Lime Lounge

Great atmosphere, staff, and drinks. Love the martinis and mojitos. Anytime im in des moines a first to visit.

1) The free birthday special is a waste. Your drinks will be all mixer. And while this business feels you’ve spent no money, you actually have.
2)A large group of my friends went with me for my last birthday & spent over 100 $
3) Even the beer was over priced & not as cold as it should be (my bf complained at the time about it, he was shrugged off)
4) The service was very slow & they were not busy.
5) The DJ kept repeating horrid 80s music with a techno overlay & ignored my friends requests for something else. I never made requests, as I’ve lived with a DJ before. They tend to ignore requests anyways.
6) The ONLY bartender that made decent drinks was the guy. And he’s also the only one that noticed we were waiting for a long time. The girls were too busy gossiping with each other & eyeing something under the counter (their phones?).
In any event, our money was NOT well spent. It wasn’t busy enough for our drinks to take that long. They are over priced for no good reason. They need new music (and I will admit I’ve never been there on a Salsa night). Whoever runs their facebook page is very rude & inconsiderate, I certainly hope it’s not the owner.
I don’t think they deserve anyone’s business with their responses to negative feedback & high prices. You can go to other places in walking distance; Blazing Saddle (everything is a double), Buddies (always friendly & they have karaōke), Up/​Down (great beer & any mixed drinks), as well as other bars & grills with much better service. Unless you prefer slow service, over priced drinks, and terrible techno.

Great atmosphere, music and service+ best mojitos & drinks in des moines. The patio is amazing and salsa night on Thursdays are fantastic.

Went about a year ago and had great service and AWSOME martinis. Went last night with friends and had a totally different experience. First, the bartender was drinking. Second, a person I assume was her boyfriend, was sitting at the end of the bar. That’s the only person the bartender talked to. Third, a couple came in, the lady went to sit down and the chair broke. The bartender offered no help and didn’t remove the chair! No apologies, nothing! My cocktail was mediocre, the atmosphere was uncomfortable, and I will NOT BE BACK.

Best martini’s I’ve had in a long time! It can be hit or miss on the djs but the service, drinks, and atmosphere is wonderful!

Eh. That’s all I really can say about this place. Perhaps it’s my general pubs not clubs attitude.
It’s the right shape/​size that it could be a great little place. But instead, Lime seems like it’s trying to be everything to everybody and ending up doing it all poorly. The fancy, expensive cocktails are a joke, it’s way too dark if I can’t read my phone, and if I’m asking everyone «what?» constantly that’s about enough to drive me away.
They tend to bring in some musical acts that otherwise wouldn’t stop in Des Moines — that’s a plus. The small back patio can be nice?

Ya know, I can’t help but love on a cozy bar tucked in downtown Des Moines that makes you feel about as close to an Eastern European bar as physically possible in the Midwest. From the strobe-​esque lights and über dark lighting to the frilly drinks and bumping music, Lime Lounge is the place you go after the party (or gala, in our case).
1: Wanna tear up our dresses and do weird drunk moves for the next two hours?
2: yeah.
1: Okay, let’s go to Lime Lounge.
If you’re looking for a packed house, this is probably isn’t the bar for you. Lime is on the smaller side in general but it also appears to be on the underpopulated side as well. Our group of 10 made up about 75% of the clientele. Not that we really cared. The music was just the way I like it at this time of the night — hints of familiar music mixed in with some serious base and techy stuffs.
As for the drinks. Try the coconut Mojito. Mighty tasty — sweet and girly but tasty. My dancing partner had a smoothie-​based drink that appeared to be 100% smoothie and 0% alcoholic beverage. Unfortunately, I’m drawing a blank on the price point… which reminds me, no cover charge.

Favorite bar in the East Village. The vibe is modern and clean. The presentation, from the bar to the walls and uniforms, look fantastic. Great mix of club music. The evenings are a great time to relax with your friends. Later in the evening gets louder (and busy). Fun place. The staff is very welcoming and helpful.

Lime Lounge has come a long way in the past few years, and the somewhat recent relocation to the East Village was a great move. One thing that I appreciate is their support of the local DJ community. They have house DJs that play regularly and invite talented local DJs to play on the weekends. They also spruced up the interior recently to more of an open concept, which can sometimes pack up the bar area. Speaking of the bar, drinks can be on the higher end of my budget ($ 15 for a very average martini), but they do have excellent coffee drinks and are generous with their mixed drinks. Definitely a place to check out this weekend!

