Holy Schnikes! It's bad, no really bad. Most certainly the worst Tex-mex-Mexican food I have ever had and the drinks were even worse. Everything right off the truck and pre-made along with some stale/off flavors thrown in. I really thought and hoped DSM was done with garbage like this. Pathetic! read more

We sat in the patio and we were definitely distanced from others. We really only eat out if there is a patio. Our server, Kacyn, was genuinely very attentive and accommodating. All staff wore masks. We will for sure visit here again. read more

See all

Had a quick stop in Des Moines and wanted to get some Mexican food! We heard about this place from the hotel concierge and it did not disappoint! There are flights of not only queso but margaritas-both were great! For entrees we had the birria tacos and cheesy beef enchiladas. Everything was delicious and the food came out super quickly after ordering. Prices were very fair! Only downside was that the place was very crowded and staff were not wearing masks. If they had been I would have felt a lot more comfortable. read more

Rita's Cantina - Cheesy beef enchiladas - Beer Bar Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

See all

Walk past, run past, drive past this place. Bland tastes less food, flavorless salsa and the flight of margaritas are child friendly. They were just slushes sans the tequila. I'd chose Chipotle any day of this joint. Heck I wanted to go to Subway. read more

Been here twice, food was really good both times. Service was fantastic the second time and the first time was pretty good, albeit a bit flighty. Nice outdoor seating with plenty of space between tables and a fun, bright and festive vibe to it. Decent local beer options and my wife loves their house margarita. Parking lot is a bit odd as they have seating pulled out to the edge of the parking and drivers have to drive through a seating area. I believe this is probably a way to allow people to sit in the shade while waiting for the limited seating. Speaking of shade, both times I have been here they have had the patio umbrellas stowed in the middle of the day and people were asking to sit in the shade.....when it isn't windy, I would assume you would open them up. read more

Rita's Cantina - Stowed umbrellas? - Beer Bar Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

Ate here for lunch today. Enjoyed the carne asada tacos & yuzu flight. Both were delicious! Wish the menu was bigger with more to choose from but over all a great experience and great food. read more

They changed the menu and it is not for the better. I have a hard understanding the decision by mgmt to change the menu to something much worse. read more

Very good and first timers! Food was excellent as I got the Steak Fajita Burrito. Our sever Sydney did a great job as well. Manager was extremely nice as well. Just make sure you go early as their usually is a wait. We went tonight on a Monday and it was about a 45 minute wait. We will be back! read more

Our new favorite Mexican place in Des Moines! Great patio environment, margaritas are awesome, staff is super friendly and the food is delicious! read more

Rita's Cantina - Margarita Flight - Beer Bar Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

Went there for the first time today... food was awful, had no flavor.. service was good, but the manager was absolutely rude. Definitely won't be going back! read more

Food was cold. Overpriced for quality. (14 dollars for 3 luke warm tacos) Luke warm. Street tacos. Rice cold. Service decent. Just expect better for neat100 dollars with tip. Had three entrees. Queso and two margaritas. read more

Outdoor patio and ambiance is outstanding; however, we were greatly disappointed with the chicken fajita burrito and margaritas flights. The drinks were too sweet and the food was bland. We paid over $100 for 4 people which includes basic lunch and drink flight. read more

The food was great, service was great, loved the margarita flights and the queso flight. Maddy was our server and she killed it on her second day. Disclaimer: for Texans, the barbacoa is good, but it's not like Texas barbacoa. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure it's shredded chuck. Again, it's great! But don't go there expecting Veracruz, or El Arroyo. read more

Makayla is the best sever. So kind and takes care of her guests! Highly recommend her! I would really recommend her and go here. Super personable experience! read more

Rita's Cantina - Beer Bar Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

Worst Mexican food maybe on the planet. Not sure who "Rita" is someone should tell her to give it up. Bland. Bland. Bland. Wow. It's BLAND.

It's the worst attempt at a "Mexican restaurant" my friends and family have ever encountered. Think of a sad backyard pool party overcompensating with margarita machines. read more

Food is terrible, steak has no flavor. The flights was water downed it was bugs everywhere gross. read more

Rita's Cantina - Beer Bar Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

We were excited to try Rita's Cantina on opening day. We started with the margarita flight which was disappointing as they all tasted similar. For the main course we ordered the burrito especial and the chicken chimichanga. Both filled with either beans or rice and lacked flavor. We did enjoy the ambiance of the patio! read more

See all

Would give this restaurant -80 stars if I could. There was no chicken in the chicken nachos we ordered. My spicy margarita was poison. The bartender charged us the same price for a virgin margarita as a regular marg. Will NEVER go again. May consider protesting outside so people know how bad it is. read more

