Yanni’s Grill & Vineyard

My wife come here once a month for the Sunday buffet. It is consistently amazing. The food is fresh and they keep everything well stocked. It is also very reasonably priced. We will continue to come back as our 2yr old loves the food too!

Girls night out ended up here for the evening. Staff was attentive and our orders were as expected. Nice little place on the inside, unsuspecting from the outside. I would like to try their buffet some time. Give it a whirl, shop local!

I’ve had Yani’s twice, once as take out and once eating in the restaurant. Their food is quite good and pretty authentic. I’ve only tried the Italian half of the menu, not the Greek half, but both meals were very satisfying. I’ve tried the spaghetti and meatballs and the shrimp Diablo.

Yanni’s lunch buffet is my favorite buffet of all buffets. It is only available on weekdays, and is a bit of a haul for me from West Glen, but it is well worth the trip. It’s quite inexpensive at under $ 7/​person.
The food is awesome. Delicious well seasoned chunks of steak, lots of broccoli and carrots, pasta, numerous chicken dishes, and of course the delicious garlic bread knots. There is also soup and pizza. It’s amazing. I eat until I hurt. It’s all just too good.
Yanni’s regular menu is excellent as well. Their gyros are top notch. For dessert, their Tiramisu is very much on point, as is the baklava. The service is also excellent and the staff is very friendly.
If you haven’t been to Yanni’s, you should go. You should especially go for the lunch buffet. It remains my absolute favorite in that regard. It is absolutely worth a trip. Now I am hungry…

Came here for dinner with my boyfriend and was very impressed. The restaurant itself was cozy and great for a date night. I started off with a salad and their creamy parm dressing which was really, really good. I ordered off the $ 10 menu (offered tues-​thurs) but don’t remember the exact name of my dish. It had steak (the best part), mushrooms, and zucchini over pasta in a tomato sauce. It was delicious and for a great price. I always feel like pasta at italian places are so overpriced, but I think Yannis prices are pretty decent. My date had a gyro and fries and he was also very happy with it. After hearing so many rave reviews about their buffet, I’m excited to try it out myself.

Quick stop to grab lunch and waste time before meetings.
Restaurant was clean and nicely kept. The lunch buffet is $ 7.99.
Food was warm and a large variety however lacked flavor. They had some meat/​steak on the buffet that was over cooked and dry.
Small family business, no interaction from staff other to seat you and get you a drink. I will try again as I have hear so many great things, just no buffet.

This place has been good so far. I’ve been a few times. The owners are awesome and the food is priced right.

We went for the Friday buffet. The food is good. They kept seating people down and not bringing out more food. At one point there were 5 or 6 waiting, and there buffet is not that big (less than 12 main items). If you go there for the lunch buffet go before 1. After 1 they stop bringing out fresh items. Whatever is left is all u have to choose from. For less than 8 bucks with drink included, u can’t beat he deal. They cook their food in small batches so u know it’s fresh. The staff is nice.
If u don’t like the buffet you can order from the menu. Their daily special is Gyro with fries and a drink for 6 dollars. That’s less than you pay for a lunch at Wendy’s.
Go there. Give it a try

Free crispy bread and garlic knots before each meal! Their steak deburgo is a great value and tastes phenomenal! So buttery and garlicy mmmm. The potato croquette kinda sucked in all honesty so I will probably choose a different side next time I visit. Will definitely try another one of their steaks!

I’ve been here a few times. Everything I’ve had has been wonderful. I’ve only had Greek food, though. The 10 $ menu is great, and we’ve had 2 meals from it. Both delicious. The regular menu is also great. The Greek Trio is delicious and cooked wonderfully. The service was always wonderful. They have great wine and a full bar. Though they didn’t know what SoCo was, they figured it out :) They had good prices as well. It’s cozy and nice, clean and not too bright. I would definitely come here again.

DESCRIPTION: Too-​big-​menu place in a suburb. Shares a building with a Dairy Queen. United Nations of cuisine.
EXPERIENCE: My dining partner and I went for the first time. We entered the restaurant in the West door. We stood there for several minutes, wait staff noticing us but not saying anything. Finally we walked through the restaurant and realized there was a hostess desk at the other entrance. We were then greeted and taken to a table.
ORDERED: Spanakopita appetizer, Gyro (me), some gigantic-​ass chicken pasta dish (her). Water — driving to Ankeny from Des Moines means sobriety. Word.
TASTED: The spanakopita may have a fancy name that’s fun to pronounce like you’re a world traveler but this was boring. No feta was detected, almost needed to use the salt shaker. The marina sauce that was with it was really good. We ended up dipping our complimentary basket-​o-​bread into this. Service was slow. Had to flag her down like I had a flat tire on I-​35. My gyro was just okay, the lamb was super salty. My dining partner got an eight person portion of pasta. No dessert.
POST: Boring food. Subpar service. $ 40 meal of mediocrity. Chance of return: ²⁄₁₀

This is THE place for Greek food. Missed them leaving West Des Moines, but this place is larger with more parking. The food is still delicious and the service good.

