4.25* (out of 5) Food: 5* Atmosphere: 4* Value: 4* Service: 4* 01/26/2024 Based on a recommendation from my wife's coworker, we decided to give Nick's Bar & Grill a try with our son and daughter-in-law. We weren't quite sure as we pulled up to what appeared to be a strip-mall, but the storefront for Nick's (see picture) was reassuring. We started with a round of drinks (see pictures) and while the Tequila Old Fashioned (see picture) was unique, I wouldn't order it again - struck me as a straight shot of inexpensive tequila. We both really enjoyed our main course meals. My wife started with the Shrimp Bisque soup (see picture) based on her coworker's recommendation followed by the Ribeye (see picture). I went with the Blackened Salmon (see picture) and really liked it - done just right with the perfect amount of 'kick' in the blackening seasoning. Last but certainly not least (for my sweet-tooth), we shared a piece of Key Lime Pie (see picture). While our waitress was apologizing for the appearance (falling apart) due to it being fresh out of the oven - we especially enjoyed it and the warm temperature only made it taste that much better. If you found this review helpful, please show your appreciation with a Like or a Follow. Photos copyright: happyhourdesmoines.com & thefoodanddrinkguy.com read more

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Different ownership than my last review. Food and service were all good. Menu on the Website is not the same as what is at the restaurant - similar, but appears to be a bit dated. We also called for a reservation, but rolled to an unusual Voicemail, so hung up, and immediately got a call back asking if we'd called. Reservation was honored, but maybe not needed as they were busy, but not full on a Saturday night. We sat in the bar and there were a good deal of regulars, but some of us drop-ins as well! Our server was excellent, and the food was very good. Decent wine list and some interesting drink options. I got a martini and it was shaken at the table and poured; got very generous pours. Food came out quickly and was very good. Our group of 4 was apparently in a carnivore mood as we all got beef. I got the blue cheese crusted filet - a good cut of meat, with a fantastic blue cheese topping. The mashed potatoes were good, and the veggie mix was excellent. Two in our group got the Steak Medallions - also good. The other diner in our group got the Prime Rib, and he scraped his plate clean as well. I tried the horseradish sauce, and it was a good kick, but not overpowering. All the prices are reasonable, just not as cheap as the menu that's online today. They do charge a 4% fee, which is refunded if you pay in cash-not atypical anymore. Much, much better than our previous visit, and I would definitely go back. read more

Their food is good their breakfast is good and their chicken is good they have very good karaoke at this place too I love hanging out and having read more

Do NOT go here. Just had the worst experience at a restaurant. Our server was completely wasted. Slurring her words and spilled mashed potatoes and veggies on our table. She actually wiped it up with her hands and never came back to clean it up. I got the Nick's filet.. asked for it to be medium and got it completely rare and quite cold in the middle . Absolutely appalling. read more

Nick's Bar & Grill - Nick's Filet that's not cooked. - New American Near Me - Clive, Iowa

The staff is always great! Starting off with Gary,the bartender he is always friendly, efficient and helpful. He can handle a full bar by himself, always with a smile! Next we have Christina, a very good server. She is always friendly and knowledgeable about specials and menu items. Overall any fabulous people and some of the best food around! Never had a bad meal there and always look forward to my next visit, which is quite often! read more

The potstickers and Asiago dip are amazing! You can't go wrong with any soups, but the creamy chicken noodle is lick the bowl Clean good. read more

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We just had appetizers but wonderful and filling. I liked the cozy atmosphere. Will definitely be back.

