Savor Scout › Cities › Iowa › Des Moines, IA
Where to eat in Des Moines, IA
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A few places to eat in Des Moines
- El Buen Sabor Latino Salvadoran · 0.1 miles
1130 E 9th St, Des Moines - Fawn's Asian Cuisine Asian · 0.2 miles
1107 E University Ave, Des Moines - Cheng's Garden Chinese · 0.4 miles
1246 E 14th St, Des Moines - Thai Flavors Thai · 0.4 miles
1254 E 14th St, Des Moines - Home Team Pizza Pizza · 0.4 miles
1264 E 14th St, Des Moines
The closest few by distance from central Des Moines, not a ranking — local places listed ahead of chains. Listings from Overture Maps open data (September 2026); hours and openings change, so check before you go. Want one picked for what you're craving instead? Ask Savor Scout in Des Moines.
The food scene in Des Moines
Open listings put 255 places to eat within 2 miles of central Des Moines, 15 within a ten-minute walk (half a mile). The most common: Mexican (31), pizza (14) and sandwiches (13). 15 are fast-food counters; the rest are sit-down restaurants, cafés, bakeries and takeaway spots.
What stands out in Des Moines is African, Salvadoran and Vietnamese — types that are listed here at 4 to 12 times the national rate.
By type of food — tap one for what to order and how to spot a good one:
Mexican 31 Coffee 20 Pizza 14 Sandwiches 13 American 11 Italian 10 Bakery 10 Ice cream 8 Tacos 8 Vietnamese 7
The food in Des Moines
Des Moines has more than enough places to eat — the trouble is choosing between them without spending longer deciding than eating.
Savor Scout picks one restaurant in Des Moines and tells you why it picked it. Say what you're craving and it reads menus and reviews for that specific dish, rather than sorting places by overall star rating. Free, runs in the browser, and one search needs no account.
Eating out in Des Moines
Des Moines has a population of about 207,510. A city this size has real range, and range is what makes the decision slow. Savor Scout searches up to 35 miles around Des Moines, so places just outside the city are still on the table when they are worth the drive.
How well supplied is Des Moines?
Des Moines sits in Polk County, where the Census counts 401 full-service restaurants, 384 limited-service places, 108 cafés and snack bars and 133 bars — 1,026 places to eat or drink in all. Des Moines makes up about 42% of the county's population.
That is 20.8 per 10,000 residents, comfortably above the national median of 19.4. Enough range that the deciding takes longer than the eating. Sit-down and counter-service places are close to balanced, with the edge to sit-down.
Those county figures also cover West Des Moines, Ankeny, Urbandale, all within Savor Scout's search radius from Des Moines.
County-level counts from the US Census (2022) — how we got these numbers.
What are you craving in Des Moines?
- tacos in Des Moines — what separates a good one from an average one
- pizza in Des Moines — what separates a good one from an average one
- sushi in Des Moines — what separates a good one from an average one
- burgers in Des Moines — what separates a good one from an average one
- ramen in Des Moines — what separates a good one from an average one
- wings in Des Moines — what separates a good one from an average one
- chinese food in Des Moines — what separates a good one from an average one
- italian food in Des Moines — what separates a good one from an average one
- thai food in Des Moines — what separates a good one from an average one
- mexican food in Des Moines — what separates a good one from an average one
- barbecue in Des Moines — what separates a good one from an average one
- seafood in Des Moines — what separates a good one from an average one
- brunch in Des Moines — what separates a good one from an average one
- indian food in Des Moines — what separates a good one from an average one
- sandwiches in Des Moines — what separates a good one from an average one
- noodles in Des Moines — what separates a good one from an average one
Near Des Moines
- West Des Moines, IA — about 6 miles away
- Urbandale, IA — about 6 miles away
- Ankeny, IA — about 9 miles away
- Ames, IA — about 30 miles away
- Cedar Falls, IA — about 88 miles away
- Waterloo, IA — about 90 miles away
Campuses in and near Des Moines
Each has its own page: what is within walking distance and a few places to start with.
How this differs from Google Maps and Yelp
Maps and Yelp are directories: they rank everything nearby and leave the deciding to you. Savor Scout makes the call and shows its reasoning — the match score, what it beat, and the evidence behind the pick. The underlying place data comes from the same public sources, so the difference is the selection, not the data.
Guides
- What to eat when… — 30 guides by situation, from a first date to a hangover to a group of twelve.
- Food guides — what separates a good taco, ramen or pizza from an average one.
- Eating out with a restriction — allergies, halal, kosher, vegan and more.
- Near a campus? — food around 637 US universities.