Wobbly Boots Roadhouse

Are you looking for great barbecue and wonderful atmosphere? Well, this place isn’t it. The meat is ok but it’s not great. I’ve had much better barbecue in other places.
I’ll start with what was wrong. My wife got the two meat dinner with two sides. She ordered brisket and burnt ends with baked beans and potato salad. Both the meats were cold. The burnt ends weren’t burnt and they were tough. They were basically cubes of tough beef, nothing special. The brisket was sliced too thinly; almost as thin as deli meat. It was much too thin for her taste. And there was nothing special about the brisket either. When I asked the waitress how much the beers cost, she said she didn’t know. She asked another waitress and the other waitress didn’t know either. She didn’t offer to check what the prices were for me.
The atmosphere inside was just kind of blah. There were a lot of TVs mounted on the walls, but other than that, there was nothing noteworthy about the décor.
I will admit there were some good things about the place. I got the smoked meatloaf and I liked the smokey flavor. My wife’s beans and potato salad were actually good. Usually we find that it’s the meat that’s good and the sides that aren’t so good, but this time it was the opposite.
I just didn’t find anything that great about this place to make me come back again; especially since there are so many other better barbecue places in town.

Had the Ribbies and Wings appetizer and a salad. Huge portions! Ribs were good but the wings were awesome! Probably the best bbq wings I’ve ever had — Big, meaty and full of flavor.

Went here for lunch and got the triple meat plate. Burnt ends were covered in sauce couldn’t really taste the meat but seemed cooked right just could only taste sauce. Pulled pork was very bad. Way to much salt and seasoning, again couldn’t taste the meat. Smoked sausage was good. Table had one bbq sauce to use and the ham and corn was bland along with the coleslaw. Need to step their game up. Service was fast and good though.

So I wasn’t that hungry but sadly I had bbq for lunch. Boss got the burnt ends. He let me taste and boy I think I would have got that. Let me rephrase. I will get this the next time. Tender and flavor explodes. The meal I did choose was great. Nice little turkey wrap. Hit the spot. The only reason it’s not 5 stars is the manager didn’t help the one sole waitress waiting in our party of 25 folks. Didn’t sit well with me. She was great but too much for one person.

Had the smothered brisket sandwich. It was messy and excellent. I was tempted to grab my wife’s loaded baked potato from her, but I’ll settle for having one next time.
I got the cheesy corn and ham, and it was very good, but I WILL order onion rings next time. My wife described them best – they look like onion donuts. I managed to suppress the urge to steal the plate from the next table over.
Very good service, but they shouldn’t make the poor dear hustle all over.

Wobbly Boots is good eating! I had a half order of onion rings as a appetizer… huge, great batter, and very delicious! I had the catfish dinner with mac and cheese and green beans for dinner. The catfish was fried and seasoned very well, and the mac and cheese was the bomb! I will definitely return to try the BBQ. The service was great and the staff was friendly.

Service, good. A little slow but friendly. Burnt ends sandwich was good. I was excited about the hand breaded onion rings but ½ were burnt and the other half a little undercooked. How does that happen? We were there at 3pm. No excuse for top notch food and service. The sliced ham /​turkey plate was a little dry. Putting sauce is not a BBQ rescue. The meat should be accented by sauce. Complimented. Step it up please. I’m from Texas so BBQ is important to me. Plus I’m a pig ha! Lastly, prices are decent considering.

I love the wait staff and the food at Wobbly Boots. Jenna is my main gal. She takes good care of me. Brian, the manager is obviously a good leader of this group of competent people. I go there as often as I can. I have held two group events there. One was for around 40 and they pulled it off without a hitch. I highly recommend them.

I am not going to lie to you. Whoever came up with the idea of smoked meatloaf deserves a statue somewhere in their honor. This place does it better than most! Good sized portions of great tasting meat with just the right amount of smokiness made it a perfect dinner. Good selection of local beer on tap to wash it down. Guy next to me had the burnt ends which smelled and looked very good too… he wouldn’t take his eyes off them for long enough to steal one so I guess I’ll have to come back another time. Sean kept my beer glass full

While in Iowa on a work trip, my coworkers and I were recommended this place. Our waiter was really cool and guided us through the menu. I think everyone on my team was completely satisfied with their lunch. I had the best baked potato that I’ve ever had in my life lol. I had mine with turkey. Their mac n cheese was pretty awesome too. If I’m ever in Iowa again, this is the place to visit.

Food was good here, doesn’t beat Jethros by a long shot tho. The potato salad was fresh and tasty!
Beer was cold and food came out in a timely manner.
If your looking for a quick close lunch bite this place will work but it’s not the best BBQ in my opinion.
This restaurant chain I feel should not have came to Des Moines… Too much competition already with all the other restaurants like one of the other reviewers stated previously!