Gary the bartender is amazing! Had no idea what we were walking into, to our surprise was a warm atmosphere with great service and excellent food. read more

Service was good. Large menu. We had a party of 6 and were seated immediately on a weeknight over dinner hour. Tried various soups and steaks and drinks. Food was ok. Definitely filling and nice sized portions. read more

Went to Nick's for a happy hour with another couple. The ambiance is nice and has a laid back feel. However, the "house" wines are at the lower end which is surprising given the restaurant feel. I would rather pay a buck or two more for better quality wine than what they are offering which is Barefoot for the red and some unknown label on the white wine side. We didn't stay and headed down to another venue. read more

Lovely lunch here today! Tuscan shrimp penne pasta and blackened chicken pesto! Mango mules were perfect too! Top notch service too!

Nick's Bar and Grill has been in business since the mid-1990s. They serve a brisk business lunch operation, and makes for a great quiet date night dinner. Staff is typically friendly and efficient, which is especially great for lunch visits. We've had good luck with many of their menu items: very good chicken piccata, good salads (the Santa Fe is a favorite), solid hamburgers, well-prepared steaks (steak oscar and steak de burgo in particular)... Our hands-down favorite menu item is their delicious creamy chicken noodle soup. That alone is worth the stop. We've also had a couple of interesting cocktails, but that would not be the reason to visit. Things to know: * Nick's is located in a strip mall at a busy intersection. It is accessible from westbound University Avenue and northbound 22nd St. read more

Great food & great service!!! Haven't had anything that wasn't good!! Chris & Gary are great bartenders and the serving staff take great care of you! Negative reviews don't take into consideration personal circumstances, or those customers that may be having a really bad day. p.s. Elizabeth rocks! read more

Mussels were fabulous. FAAAABULOUS. Drank the juice til I was drowning in garlic, wine butter and it dripped down my chin. I have zero regrets. Blackened shrimp Cobb salad was very good. Their creamy parm is better than their ranch. Plenty of toppings, which is what a good salad should have. I can eat a head of lettuce for $0.79 at home if that's all I want...the toppings are where it's at. But ohhhhhh hello rare prime rib! This 12oz prime rib was fanTASTIC! So juicy and the vegetable sides were perfect, asparagus was not overcooked like so many places serve. Cali veg blend could use a little more love but it's a basic side dish and the asparagus made up for it not to mention the prime rib I've found my new prime rib location. Can't wait to take my family here, they'll love it. Service was great, new ownership is doing a great job. I haven't been here in years and I can't wait to add this back into the rotation. -- at Nick's Bar & Grill, Clive. read more

This place always feels warm because dark woody feel. The wait staff are super nice and knowledgeable. The menu is large but not too large. The special today was a Cajun prime rib sandwich and it looked amazing but I did not want to go into a food coma so I did pass. I had a 1/2 sandwich and soup and the portion size is so big I wasn't able to finish mine. My friend had a birthday and he ordered the chocolate lava cake and it came with mint chocolate shop ice cream! It was super yummy! 8 always say you must get the creamy chicken noodle soup because it is epic! All in all a really good lunch experience... read more

Our food was very good. The service was excellent as well. We had chicken noodle soup and Reuben's. I will return.

Most amazing chicken piccata ever! I love it when a chef is not afraid of using capers. I must say this is the first time I had a piccata sauce that had mushrooms in it. Absolutely loved it!! My waitress LaRissa was fantastic. Will definitely be coming back her the next time I am in town. read more

We love this place! We have eaten here multiple times. Service is great, from the host/hostess, to the wait & bar staff; all friendly & attentive. Food has always been very good. read more

Love this place. The ambiance is great. We got seated right away and the service continued to be quick and courteous. We had the jambalaya and the fettuccine and they were both excellent. The fettuccine sauce was so creamy and rich and the jambalaya wasn't too soupy or spicy. We will definitely be back. read more

Pasta dish was excellent. Great service and atmosphere. From the moment I walked in, staff made me feel right at home. After dinner cigar a short walk to David's ... great night. read more

The menu that is posted on their website is that definitely not the menu we were given. The online menu lists the cheeseburger is being $10.95. the restaurant menu listed at $15. The bill I was given was $16. The burger I was served the $10 price would be pushing it. Also there is a fee to pay with your credit card. I only gave it two stars because the waitress was very attentive. read more

