Centro - Des Moines

I arrived in town late and discovered this nearby restaurant that was open until 10 PM, so I decided to give it a chance. The restaurant has a high ceiling, giving it a spacious feel, and is quite large. I ordered the Rigatoni with Sausage, which was delicious and had just the right level of spiciness. The portions were generous, especially if you indulged in their fresh bread before your meal - you may need a to-go box for leftovers.

The restaurant staff was very polite, and we had attentive waitresses. I ordered the homemade cavatelli, which looked like a large portion but ended up being mostly sauce with very few noodles and little cheese. I didn't feel like it was worth the price.

However, I found that while the food was enjoyable, it wasn't particularly unique or exceptional compared to other Italian restaurants. My meal was a bit too oily and my salad was overdressed, leaving me feeling less than satisfied. Additionally, I requested a half order of food but was served a full portion and charged accordingly, which was disappointing. If you're looking to impress out-of-town guests, Centro may not be the best choice. But if you're meeting up with friends and want to take advantage of their Monday half-price pizza deals and generous portions, it's worth a visit. Just be aware that the restaurant gets busy quickly, so making a reservation for a larger party or to avoid a long wait is recommended.

The server was fantastic and she did a great job making us comfortable and attending to us. The ambiance is great and very clean. As far as food goes, it was a little disappointing, decent, but not plate-lick worthy for the price. Guess you arepaying for the ambiance, not the food because I have had better Italian food at a dive bar. Read some of the reviews about burntpita bread and it was the same that came with our cheese dip. While the cheese dip was great tasting there was a bitter taste,it was the same for the Chicken And Prosciutto that I ordered. Took me a while to figure out Store-bought minced garlic. Onesuggestion to the chef would be to use Fresh Garlic/Garlic powder or if you have to use minced garlic, maybe cook it a littlelonger to mitigate the bitter taste. The chicken was FANTASTIC, juicy, and crispy. But overall the pasta dish was justwatered-down Alfredo sauce. I bet it will taste good as leftover after the sauce has thickened overnight in the fridge. Fordessert, we got crème brûlée. As you see in the picture, the sugar was over-caramelized- it should have cracked with the backof the spoon however, it only folded. The burnt sugar made it very bitter and had to scoop off the top layer to enjoy thecustard inside. It was a complimentary anniversary dessert but would have been nice if they treated it as though we paid forit. We will try again another time hopefully we can raise the star points since everyone else seemed to enjoy this place butme. Good luck and apologize for the thorough yet bitter review.

Our server was fantastic! She checked in often to make sure everything was tasting good and to see if we needed anything. The food was delicious and we ended up taking home leftovers because there was so much. Highly recommend checking out Centro of youhave not already!