Ranallo’s on Third

Probably one of the classiest restaurants in Ankeny. If you are planning for date night or a special occasion and want to stay in town, this would be the place to go. Very romantic and intimate place with dim lighting and high quality décor. Not only is the décor elegant, the service was excellent, 5 star service from the friendly staff.
The atmosphere is definitely made for date night for 2 people, but groups of 4 would be just fine, in my opinion anymore would be unfitting for the atmosphere. The menu is not extensive, but everything looks delicious.
We got the crab cakes which tasted great for an appetizer! The soup and salads were excellent that came with the entrees! I got the Fettuccine Alfredo with grilled chicken and the wife got the Chicken Marsala. Both dishes were excellent, not the best I’ve ever had, but very good tasting dishes. For the price, you are paying for both the food and the décor, which is worth it!

Had Fettucinne Alfredo with chicken. Pasta was unremarkable and chicken had little taste. Disappointing for $ 21.00 plate. Oatmeal pie was excellent.
Service was above par. Atmosphere was cozy.

This is one of our favorite quiet places to eat in Ankeny. We love the ambience and great food. So nice to have a place that’s locally owned.

Phenomenal! Scallops, seared ahi tuna, chicken or steak marsala. Epic service. Owner is a decent guy. Cute ambiance. Reasonable prices. Perfect for a first date or special occasion brunch, ie mother’s day. Ask for Ronsky at the bar

Ranallo’s is my favorite Ankeny restaurant. They have a nice bar, quiet and elegant ambience, and delicious food. My favorite dish is the seafood trio, but there’s a problem. It’s too good. The trio includes salmon, crab cakes, and scallops. All three are delicious, but that is a lot of food. I have never had a dish I did not truly enjoy at Ranallo’s.
I always pick Ranallo’s if it’s my turn to choose the restaurant. With flavorful food, excellent service and a mellow atmosphere, we always have a wonderful time.

This is a great place for a special occasion. The fireplace adds great ambiance. I love the baked cavatelli. It’s homemade, and you can tell. Paired with sausage and other ingredients, I’m never disappointed. My husband prefers the chicken parm. And the homemade creamy parm dressing can’t be missed!

We ate here for a special occasion. No online reservations and they are closed during the day. Fortunately the answering service is easy and they had our request when we arrived.
The atmosphere is extremely intimate. It was very clean and the service was attentive but not annoying. Not many specials, but the regular menu is great. I highly recommend the scallops or the beef tenderloin.
Ranallo’s is not inexpensive, but it is fairly priced for a special occasion. I think the wine list could be better, though the martini my wife had was excellent. Overall, I think this is a nice little spot. We will eat here again.

Nice little hidden gem!!! Awesome service w/​wonderful food. 1^st time customer who will return.

I really wanted to like this place… but I need to be honest, we probably would never come back.
We started with the scallop appetizer… these were the tiniest scallops I had ever seen, take a look at the photo. They were decent but not worth it in my opinion.
My wife ordered the salmon and i ordered the prime rib. They were decent but we were told that they were going to be served with potatoes au gratin. In actuality they were just mashed potatoes… not trying to be picky but when i am looking forward to some cheesy baked potatoes and i get mashed potatoes i am a bit disappointed.
The dessert was the best part of the dinner. Oatmeal pie was EXCELLENT and the molten chocolate cake was good.
One other thing, the service is slow… we were here for close to two hours… which conflicted with some other plans we had that evening.

Great service, great menu, great ambience!
Who knew you could eat like this is in the middle of Iowa?
I had the Seafood Trio, which was a perfect taste of each of components of the meal. I really loved that the crab cake wasn’t overly bread-​crumbed, and the scallops were so hot they must have come off the grill and gone right onto the plate.
I didn’t have room for dessert, but I’ll definitely be back to try it!