A couple friends and I came here while in town to visit a friend. Nice little place. Overall, good food and friendly, attentive staff and reasonable prices.
We went a couple minutes before 5 PM — I thought they might be closed in between lunch and dinner, so we hesitated to go in, but a server saw us looking at the door (hours posted) and we asked if they were open and she said yes and ushered us inside.
We got the sampler platter to share with spanakopita, bruschetta and saganaki. All were pretty good, although the spanakopita didn’t have any cheese. Good flavor otherwise! I also ordered some garlic knots and those were good as well (could’ve had a little more garlic — but I REALLY love garlic, so it’s probably good for the masses). Pretty much everything came with a decent marinara/​red sauce for dipping.
I finished off our mini-​meal with the raspberry tiramisu which was very good, although it didn’t taste like the lady fingers were soaked in coffee. It was a bit more cake-​like than any other tiramisu I’ve had. Still very delicious, though. Glad we gave this place a go!

Jimzim
There is 4 of us that go out to eat together and we are trying to hit all of the restaurants. Yanni’s we give a light 4 stars. Overall we were pleased with our meals and our young waiter was excellent.
My wife had the chicken stuffed with feta and spinach and I had the dish like moussaka. We were both pleased with the entrée. My wife thought the potato croquet didn’t have much taste and I found the spanakopita to be tasteless. Nothing at all like I had when I was stationed in Greece.
Our friends loved the Greek steak and the chicken piccata. Sue gave the piccata a glowing report and my wife tasted it and agreed it was great.
My wife and I split a baklava and found it to be a little dry, lacking honey. Our friends split the cheesecake and said it was great. They wouldn’t share.
Again I have to mention our waiter as he was excellent and a lot of wait staff should emulate him.
We will be back.

My first Yanni’s experience was in Altoona and I loved their buffet. When I found out there is an Ankeny location I jumped at the chance to check it out. In all of my Yanni’s experiences I have only had their buffet so I cannot speak for their menu items.
The food quality here was much better than the Altoona location, which was still pretty good. There is not a large selection of food, which is good because it always you to sample every item they have. Food quality is the key here not quantity, because the food is well prepared and has a good presentation. Their décor is very nice as well, it is a classic Greek/​Italian theme, which tries to make you feel you are in another country.
We went before the lunch rush and did not have to share the buffet line with too many other patrons. The staff is very friendly, and although they are usually busy doing stuff in the kitchen during these hours; they are still on top of the game to refill your water and bring you your check.
The final point I would like to make about this place is the price, IT IS A STEAL for the food you are getting. There were times I would just smile after receiving the check and think «Wow».

Husband and I went here several nights ago and really enjoyed it! The selection of dinner items are very appetizing yet not overwhelming. Photos of entrees are provided in the menu and that helped our selection. I chose the Greek Combination with Spanikopita and something else with eggplant and meat, a bit like a lasagna. It was delicious! My husband got a chicken dish that he greatly enjoyed. The service was wonderful and the environment is nice and cozy. We’ll definitely be back!

I don’t always write reviews on Unilocal,but when I do it is because a restaurant has really stood out and made a big impression (good or bad). Yanni’s was a wonderful and delicious experience. I was in town for work, and admit I had pretty low expectations for Italian/​Greek in Ankeny, Iowa. After doing some research on Unilocal,I decided to try something local, non-​chain, and I am so glad I did.
The complimentary bread and garlic button things were delicious and dangerously addictive. The salad, which is included with entrees, with the creamy parmesan dressing was also excellent. My entrée was the Steak de Burgo. The steak was cooked perfectly, but lacked flavor, and thus is the only reason my review isn’t five stars. It was cooked with mushrooms, garlic, and basil, and those mushrooms were perfect. For my side I ordered a potato croquette. It was alright, a glorified hashbrown, so next time (if there is one *hopefully*) I’d probably get a side of pasta.
Aside from the slightly bland steak, it was an awesome meal. Maybe next time I’ll get a chicken or pasta entrée, or go for some of the more Greek items on the menu. I wish I had Yanni’s back home.
Prices were fair, service was great, and overall it was a great experience. It was like Italian comfort food, and I left full and happy. I’d be interested to try their Sunday brunch.

This place was great. We just got the buffet for lunch. It was good. Well priced. Nice variety. Garlic knots were awesome. Would suggest.

My wife and I have been going to Yanni’s for several years now. The food is consistently great. The service is impeccable. The buffet is great. They do a great job of making sure it is fresh. There is always fish on the buffet, which is really good. The bread knots are one of my wife’s favorite things. Their creamy Parmesan dressing is really good. My wife orders the chicken souvlaki and loves it. Today on the buffet they had one of my favorite pasta dishes, the mostaccioli diablo. It is mostaccioli pasta and ground beef in a spicy cream sauce. It is fantastic, but is not on the menu. When we have gone in there when they don’t have the buffet, they are more than willing to make me the mostaccioli diablo. The pizza is also good.
The service is always fantastic and the food has consistently been at a high quality for the past few years that we have been going there.
I would recommend this place to anyone.

Excellent service and delicious food. We ventured to Yanni’s for a group outing and we were not disappointed. As many other reviews have noted, the menu provides both Italian and Greek options. The drink menu also provides a number of domestic and Italian beers.
For an appetizer we had Saganaki, which is always tasty. Fried cheese, lemon juice and a bit of fire — let’s get started. For my entrée I had the Greek Trio. A ton of tasty food. The only complaint that I have is that the lamb was a bit greasy.
We left Yanni’s full and happy. This is a great restaurant for a family outing or just a lazy evening out for some tasty food.