Buzzard Billy’s

We stopped in for happy hour last night and sadly, it was not a super happy happy hour.
1 — Had to ask for water MULTIPLE times. I asked 3 times for a water. Other members of our party asked for water up to 4 times. Finally, our server brought our waters. Never refilled them, but whatever.
2 — Had to ask multiple times for another beer. My beer was completely empty three times over the course of our stay. Or he would bring 2 out of 5 beers and then people had to wait for theirs while he tried to remember to bring them.
3 — Food came out fast. That was about the only highlight.
4 — Bill came and one person in our group got a bill of $ 0.00
5 — Bills came for the rest of us and that’s when 3 people in our party were informed that Busch Light did not qualify for their crappy can $ 2 special so they were expected to pay the full cost for them AFTER the server explicitly told them Busch Light was included in the special. He blamed the bartender for giving him bad information. Finally, after pointing out how much NOT our problem his misinformation was, he finally discounted the beers for the cost he said they were.
Absolutely never again. Extremely disappointed in their service and overall experience.

Excellent food. Service ok but could be a bit better. Atmosphere is a little tacky — I wish it would be less «sports-​bar» ish. Great place to get some down south Cajun food.
I will continue to visit.
PS — fried catfish was delicious!

This place was a typical brewing house with quite ok food. We ate out in the patio on a nice day which made it enjoyable. The server was helpful and courteous. I wasn’t hungry so I had the buffalo ranch wings. They were great. The sauce was sloppy and ranch was just right. Chicken was something that I could defined eat all day. It wasn’t quite five stars food but pretty close.

In town for business stopped in and had pretty decent cajun food. Fried shrimp, crawfish and alligator. The crawfish were so tiny they had no flavor and we just left em on the plate. The fried alligator was surprising the best part of the dish. Nice bite size chunks, good seasoning very tasty with cold beer. Will come back in the future.

Stopped in right after the Iowa Stars game started next door so the place was clearing out nicely but still plenty busy. We had to wait about 5 minutes for a table, but sauntered up to the bar and were quickly waited on. Once we got to our table our waitress arrived and saw that we had drinks, so she gave us a few minutes to figure out our order. The food arrived within about 10 minutes of our order and was hot and the order was accurate.
I had the jerk chicken philly, which was nicely spiced and hot, with a decent amount of cheese and a fresh bun. There was a plentiful side of fries, and they were also hot and tasty. My dining partner had seafood gumbo. The roux was a bit ‘meat gravy’ flavored for my taste, but overall the dish was nicely spiced and had a good amount of seafood and veggies. Drinks were reasonably priced and good.
There is a nice covered outside patio for times when the weather is good, and the inside is very spacious. The location makes it a go-​to for anyone attending an event at Wells Fargo Arena so make sure to check their schedule before you go. The parking lot is decent-​sized, but you may end up using street parking.

Love this place. Everything is so delicious! The best red beans and rice Ive ever had so far!

I stopped at buzzard billys because one the employees at the hotel I was staying at said it was good. When I got there I asked the waitress what she would recommend. I ordered the chicken Katarina. It was awesome. The shrimp and chicken were tender and the sauce covering it was very good. Service was great.

I tried the shrimp alfredeaux and it was good but not great. The large portion was bigger than I expected. The fried alligator was good but the green chile wings were okay. I might be coming back to try something else, but the service we received was bad. We asked to be seated & a woman walked away quickly & pointed to two of the hostesses rudely and said they can help us. We were seated by our server but she did not seem to be happy for some reason. She checked in on us but not as frequently like she should’ve.

Waited about 40 minutes for a table but that is standard when there is an event happening at the arena. Seated and had a great server. Brought us our drinks quickly and refilled our water as needed. Would rather he of just brought refills without asking if we wanted them but oh well. Ordered our food off of their way too big menu and it arrived very quickly even when it was THIS busy. My sandwich was huge and great. The fries were pretty decent. The beer cheese soup was fantastic, add sausage, and the cheese curds were pretty good. The gator tails were good. Nice light breading. The po boys were freshly made. One was missing an ingredient but it was fixed quick and turned out well. No room for dessert but they have some good choices including gluten free. Several decent beer choices. Lots of mixed drinks to choose from. Noise level was fairly loud but that is standard here as well. They have a large bar area and a backroom bar too. Outdoor seating for nicer weather than what we were feeling today. Parking can be interesting. Large private lot which is usually full unless you are there at an off time. Metered parking on the street and business lots charge you to park in their lots for events. Scoop the area and you should be able to locate a meter if you are willing to walk a little ways. There are also parking ramps nearby which are free after a certain hour.

We arrived around 5:30pm on a Friday evening and the place was already jam packed. Luckily we found a couple of seats at the bar. After ordering drinks, it took a while to get the bartender’s attention to order some food.
We shared a cajon combo and blackened shrimp dinner. The cajon combo included blackened catfish, seafood gumbo, jambalaya, and a couple of hush puppy’s. They were all delicious. The seafood gumbo looked pretty dark but it had great flavor. We loved the taste of shrimp, they were cooked perfectly with cajon seasoning.
We were impressed with the food but the service was a little lacking.

There is a lot to like about this place, especially if you are a classic KISS fan and love beer! I’ve only had their hamburger, but it was really good. The service was excellent and prompt. The choices of beers is fantastic and if you are attending anything at Wells Fargo Arena, Buzzard Billy’s is an excellent stop off point (before or after) your event.
Now I also mentioned KISS and you might thinking why? Well, this place features classic KISS (yes, the rock band KISS) posters and bubble gum cards (if you were a fan in the late 70s, you know what I’m talking about) throughout the place. Very retro and very cool…
Check it out!