Nick's Bar & Grill - Apparently cheeseburgers are $16, not the $15 that's listed on the menu nor the $10.95 price that's listed online. - New American Near Me - Clive, Iowa

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Had good experience with very attentive wait staff. Larger portions for a fair price. Nice selection of spirits and wine. Chicken nachos were fantastic as a starter. Fridays and Saturdays are prime rib night. read more

Nicks must be on of the top 5 Restaurants in the city service is superb food is timely and delicious Will always recommend and dine once a week Great job gang read more

I love this place. The atmosphere and decor was magnificent! Service was splendid and the food was amazing. Little bit pricey but it's reasonable for what the menu offers. I chose the clam chowder and Caesar salad. For lunch, a simple soup and salad sufficed! Definitely recommend this place! read more

Just a few things could make this a 4 star place. We walked in at 7:30 on a Friday evening & it wasn't very busy. No one greeted us. A working waitress glanced our way a couple of times. Another couple came in about 5 minutes after us. We continued to wait. Finally the waitress came our way and said "Could I help you?" Really? How about welcoming us and asking how many? We sat outside, as did the couple behind us. A waitress finally came out and waited on them. Another waitress came out for us. There wasn't a drink menu offered, but another couple was given one. I had water & hubby had wonderful ice tea. We had onion rings. We ordered a small but got a large. We chatted to the other couple and they had ordered a large but got our small. The thin rings are wonderful! Shrimp bisque was the side my husband got with his meal and he really enjoyed it. Later I heard another waitress list several choices of soups, but ours only named one. Fortunately he liked it! My Greek salad was fine. It would've been terrific with more olives, especially if different kinds. Dressing was tangy and good. Hubby's seafood creole was great. Lots of seafood and a pleasant sauce. We did ask for bread and the rolls were hot & tasty! Be sure to ask for them. Hubby had to ask for ice tea refills repeatedly and there wasn't ice added so it wasn't cold. We had enough for leftovers. Just a bit more training of help would do a lot. The foods good; the patio pleasant! We'll be back. This was our first non-lunch visit. read more

Nick's Bar & Grill - Greek salad - New American Near Me - Clive, Iowa

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Gave this place a shot twice and probably won't visit again. Overpriced and the food is either bland or over-salted/seasoned. First time I visited for an event and the food was descent enough for me to come back. Second (and hopefully last) came with my mom and kiddos. The waitress did her best but wasn't really warm/friendly. Not sure if it's kid friendly (based on how my toddler was treated). Ate their California rolls topped with fried/crisp lobster, mac n cheese, burger, and scallops. Didn't even bother with dessert as main dishes were all let downs. Drinks were great (because it was wine). read more

So I stopped by again for dinner and had a little bit of a different experience. I was going to drop 2 stars, but our waitress was super awesome, so I only dropped one. We ordered the softball sirloin, chicken piccata and salads for sides. Both salads came out really warm and not a piece of lettuce bigger than an inch at most. It appeared to be chopped up iceberg. Not impressed at all. Never having warm salad in our whole lives, we returned them for new ones. The waitress was more than apologetic and brought out new ones. Then our dinners came out. The chicken piccata was great and they were not skimpy at all with the capers. The sirloin came out perfectly cooked to order, but it had bunch of connective tissue in it that a knife couldn't get through. I had to basically tear it apart with forks and cut different directions with a knife to get through it. For a small cut I had a decent pile of junk. It was very disappointing. Also, I didn't care for the topping on it at all. I actually scraped it off. If the steak was stand alone and was a better cut, I would have been really impressed. Overall I would still like to give this place another try. read more

