Ceviche Bar

Walked in for a nightcap, just because the awesome Iowa Tap Bar across the street said Ceviche Bar might be cool. Not only was Ceviche Bar not cool, the server was rude, and she locked the door behind us. A low budget venue with low budget service. Definitely not representative of Des Moines.

Out of food, liquor and time…
I wanted to like this place, cute patio, nice ambiance, but service and food left much to be desired!
Out of basic booze for drinks, just sticking with water.
Plantains — more than a dollar per piece, (6 pieces for $ 7). 42 minutes to receive from time ordered. :/​
Chorizo plate — would be good if roughly half price, was cute but small quantity again.
Update — out of chicken, decided to split order to save time, we’ll pickup Cheesecake for dessert! :)
Still trying to like this… Cute patio! Iowa tap room was 45min wait… Instead we’ve been here close to 1.5 hours, no food!
Total of 3 hours, no drinks, 2 apps and a Cuban sandwich that we split because they were out of chicken… And no rice with beans. They didn’t have rice, ha!
Wish there was a manager on duty to invite us back again or to properly take care of issues.

Great food, great service. Had a few coctails that definitely hit the spot. The owner was friendly and so was her staff. I’ll be back for sure.

Went here for a late afternoon drink, and was pleasantly surprised by the new lay out of the old New World Café, now Ceviche Bar.
It was so beautiful out, the front door was open, and Cuban music was blaring it made me feel like I was in Cuba! Which made me want to watch Godfather 2. but that’s a different story!
Our waitress was just finishing her shift but she got us drinks, I had a brew and Ash had a martini which I tried and I loved, it tasted like an adult Shirley Temple so in other words I could pound a few of those down!
We were told a different waitress would take care of us after she left, and she was super nice, too. We changed our son’s diaper in his carrier and they didn’t even care! Which was awesome!
Drinks were great, Im looking forward to going back and trying the food! This is a cool new spot in DSM!

Ceviche is a charmingly small establishment with great service. This negative-​lite review is based on the ridiculously bland food. I tried the plantains and Cuban Sandwich with rice and beans – so boring. At least the pork was tender, but dousing everything in hot sauce does not a positive review make. Even the cheese plate was snooze– worthy (how does that happen?).
I will probably try again because it is that cute of a place and sometimes you feel like going on a anti-​franchise tear.

It was packed on a Saturday night when we wandered into the small, cozy looking restaurant around 730pm. This is going to be great, I thought! From the get go, it was apparent our waitress was not really with it/​very distracted. There was an 8-​top next to us that was getting ready to leave, & whatever happened with their tipping (or lack thereof) caused her to be more flustered/​distracted (10 mins to get water, really?). She then left for the night mid-​meal without even telling us and the other waitress that finished serving apologized for the lack of organization & informed us that our first waitress was new.
We started with the ceviche appetizer, which was actually pretty good. I do agree with other reviewers that the mojito was on the weaker side with not as much mint or flavor. We had some pork dish with rice as well as the shrimp diablo (super spicy!!) which were both pretty tasty, but not particularly memorable. The flan was great, chocolate cake OK, & coffees were yummy.
Would we be back? Maybe. Hopefully the service can become more consistent in the near future!

Mojitos are excellent. I tried the ceviche and will get it again and again. The flan was excellent also. Beautiful atmosphere, intimate, friendly, never felt rushed. Awesome Cuban vibe.

Amazing mojitos with lots of fresh mint. The ceviche was full of flavor. Flan for dessert and it was excellent (and I’m not usually one for flan). Service was great. Cozy restaurant with an eclectic interior. I can’t wait to go back.

