alba

i had a new menu item, the iowa pot pie, which i rather liked. the lamb was good, even if a bit fatty in certain pieces. the sauce was a little sweet (imparted from the carrots and peas, i think, not because of any sugar added), and a few of the carrots were cut too big and didn’t get fully cooked. the puff pastry biscuit was highly enjoyable, and this dish was agoodmatch for a dreary rainy day.

the plates were small but tasty. i liked the atmosphere and the menu size. my wife wasn't impressed but i thought it was agoodspot for a lunch.

the doors on the ceiling reminded me of monsters inc.

best service in des moines. we've been to alba twice and the service set the standard for des moines. theyir amazing service makes the experience great. the team works well together, very efficient (helping each other out- filling water, clearing plates, etc.) and we got a genuine thank you on our way out. just phenomenal, can't say enoughgoodthings about alba.

not bad. felt like they are trying to hard. desert was just weird. also, we both were still a little hungry after dropping $75..goodplace to go if you're not paying.

great east village restaurant. i tried alba for the first time with friends during restaurant week and was not disappointed. the corn chowder was smooth and delicious but the octopus carpaccio my friend had was even better. i had the pork cheek dish, which was tender and delicious. for dessert i had the chocolate lava cake, which was absolutely wonderful. i order this dessert anyplace that has it on the menu, and alba's was one of the best i've ever had. service was great, even though they were very busy. they have agoodselection of beers and wines on the menu. i will definitely return to alba.

an excellent restaurant deserves its due. i first dined at alba a little over a year ago. like many folks in des moines i was still searching for that elusive restaurant with great ambiance and consistently excellent cuisine. since my first trip to alba i have returned at least a dozen times, and each has been just asgoodas the last.
not to insult thegoodpeople of des moines, but as a non-native iowan i have discovered that the midwestern palate may not lend itself to iowa becoming the next food capital of the world. i have eaten at all of the other fine dining restaurants here in dsm. what i have found is a great deal of inconsistency. the most common problem i have encountered is (way) over-salting food, and overcooking.
i'll be fair and say that the service at alba can be a tad slow at times. usually you can get your drinks and order right away, but if you are running low on water you may have to go out of your way to get someone's attention.
alba has a very chic decor which lends it to being somewhere between casual and upscale. the doors on the ceiling are a nice touch, and there are some great pieces of art adorning the walls. i'd say it's one of the top spots in dsm for a date night.
now to the food...as i said earlier, without fail, every time i have dined at alba the food has been fantastic. besides just the quality of the food, their menu offers things you simply will not find at any other restaurants here in the city. the last time i ate there, my entree was the braised pork cheeks. i could barely pick them up with my fork they were so tender. my girlfriend got the hawaiian pork burger. it was delicious. as mentioned in another review, alba has some of the best fries in the city.
i want to address one other thing i've seen in reviews here. people seem to complain a lot about the price. is alba a "cheap" restaurant? no. is it "expensive"? certainly not. if two people are planning on eating 3 courses each, plus cocktails/wine, while expecting to get 5 star food, well then you better expect to pay for it. my last meal there we got the jalapeno fritters, hanger steak tartar, pork cheeks, pork burger, and 2 cocktails all for ~$65 dollars if i remember correctly. in my opinion, that is one of the best deals you'll find in the city!
sorry for the long review, but alba deserves all the accolades it receives. after all, you don't get nominated for a james beard award for no reason!

$170 for two - plus tip. (update - their web site is up - apparently it is ok to have a $20+/head new year's eve surcharge). for $195 ($25 tip) one would think that you would deserve fine dining - superb food and service - sadly chef jason simon disappointed. my wife and i joined another couple for a nice new year's eve dinner. we've been to alba before and enjoyed ourselves, but i will never ever return. for $195 my wife had two glasses of wine ($24). i had two cocktails ($13). my three course meal consisted of a duck tureen appetizer, arctic char with vegetables and a potato, and an apple crisp with ice cream ($62). my wife had a spinach salad, pork loin duo with vegetables - with chorizo (i believe). for dessert she opted for the butternut squash soup appetizer since she doesn't like dessert ($55). i also had a coffee to go with my dessert ($3.35). tax was $9.65. i left a $25 tip (14.7% for barely adequate service and an overpriced meal). my tureen appetizer wasgoodand included chips of fried cheese. the arctic char and vegetables were cooked well, but by the end of the dish i didn't like enough to finish it. the dessert was ok - but i would like a little more crisp in my apple crisp - and the apples were overcooked. my wife liked her spinach salad, thought the pork was so-so, and remembered liking the soup much better the last time we are at alba. all the portions were right sized not huge not tiny. my coffee wasgoodand strong. fortunately for our friends, they didn't pay as much (only $130 before tip) as the restaurant gave them a partial credit for the main course they sent back for being too spicy to eat (in the opinion of three out of three of us who tried it). at this price level one deserves a meal and service that is excellent - not adequate. i don't remember the prices being this high - but alba doesn't have a web site to review their menu (quite unbelievable in this day and age). as i said, we've been there before and enjoyed ourselves, but before you go, i would ask to see a menu and know what you are going to pay for hit and miss food and barely adequate service. (btw - our three course meal took over two hours and the corkage fee is $25)