Nick's Bar & Grill - New American Near Me - Clive, Iowa

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We used to frequent Nick's regularly but haven't much over the past couple of years. After a decent work lunch earlier in the week, we decided to try it again on a recent Saturday evening around 8:00pm. We were the only people in the bar and the restaurant was about half-full. Bartender was friendly and got us drinks quicky (he had no other customers) and shared the specials. What was interesting and set the poor mood of the night were the staff conversations we overheard. While we waited for our app, one of the servers brought back a full glass a wine and informed the bartender the customer said it was bad and she couldn't drink it. The server asked how to go about taking it off the bill. The bartender informed her that it was poured, so they were paying for it. He said "it was house wine, what did they expect?" The server said the customer shouldn't pay anything, but the bartender replied that would cost the restaurant profits, so basically too bad. The server said she'd just pay for it out of her pocket because she wasn't going to charge a customer for something they couldn't drink. Shortly after this, it appeared there must have been another complaint in the restaurant, because another server, who must have wrapped up her shift early, was sitting at the bar with her boyfriend. She pulled on a sweater, asked the bartender if she'd pass as management and went to address the issue. This told us that clearly no one was in charge at the restaurant and ensuring customers were being appropriately taken care of. I ordered the prime rib (which is a weekend night special). When it came out, it was so tough, I could not cut it with a steak knife. It also had a funky color and odor and quite frankly, I didn't want to eat it. After about 20 minutes, the bartender asked if I didn't like it and I told him it was bad. His response was "yeah, we've had some issues with our meat lately and someone else said something about it earlier. But, my buddy had it last night and he said it was okay." Why he would even let me order it when he knew it was bad was beyond me. He was "gracious" enough to take off $20 from our bill, but not the whole $32 price of the entree. In the end, I paid $12 for a small dinner salad and some mixed vegetables. After overhearing the earlier exchanges with the other servers, I wasn't going to push it. We got our check and left. It is really sad to see this place go downhill. It used to be a prime spot to have a very nice dinner, but after this last experience, we will not be going back. read more

Sometime I act like a child! And I order something ridiculous for dinner! Last night this was one of those times! We decided to check out a place we have never been before, so we hopped in the car and headed west like two explorers looking for a fine dining experience. We ended up at Nick's. As we walked in I notice the dim lighting and decor that probably hasn't really changed since the mid 90's. Ashley said, "This reminds me of my child hood." I agreed. Then another thing reminded me of my child hood as well, as we were being escorted to our booth, I looked down at a women's meal and saw those CRISPY ONION RINGS, I used to love so much as a kid! I was taken! I looked over the menu, and I couldn't get my mind off those onion rings, so I told Ashley.. "I think I'm just going to get onion rings," now normally she would say, "that's not a meal," but she didn't flinch. Now there was a half order for 5 buck and a full for 7, so I went all in! 10 minutes later I had a pile of Onion Rings the size of Mount Everest on my plate! It was huge! I felt like I was in a scene from some surreal german movie where the food is never ending and you will never reach the end... but you keep trying! They were great, crispy, and greasy! I loved them! But boy was I full and I couldn't finish! Ashley had a cheese burger and cole slaw, I had a beer and our whole meal was 22 bucks! Not to shabby! The service was great, and I dug the 90's low light atmosphere for a change! The bar area was pretty cool as well! Well done Nick! read more

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I sat at a booth in the bar to eat, the service was quick and personable. The seafood creole was huge! It would have been hard for two people to finish it. It has salmon, shrimp, and mussels in with the rice. It could have been spicier but it was a great middle of the road heat. It came with a house salad that had balsamic vinaigrette. The salad was fresh and crisp and the tomatoes in it were flavorful. Fresh green beens came as a side I only wish I'd started with them. I ordered Apple cobbler for dessert that was warm and very good. read more

