Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery

We were passing through on our way to Colorado and read good reviews about this place. They were well founded. Great beer selection and great food. As a vegan married to a meat lover we don’t always agree on reviews, but this place was awesome.

Had a great business lunch here today. The service was very efficient. Firecracker shrimp was delicious although the breading on the shrimp was a little thick. Generous portions. My colleague had a good looking Cobb salad and our customer enjoyed a gigantic burger. It was a working lunch so unfortunately no beer. Will have to return for a dinner sometime!

Good place to have some appetizers and a drink. Bar has open seating and the happy hour specials are decent. I have been here twice and both times the bar tenders were quick and the food was good. They brew their own beer and have a beer rewards program you can join. I have only had apps not a full meal but all the food I have seen looks good.

This is one of my favorite places to eat… Besides Jethros!
The Mac-​n-​Chicken is da bomb delicious! If u like mac n cheese, get this — it’s the best in town!
Another fantastic item is their Baja Chicken sandwich… So good… Best chicken sandwich in the city!
Also their new menu is awesome with the little cheap appetizers! Great late night snack with a beer!
Speaking of beer… Their seasonal fall pumpkin beer with the cinnamon, nutmeg ‘D and sugared rim is delicious! The blonde ale is also very good and a soft hit on the pallet!
Jalapeño pretzel sticks things are delicious… But so many carbs … But so yummy with the cheese dipping sauce!
The nachos are very good also… Get it with all the extras… Chicken, guac and sour crème… It’s worth the extra few bucks! Good as a late night snack for two people… Too much for one, u less you not all eat a vat of nachos normally!
The gentlemen who works the bar (name I can’t remember) is always a good at getting drinks refilled and food out. Manager (forgot name also) is also very good at getting orders corrected if this happens, which has been once in about the 500 times I’ve eaten there!

We used to go to Rock Bottom all of the time before moving away from the area and we’re back in Des Moines again this week and went back. I have to say that the service and food was mediocre. I had a chicken sandwich and fries. There was hardly any sauce on the sandwich and I had about ten fries on my plate. The chicken was at least cooked well and had a decent flavor. My husband had a burger that was overdone, but had a great tasting sauce on it. The service really should have been better for the small amount of people in the restaurant. The beers were pretty good, but getting them refilled took a while to have happen. I don’t know that we will pick this restaurant again if we are back in the area which is too bad because we really used to enjoy it.

Rock Bottom Brewery is definitely a solid choice for dinner.
This restaurant/​brewery has a constantly changing menu of good beers to try and always has good service. I’ve been here quite a few times, whether on a date or a work lunch, and I’ve never been disappointed.
I definitely recommend the bison burger. It is my favorite; however, the 2 am is good stuff as well.
The beer is great, but if you’re more of a liquor person, the mojitos are a good alternative!

Stopped while traveling cross-​country with our dog-​we were worried about leaving him in the car. We asked the manager if we could bring him on the patio and he invited us to bring him inside, if he was well behaved. We did and he hung out under our table while we consumed great beer, big, delicious salads and chicken enchiladas! The service was superior and the food was great. That we could bring our dog in and were so welcoming, made this a great experience! We will not hesitate to visit other Rock Bottom’s in the future!

We used to love Rock Bottom and go often before more local craft breweries were opened in recent years. I find their beer just ok, but the food is solid. I like that they keep favorites on the menu, but they also continue to add new options and seasonal dishes. We typically have good service.

I love going to Rock Bottom! The food is consistently good, the beers are great, and the prices are spot on. Also, all of their burgers are 100% certified Angus beef.
I like that they have a few standard brews all year, and they also have seasonal brews. My favorite seasonal brew is the Stand-​up IPA. It’s a typical IPA but does not have a bitter finish. My wife loves the Pumpkin Spiced Ale that has a sugar ring around the mug! Also, you can buy 60oz growlers of beer to-​go!
Even though it is a chain restaurant, it still feels like a local brewery. If you join the loyalty program, which is called Rock Rewards, you get emails with deals like a burger and beer for $ 10. For the week before Father’s Day, you can get a wood-​fried pizza and a growler of beer for $ 12! You also get emails for new beer tapings that occur year round.
Rock Bottom is also a family friendly restaurant. My wife and kids frequently go, and it’s never too loud or raunchy. They have crayons for kids and a good selection on the kids menu.
Always a good time!

We love Rock Bottom. It’s a casual, comfortable restaurant with great food and great service. The prices are average and their is a decent menu selection with a little bit for everyone.

I am here for a girls’ weekend to celebrate my birthday!!! The food is totally delicious! Service qas just okay… as it got busier, our server got less attentive. … I get it, I just didn’t appreciate it!
I must say again… everything we ordered at our table was amazingly fresh, seasoned and piping hot when brought to our table!

Came here for lunch before lunch one day and had a good experience! Went in at the exact moment they opened for lunch and the staff members were very friendly and professional. I did not really know what to expect when coming here, I just knew I wanted to come here for a while since I always pass it when going to Barnes and Noble.
The menu was extensive, but not overwhelming, I decided I wanted to have their Guac and Chips for the appetizer and their Mac and Chicken for the entrée. The Guac and Chips were very very good, probably one of the best I’ve ever had at a restaurant, you immediately tell the chips are not ordinary with the excellent taste and texture. The Mac and Chicken was good also! It comes in a bowl which makes it look like there’s not a lot, but there’s a good amount inside!
The alcohol list looked nice, but I did not partake in it due to having to work after lunch. Overall, had a great experience. The interior décor is very nice and upscale as well. I am eager to see how their other menu items taste and how the atmosphere is during dinner!