This could be a great place… But I won’t be back due to the service.
I was given a coupon from a hotel for two free drinks at lime lounge while booking a room. The room was for a bachelorette party so we went up to Lime Lounge to check it out for the party. The snarky manager working Thursday didn’t even ask much about the coupon but proceeded to rudely tell us it was for something else and that she would not honor it. This was after we had ordered martinis which took 20 minutes to make. She should have apologized for the misinformation and offered us what ever the coupon was really for. I still don’t even know what it was for!
Too bad, we were planning a bachelorette party and thought Lime Lounge would be our first stop. Nope!

I’m not entirely sure what was up with Lime last night. It was my first time in. The music was good (they played Depeche Mode… I about died of happiness) and the drinks were tasty. There is also a really sweet patio and it was a beautiful night. But it was a Saturday night and it was DEAD. No one was on the dance floor. Don’t get me wrong, I hate a packed house. But I was surprised at how few people were there.
I can’t wait to go back and try their happy hour. I’ll definitely be back. We’ll see what the crowd is like (if there is one) the next time.

I had high expectations for this place after hearing about its fun salsa nights, but this past Sunday was definitely a letdown.
Pros:
–Ample seating
–Semi-​spacious dance floor
–Extensive drink list: Mango Tango was nicely fruity with a sugar rim and interesting spicy aftertaste.
Cons:
–We visited on Sunday around midnight. A sign outside said «Happy hour 2-​for-​1» and «$ 5 Martinis» but we were charged full price for both our drinks. LIES
–I ordered the Birth of Venus, which is supposedly «Notes of orange and peach from Grand Marnier, Ketel One and champagne.» Well, it was basically a glass of bright blue (for some reason??) vodka. Didn’t taste any orange, peach or champagne. MORE LIES — not sure if the bartender just misheard me? Whatever it was, it was super strong and not tasty.
–Even on Memorial Day weekend, it started to get pretty dead by 1AM on a Sunday night, which I’m guessing is typical for Des Moines. The dance floor was emptying, but I wanted to get my moves on before we left. The music was so loud that we basically had no other option anyway.
However, the DJs were playing some repetitive techno that was too fast to dance to. (I say this as someone who normally loves shaking it to techno.) The few of us left on the floor were struggling to find a proper beat. So I sidled up to the DJ booth, and asked the DJ (who was concentrating soo hard on his playlist of unrecognizable songs) if he took requests. I wanted something a bit groovier so I could get my bump ‘n grind on with my boyfriend, but he muttered «no» without even looking at me.
Look. I get that my standards for club music might be a bit high from partying in more metropolitan areas, but by that time my boyfriend and I made up half the dancers on the floor, and if the DJ was so absorbed in his own undanceable music, he should go home and practice in his basement. How hard would it be to just play some Top 40s so the customers could actually enjoy themselves?
Anyway, Lime Lounge makes an effort to stand out from Midwestern sports bars and pubs, but the drinks and music were quite a disappointment.

This is really a gem of a hang out! I agree that the space is intimate but I love the contemporary appeal of actually feeling like you are in a metropolitan setting. There are to many just blah bars and pubs around so this place raises the notch. The staff are all wonderful and fun to talk with if they are not to busy. Being from San Francisco and having a place in DSM and SF, Lime makes me feel at ease and not lost in the burbs. Music is hip, drinks are delish, and a spinning DJ is visual. Check it out!

I love this little place. It is small but staff is always friendly and the music its great with lots of varieties of electronic music. They are not afraid to stay out of the norm and will play lots of «underground“styles such as dubstep and glitch that you will only hear very rarely in dsm. Love the dirty girl scout martini too. Nice place to go to for a relaxing neighborhood bar (if your hood is San Franciscoor NYC)

I love that this bar seems hidden and offers $ 1 wells Friday and Saturday until 10. Awesome place to start the night.

Does size matter?
I went back and forth from a 2 to 3 star on this place. I settled on a 3 star.
Pros
They are one of the very few places in DeMo to hear actual DJs spinning. Not just that but they seem to be very active in the DJ world, and are utilizing technology like no other bar. So for this they get the 1 extra star.
Prices are right on the money. They use to give out a free drink with check ins. I don’t know if they still do that.
Cons
This place is so small I really thought that they should make the seats and bar «murphy bed» style! The bar is really oddly positioned, and makes it very difficult to get a drink there. It is separated by a wall from the main dance area and you have to go through «doors» to get to it. Big suggestion take out the bar setting on a busy night.
They deem themselves a martini bar, and have an extensive list. I have had some tasty tiny martini’s there, but they are hit and miss. My suggestion is to scale that list down and perfect the ones you have. Also with all the martinis to make tends to slow down service.
All and all check this place out on a off night. It is still a cool bar to chillax in on a tuesday-​thursday.
If your wondering size does matter… it’s holding them back from a 4 star review.