Chicago Speakeasy

at dinner here last I may have had the best server in my entire life. my date had the large prime rib for $ 25, and it was thicker than my arm. I have never seen such a thick cut before. I tasted it and it was delicious! I was not very hungry so I got the ribeye sandwich for $ 17, it was wonderful and I could only eat half. didn’t need to get desserts since they are included in the famous salad bar which lives up to its reputation. I loved it and can’t wait to go back. excellent food, excellent value, excellent service.

We took my 90 year old mom there for her birthday this evening. She & my dad used to go there. The atmosphere is wonderful. Soft background music which made it great for conversation. We didn’t have to try & talk above the music. The service & food were excellent! I t s a bit pricy but worth it. Wonderful salad bar. Just as I remember it. Please don’t change a thing!

This place has been a go-​to for my family for a long time. It’s definitely an old school joint and we’ve never had a problem with the wait staff or bartenders.
There is a nice bar area to get a drink and wait for a table if need be. The salad bar is as good as advertised (it’s not big, but everything on it is good) and you can eat your body weight in oreo fluff. I always get their prime rib, which is awesome and reasonably priced, and get a loaded baked potato to go with it.
My only gripe with this place is one employee, who is some sort of manager/​hostess who has worked there forever I think. She’s an older lady with short hair that will literally chew out the wait staff in front of customers. On our last visit a few weeks ago, my grandparents (who are pushing 90 years old) got a meal and split it and they are used to a splitting fee. When our waiter, who was great, delivered it to our table, she stood at the end of our long table with 12 people with a scowl on her face and said «make sure to charge them a splitting fee!» We all kind of looked at each other like ‘well. that was sure awkward…” We saw her stomp around the dining stand with an angry look on her face all night.
So: Food is great, wait staff is great, ambiance is great… but that lady might need to go bye-​bye.

Great salad bar if you like salad and all the fixings. Prime rib you will find no better in Iowa. Ribeyes are B+ they use to be a solid A but have gone down hill just a tad im pretty sure there not getting there meat from the place they use to in the 90s. They have good soups and nice C+ to B– when it comes to seafood. Its a speakeasy so has that 20’s-30’s feel mobster bar and grill I do enjoy that low lit feel. Its not a huge place has a nice little bar maybe sits what 30 people and the main dinner cant sit more then id say 40 – 50 max. Go early or you could wait an hour or more for a table unless your happy with eating in the bar. Its one of my top 10 places to eat on a weekday when there not slamned for dinner service or weekends.
Parking lot is small reason I say go early atleast one hour before your major eating times.
Staff is nice and friendly they slow down a bit when the place gets full to be expected never had to wait longer then 30 minutes for our order and at times within 12 minutes.
Bathrooms and floor very clean yet worn in need of a remodel but all in all a nice fun place. Lots of great things to read on the walls in the bar.

Unfortunately it gets worse every time I visit. People say the salad bar rocks which it does not. It is round and people don’t know how to follow directions… such as move right… they reach over you and under you and cut you off and it is just a train wreck. Loads of seniors frequent this place (good for them) but they get pretty mad when you show them the arrow, as in move right… Apparently they get to do whatever they choose since they have their senior cards. Annoying and super annoying. As to the food — fresh lettuce. A few salad dressings to choose from. The fixings are ok but nothing to get too excited about. Plus, $ 10 for the salad bar? Seriously… it is lettuce and a ton of junk people are breathing all over and dripping other ingredients in to. I would rather go to Palmers and will do so from now on. I did not get a roll with my salad bar the last time I visited which I am not sure if they removed it as an option or our wait staff forgot. Ugh, not a great experience this time. Won’t return.

This is a place I have frequented for many years and I love it. Oreo fluff on the salad bar is always a must have and ranch is clearly made in house. 90% of the time ribeye is absolutely amazing. I’m only doing four stars because they pile a little too much sour cream on potatoes for my liking any occasionally my steak is overcooked bUT overall I love this place!

Not a salad bar person I really appreciate the cleanliness of it and the freshness of the product offered. This may not compare to a «Fogo de chai» salad bar the prefix is not set at 65.00 either.
My service was top notch.
My steak-​ribeye– was tender and cooked to perfection. Wonderful date atmosphere-​quiet– and for 2 people and that much food underpriced

It doesnt take much to impress baby boomers and this is Iowa. The bread is not made in house, or they use a mix that has chemicals in it. I suspect tenderizer chemicals in the prime rib. The mashed potatos were seasoned right. The salad bar is crappy but realtively fresh. Im giving it four stars because people say its one of the best in town, the service was nice and I feel bad for the locals. They really push the salad bar for some reason, expecting locals to pig out on salad stuff instead of focusing on main course. Even though they live in the middle of nowhere, there is no reason why they cant have food that is more authentic of quality.

Love this place! Prime rib and other entrees never disappoint. One bad thing tonight was the bread– not sure what happened but wow it was horrible today. Hoping just bad day?

