Resturant Review: Simons

Simons (formerly J Benjamin’s)

Des Moines Iowa

How can a person not love Simons? Upon arrival there was a 20 minute wait for a table that is usually, but not always a good thing, take the Olive Garden for example.  We were greeted at the door by the owner who took our drink order and went and got them. This is where the review gets difficult to explain. Simon (the owner, chef, bartender, host, busboy, waiter) is the most impressive part of the Simon’s dining experience. The guy is everywhere, one minute he is in the kitchen, then at the bar, next you will see him at the door but most of the time he is visiting with his customers. At one point in the evening he literally pulled up a chair and sat at our table. We asked him about one of the employees he had he told us that this kid started hanging out around the place after school since about the age of 9 and when the kid turned 14 he wanted to give him a chance and he gave him a job bussing tables and filling water glasses. This goes back to my original statement, how can you not love Simons?

As you may be aware I grade on certain criteria two of which are atmosphere and service the scores for Simons were difficult to give. The place was dark and somewhat loud, our waitress was average at best but because of Simon I had to give each a 4.5.

The wait for our food was longer than one would like, however it’s hard to explain but there it doesn’t matter. Now finally for the food, as in most Italian places they start you out with some bread and Simons' parents have a bakery and they supply the bread for their son’s restaurant. I had the beef stroganoff; it was very good the beef was very tender which is hard to find in similar dishes. I had hoped for a bigger serving but left full so go figure. Teresa had the baked pasta with pepperoni, again very good and a nice portion. Jared had the Chicken Florentine a nice twist on chicken. But probably the highlight of the evening was Stacy’s mac and cheese, one of the best I’ve had.  To top off the evening Simons dad makes chocolate and carrot cakes for the place and they are complementary while supplies last. We had the carrot and it was also good. As you can tell Simons is in fact about Simon and as we were leaving he must have been busy because he literally ran outside to catch us and tell us thanks for coming and goodbye. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again “how can you not love Simons?”

   

Price range: (everyday, a night out, a special occasion only) a night out

Overall rankings all based 1 to 5

Atmosphere: 4.5

Service:        4.5

Food:           3.5

Value:           3

Overall          4

Simons

5800 Franklin Ave., Des Moines, IA, 50322