Jesse’s Embers

Oh yeah. Best little hole-​in-​the-​wall steakhouse ever. Friendly, efficient service. Good food. No pretense. Great steaks! If you want a good steak but don’t want to fuss with a fancy steakhouse or a crappy chain, this is the place you need to try. They treat you like family.

I don’t really have a review of the food, because when I called beforehand to speak with a chef about accommodating food allergies, I was chuckled at and told they don’t have any gluten-​free items in-​house.
I’m not sure what they do to their meat in order to prepare or their lettuce, or other naturally GF food items… but if you have food allergies they don’t want your business and it’s safer that way.

Friendly service, wonderful basic food and great drinks… an authentic home-​grown DM landmark that withstands the tests of time and trends… It’s Jesse’s Embers.
This restaurant has faithfully served meat of exceptional quality – beautifully cooked – for decades. I just had a basic grilled chicken sandwich and it was hot, juicy, flavorful and tender, just wonderful. Bun was grilled\toasted too. I’ve had juicy, marvelous steaks and pork as well. This may not be the place for a strict vegan, though there are several salad choices and veggie sides.
Call ahead or get there just before a typical meal rush; this is a small place and waiting/​smelling the grill is maddening. There’s a full bar and servers are very friendly – and will lob back if you toss a casual zinger their way.
This is the kind of good that people don’t want to spoil with crowds and drunkenness. Jesse’s Embers is a DM jewel that must be kept hidden from cretins. Go, relax and enjoy!

Not sure why this place has such high marks. The meat prep is average to bad. Poorly prepared steaks, average burgers and boring salads.

Let’s do the time warp again! Ever want to step back into the past for a night! Jesse’s Embers helps you do that!
A small steak house, with a feel of diving into the 70’s or 80’s!
The staff seems like lifers, the food is great, and the bar is packed with regulars on a Saturday night!
Not many tables here, and when I went on a Saturday to pick up food every single one of them was full! The bar was full too! It made for a really fun environment, even though I was just picking up an order to go! Our waitress brought us our food at the bar! The bar tenders looked to be having a blast and seemed to know everyone in the bar, and were happy to greet my father and I as well!
We walked in the north entrance, (parking lot entrance) and you almost walk though the kitchen to get inside! It was cool, and very unique first impression! There is also an un assuming south entrance that brings you right into the bar!
The dim lighting makes the place feel like a good spot a date or night out with friends, but if you are going on a Saturday you better make a reservation, cause like I said, this place is not huge!
Now to the food! My group ordered, Embers Burgers (which come with good portioned dinner salads, and fries) Everyone really dug the burgers!
I got onion rings, which was probably a bad idea to order a meal of onion rings! They are good, but I ate to many! There is a reason people say, «You are what you eat.» My group also had a Greek salad that was really good sized and she ate it down quick! Portions were great! And for pick up delivery we had our 6 meals in 25 minutes!
I look forward to going back an actually eating in the restaraunt or just going to have a drink at the packed bar! The food was great, the service was grand, and the envirement is fun!

After driving past this hole-​in-​the-​wall sort of place for a few years, a group of us decided to finally try this restaurant. They don’t take reservations, so we just walked in the day before Valentine’s day. The host asked how many, I said 12, to which he replied «Are you serious??». He fit us in though, after only a 40min wait. Unfortunately the place is very small, there is nowhere to wait, and the bar was packed. We decided to get some drinks at Zimms before returning for our table.
Our group mainly tried various cuts of steak with one common theme. If you ordered it medium (as I did), it came out hard as rock. There was no pink center, and it was like eating tire tread. Even if it had been cooked correctly, it was still severely under-​seasoned. One of our group members ordered a baked potato and wanted the fixin’s. Don’t make the same mistake. He had to pay extra for a square of Kraft singles American cheese to be partially melted over the potato. Ew.
The service was, as other Unilocalers pointed out, very good. The waitress was very nice and our large group was accommodated in a timely fashion the day before Valentine’s day. The food, however, was sub par so none of us would return.

Amazing food the people make u feel like family and the steak is amazing plus u have to order the Cajun shrimp app and save the bowl of the juices to dunk ur steak in its to die for!!! Well worth the wait no matter how long it is!

Wow, talk about being treated as if you were family. This restaurant made the whole dining experience here from start to finish so welcoming that we didn’t even mind that we had to wait and the dining room is a bit more «quaint» than other places.
From the minute we walked in and were waiting for our table til the time we left, we received nothing but exemplary service. We got to meet the owner and his brother who was helping out at the bar, and our waitress was great. Food review? Everything was excellent.
The Food:
Cajun Shrimp appetizer (⁵⁄₅)
Ember’s special steak (⁴⁄₅)
Ribeye (⁵⁄₅)
The Cajun Shrimp appetizer was shrimp with butter and seasonings and bread on the side to eat/​dip with it. So simple but done so right.
The steaks were great and cooked perfectly to desired temperatures. The salads that came with it were simple but good. I would recommend their house dressing. Yummy!
We really are thinking of making this or go-​to spot for special occasions. Only downside is that I have a huge family and we sadly wouldn’t be able to fit us all there. But we could bring a few of them at a time every other week haha

Great place for lunch. .a Des Moines tradition. Monday’s home made Hot Roast beef — great. French dip one of the best. Plain old hamburger is wonderful. Check it out! Dinners are equally as good!

A blast from my past childhood past that I’ve been trying to go to when visiting for some time. A quaint little brick building on Ingersoll Ave in Des Moines with EXCELLENT onion rings, steaks and burgers. You know it’s the right place to be in town when the owner of Adventure Land eats there too. Service was a bit, not to form, to my standards but I could see it as normal at this eclectic well established Des Moines institution. I recommend it!

