Guru BBQ
| Address: | 300 W Martin Luther King Jr Pkwy #170, Des Moines, IA 50312, USA |
| Phone: | +1 515-777-2500 |
| Site: | gurubbqdsm.com |
| Rating: | 4.4 |
| Working: | 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–11PM 10AM–11PM 10AM–9PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 9
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Matt Uhlman
With my better half hankering for some BBQ, we looked for a place that did things a little different, but kept the spirit of the delicious meat roast - Guru BBQ did both and did them well! They do some awesome stuff mixing BBQ, Mexican, and Asian cuisines in a way thats new, but remains familiar. Wed sampled their cuisine at Baconfest in the past and were excited to try it out. Armed with two tired little dudes, we started right out with a Chopped Pork and Brisket meat duo, with a mac n cheese, cornbread and a potato and watercress salad. This may have been our favorite BBQ meal this year! The pork was good, but the brisket was perfect! Smokey and juicy, it paired perfectly with all three sauces - Guru, Korean and Harissa. The Korean sauce is sooooooo good, like spoon it or bathe in it good. Great flavor with a heavy sesame influence and a tiny bit of kick - its just boss. The ale mac and cheese is delightful as well. Just enough ale flavor to make itself known, but not enough to seem like someone substituted a PBR for water while making it. The cornbread was a crowd pleaser as well - honey at the table would be nice, but this is good enough to eat alone. The potato and watercress salad may be my new favorite side! A bleu cheese vinaigrette with grilled potatoes, some green and bleu cheese chunks - it was incredible. Flavorful, a little crunch and some pixie dust. We shared the smores dessert and it too was a treat! It was like smores and an ice cream sunday had a baby and showered it with graham crackers - perfect size to share with 2-4 people when you want something sweet, but are approaching full. All in all, an incredible spot thats doing some magical stuff mixing cuisines and kept us happy all the way through! Well be back and you should check it out!
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Lisa Irey
I think Jethros and Smokey Ds has got some stuff competition now that Guru is here! The ambience is modern but slightly rustic/industrial with unique fixtures and decor. We only had to wait for about 10 minutes to get a seat during peak hours on a Friday night. We got an order of their nachos for the table - these are not to be missed! Mouth-watering flavors like brisket, house bbq sauce, red onion, blue cheese, topped with balasamic and arrugela. I ordered the two meat dinner: chopped pork & brisket and mac n cheese & Cole slaw as my sides. The meat was tender, moist and melted in my mouth. The smoked flavor was bursting and was complimented by the house bbq sauce nicely. I tried the other 2 sauces available and didnt care for them. My wife got the wings with the Thai chili lime sauce and those were also cooked to perfection. The sauce had a fantastic flavor with a slow building heat. They had a full bar with local Iowa beers on tap, and a tempting dessert menu, but we were absolutely stuffed. Im so glad we tried this place; We will definitely be back!
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Mel Ezzo
Drowning my sorrows, that my write in candidate of Cthulhu isnt leading in the results, in exotic and scenic Des Moines, IA A great twist on traditional BBQ tonight. Started off with a half order of the signature Guru Nachos. A great twist of brisket, white cheddar, arugula, blue cheese, marinated grilled grapes, creme fraiche and balsamic glaze. AWESOME, If you cant come here, try making them at home! Followed by 2 tacos. A Korean taco with pork, cucumber relish, and Korean BBQ sauce. Spicy, rich and very good. The second was a brunch taco. Pork, fried egg, bacon, salsa and fresh cilantro. Very very good and worth trying your hand making at home. Should you ever find your self in Des Moines, dont sing the blues head over to Guru BBQ instead. Seriously, try making the nachos and brunch taco at home to impress friends and family. I wont tell how you got the idea.....And Hail Cthulhu!
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Joseph Evans
They have a fusion of tacos and traditional bbq platters, and 3 unique sauces to complement the dishes. The guru sauce has a perfect balance of sweet and tangy, and neither of those flavors are overbearing. The harissa sauce is loaded with spice that delivers a zesty kick with each bite. The Korean sauce has the lowest viscosity of the trio, with a strong taste of sesame oil. It was too salty for me. Of all the dsm bbq places, Guru has the best sauces. The restaurant also has a great ambience to it with outdoor seating. I had the pulled pork sandwich which was good but didnt beat Smokey Ds. I tried the brisket and chopped pork from the meat platter, both were good but in my opinion, relied on the sauces. The service was good; the food arrived 10 minutes after ordering over lunch hour.
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xXFOX247Xx
Place is gross the kitchen is dirty hasnt been clean for a year. Very unsanitary. If a food inspector where to come in and check it out it be closed down til its properly up to code. Also if you like eating here enjoy trying not to get sick cause the manger will make the workers work even when sick especially if you have diarrhea. Now those who know every restaurants will not have you working with food knowing your sick or if you have diarrhea cause customers health is important. But apparently not at guru they dont care and did I mention the food price is way to much for poor quality food. Who tf pays 10$ for 2 tacos.
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Damian Houk
Nice patio, food was ok but personally I think there are better BBQ options in the metro. The service was mediocre (waitress seemed totally indifferent and unenthused). My wife had a Korean chicken taco (they did substitute chicken for the normal menu item of Korean pork taco so that was a plus) and it did have good flavor. I opted for a Ruben dandruff with pork and corned beef. The pork didnt have much noticeable BBQ or smoked flavor to it so it wasnt that special. The best part of the experience was the chocolate bacon bacon chili that came as a side option with my sandwich and was definitely worth the visit.
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Zap Rowsdower
Open for Brunch now on Saturdays and Sundays at 10:00 am, decided to give that a try. We had eaten dinner here on two other occasions. Brunch was fabulous, they have a small, but diverse breakfast menu that does a good job of incorporating standard breakfast fare with an interesting bbq twist. Guru Bloody Mary was spot on too, drinks did take a bit to pour and they ran out of OJ , but were able to quickly get some more available. Will definitely add Guru to our list of rotating weekend brunch spots.
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Marie Maertens
We stopped in on Saturday Dec. 12th. The server recommended the Guru Nachos, Brunch Tacos, and Chili Verde Cornbread. Everything was AMAZING! The best food Ive had in a very long time. I cant wait to go back and try other things. It inspired me to try to even come close to making these taste the same for Christmas appetizers. I do not remember the servers name, but hes from the Ukrane studying here, and working the job simply to work on his communication skills. I give him this place a 10!
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Elisabeth Lee
Best ribs Ive ever had! And the sides left nothing to be desired - I especially enjoyed the hot potato salad. We had heard so much about the guru nachos that we had to try them as well. Not what I would expect from a bbq restaurant at all, more along the lines of a fine dining restaurant - scrumptious! Visiting Guru will forever forward be a tradition during our visits to Des Moines!