room was filled with smoke, had aps passed around four times that were notgoodenough to finish, were served the wrong year on a bottle of wine and the the food wasn't good. and there must have been a sale on radishes, becasue every plate in our group of eight had some sort of radish on it. completely disapointed.

okay. i "liked it" on urbanspoon, but i have equal parts apathy and praise about alba.

the menu was nice, with some interesting offerings using local foods. we had an appetizer with house-made chorizo (allegedly). the meat tasted more like italian sausage. not sure where these guys learned/didn't learn to make chorizo?

that curious nitpick aside, the food was mostly good. i wasn't blown away by any of it, as it was fairly standard. the potato gnocchi and prawns in creme fraiche was cooked fine but a little boring both in taste and visually. it was agoodentree, just not great. the braised veal was alright, nothing i'd order again. someone at the table ordered salmon, which was...salmon. cooked correctly, nothing wrong with it.

the entree prices were competitive, no complaints there. the atmosphere is great, a bit of minimalism with urban contemporary.

overall, it's an alright place. i'd go back to try more things, but it wouldn't be on the top of my list of places to go. i went shortly after opening; think it could become a great place with some more tlc and personality put into the entrees.

mixed. let me start off by saying that alba has improved greatly since a shaky start more than a year ago. it has gone from bad to hit and miss. my wife and i were lucky enough to receive a large gift certificate so we ordered up a storm. the following is a summation of my thoughts from start to finish.
- this place doesn't have website. this is very disappointing. it's 2009 people!
- we arrived at 8:30 on a saturday and the place was packed. there is no check-in desk and it took us agood5 minutes to grab the attention of anyone who worked there. once i finally got the attention of a waiter, he seated us. seriously, wtf. i have never seen such a terrible entrance to a restaurant. you walk in and are greeted by a round wall and literally do not know where to go for a table. bad news.
here is what we ordered with a quick summation of each:
- tiramisu martini: off the hook good. a dessert in its own right
- pomegranate martini: good, but nothing spectacular. my wife accidentally knocked the drink over before taking a sip and the drink was replaced immediately. the stemless martini glasses are not really the best for serving drinks. this is particularly strange because their water glasses are way too big and heavy.
- wilted salad: beware there is bacon on this salad, which the menu somehow forgets to mention. this is served warm. my wife kind of liked it, minus the bacon.
- beet salad: this was a delicious seasonal treat. the beets and potatoes were cooked perfectly and i have never had a more delicious and creamy deviled egg.
- hangar steak with mash: my wife says the steak is nothing to write home about, but the mashed potatoes (which she ordered in place of the green beans) were the best mashed potatoes she (and i) have ever had. rich and creamy does not begin to do this side justice.
- panko salmon burger: the burger itself was a bit underdone, but somewhat tasty. the menu-described avacado-mayo was really 98% mayo. the menu-described red onion slaw was really just finely sliced red onions. the bun was hard and chewy. combined with an underdone salmon patty, this meant the salmon kept sliding out. the fries were delicious, asgoodas gateway market's, except not as crispy,
-tuna tartare with avocado and citrus sauce: this was completely lackluster. there was no taste at all to the fish. i couldn't even finish this, one of my favorite dishes elsewhere, because it was so disappointing.
- buttermilk ice cream: we shared a single scoop of their house-made buttermilk ice cream. it was small, but it didn't need to be much bigger. this was perhaps one of the best scoops of ice cream i have ever had, my wife says it is hands down the best she has had. it beats out her old favorite of maggie moo's udderly cream. this ice cream is sensational! we shared another tiramisu martini, which when combined with the ice cream, was heavenly. my wife is by no means a foodie, but this ice cream had quite the effect on her.
final verdict: we will return for a dinner of mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, and buttermilk ice cream washed down with a half dozen tiramisu martinis.

a great find. immediately seated on a saturday night, we had a great meal and great service. our server, greg, was prompt, efficient and friendly . the food was great -- creative, well prepared and at agoodvalue.goodwine list. ambiance was warm; crowd tended toward young/hip. easy to carry on a conversation across the table.