To preface this review I am a border line Fanatic regarding blended margs and Mexican food. Thus, when I heard of Rita's opening and that they had flights of margs/queso I was ecstatic. So we call ahead to get a reservation and we are told by the host that there is a 45 minute wait and that its first come first serve. That it will likely die down around 8 PM though. Thus, based on this recommendation we arrive at 8. Unfortunately due to the beautiful weather people are lingering and there is still a 45 minute wait. Well this 45 stretches out to be 60 minutes, but again nothing the restaurant could have changed regarding this. Were there open tables... yes, but possibly they didn't have the man power to run them hard to say. We finally get seated and are given some chips and salsa. I our waitress introduces were self as Izzi ( I think) and takes our drinks order. I order a marg and ask if they can make it very light with strawberry as it's not to sweet. Our waitress says she knows exactly how to enter it in the system so that it doesn't come out and give me a straight sugar high. She brings our drinks out at a normal pace and discloses that the bar didn't follow her instructions and just gave her a marg from the machine. I try and its exactly how we both think it will be so she takes it back. She proceeds to disappear for 10+ minutes without returning with my drink. She finally returns to get our food order. I ask on the status of my "frozen" drink and she grumbles that she can see it waiting on the bar for me, but again doesn't rush over to get it once realizing her mistake. Food order goes in and she finally brings over my marg. This is the last time we will see our waitress for 25+ minutes. Food eventually comes out and we ask the not our waitress staff for more drinks. They instruct us that we need to consult our waitress. We wait yet another 5 minutes for our waitress to arrive to check in and still no waitress to be found. We then decide to just go to the bar ourselves to order another round of drinks. Bar tender refuses to serve us as we need to go through our waitress. We wait another 5 minutes to see the bartender pointing to our table with the waitress. She eventually meanders over to say didn't I deliver all the drinks I put in the system in a very unprofessional tone. At this point our table of 7 is growing extremely impatient with the large amount of poor customer service/professionalism. At this point the manager picks up on our disgruntled state and offers to pick up the round we STILL HAVENT RECEIVED. The manager did her to rectify an extremely crappy situation, but sorry 3 drinks isn't going to compensate for a $145 bill which left all who were there in terrible moods. We were finally able to leave at 10:20 from a train wreck of dining experience that was supposed to be a celebration. Side note everyone said there food was good, but couldn't make up for dismal service. read more

Rita's Cantina - Beer Bar Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

The food was great and the drinks were great, too! I loved the margarita flights. What a great idea and only $12. The outdoor seating was plentiful and shaded. It was perfect for a warm evening. I will definitely be back. read more

Rice tasted like it was straight out the box. We had like 3 different servers as well and our drinks were filled once before asking, after our food got to the table. Kinda overhyped but it's cute. read more

Went there for hopefully breakfast around 11:00. Unfortunately nothing to offer for breakfast. So we tried them for lunch. Ordered chili releno with rice and blackbeans. It was virtually tasteless, very bland. Little to no cheese. It did have what I think was a walnut size scoop of what tasted like corn meal with a hint of sugar and that was the only thing with taste. Decor and ambiance was good, server was attentive and friendly, beer was cold. But food wasn't prepared by anyone who spoke Spanish for sure, maybe named Becky I don't know. Hopefully they are working on the quality of there food. read more

Rita's was awesome the food was fantastic and the drinks were strong. I definitely recommend the frozen flight. All good drinks and food read more

Rita's Cantina - Awesome way to try different margaritas. - Beer Bar Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

See all

Menu has been completely changed while being closed over the winter. Only vegan chorizo, drinks were pretty subpar. Menu went from extensive and delicious to small and crappy. Disappointed from last summer to this summer. Won't be going back. Not even the margs we're worth the trip. read more

Was super bummed to see they had significantly decreased the amount of items on their menu. Now only offering a quarter of what they used to. The beef enchilada was probably the worst enchilada I've ever had because the sauce tasted like burnt chipotle. Glad they didn't remove their queso from the menu; the queso flight has always been good. Margs were good too. read more

Giving one star because it made me. Food was almost as bad as service. Asked for a minor change on one of our meals and told no substitutions. What the menu states is how it is cooked. A cheese quesadilla for my son looked like a tortilla with sliced cheese melted in the microwave. Nothing else on it. Definitely will not be going back. read more

Great environment. Food is good. Decently priced. I would definitely come back. Only suggestion is to switch the habanero marg with the pina colada marg for the flight options (to complete the tropic like it's hot flight). read more

Horrible food - OMG - really bad. Group of 8, we all tasted each other's food. It was all bad. Nice patio though - looking forward to the next restaurant that will replace Rita's. read more

The worst restaurant I've ever been to. Period. Stay away. The food is terrible, the drinks are terrible. Everything is over priced. would give less stars if I could. read more

I hate leaving this review because I know the status of our restaurant industry right now. The atmosphere and bar staff while we waited for a table were great, but the rest of the experience was terrible from check in to check out. The guacamole was a real disappointment, we got bypassed for seating, the waitress forgot about us. Maybe it was an off night, but probably won't be back. read more

My beef burrito was full of rice and no beef. It took 45 minutes just to get drinks. Margs were sub par and very disappointed. The restaurant itself was clean and very nice. read more

My sister and I came to Rita's after a long day of work and had MaKayla as our server. She did a great job recommending the best margaritas on the menu and taking care of us! She was so personable and the best sever ever. We loved our experience because of her! read more

Trash! Trash service and fake Mexican food. Servers make you feel like a "bother". Manager moved our table 3 times making us carry all of our food and drinks back and forth. Food was beyond disgusting. Drinks were actual good but not worth the terrible service and terrible food. read more

Tried to order without beans. Online order wouldn't allow it. The fish tacos were soggy from the beans poured in beside them in the takeout carton. The fish was unseasoned and dry. The crispy beef tacos suffered the sans fate - soggy, bean soaked shells. read more

While still new and trying to adjust to new norms, this place provides average food with worse service. I don't think we were waited on except for a few times the bartender came over. The interior is super cool and maybe on a weekend night the atmosphere would be better. read more

I ordered a steak Chimichanga. It was not steak, it was roast beef. The food was cold and had no flavor. The salsa was bland. The margaritas were mediocre at best. The service was slow. It is definitely not worth your time. read more