Looks like this place is due for an updated review. I would give it 4.5 stars if that was an option.
It’s tough to find a non-​chain, non-​casual eating establishment in Ankeny. There are a few great local joints but we were looking for a nice place for a dual birthday dinner without having to drive down to Des Moines. Found Ranallo’s on a Google search and decided to give it a try. Offers Italian fare, steaks, seafood, salads, and flat bread pizzas.
Atmosphere: dimly lit and quiet, with a fine bar area sectioned off from the rest of the restaurant. White tablecloths and candles kind of place. It was definitely the intimate environment we were looking for.
The house wine, Canyon Road chardonnay, was crisp but not too strong. Prices on wine (and food) were what you’d see at a finer establishment in the «big city.» With wine expect to pay $ 30 per person at a minimum.
We started off our meal with the calamari appetizer. It was a little pricey but the portion was generous. We split it between three people and had a few pieces left. The calamari strips were perfectly fried and the batter was tasty enough that I didn’t really need to use the sweet chili sauce provided. The sauce was very sweet, almost like a jelly, but good.
We ordered the spicy seafood pasta and the tenderloin tip pasta. We chose salads over soup and they had a nice selection of dressings, from your usual to your house-​made (I chose a lemon caper dressing that was quite tasty). It was a good salad, well presented. Our meal was also served with a small loaf of fresh bread that we didn’t even get to because we were getting so full.
Seafood pasta: my dining companions were very pleased with the seafood pasta. The spice was not overwhelming and the seafood was plentiful in the dish. Most notable were the juicy scallops and the few mussels on the side.
Tenderloin tip pasta: The sauce was almost too thin, but not quite. Needed to add salt to my dish, but I’d rather add my own than have it oversalted to begin with. The mushrooms were great and the sauteed onions were a delicious addition (chopped in thin threads). Some of the chunks of beef were perfect and soft, a few were overdone. Not anything to complain about.
The portions were large for both dishes. This meal was filling and there was plenty to take home if desired.
What I liked most was the time we were given to have our meal. Our server was attentive and friendly but not pushy and our courses were brought out over a comfortable length of time, really giving us time to enjoy each step of the meal and have our conversation. We were there just under two hours and there was no fuss made about us getting out even though it was 9 p.m. (closing time) when we left. The bartender told us good night on our way out.
Just a really friendly place and a cozy environment, with good food for special occasions. This is probably the nicest, most intimate place you’ll find in Ankeny. We’ll be back.

Dont’ try to go to this place on a Friday night without a reservation. My grandmother and I went on Friday at 5:30 and the place was completely empty (except for the bar) and we were turned away as the 2 of us didn’t make a reservation… strange.

After reading the reviews of this restaurant, we decided to dine there to celebrate our anniversary. We made reservations. Upon arrival, we were told they saved «a special table just for» us. That table for 2 was right next to the open entrance/​exit to the kitchen area. Several nice tables for 2 were empty and available so, we presumed they were reserved for customers who called in with reservations prior to us. These tables remained empty for the 1−½ hr. duration of our visit. (Oh and we were dressed very well.)
Service was so-​so, at best. Our server was more interested in and attentive to the nearby table of 6 and another table of 8.
The crab cakes appetizer was very good. The salad was plain with iceburg lettuce, one slice of cucumber and two tiny cherry tomatoes with a couple of croutons. We’ve had much better at other restaurants. The homemade salad dressing was very good as was the bread.
The rib eye I ordered was tough and I was unpleasantly suprised because of the previous reviews. Hy-​Vee sells melt-​in-​your-​mouth Amana steaks which are 10 times better than that which I was served.
A shame as we were looking for a classy restaurant in Ankeny because we eat out 2 – 3 times per week. The table seating by the kitchen and the adjacent table being an arm’s length away was hardly condusive to romantic dining and we considered it rude.
Our experience was disappointing and we won’t be back.

We went there with a group of 10. The restaurant was busy so our service was a little slow but not complaining slow. The ambiance was awsome and the food fabulous! My wife had the cavateli. The noodles were dense, similar to gnoci. I ordered the coconut shrimp and added scalops. The shrimp had a sweet salsa and the scalops had a butter sauce. Oir desert was had the oatmeal pie with vanilla ice cream. The martinis were nice except for the Rita Haworth. Holly crap it was strong! Please try Ranallos on 3^rd!!!

This place was delicious (granted I was drunk by the time the food came so that might have affected my experience). Great cocktails, the scallops were amazing, the oatmeal pie desert was heavenly. We had a big family dinner here, and it was a blast.

Great place for a date. We frequent Ranallo’s and get the bruschetta and buffalo chicken flatbread. Both are fabulous. Great staff and food!

This is the best spot in Ankeny for a romantic dinner for two. End of story. I’ve been coming here since it was Derbie’s (same restaurant and menu, different owner), and I have always had good meals here. Excellent variety of food, without dipping into 20-​page-​long-​Cheesecake-​Factory-​menu territory. Good steaks, seafood, chicken, pork: pretty run of the mill American style grille, with a nice atmosphere. Nothing groundbreaking, but if it ain’t broke…
Prices are pretty good for the food that you are getting. Yes, it’s more expensive than TGI McFunster’s (thanks, Tony Bourdain, I’m going to start using that term now), but that just means that you don’t have to go to TGI McFunster’s! Lucky you! It’s a locally owned place in Downtown Ankeny (I can’t type «Downtown Ankeny» with a straight face), with good food, good service, and a nice atmosphere.

Upscale (for Ankeny). Good steak and seafood. Perfect place to go for a nice quiet dinner with a spouse or business client without having to drive into downtown DM.