The broken spoke bar and grill

Great atmosphere and good prices

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5

I visited the Broken Spoke Bar and Grill in Des Moines, Iowa, tonight (June 28, 2025) around 10:30 PM and, unfortunately, left pretty disappointed. I always want to see small businesses thrive, especially knowing the time, money, and heart that owners put into making them successful. That’s why it’s so frustrating to see an employee’s actions potentially hurt the reputation of a place that someone worked hard to build.

Tonight, the bartender spent more time texting on his phone than serving customers. I waited several minutes at the bar while he stayed glued to his screen. I actually had to wait until the music stopped (the music was coming from the bar’s sound system, not his phone) just so he could hear me trying to order. It wasn’t just me — other customers were clearly waiting and overlooked as well.

For what it’s worth, the beer was ice cold, which was great.
But great beer isn’t enough if customers don’t feel welcomed or prioritized.

As an official Google reviewer with more than 14 million readers, I don’t enjoy leaving poor reviews — I genuinely prefer to support and celebrate local businesses. But when something like this happens, I believe in being honest, especially in the hopes that feedback like this helps an owner identify a problem that can be fixed before more customers are lost.

I hope this was just an off night, because the place itself has potential.

Atmosphere: 4

Service: 1

Great place to be with friends. Have a few drinks and the food is good too 😋

Great music, and great place to watch some sports or just to relax with a cold drink after work. Food is wonderful, great portions too!

Stopped in last night. The bartender seemed like she didn’t even want to help us and there was no menu she pointed to a neon board with 4 burger/sandwich items . Nothing like the pix in the website. Turned and walked out. Mostly bartender related

Very friendly people

Food was fire... great service. I'll be back.

Best Steak I've had in along time price that you can't find any where else.16 Oz t bone, salad, t toast,big baked potato sour cream, butter, home made dressing!.25.00$.You can't beat this Steak Special.

Fantastic steak. Welcoming atmosphere!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Great place for drinks and food, great friendly staff, Owners n the service.
Good food choices , I go on Wed. " STEAK NITE" or Thurs" Rib Nite" excellent deals

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Fun times

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Owner and guest smoking pot out side wind blowing in the door

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Spent $12 dollars on chicken strips and fries. 35 minutes later I received both burnt covered with so much seasoning trying to hide the burnt flavor you couldn’t eat them. Ended up going across the street to a taco truck that had excellent food served in less than 10 minutes and only spent $8.50

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 1

Service: 3

Great food made to order great people to be

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Like the food service was friendly will go back .

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5