I was super excited when I heard Des Moines was getting a cuban spot. We go to Miami once a year and as foodies the Cuban food there is the highlight of our trip. We got a Groupon and tried cocktails, entrées, desert and the cuban coffee. The cocktail were mixed well and I would stop by on a quiet afternoon to have one and enjoy the atmosphere and the music. The entrées we tried were both a disappointment. The low points were the mushy rice, the bland beans and the cuban sandwich. They all seemed like Iowa Cuban versions and lacked the authentic flavors. The desserts were both tasty (chocolate cake and flan) and the flan was one of the best I’ve had. The cuban coffee was the biggest disappointment for me. I LOVE LOVE LOVE a good cup of cuban expresso but I am used to the Miami version that is thick, served without cream and with a lot of added sugar. (Sweet jet fuel). This was not much different than a Starbucks expresso with cream. No:(I feel spoiled by all our wonderful experiences of Cuban food so we will have to stick to our once a year trips to Miami.

I am cuban and grew up in south Florida. The meals they serve remind me of the ones my family would make. The flavors are spot on and I love the added Cuban sandwichs! I have already started bringing all my friends and family here so they can get an authentic taste. Take the advice of someone who had many opportunities to taste authentic grandmothers handed down cuban recipes, eat here!
The only thing I can say negative is that some of the dishes are a little watered down in their seasoning. For some reason if you eat there at night it’s a little better; maybe the food has had more time to marinate. It’s still good food in the afternoon, just something I have noticed after several visits.
Response to previous reviews:
To anyone who says this isn’t authentic Cuban food because it’s not like how they make their dishes: the same way everyone has their own recipe for meatloaf, each Cuban family has their own recipe. Also, I have now been to this place several times and they really respect their customers reviews. They have changed several dish sizes and altered the presentation of their dishes.

We were very excited to try this new place. I bought the Groupon for 4, which included: 4 cocktails, 4 entrees, 4 cuban coffees, and 4 desserts.
The atmosphere is nice for the small space it inhabits. The décor is appropriate and the place looks upscale.
Cocktails: I ordered a mojito and got a really watered-​down slightly minty, iced drink. My wife ordered a glass of wine and it was $ 8. If our drinks weren’t included in the groupon, we wouldn’t have ordered them because they were all overpriced.
Entrée: I ordered the pork chop dinner which was «seasoned» (it tastes like salt and pepper) with rice and black beans. My wife ordered a chicken dish with onions and peppers in tomatoe sauce served with rice. The meats were well cooked and moist and all food served hit. However, it was a pretty bland experience. Our dining mates declined to comment on their food.
Coffe + dessert: The last course was cuban coffee and dessert. The coffee was delicious and the flourless chocolate cake was out of this world! (come to find out the cake is actually from La Mie bakery)
My wife had the flan, which is house-​made, and she said it was really well done and she ate every bite.
I don’t think we’ll be back. The place was nice and service was in point, but everything is way too expensive for what you actually get.

I’ve heard people rave about it. I’ve heard people be-​moan its existence. It is a restaurant, that serves Cuban-​style food. The portions are a bit paltry for a $ 12 sandwich. The flavor isn’t overwhelming, but by no means is it bad. I certainly wouldn’t seek it out, or if a friend wanted to go, I would try to talk my way into going somewhere else.
It is a bit on the small side, and could stand some noise reduction.

I give this place 2 stars because the staff was very nice and helpful. However, the food was awful. My husband is Cuban and lived in Miami for 35 years. I ordered the Fricasse de Pollo, and my husband ordered Scallops diablo… I am sure people here in Iowa may not know any better, but if you grew up eating Authentic Cuban food, this is nothing near Authentic!!! I give kudos to this woman for trying, but it was nothing near Cuban food…
Also, Cubans eat Plantains with most meals. Plantanos maduro or tostones… What about croquettes or empanadas? ???
My husband is Cuban, but I am from Kentucky. I cook all of this on a regular basis. It doesn’t take much. Oh, and Ropa Vieja happens to be our favorite, but not on the menu.
Absolutely no AUTHENTIC CUBAN FLAVORS here…

I stopped in with some co-​workers for lunch and the place was packed. It is dressed up as a trendy restaurant in the rapidly-​developing East Village, and it uses the outward appearances to charge unacceptably high prices for mediocre food. I ordered the Cubano, which was in the neighborhood of $ 12, and was immediately bummed as soon as I saw the plate. The «sandwich» is half a sandwich. For $ 12. It was fine but not special. The side «salad» was a pinch of romaine lettuce with a couple nickel-​sized chunks of picked red pepper and a puddle of oil. Definitely subpar. The pricing of this place is utterly ridiculous given that the East Village has legitimately good and cheap lunch options (i.e., Lucca). Never going back, and I work 2 blocks away.

