Appare

Recommends

Zedition

Joined 4 years ago

Best Sashimi in Des Moines. Most of the time, Appare does a fantastic job for Iowa, on par with the middle-range sushi bars in Manhattan. But they have suffered from staff turnover as well as the occasional less-than-perfect shipment of fish. Watch for the head sushi chef, and ask to have him prepare your meal, instead of some of the younger trainees.

Fish is delivered on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and those evenings or lunch the next day are the best times to eat here. Appares spicy rolls are better than Taki, but their regular rolls are a notch below. But I don't go to Appare for the rolls, I go for the fantastic sashimi. This is what has made Appare the go-to place for Japanese living in Des Moines.

Doesn't Recommend

niet3sche

Joined 5 years ago

When chefs dodge questions like, "when did the fish come in?" ... RUN.. I eventually got an answer of "last night", but the sashimi that I had - yellowtail and salmon especially - were clearly NOT fresh and were 2-3 days old. Instead of being fatty and sweet, the sashimi was dry (which should not be the case in my experience with firm-fleshed "red meat" fish).

Service was atrocious as pointed out all over review sites.

Price was not as good as I had been led to believe, but then again I want more than a $1 - $3 discount on a plate if I'm going to suffer through bad sushi prepared by a sullen and non-communicative sushi bar chef. The sushi / sashimi that Target sells actually tasted at least on par with the meat served at the restaurant.

The seafood soup was the bright point of the service.

Pro: Seafood soup (GREAT value and tasty)

Con: Quality of the food

Recommendation: Don't waste your time; if you must go, get the seafood soup so that your gas money isn't completely wasted in going there.

Doesn't Recommend

punkrockshlock

Joined 5 years ago

good service and prices. sushi not so great. I went here a few weeks ago based on a similar experience with the other reviewer. I went for lunch on a weekend as opposed to dinner though. We were seated quickly and the service was pretty good. The prices hear are unbelievable. Compared to other sushi places around the area you will not find a better deal. I think me and the other four in my party each got a two rolls, and bowl of miso soup for 9 dollars or something close to that. However once we got our sushi the experience went south. I ate only one piece of my yellowtail because it definitely wasn't fresh. Other rolls were mediocre. All in all I would say that this is a good place if you really are craving sushi but are on a really tight budget. This is better then HiVee sushi but thats about it and that isn't saying much.

Recommends

rhonda7285

Joined 6 years ago

Fabulous sushi and atmosphere. I went to this place for dinner after being faced with a 45 minute wait at Taki- supposedly the best sushi place in town. I was stoked to find I did not have to wait for a table yet there were a good amount of people dining there. The food and service were great and I was tempted to go back the next day! The Las Vegas roll and the crunchy 2 in 1 roll were delectable! There were 2 different wedding parties going on along with the hibachi chefs juggling knives and people singing happy birthday to the sound of a gong so needless to say I was very entertained by the atmosphere as well as the grub.