Savor Scout › Cities › Iowa › Urbandale, IA
Where to eat in Urbandale, IA
Find somewhere to eat in Urbandale →
A few places to eat in Urbandale
- House of Hunan Chinese · 0.2 miles
6810 Douglas Ave, Urbandale - Big Sky Bread Iowa Bakery · 0.2 miles
7021 Douglas Ave, Urbandale - Douglas Cafe Breakfast and Brunch · 0.2 miles
7003 Douglas Ave, Urbandale - Kennys Rib Wagon Barbecue · 0.5 miles
6202 Douglas Ave Ste A, Des Moines - The U Neighborhood Grill · 0.5 miles
7500 Douglas Ave, Urbandale
The closest few by distance from central Urbandale, 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 Urbandale.
The food scene in Urbandale
Open listings put 170 places to eat within 2 miles of central Urbandale, 12 within a ten-minute walk (half a mile). The most common: pizza (23), Mexican (22) and bakery (12). 20 are fast-food counters; the rest are sit-down restaurants, cafés, bakeries and takeaway spots.
What stands out in Urbandale is barbecue — a type that is listed here at about 2 times the national rate.
By type of food — tap one for what to order and how to spot a good one:
Pizza 23 Mexican 22 Bakery 12 American 9 Barbecue 8 Sandwiches 7 Chinese 6 Italian 5 Ice cream 5 Japanese 3
The food in Urbandale
Urbandale does not have infinite options, and that brings its own problem: you have been to most of them, and picking again is somehow still hard.
Savor Scout picks one restaurant in Urbandale 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 Urbandale
Urbandale has a population of about 41,776. Somewhere this size rewards knowing which places are actually worth the trip. Savor Scout searches up to 35 miles around Urbandale, so places just outside the city are still on the table when they are worth the drive.
How well supplied is Urbandale?
Urbandale 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. Urbandale makes up about 8% 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 Des Moines, West Des Moines, Ankeny, all within Savor Scout's search radius from Urbandale.
County-level counts from the US Census (2022) — how we got these numbers.
What are you craving in Urbandale?
- tacos in Urbandale — what separates a good one from an average one
- pizza in Urbandale — what separates a good one from an average one
- sushi in Urbandale — what separates a good one from an average one
- burgers in Urbandale — what separates a good one from an average one
- ramen in Urbandale — what separates a good one from an average one
- wings in Urbandale — what separates a good one from an average one
- chinese food in Urbandale — what separates a good one from an average one
- italian food in Urbandale — what separates a good one from an average one
- thai food in Urbandale — what separates a good one from an average one
- mexican food in Urbandale — what separates a good one from an average one
- barbecue in Urbandale — what separates a good one from an average one
- seafood in Urbandale — what separates a good one from an average one
- brunch in Urbandale — what separates a good one from an average one
- indian food in Urbandale — what separates a good one from an average one
- sandwiches in Urbandale — what separates a good one from an average one
- noodles in Urbandale — what separates a good one from an average one
Near Urbandale
- West Des Moines, IA — about 3 miles away
- Des Moines, IA — about 6 miles away
- Ankeny, IA — about 9 miles away
- Ames, IA — about 29 miles away
- Cedar Falls, IA — about 91 miles away
- Waterloo, IA — about 93 miles away
Campuses in and near Urbandale
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.