Flarah's

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by petewjones

I’ve realized I have been terrible at frequenting restaurants that are the closest to my house. To say I have driven by Flarah’s hundreds of times is not an understatement, yet I have never made the effort to stop in and eat there. Some of my lack of effort to consume the cuisine comes from the fact that my gym is directly above the restaurant, eating is generally not my first impulse after working up a sweat. None the less, I made the attempt for lunch recently and was very happy with the result.

I thought Flarah’s was a desert and coffee shop, which was mostly from the external impression as they have a drive thru window. In fact, they are a dessert and coffee shop, but they also have an amazing lunch menu as well.


The Green Gobbler

After looking over the lunch menu I decided to go with the Green Gobbler, mostly because I liked the name, but also because the smoked turkey, Gouda and granny smith apples drizzled with honey sounded like a great concoction. I really loved the freshness of the sandwich and now realize I have a means to incorporate apples more into my diet as I never thought of placing them on a sandwich. The only take-a-way I have from the sandwich that borders more on the negative is the firmness of the bread. They use what I assume is a foccia bread, which is generally a little harder to bite into to start with. I don’t know if the bread I had was left out a little longer than normal, but it was hard enough I had to use my utensils to break it down as my teeth yelled at me during each initial bite. Outside of the firmness of the bread, the meal was delightful. The sandwich came with chips and a frozen fruit concoction that was very refreshing. I imagine the frozen fruit was included in the meal to cleanse the pallet after the great sandwich and chips.

When propositioned with dessert I decided to do the right thing and pass, although I promised the server I would bring my wife back to try the dessert very soon. I realize the server didn’t really care about my promise, he was just trying to upsell his order, but my quirky personality sometimes takes over. Anyway, when I told my lovely bride of my very tough decision to abandon my own taste buds in consideration of a trip to Flarah’s with her – she informed me that she has had Flarah’s numerous times. After I picked myself up off the floor she explained that her office has ordered Flarah’s catering so often Erin the owner knows her by name. Had I known that I would eaten my numerous miniature Cheesecakes and then rubbed it in to my wife vs. the alternative which left me without any Cheesecakes at all. Woe is me.

After all, why would you want to eat at a chain restaurant when you can experience Flarah’s?

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by Derek Brooks

Great sandwiches and lots of mini cheesecake for dessert options. Awesome.

Service can be a little spotty and the sandwiches aren't too big, but everything I ate here was excellent... and I had just enough room for a mini cheesecake at the end.

Try the Green Goblin sandwich - it's got a smokey flavor with a hint of sweetness.

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by kari

If I had to rate the vegetarian sandwich, I would say 3 stars... nothing really that exciting. But the beet salad?! That deserves 5 stars! Holy incredible! I loved it! Apparently the cheesecakes bites are pretty amazing, but I opted for a mint brownie which was just okay and a peanut butter cookie for the road. Their cookies are really great.
The atmosphere is simple and fun. The place is somewhat small, a nice little lunch spot. I think the servers were a little overwhelmed with having all 10 tables full, as they were having a little trouble remembering who was supposed to get things for our table.
Overall, the food was good and fresh, service kept things moving and I would for sure go back again.

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by Diann Egeland

The little cheesecakes were great, but too small. The sandwich I had was not so good. The bread was hard, and the rest of it was dry. The waitress was real stingy with the water. I asked for a refill several times, but did not get one, and they weren't busy. It is not a good value for the money. I don't think I will ever eat lunch here again.

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by PAT

Best lunch in the area-perhaps the whole city. Pretty healthy, too. Lots of variety, reasonable prices and wonderful ingredients. This girl has it together!

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by Linda Arvidson

Great restaurant! Always have had wonderful food. Love, love, love the apple walnut salad and the tiny cheesecakes. Also love the plate presentation (this may be a girl thing).
Keep up the good work!

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by Jimmy

I love the cheese cakes. and i love that Erin!

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by SloppyDog

eh... not to good really. the desert cheese cake things are good. lunch kinda sucks. everyone who leaves a rating on this website always gives everything 5 stars. come on..not every restaurant in des moines is the best place ever. especially not this place. it's decent, but i hope it sticks to cheesecake becaus ethe best it's going to do for lunch is serving the oldies up the street.

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by Lacey Denton

Great food! They are great for catering, too!

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by Jacque

Fabulous food and a fabulous eclectic atmosphere! Flarah's truly has the most incredible cheesecake.

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Tips for Flarah's from foursquare users

Ari N.

the mini cheesecakes are the best!

3 people have done this

Holly W.

Order the chicken salad—on lettuce, ciabatta or their puff pastry shell. You can't go wrong.

3 people have done this

JC R.

The Green Gobbler is awesome.

1 person has done this
The Front of Flarah's Inside of Flarah's

@Flarahs on Twitter

Do to an unforeseen circumstance we won't be open at either location today. Thanks for your understanding and we'll keep you posted.

The sunshine looks amazing through our windows! Come in today for lunch w/ friends or family! We’re serving roasted red pepper Gouda soup!

Stop in & celebrate National #GrilledCheese day w/ our four cheese sandwich & a bowl of French onion soup! It’s a great way to end

Stop in & celebrate National #GrilledCheese day w/ our four cheese sandwich and a bowl of vegetable soup! It’s a great way to end the