Baratta's

This was a pleasant surprise, the parking lot was packed and we couldn't believe all the cars were there for the restaurant. Very nondescript building. I actually thought there must be a used car lot close by. They were absolutely for the restaurant! This is the best Italian restaurant in Des Moines! Very friendly staff and excellent service. Fantastic food! Very reasonably priced. We came for lunch....I will be back for dinner! Excellent! I highly recommend this place

Hidden gem tucked away on the south side of DSM. Both food and service were excellent! A half order of homemade onion rings was more than enough for the 2 of us, we even had extras. We also shared the Cajun chicken and fettuccine dish...the Cajun spice blended well with the creamy fettuccine sauce. We were more than happy with our choices. I would also suggest trying the Pineapple Mule...yum!! We'll be back!

Lora was way more helpful than our venue in planning for the wedding. She went above and beyond what I expected from our caterer. The food was great, we received many compliments from our guests. Even though I technically didn't have a choice for our caterer because the Blank Park Zoo requires you to have Baratta's, I am very pleased with all of my interactions with them and with the food!

We had the Chicken Carbonara and the Capacolla Sandwich with fries. Came with a couple pieces of bread when we first sat down. Nice pre-snack. The Chicken Carbonara came with a choice of soup or salad. I opted for the salad. Good price for 2 meals, 1 beer and 1 rum/coke.

We had a group from church eat dinner here. The server was exceptional in all ways and the food delicious. Thanks, Baratta's.

A fantastic Italian style restaurant! The pasta is great, the creamy garlic dressing is very good, & the chocolate cheesecake is incredible. The service is always excellent & the restaurant has a very comfortable feeling. They also offer prime rib on Thursday nights which is as good as any I've had in the Des Moines area

Stopped in for a Friday night pizza and onion rings. Both were over the top. The onion rings were cut to hold their shape, and breading was light but crispy. We ordered a Supreme large pizza. It was meaty, veggies were cut bite size and covered the whole pizza. The mozzarella cheese generously covered the pizza. Would highly recommend Baratta's Italian Pizza.

Delicious authentic Italian food. Great service! Quintessential Des Moines A must!

Great Italian family restaurant. The food was delicious. The service is great and their white cake is amazing .

Stopped for a quick dinner, hadn't been here in years, but will be back soon! Loved the homemade ranch dressing with the thin, crispy onion rings. Hubs isn't big on pizza but we now have a new go to pie, "The Dan". Generous toppings, cooked well. Thank you Paige for great service and recommendations!

We went for our wedding anniversary and it was memorable. Family owned, history, flavor, customer service, and food so comforting I loved it. We enjoyed the ravioli, chicken Amoggio and Lasagna!

Been here more times than I can count. Old school South Side staple. Delicious food, fair prices and excellent service.

We were a party of 14, and had the best dining experience at Baratta’s, as always! Our waitress, Debbie handled everything with such precision and grace! The food was delicious! As a vegetarian, they always have a great selection for me!

It is always great food,with very helpful staff. We usually don't have a wait for our food and service!!

Love this place! Friendly and cozy atmosphere. The staff makes you feel like family. Great drinks they’re always featuring new drinks and have not had one I didn’t like. Chicken piccata is my favorite dish here. I also love the pepper jack soup. You will not be disappointed.

We had Barattas cater our wedding and it was amazing! We decided to go with beef tenderloin with cabernet reduction sauce and chicken ammagio with a lemon cream sauce for our entrees as well as potato dauphinoise and green beens. We had multiple guests comment about how good the food was and how tender the entrees were! Not to mention the great service - they were all a joy to work with through and through! Would recommend to anybody!

Shared a fantastic lunch with clients/friends and we could not have been happier. The service was amazing and the food was exceptional. So happy we trusted a south side staple to host our event.

Exceptional service and food quality. Fettuccine Alfredo with chicken amaggio was outstanding. Pomegranate martini was perfect! Highly recommend this foodie paradise.

