A Dong Restaurant

I saw many good reviews for this restaurant, so I thought that I would try it. I was expecting high quality food. I was surprisingly disappointed. I ordered sup chua and a jumbo shrimp dish. The soup was OK. I would say that the jumbo shrimp was not great. They don’t give you a lot of meat. I was not pleased with the taste either. I don’t really recommend this place, but you might like it if you like Vietnamese.

Our food was fast and fresh. Not much favor to the curry dish but lemongrass was tasty. Real bummer was the two hairs we found in the sticky white rice rhough,

Just ate here today with my wife and kids. It was so disappointing. Phở was bland, beef and veggies was bland, vermicelli with egg roll and marinated pork was awful. The vermicelli with pork dish. Um, not a good sign when you have to toss the noodles around so you can find the meat. Then when you do find the meat it’s missing any real marinated Vietnamese flavor at all. The egg roll that comes cut up in the bowl was burnt.
But by far the worst thing I ate there was the Bo Bia spring rolls. Again, the meat is missing. As hungry as I was I couldn’t even finish my phở. Not because I was full, it was because it just wasn’t very good. The phở noodles were clumpy and hard, broth had no flavor. Although, I must say with the phở there was an adequate amount of meat. I could go on but here’s the bottom line… if you really know good Vietnamese food or if you are Vietnamese you will not like this place. Service was fine though I guess.

This is the best place to get Vietnamese food and they have many vegan options as well. I shared the vegetable hot pot with my boyfriend along with noodles and it was amazing. We both left the restaurant very satisfied. I will definitely visit here again when I’m in Des Moines.

A Dong is one of our favorite places to eat. The food is always delicious and the service is great. The Phở is a must try. Today we had the #113 Hot Pot. It was amazing. Served with a hot coal in the center of the metal pot (hence the name), it comes sizzling and smoking right out of the kitchen.
The broth was spicy and delicious, although I added a little more kick with some sriracha. The soup has generous amounts of meat and vegetables. It is sublimely tasty. I included a picture of the cauldron of deliciousness for reference.
If you like Asian food, and especially if you like Vietnamese food, this Des Moines treasure is a must stop. I cannot recommend them highly enough.

Food is done in record time. Tastes great. Place looks clean & beautiful every time. Servers could be more patient.

Yum the food here is fantastic!!! Especially the spring rolls and crab Rangoon!!!
The bubble tea is heavenly! I really love how refreshing the coconut us! It has a nice amount of fruit and bubbles in it!!!
The phở is so smooth and full of flavor!!! This is one of the best I have had in Des Moines!!! There is plenty of noodles and meat! The rare steak is the way to go!
The staff was amazing! Super friendly! And glasses never went empty.
The restaurant is clean and nicely updated after the fire! So happy I got the opportunity to come here!
They were very accommodating to our group.
Great experience and i can’t wait to come back and try more!

How can I even express my love for A Dong into words? It’ll be hard, but I’ll try, because you need to understand how great this place is.
A Dong has over 100 items on the menu, and this is not your typical Cantonese. This is well crafted, fantastic food that is always a work of art. There is so much work that goes into keeping this restaurant running, and it’s the staff where it really shows. The food is fast, inexpensive, quality and handcrafted.
This is the only Viet restaurant where the rare beef in your perfectly-​sized bowl of phở will melt in your mouth. It’s the only place where the broth is so fresh and so heartwarming, that it can temporarily cure any ailment or illness you have. This is the place that mixes a peaceful atmosphere with a flavor-​punch, in the best way. A Dong makes gourmet, Asian soul food and that’s the best I can describe it.
Let it be known that this restaurant was a victim of a fire in 2015, kept their loyal customers in the loop with lighthearted humor and came back stronger than ever, with open arms. They offered free food for the opening, buffet style, for fans lining down the street. They have been rejuvenated, they are grateful for their customers and they love what they do. This is a DSM MUST-​GO.

horrible horrible horrible. im sorry but its the truth. we came in and order egg rolls that came out cold. not freshy fry to order. very
little, i mean little meat with no seasoning or marinating to their meat on the inside that came with their salty fish sauce. their shrimp rolls sucks. very disappointing. their food overall was tasteless and old. it was COLD its like they had it ready made to serve just to serve it. the owner gave me a $ 5 off, because he knows i wasn’t lieing.

So I ate a bowl of phở at A Dong a long time ago and it was very bland so I haven’t been back. I decided to go back and give them another chance but boy oh boy was I disappointed again. The word of the day in this review is bland. Everything we ate was bland. I ordered a iced coffee with condensed milk and said… there’s no way this could be bland, but it was! The coffee they used was very watered down. This coffee drink is supposed to be super strong and flavorful! Now on to the phở dishes… my girlfriend got the special which comes with everything and I ordered my usual beef and meatball phở. My bowl of phở was so small that I had to ask our waiter if they mistakenly gave me a kid’s bowl. Nope, that was their normal sized bowl for phở. So disappointing… phở is supposed to be in a big bowl so you can enjoy the broth and have room to mix in the goodies. Though I didn’t really want to enjoy this broth. It was watery and had no depth in flavor. Plus side was that they gave me plenty of meatballs. I had to ask for my beef since they forgot. I just kept looking at my bowl thinking I’ve eaten cereal in bigger bowls!
Super disappointed with my dining experience. Though I’ve heard they have better vermicelli and rice dishes so maybe I’ll try that… but I’m afraid they’ll be bland.