This place was amazing. From the outside doesn’t look like it. Had to wait 15 min for a table because there is a n exhibition in town but a whiskey helped out. The rib eye was better than in most of two to three times the price. The service was also very good

Excellent attentive service without being annoying: and they notice if there is a problem without you having to point it out. I disliked the sweet creamy garlic house dressing on my salad so I pushed it aside. Waitress noticed immediately and came right up and offered to replace it. Sweet!
My steak, their house special, we cooked perfectly for how I liked it: I even got cottage cheese with peach slices (old school side to go with the old school restaurant) was my dessert.
I like this place.

Great service! Friendly owner & bartender! Great tuna steak & fried lobster-​yum!!! Nice relaxing atmosphere. Good start to a work trip in Iowa!

Outstanding service and food. Marty the owner is there every night except Tuesday. The London broil is outstanding. One of my favorite places.

Had a great ‘old school’ dining experience here a few weeks back. The onion rings and house salad dressing are a must have. Everyone at my table had steak and they were all cooked perfectly. They don’t heavily season their steaks, but in my opinion they don’t need to because the quality of the meat speaks for itself.
Service was fantastic as well. You can tell the waitresses here have been doing what they do for years. The owner/​manager (?) makes sure to visit every table to make sure everything is up to par and he even held the door for us as we left and thanked us for coming and shook our hands. Where do you see that kind of service anymore?
If I could find one negative, its the space itself. It is TINY and cramped and if you have to wait to be seated, you’ll be doing the awkward shuffle along the wall thing to fit more people in. The tables in the center of the room are huddled very closely together. If you’re claustrophobic, don’t come at peak hours.

Time and time again, I eat the same thing here. The fabulous creamy garlic dressing on their house salad. This is the dressing of my memories since childhood, and the perfectly done London Broil over bread with Au jus. I love this little restaurant. The steaks are always perfection and the waitresses are the old school good waitresses, you just know are professionals.
The wait can be long if you aren’t there on a Friday or Saturday by 5:45 or 6pm… but it’s worth it.
Ignore those nay sayers. I have been coming here for years… I now live in Chicago and I still haven’t found anything like this wonderful Embers. A family run place and dark old school steak restaurant. One you will want to go back to over & over again, like I have.
Oh and a shout out to Marty, the owner & manager who is one of the nicest and most attentive host/​owners that I have ever met! What a great guy!

Jesse’s Embers is a really homey feeling local place in Des Moines. Most people would drive right by and not even notice it. The place is really tiny, but really packs people in. It reminds me of an older steakhouse, almost like a little hideout. The staff is extremely attentive and friendly.
The food is pretty good overall. The onion rings are definitely homemade and the house dressing is quite good. The burgers are huge as are most of the steaks. They do not seem to season as other reviewers have commented though. Everything is reasonably priced considering you get a salad, side, bread, and meat.
For good quality food with really friendly service in a unique atmosphere, I would say Jesse’s Embers is a good bet.

I wish I could give it a half, because it would be a solid 3 ½. Good steaks, but not mind blowing (we make as good at home), but it makes up for it in atmosphere and service. Had the filet and the wife had the sirloin. I would actually say that the sirloin was better. Just a better flavor and bite. Onion rings were very good. I had the normal dinner salad with the raspberry vinaigrette, which was the most non-​vinegar vinaigrette that I have ever had. However, my wife’s garlic dressing was very good.
Again, amazing service and atmosphere. I would come back just for that.

Stopped by here the other night after a few beers up at the marina. The place was packed, and it was standing room only. To my surprise I was seated before I finished my first beer. I ordered the 16oz ribeye, and it came out a perfect medium rare. The flavor was perfect. It came with a salad, potato, and bread which were all served perfectly!!! The owner stopped by and spoke to me a couple times. Very friendly!!! I like these kinds of place where if you become a regular, they know your name.

I don’t often splurge on steak. It’s so pricey to eat out and it’s one thing I find can often be done as well at home on the grill for a fraction of the price. So believe me when I say the food here is worth your time and money.
I went to Embers on a Saturday night and I can say unequivocally that the food is very good and fairly priced. My filet was cooked medium as I requested and the meat was very fresh and high quality. Garnishments were all good and fresh as well.
Another standout was the service. Our waitress was a true professional and had clearly been in the business for a long time. Also, the managers, of which there were several (possibly owners?) were very friendly throughout the evening during our wait. In fact, when I was waiting outside the single-​unit men’s restroom, the manager told me I could use the lady’s room as it was unoccupied — some might find this off-​putting but this is exactly the kind of laid back and friendly atmosphere I covet at a restaurant.
So why only 3 stars? As I mentioned, I came in on a Saturday night and faced a 30 – 45 minute wait, which I expected would be the case. No problem with that — a wait usually means someone thinks the food is worth something. So what was my real issue? The space. The restaurant was so cramped that our wait felt twice as long as it should have. There’s simply no place to go. I was probably forced to move a half dozen times before I was seated. No matter where you stand you’re in someone’s way. I had a beer at the bar to pass the time, but carrying it around actually became more of a chore as there was no place to put it and constant fear that you’ll be bumped into and have it spilled. Once seated, the dining area is also very very tight on space.
I may be making a mountain out of a molehill here, but the cramped space has genuinely kept me from going back. It holds me back from making what could be semi-​regular visits to Jesse’s Embers. If you don’t mind tight quarters and a wait, I would still recommend this place to you. Maybe I’ll make a return visit on a weeknight.