Chicago Speakeasy is awesome. I used to live in Des Moines 15 years ago and I was a regular here. I haven’t been back in 15 years but it was worth the wait. Everything was amazing. From the prime rib to the cod to the salad bar oh my gosh the salad bar to the incredible service. The owner Ron was always making sure that you’re having a good meal. Now his daughter Julie runs the place and she does the exact same thing. I guess world-​class customer service runs in the family. Do yourself a favor go in and be prepared to be treated like family or maybe I should say better than family because sometimes family is not this fun!!! :-)

Fancy family outing here we go!
Family was in town and Chicago speakeasy charmed into their hearts. My family that was visiting is very picky on their choices so this second time in a week for them was huge. Lucky i got to go. Lucky. .1 cause I really like this place and 2 …
I jokingly asked what the price of the crab was.
Our waiter who was very funny and knowledgeable had just finished going over his favorite meals with us let me know the scary market price. «Who sets that market anyway? «
Even with the sticker shock he said they have choice crab and totally worth it.
To my extra shock my grandpa couldn’t let me say no.
I love crab. Being in the Midwest it’s a treat when it’s good. This was beyond good.
I had gotten a glimpse at their crab back on a Valentine day visit but what was placed in front of me was to good to imagine. It was hotdog sized meat I extracted from the piping hot crustacean! For the price my grandpa got a dinner and a show as my tiny hands cracked and pulled every morsel of meat from that shell.
Heaven. The food was heaven and of course the restaurant was great. Thank you for having that as an option. That is something I’ll never forget.

We came to Chicago Speakeasy after my Grandfather’s funeral. This was his favorite restaurant in Des Moines. Our group was big and the staff was all ready for us with two huge tables set up for us in a quiet section of the restaurant.
I felt a bit sorry for our waitress, because she seemed to be the only waitress on duty that day and we were about 25 people. The drink orders took a long time, but I won’t fault her for that. But I was super impressed when the food came out. No one had to wait an eternity for their food while other people were digging in while the food was still hot. No one complained their food went cold.
The salad bar was very good. Fresh with a lot of variety, and I was thrilled to see some pickled herring available. Nice Iowa touch. It was set up kind of weird. Shouldn’t the dressing be placed after the lettuce and veggies? Just saying. But for some reason it felt strange to have to make the entire circle and come back in the end to put the dressing on my salad.
I ordered the Iowa Pork Chop and it was delicious. And my steamed veggies were still hot when I was served my meal. When was the last time that actually happened?

I can not get enough of this local hot spot its a must visit in my opinion, salad bar is great and there is usually a short weight because everybody loves this place. Always great service and I’ve never been disappointed in the home made food

I went here for lunch with my co-​workers from my internship. It was around 1 when we went here I believe. It was busy. We got seated fast & our waitress was friendly. She took our order but our food took awhile to come out. I order their meatball sub with fries, it was messy but delish. I’m glad they have a salad bar while we waited. The salad bar was good, I liked their macaroni & pasta salad. The cheese cubes were good too. By the time we got our food I wasn’t that hungry anymore so I had to get a to go box.

If you dig Salad bars this is the spot for you! It’s all I ordered and all I needed! This is a rad older restaurant that puts you in the mindset of a gangster whose ready to smuggle some food into your belly!
Awesome hot loaf of bread on the table to go with the salad bar, good drink selection, wonderful, weird interior makes you feel like your kinda in a scene from Twin Peaks or something.
The location is a bit of a drive for us to make this a place a regular spot but, if your digging on a good all you can eat salad bar and you don’t want it to cost a gazillion bucks this is a good spot to try!
They also have steaks, pasta, and seafood and all meals come with that beautiful round salad bar! Score!

Only giving it 3 stars and not 4 because I have not been able to get rare prime rib the last few times I’ve patroned them for lunch during their Monday prime rib special. The sliver of meat has been overcooked. Salad bar is awesome. That’s the reason to go. Service is usually up to par.

One of our favorite in Des Moines. Best salad bar around.
Service is very good. An old style local neighborhood place.
We always take friends who have never been here before and will return.

Came here on a Saturday night with a group of close friends. We had a wonderful night with wonderful food.
Almost every dish on the menu ranged around $ 20. Each dish comes with a salad bar. The salad bar had many options from lettuce/​spinach to many types of pasta salad. They also had sweeter options: Oreo fluff. Afterwards they provide a fresh loaf of bread to tie you down before the actual meal. I had the seafood lasagna which was absolutely amazing. I would definitely buy this dish again. It came with a side of garlic bread which I was not partial too but my boyfriend enjoyed it. He ordered medium rare steak with a side of pasta. The steak was more on the rare side but it still tasted amazing. The staff was nice and friendly and the ambiance made us feel like we were in the prohibition era. It was a wonderful experience with great food. I recommend all Des Moines goers to come to this restaurant. It is a must!!!

Came here and really enjoyed the food. First off, the salad bar is as good as every other reviewer has mentioned. One of the best salad bars I’ve had at a restaurant! I definitely had a hard time deciding on what to order because everything sounded so good. I ordered the cheese balls as an appetizer and salmon as my entrée with spaghetti as a side. The salmon was delicious and was a large generous portion. I would have to say it was a little on the oily side and I wish it was less oily. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed it. My friend had the prime rib which is what this place is known for her and it’s really good here.

This place seems like it has so much potential, but it perpetually seems to fall short, especially in food quality. While the salad bar is very well maintained and feature several tasty salads (such as the cottage cheese salad), the steaks seem to be of lackluster quality for a steakhouse at this price level. The menu totes the steaks as choice, but seem to be more of a ‘prime’ quality. My sirloin did not seem particularly tender.
The mob atmosphere is interesting – it invokes a quiet environment and appears Chicago Speakeasy would be a nice place for an intimate date or a special night out. The service has always been pleasant and efficient. However, the quality of the steaks is curiously disappointing.