People rave about this place. We stopped by for some lunch. The soup was ok. Fresh and hot but not a lot of pizazz. Our meals were good but nothing to write home about. Large dining area. Efficient staff.

Love love love this place! First time back after the closure — the remodel looks great and food was fantastic as always. My favorite is #20, a delicious, fresh noodle dish filled with all kinds of veggies and protein.

It’s open again and not only is it still the best food around, but now the place looks even better!
It still has the very extensive menu, including a whole separate vegan/​vegetarian menu.
I tell everyone this: you will find a dish at A Dong you like. 100% guarantee.
I cannot recommend A Dong enough.

Always delicious! Their Vietnamese is slightly Americanized, which isn’t a bad thing. 89 shrimp is a MUST, every single time I go. As well as the number 25 and/​or the chicken phở. They have an extensive vegetarian menu and also serve desserts and bubble tea. They’re also open late, until about 10:30pm daily but are closed Monday’s. After the fire, the menu stays consistent. Yum!

Outstanding. Every bite was out of this world. Cannot wait to go back.
Beautiful inside, nice atmosphere
Great, friendly service
Eggrolls and spring rolls amazing
Phở amazing
Spicy shrimp curry dish I had I can’t stop thinking about a week later
Well done, ADong! Glad you’re here!

On a road trip through Des Moines I told my brother I was looking for something Ethnic, healthy, cheap, and delicious. Somehow this managed to be all of the above! If you want authentic Vietnamese food served up quickly with large portions at a low price, A Dong is the place for you.

It upsets me to give A-​Dong 3 stars but after my visit today I’d say it’s a fair assessment. I’ve been here 2 or 3 times before and felt I finally had a better judgment of its quality and service.
I’ll start off by saying that staffing needs some MAJOR work. We were seated after a ~10 minute wait and then proceeded to wait an additional 15 – 20 minutes to be greeted by a server, given we had to flag one of them down.
My S.O. and I ordered the phở special and were equally disappointed with it. Trust me, we KNOW good phở. The portions were smaller than what’s normally served and the broth was just upsetting; it REALLY lacked flavor.
I also wish this place had a more obvious system of closing out checks because more than likely you’ll find yourself waiting around until a server (if you’re lucky to even see them again after you’re served) directs you to the host to close out.
This restaurant has potential but until then, I’ll probably look elsewhere for some authentic phở.

LOVE THIS PLACE!!! The renovation is beautiful. The décor, floors, wood. So lovely :)
We arrived at 5:45 and there was a pretty long line but it moved quickly. It’s a busy place!
We ordered pork egg rolls which were the
. I usually get the spring rolls so it was nice to try something new. I ordered the 119, coconut curry with beef and rice. It’s listed as a popular item and I see why. Delicious! I also ordered the hot French press coffee. When it arrived I realized I had no idea how to make the coffee. Nothing a little trip to YouTube couldn’t fix. It was the 2^nd best coffee I’ve had. I’m wondering now if it’s theirs specifically, or if I have missed the train on French press the whole time.
My dinner date ordered the 79 (I think) with hot tea. The tea was super hot but once it cooled down he really enjoyed. He ate all of his food and helped me with the coconut curry.
The service was a little thin tonight but the food still came out incredibly fast. Altogether our bill was $ 22. For the portions, the price, and the flavor this place is a treasure!

When I moved to Des Moines, EVERYONE told me I had to try A Dong. Unfortunately they were closed. Finally had a chance to try it out on their first night back open! We had to wait about 15 mins outside, free food causes some long lines, but once in we got seated right away! There was a buffet set up to try some signature dishes-​one side for vegetarian options the other for the carnivores-​rolls, and sauces. IT WAS DELICIOUS! We had a party of three so we invited a solo diner to join us and made a new friend. The staff all seemed very happy and gracious at the wonderful turn out. The host was adorable and we got a few good laughs out of him. You could tell they were as excited as the community was to be back, coming to the table a few times to check on us and chat. Im not sure what it looked like before, but everything was bright and clean and they kept the food coming as fast as possible. We were even handed an fresh, hot, egg roll on our way out the door! Stoked to go again real soon.

Man I wish I could give half stars — a solid 3.5. I am NOT a fan of their phở at all — noodles were soggy and the broth lacked depth of flavor. I will say their rice dishes are more stand out and their curry noodle soup was also tasty. There rare beef salad was pretty good. Service was ok. Very busy for lunch on the weekdays.