Well, stop #3 included the Bayou Platter once again… just love the mix that dinner has and the portion size is hard to beat.

Very good good and service. I will come back! Andrew the server took very good care of me!

Buzzard Billy’s has some great Cajun style food. Love the jambalaya here it can be a bit spicy but it is excellent. The Poboys are also pretty good here. The hush puppies here have a corn bread flavor to them that make the very tasty. Have tried the armadillo eggs and fried pickles from the appetizer section, both are great choices. They have a good beer selection to choose from. Try to get a seat on the balcony at night it is a nice view. On a side note I do miss the courtyard at the old Buzzard Billy’s location, had a great New Orleans feel to it.

We stopped here with friends after graduation. We got drinks and the chicken quesadilla for appetizer. The atmosphere is cool and the quesadillas were good. I guess we would have to eat more to get a better idea of this place. However, everything so far seems to be good.

Great food, great service!!!
We returned again tonight. Warm welcome & pleasant service.
We had Shrimp Creole, Seafood Jambalaya, with Homemade Hushpuppies & then Caramel Cheesecake.
You should really try their Hibiscus Marguerita, smooth. The Hibiscus flowers are very flavorful.

At hyvee hall? Got a concert or hockey at Wells Fargo? Hungry? Right here at Buzzards is where it’s at. You could throw a rock and hit it from both those places. Prime location as this place is always booked and stocked up with people. Almost always a little to long wait if you are going to an event that night. They have eating at the bar if you don’t want to wait.
We planned ahead before a hockey game and lucky got a booth. While waiting for the rest of our party the waitress was friendly and helpful. She had her favorites and loved the gator which i have had before. Yum.
Thanks to the Unilocal pictures i picked out my order. Thursday’s a crappy beer can special night. Coolers banquet was on that list and my finances jaw nearly hit the floor.
Ordered the delicious Armando eggs app. Spicy new Orleans style cooking. Fun and different. Live the blackened options.
When our party arrived and ready we each got something different.
My anglers trio was amazing. The catfish was great along with shrimp and tailplia. Yum. No complaints!
My finance got a specialty burger with coleslaw. This was devoured in moments.
Our friends loved their dishes. He got a barbeque burger and she had po boy sandwich. Everyone loved their meals and filled up on drinks as well.
We laughed and enjoyed our time till close to ice time. Full and happy we left with a couple drinks under our belts to enjoy our evening.
Hit them up early for a fun bar. New Orleans themed good food and drink specials.
Update: have come back a couple times since this review and other than a little slower on the service everything was delicious. Keep it up.

Stopped here for lunch on a Saturday. There were a couple large groups, but lots of open tables, was told it would be a 45 minute wait. The problem really seamed to be a serious lack of staffing at the restaurant.
I sat at the bar to grab a quick burger before heading back to work. The only people that would be proud of this frozen extremely dry hockey puck would be the Wild. The bbq sauce couldn’t help it. Maybe I missed it in the menu, but I wasn’t looking for a frozen burger that the cook could dry out.
The fries were fresh and hot. They were OK.
Having worked at a restaurant or two in my time, it’s always better to staff heavy on a busy day and send people home, than to be short staffed, unable to find anyone to work, and have customers leave.

FOOD: Buzzard Billy’s is located downtown, and my S/​O and I were excited to try something different. The smells radiating from this restaurant were amazing, so we were stoked to try it! We ordered the Seafood Gumbo (gulf shrimp, crawfish tails, andouille sausage, in a highly seasoned roux-​based broth served over rice), Louisiana Purchase (Fried crawfish, fried alligator tails, fried oysters with a quartet of sauces) served with french fries, hush puppies, and cole slaw, and the Shrimp étouffée (shrimp sauteed with garlic, celery, onions, and cajun spices, then simmered in a spicy and buttery mahogany roux sauce. served with rice and french bread). I wasn’t blown away by the food we ordered — more specifically the étouffée and the gumbo. I expected it to have a strong taste of spices and herbs, but it moreso tasted salty to me. It was disappointing, IMO. The louisiana purchase was good, but then again, it’s mostly fried foods, so I can’t say how authentic Cajun/​Creole food it is. The hush puppies were delicious, though! We also enjoyed the french bread provided with one of our meals.
VERDICT: I would definitely still be willing to give this place a try. While I wasn’t blown away by some of the dishes we ordered, I would be interested to try other dishes that other Unilocalers suggested.

Located in the heart of downtown Des Moines, this restaurant serves up some amazing cajun cuisine! If you want the short version, I believe this is place offers the best cajun food with Fat Tuesdays coming in a close second. We went at around 11:30am and it was not crowded at all, there were a good amount of customers, but not lunch-​rush crowded.
For starters we had a bowl of their Oyster Gumbo. They had a paper menu stating they just had a fresh batch of Oysters come in and that we should try it. The gumbo was incredible, it had oysters, shrimp, crawfish, and sausage; insane flavors! I’m not sure if this is a regular menu item or just with the special menu.
The first entrée we had was the Mardi Gras pasta, it was amazing! The flavors made it taste like authentic cajun food, I have not had authentic cajun from Louisiana, but I can bet it tastes like this. The pasta comes with toasted bread which was great as well! The other entrée we ordered was the catfish poboy, probably one of the best poboys I have ever had! The catfish was not only flavorful, juicy, and tender, but it was HUGE! If you enjoy poboys then you will definitely enjoy this dish! I had the side of fries and they were very good as well.
Overall, great experience, the server was friendly, and the atmosphere was inviting. There are still plenty of other menu items I am interested in sampling upon my return to this establishment.