My wife and I visited this restaurant on June 8, 2025 and here is my Yelp review: Today was our first time at this restaurant. The place is quaint but the food is amazing! Our server Debra was an absolute joy and very knowledgeable and friendly. The staff was considerate and friendly and we found the restaurant atmosphere mom and pop but in an Italian corner cafe kinda way. Very polite. The desert was awesome as well. I would give them 10 stars but they only do 5. Follow-up: I went to the restaurant again for a take out order and met the owner. It is clear that she runs a tight ship. Her personality was extremely pleasant and wanting to provide a genuine family style restaurant experience for her patrons. She was clearly busy with running the restaurant but she never waivers from being attentive to her patrons. She is a true business person and I find her quite genuine. This is why I give this restaurant 10 STARS. Did I mention the desert was awesome 🤩

We used Baratta's catering for our wedding and could not have been happier with how everything turned out! We got so many compliments on how it was the best wedding food anyone has had in a very long time. From the first tasting to the wedding itself, Barratta's was beyond professional and very easy to work with. Not to mention the quality of every part of the meal and the service day of. We had 0 worries throughout the entire process working with them because it truly feels like they have their catering process down to a science. We cannot recommend them enough!

This is a wonderful restaurant with homemade style Italian food. The priced are fair and the serving sizes are generous and the food is excellent and the service is top notch. I highly recommend this restaurant!

We went for Valentine’s Day. Even fully booked, they graciously seated us ahead of our reservation. The waitress was top notch. We started with a drink and some cheese sticks. Our soup and salad followed and then our entrees. We were genuinely impressed with the food, service and atmosphere. The owners were very friendly and checking on everyone and were genuine in their care for every single table. This wasn’t your normal manager comes by and dryly asks you if everything is ok. They actually cared. You can tell it’s ran by family. You just don’t find gems like this anymore. My husband and I drove almost 2 hours to have this valentines dinner and it was worth every bit. I wish I could remember our servers name. Don’t forget to order dessert, you won’t be disappointed. We had the seafood genovese and the ammagio with chicken. Lemon cake and chocolate cake. Again, for a 2 hour drive, we are absolutely pleased and will be back!

We used Baratta's as our wedding catere and it was absolutely fabulous. We felt cared for during the whole experience and had a great time working with Michelle. All of our guests commented on how delicious our food was and they loved that we did a family style dinner, which Baratta's accommodated attentively. Our wedding was on the larger side and Baratta's handled it with ease. We did a wedding tasting beforehand and they were able to accommodate all of our requests. If we wanted to sample a combination of some items on the catering menu, they made it fresh and brought it out to us while at the restaurant. They even accommodated the dietary restrictions that we requested for a few specific guests and made the whole experience as stress-free as possible. We would recommend Baratta's to anyone considering using them as a wedding vendor.

I have had the privilege of working with Michelle and the rest of the incredible team at Baratta’s for many years now through the events industry (typically as a caterer). When I say your experience with Baratta’s is exceptional, I truly mean it. They consistently go above and beyond for every client. Specifically for weddings, they truly understand how important this day is for you and your family and always step in to help wherever they can with outstanding hospitality, class, and professionalism. I have never had a negative experience with them in the last five years. So, so recommend!

The chicken Parmesan is good. Fettuccini Alfredo is not recommended unless you like a more dry version. They do have a wide selection of food, which is why this is a 4 star and not a 3.

The food here is good. There were just a couple of things that prevented me from giving a 5 star rating. The bread you get when you first sit down is amazing, in fact we asked for more with our meal. The appetizers were really good with the fried mushrooms and ravioli stealing the show. The meals were good but not great. The food was made correctly and was hot it just came with a lot of onion and red peppers. The flavor was good but we don't like the taste of red pepper which kind of ruined our meal. The chicken on top of our pasta was a little rubbery and didn't have a lot of flavor. We will definitely try this place again but not right away.

First visit on a Saturday evening at around 630. Party of 4, 3 adults and a child. Super short wait- maybe 10 minutes for a table. Space nice and open and clean. The gal that took our drink order quick and friendly and efficient. Here's a breakdown: Appetizers (cheese sticks/shrimp) 10/10 Salads 8/10 Soup 6/10 Drinks 7/10 Steak 2/10 Ribs 5/10 Fried chicken 10/10 Onion rings 8/10 Fettuccine (adult & child version) 8/10 Chicken Picatta 5/10 Cake (lemon/carrot) 10/10 Service 9/10 Atmosphere 8/10 Price 6/10 The steak was so tough it was hard to chew. The picatta was drowned in lemon sauce in an overpowering way. The cakes were the best things I've had in my life, as was the bang bang shrimp appetizer. House garlic dressing very yummy. They were busy, so that for sure went into our level of service. Portion sizes generous. I felt overpriced, yet I know prices for EVERYTHING have increased. We may try again someday on a week night or for lunch. It was an occasional 'splurge' outing with family, so I am glad we gave a local place a try.