I had high hopes for this place and was expecting more. When I heard it was a Cuban place, I was expecting actual Cuban food. It’s more like an American version of Cuban food.
The vibe inside the place was nice. It’s a cute little café and had nice ethnic music playing. Our server was friendly and told us we could sit anywhere. My Cuban sandwich was good, but small. It came with the smallest salad I’ve ever seen. Seriously, it was the size of my fist. I finished it in four or five bites. My husband got the steak sandwich that was tasty but very gristly. He was chewing gristle for more than five minutes. His sandwich was also small and he got rice and beans with his sandwich. The rice was just white rice with black beans; nothing fancy.
Both of our sandwiches were $ 10.99. For the small portions we got, we were really overcharged. Although the sandwiches were good, there was nothing extra special about them. They really should have been a couple dollars less. Plus, I was still hungry after we left. Their menu is very small. And most of their stuff is overpriced in my opinion.
Also, they got our sandwiches wrong and served me my husband’s sandwich with my salad and gave my husband my sandwich with his rice and beans. It was not a huge deal, but kind of unprofessional. And when we got our bill we noticed they overcharged us a dollar for my husband’s beer. When we asked our server about it, she said there was a misprint on the menu so the price on the bill was correct. She didn’t offer to change the bill for us because it was their mistake. Most places would have done that, or least have told us there was a misprint on the menu before the beer was ordered so we would have the choice of ordering a less expensive beer. You would think they would cross off the wrong price and write the correct price on the menu so incidents like this wouldn’t occur.
I really wanted to like this place. I always like supporting locally-​owned restaurants and want to see them succeed. But after this experience, I don’t feel there is any reason to return.

I love ceviche (the dish) and was lamenting before this place recently opened that there’s no where to get a good example around here. The ceviche is top notch… I have been back a few times, but keep forgetting to try any of the other entrees. The cuban coffee is delicious; staff is very polite. Strong mojitos!

Came here with a group of 3 with high expectations (loved the vegan place that used to be here) and was not disappointed. We shared everything so we could try more things. The ceviche was very good as was the diablo shrimp, nice kick to it. The Cuban pork was also very flavorful. Finished it off with a flourless chocolate cake from La Mie and a Cuban coffee. Perfection! My only issue was the portions were on the small side for the price. But we will definitely be back!

I had the pleasure of trying out this place today, and it was amazing! The atmosphere, the service and the food were phenomenal. I had their chicken fricassee and I also tried the Cuban. I love that this restaurant is family owned, as we were eating the owner stopped by to thank us for coming out and also the mother came out to meet us. There is something about this place that feels special, even though the menu is limited they are going to expand! As requested we are eagerly awaiting ropa vieja, a Cuban delight!

I really wanted to like this place. Décor is fine — but not professional (shower curtain used as a door for the kitchen). The food was bland and uninteresting as was the presentation. Our group had a variety of sandwiches, apps, deserts and the ceviche. The cheese platter looked tasted like a 10-​year-​old put it together using stuff they bought at the grocery store. The cocktails were fine but inconsistent. The service was friendly, but not professionally trained. disappointed all around.

This is a great little restaurant operated by a daughter and her mom, the mom being a Cuban immigrant. The Cuban sandwich is her late husband’s recipe. With talking to the owners they are looking to expand this café, with a menu to grow later. The Cuban was amazing when I tried it. One of my coworkers I went with tried the ceviche and said it was amazing. The portion size is a bit small, and for now the menu is limited. They are gaining a Cuban drink menu, and will eventually add on a patio for people to smoke cigars on.