My friend and I wanted to try something different for lunch and Wobbly Boots missed the mark. DSM and the surrounding cities have so many good bbq spots… Woodys Smoke shack, Flying Mango, Smokey D’s, and even Jethro’s bbq. Wobbly Boots unfortunately is not one of those.
I walked in and got sat down right away. The service was good but our food came out cold and partially uncooked. I had the two meat sandwich special Pit ham and smoked turkey that also came with a side. The ham looked and tasted like deli meat ham and the turkey was cold and didn’t taste smoked at all. My friend got the burnt ends and smoked sausage but both had lack luster taste. She also had a baked potato for her side and it came out partially cooked and cold.
The one thing that we did like were the Onion ring appetizer and my side which was the potato salad but that was all. I didn’t finish my food and had it sent back. The server got the manager and I explained my concerns. She was very nice about it and took the food off my ticket. I hope Wobbly Boots gets better with time but unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be coming back because there are some many better BBQ places in town.

Had lunch here a few days ago. HOLY COW!!! Everything was outstanding, especially the brisket chili. And our waitress was almost perfect. Don’t live in Des Moines any more, but, we will always stop in when we are in town!

My husband and I stopped for a late lunch and we’re glad we did. Our waiter, Bryan, was the best. We ordered onion rings, a brisket sandwich, and prime rib french dip. The onion rings were enormous and fabulous. My french dip was wonderful and was accompanied by a mound of curly fries. We’ll definitely return to Wobbly Boots.

Nothing at all like the one at the Lake! We were seated right away, about 4 tables full on. Friday afternoon about 1. The service was awful, she didn’t know the menu, we repeated our order several times.
Some of the food was so so, some was just bad!
The burnt ends were in were some kind of disgusting sauce. Totally inedible.
Of the 7 orders, 3 came out right. No apologies. We will not be going back.

We had an okay time here. The staff was friendly and the service was good. I got chicken fried chicken and it looked good. The chicken, gravy, and green beans tasted good but the mashed potatoes were not good. They had a glue like consistency and were not what I would call smashed potatoes. My fiancé had the pulled pork sandwich with fries and said it was good.
Would I eat here again? Only if others really wanted to. There are better places to get similar food.

Stopped in for the 1^st time last week. What a great atmosphere. laid back and quieter than other BBQ joints.
The food was absolutely amazing! And great portion sizes!
I’m early looking forward to going back.

A couple of MO friends took us saying that it was amazing and they have been there multiple times since they moved into town. Went in about 7 on a Friday night.
We waited about 25 min to get seated as the place was packed.
We started with fried pickles which were thicker slices. This I thought was better than the stupid thin pickles that many of the places carry. I enjoy the pickle spears the most but these were okay.
I ordered the meat platter. 2 meats. I got pulled pork and the burnt ends. I was told the mac and cheese was good so that was my side with the curly fries.
Without extra sauce the meat seemed a little dry to me but the burnt ends were actually pretty good tasting and they had a lot of sauce and were not dry at all. Ok so half and half there. The curly fries were nothing special and just a filler. The mac and cheese was close tasting to velveta shells but kinda hit the spot.
My fiancé got the three meat platter so I got to try his pork and ham. I guess I just wasnt enjoying it to terribly much. He also go the unique side of cheese corn with ham. That I was not a fan of, but I am also not a fan of corn in mac and cheese, whoever thought of that mix was nuts. So overall I walked away full from the meal but I know I have had much better bbq around town and even at home.
The staff were very nice and I didnt have a problem with the place at all just mostly not impressed. It did seem to take a long time to get our food and it wasnt piping hot when it came, but it was still hot enough.
My fiancé loved it so I am sure we will go back but I know I will be eating something else next time, unless its just the burnt ends, cause I did enjoy those.

Here in Des Moines doing business, and I am from Texas, so thought I would check this restaurant out bring hungry for bbq. Horrible… brisket was sliced thinner than even roast beef that I have been served, and there was absolutely no taste to the meat. Serve leather next time, better value, I am sure.
The coleslaw was so dry, they should have just served me the head of cabbage. The mac n cheese was just passable, therefore yielding my two star rating.
I am not evaluating this place compared to great Texas bbq, they just definitely need to check their food for taste. Service was good and the beer I had was cold. Yuck!

Stopped for lunch on Saturday. I liked the looks of the place, nice job on decorating. Sat at bar and ordered lunch. Good selection of taps, nice local brews.
Food was just ok, not great but not bad. Burnt ends, sausage, pulled pork, beans and Mac cheese. Appetizer of crab stuffed mushroom.
Beans need work, sausage ok, everything else just lacking something. The owners may need to stop at a few local bbq places around Des Moines area and compare what they are offering. They may need to step it up.
If food is just ok, you need to be in a great location, which this place is not. If food is unbelievable good, your location could be anywhere and place would be successful.
We will give it another try, maybe just off day.