Bread was good. The salad dressing was ok and I should have ordered it on the side, that way I can control how much I put on. Cavatelli was really good. Salad was good as well. Pepper cheese soup is awesome make sure you get it if you go. Staff were very nice and waitress was on it. Didn't have to ask for anything. Chocolate cake was very good with great flavor and moist.

Despite looking like utter dog water, I was treated very well. The server was kind and very prompt. The coke was oddly flat and the house Italian was astounding. I believe they dry their own croutons as well and that made the salad pop. The pasta and sauce were perfectly cooked. The sauce was very well seasoned. Absolutely phenomenal. The chicken was unfortunately Cook done to have a heat I believe. This caused it to be slightly rubbery that being said, it’s still had amazing flavor. The cheese was wonderfully melted. The sauce that was under the cheese was balanced perfectly with the cheese and the crust of the chicken. The staff themselves were inviting the environment coupled with a nice, elegant music that was played, made for a very nice dining experience. even with the little mishap of the chicken, they greatly made up for it with warm and welcoming environment and amazing staff. Highly recommend Baratta’s. Solid 4/5

Delicious food. There was a party of 10+ seated beside us that were celebrating a birthday and insanely loud, and while there were other dining rooms, this was the one my parry of 2 was seated in. I wish they had started using other rooms to accommodate because I couldn't hear myself think for the entire meal. Certainly not our server's fault though.

Great local small business, for lunch or dinner. Food was wonderful and came out heat. Our waitress was very nice and so was the Hostess You can call ahead to pick up.

I had the lasagna, and my grandson ordered the meatball sandwich. He thought that there could have been a couple more meatballs on his sandwich, and I agree with him. My lasagna was good, but far from great. I prefer the lasagna noodles that need to be boiled first. Just a personal preference. My only real criticism was that I wasn't offered a little more bread to go with my lasagna.

Food was good, service was good, didn't realize they had different menus for different times of the day. Disappointed couldn't get something from other menu. That others had recommended due to time of day.

Food was very authentic, Italian and excellent. They had a number of unique on trades on the menu. Good selection of wine and it’s quite enough where you can easily talk.

Delicious Italian foods, both traditional and innovative. Went out to lunch and had the special of the day: chicken formation over fettuccine Alfredo! So tasty! Came with side salad and warm sourdough bread. Generous portions, had to take 1/2 home. Prices are reasonable.

We went here for dinner, and I have to say that I was a little disappointed. The food here is pretty pricey, and so I was really hoping for it to be very good. I started with the pepper cheese soup, which came with my meal. I'd expected a cheese soup with a little pepper flavor, but they had far too much pepper in it, and it was all I could taste, really. This even impacted my actual meal, as the flavor of the pepper lingered. I got the steak de burgo, and while it was cooked to the doneness I like, and the sauce was quite good, the first half of it was a bit ruined by the fact that I could still really only taste pepper on my tongue because of the soup. I also got this with a pasta side, and the sauce tasted like something that was store-bought, which was okay but definitely not the quality I'd expected. My wife got the chicken pesto pasta, and she said it was good, though I didn't try it. I would like to recommend this place, but it's honestly difficult to say how good the food is from my perspective due to the soup causing so much of an issue for me.

The food was alright could have been better for the price but service was excellent our waitress was super helpful and nice

Food was ok, waitress put us on as her last priority since there was big parties around us. Had a 3 year old so she was getting impatient playing with anything in sight. Waitress didn't like her playing with the fake candle took it from her like she was going to break it. I don't think she's had kids to know it was harmless. Just not a kid friendly place not much room in between tables. Won't be back.

Ordered steak de burgo medium and it came very well done. The bartender wasn’t able to make a very simple three ingredient cocktail. Would not recommend this restaurant.

We planned a surprise baby shower at my company today. I ordered Barratta’s on DoorDash. My total was 36.50. When the food arrived the pan of Alfredo was no bigger than the size of my hand. I figured they made a mistake so we called Barratta’s. The owner got on the phone and was rude and dismissive. Extremely unprofessional and down right nasty. It was an embarrassment since everyone in the office heard him. He yelled that if we had placed an order with them directly instead of DoorDash we would’ve got a family pan for the same price. My co workers and I will NEVER EVER order from them again. DoorDash wasn’t the issue, the price wasn’t the issue. The customer service we expected was not there when we called this restaurant. To the owner, you need to set a better example. Your response was arrogant and disrespectful at the least.