Nick's Bar & Grill - New American Near Me - Clive, Iowa

Service was slow. We ordered crab cakes for an appetizer. They were undercooked. I ordered a Bloody Mary, it was just tomato juice and vodka. One of my fellow diners ordered wine, it had a small bug in it when served. Server did correct that. We each ordered an entree. It was just food, nothing special. read more

so I live two minutes from this restaurant, and we used to order from here on a weekly basis, and then I stopped because they could not get our order correct. The manager did give us a gift card because we had barely any french fries on an order, they forgot our salad and, my steak wasn't prepared correctly and so on. So today is my birthday and I decided I wanted to go back and I called in the order. My son went to pick up the order and came home and we opened up the order and of course they forgot my salad. They forgot the butter and sour cream for my potato. My vegetables were cold and my potato was cold and I live literally in the condos next to the bar. So I pick up the phone to call and the lady on the phone said I'm not the one who took your order and I said I understand that I'm just letting you know that I did not receive these items. And once again after $80, we won't be returning! read more

My wife and I had dinner here last night. Unfortunately today my wife has food poisoning from an uncooked pork shank. It smelled a little bit like sewer when we walked in the door. We were unsure about staying but we did anyway, which was a bad choice. I ordered a streak and dinner salad for $24, and that's all I got, no sides, greens or vegetables. My bad I guess. The place has definitely gone down hill and we won't be going back again and would not recommend it to anyone else. One star was the lowest I could leave, should be a zero! read more

This place is trash. Let's see...glasses were dirty, service super slow, and the food is sub-par yet expensive. I'm not sure how this place is still open. read more

I had not been to Nicks for several years but a friend wanted to go there. First thing I noticed is how dark it is in there and honestly I don't think any decor has been updated in the 15+ years since I've been there. I had a grilled chicken sandwich. It was ok. Not great, not bad, just ok. I got mashed potatoes on the side. I assumed they came with gravy. They did not. Just plain, not even garlic, mashed potatoes. I asked for some onion for my sandwich. I was surprised to see when my bill came I was charged for a slice of onion. It wasn't much but I was a little taken back that with a $15 chicken sandwich I had to pay extra for a slice of onion. My friend had a filet and the same plain taters. She was not impressed for the price. I know the restaurant industry has taken a hit and I do try to support local places so I always tip at least 20%. But for the money, I would of been as happy at Arbys with their grilled chicken sandwich. Sorry. I won't be headed back there anytime soon. read more

Smelled like cigarette smoke. No waitresses visible. Waited. Finally host brought us water. Waited. Waited. Saw 3 waitresses come in from outside. Still waited. Got up and left. read more

First time going with a bunch of friends atmosphere was good. We ordered appetizers the portions were large and the apps were great. Ordered chicken piccata and baked potato - the chicken was under cooked I told the waitress she didn't acknowledge it and the baked potato must have been microwaved and not baked. I will not be going back to this bar & grill I was not impressed with my dinner Went back to give it a try once again. Well the bartender Mark ?? Got my order wrong. I ordered a blacks chicken sandwich and ended up with salmon. My friends I was with said you ordered blacken chicken. Not impressed once again read more

This is another one of those places you'd just drive past if you didn't know it was here. Right across from valley west mall, Nicks is a favorite spot for lunch or dinner. It's dark and classy and the food is always good. I always get the French Dip sandwich/ tender beef, melted Swiss and a really good roll. The chicken nachos are HUGE and very good. read more

Nick's Bar & Grill - This WAS my French Dip sandwich- I snarffed it down! - New American Near Me - Clive, Iowa

We have been there twice and there won't be a third. The staff is great but the kitchen is poor. The kitchen can grill steaks, but who can't? They fail at everything else. The Ruben has too much kraut. The salmon is rancid. The salads are all greens. We didn't get silverware. Had to scavenge off another table ourselves. The dinner rolls and bottled beer was the highlight. read more

I ate here with a friend and coworker, really liked the atmosphere here and also the food and service. Great place for a meal or a drink and appetizer. Can't wait to go back. Nick's has a club atmosphere and I like that a lot. Good place to do business like a luncheon or dinner. read more