Felix & Oscars Restaurant

Great pizza!

This place is a great, local pizza restaurant. The deep-dish isn't quite the same as Lou Malnati's in Chicago, but it does taste great. This place is an old-Des Moines legend, they even use the creamy parmesan salad dressing recipe from the old Johnny & Kay's (second only to Noah's Ark). Finally, Mr. Z always takes care of us for catering jobs and really goes out of his way to give us an amazing experience every time. This is good food from a good guy, I'd like to think supporting him is the least I can do.

The home page of Felix & Oscars website says it is all about customer service. We want you to know it is a lie. We just experienced the worst experience we have ever had at a restaurant. We were the first ones in the dining room at dinner time. We ordered before anyone else in the room and only had a party of 7. We waited well over an hour for our dinners which included 4 individual pizzas and 2 noodle dinners and a sandwich.

Two other tables, one with 6 and one with 8 were served before we were. Then only half our table was served and the waitress went and took orders from another table and brought them drinks before she went back and got the rest of our meals. It was a shock. We asked her where the rest of our food was and she said it would be coming.

Three of the four pizzas were brought out first, one was wrong. I told the waitress and she did absolutely nothing about it until she served the other table and then went and got the rest of our tables' meals. This waitress was serving the entire dining room by herself and appeared to not have a clue about what she was doing. (Note: she wrote down the order and even read it back to us and it was right when she left our table). So we were all shocked it was wrong.

Then a lady in black came and said she would have another pizza made and told us the waitress wrote the order wrong. She was very unfriendly. The other six at our table were completely finished with their meals when the pizza finally arrived. It was over 45 minutes later. We asked for the pizza in a to go box as we were not going to hold up the whole party. When the pizza came out we opened it and could not believe it. It was totally wrong. I asked for a combo pizza with no green peppers and with black olives added. This pizza was nothing but tomato sauce, onions, mushroom, and a very few black olives. There was no meat and no cheese. I asked what this was supposed to be. The lady in black came and said this was a combo and the meat and cheese were on the bottom. We picked through this and found one small piece of meat and that is it. It was obvious this pizza was thrown together and was not even close to a combo pizza. We did not know how much spit and other stuff was added to the pizza so it was thrown away as soon as we got home.

The lady in black was very rude when she came back and told us this was a combo. Everyone at the table said it did not look like any of the other pizza we have had there previously.

This group of people was a group of carvers that had decided to use this restaurant for our monthly meeting. Our last trip there we had 15. After this experience, we will not be returning. I doubt anyone there could give a damn but we wanted everyone to know about this tremendously bad experience and how very unprofessionally it was handled. And then to throw some tomato juice and mushrooms on a crust and call it a pizza after we had already waited 1 hour and 45 minutes for pizza was down right insulting.

It isn't Chicago style pizza - that's in Chicago. This is Felix & Oscar's pizza and it has nothing to do with buying into any kind of 'mythology' in Des Moines. I've been out of the area over 20 years and always make sure to get to the one remaining F&O's at least once a year when I'm visiting. I have had no other pizza in the country (hell, the world) like F&O's and it is one of my favorites. It isn't the only pizza in the world but it has won awards for a reason - it is a damn good pizza. Not for everyone but definitely for me, just as much as a good stuffed pizza in Chicago, a cracker crust pizza in St. Louis or gigantic foldable street slice in New York. Damn, I wish I could get some take away. It's going to be a month before I'm back in Iowa for the holidays.

This is NOT Chicago deep dish pizza. If you've had the real stuff, you'll be disappointed at F&Os.

The pizza is okay, but why is this place so damn dingy? It needs a thorough overhaul.

I eat pizza at least 4 times a week and have for 18 years(I'm 36). I live 2 hours away from Des Moines, but still get to frequent this place 4-6 times a year. It is THE best pizza in Iowa or Nebraska by far. The sauce and sausage and cheese and deep dish crust are incredible. I usually take some half-baked pizzas to my hometown to about 4 or 5 friends and for myself. They all think it is incredible as well. The atmosphere could use some improvement, but this pizza is A+++++++.

I went there with some friends, I had the worst service. The restaurant needs a major overhaul and very dingy. I heard raves about the pizza and I got a single deep dish, it was the worst pizza I have EVER had, I didn't eat it and the server could have cared less. The rest of my party shared a pizza and enjoyed it....I won't be back. There are way better pizza joints in town.

Great Chicago Style Pizza! The restuarant itself is a bit "worn" I usually get mine to-go. The first time I tried the place I wasn't impressed, but ever since then I can't get enough!!

Try a deep dish pepperoni and mushroom pizza with a side order of garlic cheese bread. Begin with some deep fried mushrooms and cold beer or pop. The place is awsome and has been my favorite for years. The bar is a typical neighborhood place that is dated and surprise...smoky. The restaurant side is also dated but I think the dark pub look is what they were going for. Iv'e always felt comfortable there and they used to serve beer in frosty mugs. You can feed 5 or 6 with a large deep dish and order of cheese bread called in for take out. Takes about 45 minutes and costs around $24... a little expensive but worth it to me every month or so.

Best Pizza in Des Moines! The actual restaurant and bar areas are in dire need of a remodel. Restrooms are kinda gross. However, thier pizza is so good I still gotta give em 4 stars.

This place is awesome. These other reviewers have no idea what they are talking about. It feels like you are in Chicago and the no frills atmosphere adds to the experience. If you want to be seen in a fancy place, go elsewhere, if you want the best pizza in Des Moines, go here. The four cheese topper and the flat with sausage our my personal favorite.

This is not a nice restraunt. Ugly and dingy. Best bet is to come during a game and sit on the bar side of the restraunt with the big screen tv. Great deep dish pizza. Closest to Chicago style pizza as you'll get in Des Moines, and close enough in quality. And yes I've had good Chicago deep dish.

I echo every word of the posting from "A" and "D" below. They are right on target. Of course, on our visit, my wife and I didn't have the fortune of a pleasant server. Unlike "A" and "D," we tried the deep dish, which the postings below A's and D's mention. It was nothing special bordering on bad and certainly was not like eating Chicago pizza. No snobbiness intended, but any person who could say that hasn't been.

"A" and "D" fell for the ubiquitous legend that exists in Des Moines about this place. After all, everyone says, "They have great pizza." We tried it at 5 pm on a weekday. The restaurant was empty; the bar was full--and full of smoke which permeates the whole place and has for years.

Before we get to the pizza, the actual restaurant deserves a few words: Dirty. Dingy. Dark. Dreary. Disappointing. Disgusting. The restrooms are . . . a toilet.

We ordered a salad and a combination, regular crust pizza. The salad was limp, warm, plain, unimaginative and barely functional as a form of lettuce. The salad dressing was unremarkable.

The pizza crust was a disk of cardboard without flavor or texture. The sauce and spice combination was flat and lacking totally in 'pizza-like' flavor; ceretainly devoid of anything resembling a great pizza. The quality of the pepperoni can result only from being the rock bottom, least expensive choice possible. It was, however, hot.

The food is poor; the facility is poor; the cleanliness has left the building. The only redeeming element was a friendly wait person, for whom we award one star.

This is a bar, and not a very good one at that. Someone is writing about and maintaining the oral memory of what once was but is no longer. Felix and Oscar's is a gray disappointment from start to finish.

excellet pizza, tastes like you're in Chicago. Great garlic bread.

Arguably the best pizza in Des Moines!

Great deep dish pizza