filled out an incident report in case I had accidentally ingested any glass. He indicated that the general manager (which was there that night) would call me the next day to check on me, which she never did. I got the manager's as well as the general manager's cards, they removed the scotch from the bill and also knocked 50% off of the bill.

Regardless, we will not be returning due to broken glass in my scotch, rude wait staff, and an organization that doesn't care about...