Went here on Black Friday, apparently that was a mistake. Restaurant not very busy but service was terrible, Waited for at least 13 minutes before anyone noticed that we might need a drink, in the bar area. My wife got a burger and coleslaw, burger was ok but the slaw tasted funny. Bartender was not very attentative. If you want to just try something different come here if you want more, Go somewhere else.

Ever since I’ve moved to Des Moines Rock Bottom has been my go to spot whenever we can’t figure where to go out to eat. It has never let me down so far. The menu has something for almost everyone. I think they have one of the best burgers in West DSM, the 2 am burger and pretty good steaks. Price for drinks are a little high for me.

Have been coming here for over 15 yrs and have never had a bad meal or bad experience. Staff is always friendly and attentive and the food and beer is always fantastic! Favorite thing to order is the BBQ chicken pizza and their chicken nachos are some of the best in Des Moines! I’ve had everything from the sandwiches to the pasta to the steaks and every single time the food is outstanding!
It’s a great place to bring our 5 yr old son or just me and my wife. Highly recommend coming here!

Unilocal defines a three star review as «A-​OK». That’s perfectly accurate for Rock Bottom.
At Rock Bottom, you’ll get good (not great) food, good (not great) beer, all served with good (not great) service. When it’s all said and done, you’ll be handed your guest check with a dollar amount that’s higher than you’re expecting.
I don’t mean any of that in a negative way (well, except the bill part). I’ve always liked the food, beer, and service at Rock Bottom. It’s all been perfectly fine. However, nothing has ever stood out or come off as exceptional. In a sea of mediocre or inconsistent restaurants, being consistently good matters, and Rock Bottom can lay claim to that. It’s a good thing.
My only major beef with Rock Bottom is the pricing. It just feels too high and not commensurate with the experience. I’m perfectly comfortable with spending a fair amount of cash on a meal, but the value has to come along with it. Rock Bottom feels like the value derived is exactly equal to dollars spent. A great restaurant should make you feel like you get more value than you’re spending. That doesn’t mean it has to be cheap — I can easily justify $ 60 for two meals and drinks when it feels like the food and service were worth $ 75. At Rock Bottom, you’ll spend $ 49.99 and get $ 49.99 in value.
Being merely «good» is a major problem when you’re in a competitive niche, and the high-​end brewpub concept is no slouch in the Des Moines metro. Raccoon River Brewing Company and Exile Brewing Company come to mind as other great local brewpubs (albeit both downtown).
Take a trip a little further west down University Avenue and you’ll find Granite City Food and Brewery in Clive, where you’ll pay very similar prices to Rock Bottom, except you’ll get better service, absolutely stupid large portions, and far better beer.
You’ll be happy if you eat at Rock Bottom. It’s perfectly A-​OK. You’ll just be a lot happier if you eat local at Raccoon River or Exile, or head west down the same road (University Avenue) and eat at Granite City in Clive.

Fun place, nice décor, with very good food! Hubby had a blackened chicken salad and enjoyed it with a Red Ale. I had maybe the best club sandwich I’ve ever had I think! Service was AOK. They sure gave you lots of food to make up for prices a little on the high side for Des Moines.

I went yesterday around 4:30. I had the vanilla ale, Blue slider, BBQ pork slider, and fries. My husband had the American slider and buffalo chicken slider. For $ 2 bucks a slider, it’s a pretty good deal. I wasn’t a fan of our waitress. She brought the food fast but not very personable or helpful. All in all, I don’t ever go out of my way for this place, but I would definitely come back for the Wednesday deal :)

Beers are solid with a nice selection and they have growler fills.
This review is more about the reuben as I continue my quest to find the best one, wherever that may be. I’ve stopped by here before on road trips for a bit and this last time I decided to try the reuben. I was curious about their use of Bavarian style sauerkraut using caraway seeds instead of the standard kraut without the caraway. Sadly, I could not taste the caraway at all in their reuben. The bread was good quality rye, but unfortunately it was pretty much all that I tasted. The corned beef was not as tender as it good be and lacked flavor. The kraut was also fairly flavorless as was the Russian dressing.
All in all it was a 2 star reuben. They get an additional star for the beer and service at the bar.

How to best describe Rock Bottom? It is difficult because there are so many choices: Middle of the road, passé, mediocre, indifferent.
Rock Bottom is a chain with about 40 links across the US. They offer a wide selection of «hand crafted» beers. The beers are good, the food not so much. It is not that the food is bad, it just isn’t good. I’ve tried their 10oz steak (thin and sliced into 4 – 5 pieces the kitchen), calamari & jalapeño rings (cooked well, but bland batter), Reuben (plain and uninspiring), and quesadilla (run of the mill).
As described by other Unilocalers, the service was also poor. Slow, uncaring, just going through the motions.
Do yourself a favor, stop in for a brew, then head out for a great meal somewhere else.