Early Bird

Delicious fun take on breakfast food! My 10 year old raved about the Oreo pancakes! The hash holes were cheesy bacon potato bliss! Happy to see our favorite waitress, Maranda, who made outstanding recommendations and provided prompt and friendly service! This place was hoppin' full of families on a soccer tournament weekend, but the wait was not too bad. We will be back!

Wait time was worth it for the most part! Food was amazing, French toast was out of this world. Only problem I had was it took almost 20 minutes for them to make my drink. Wouldn't complain but when I see other tables that came after me get their drinks before I did I was pretty disappointed. Would've liked to sip my drink a little before my food arrived.

Extremely surprised at the low reviews for this place as my experience was great. Went on a Friday morning for breakfast/brunch and was seated very quickly. Place was a little busy but got awesome customer service from the hostess and the waitress once seated. Had never been here so asked for opinions on drinks and food and the waitress had some great recommendations on drinks/dishes. She was really nice, had a great attitude and was super friendly.

Food and drinks came very timely and were on point. For drinks we had an Espresso Martini 4/5, Good Doctor 3.5/5 and a Beermosa 5/5. For entrees we had Crab Cake Benny 4/5, Chicken Fried Steak 5/5 and an order of Pancakes 4/5. Everything was on point, only knock I had on this place was the Good Doctor. It was a tiny bit watered down to me but nothing outrageous. Might've just gotten a bad pour but again, nothing to bash this place on.

Seen a few reviews complaining about pricing but i thought everything was very well priced considering economy and quality of food/service I received. I'm also from CA so i know what expensive really is lol. Overall, all things considered, this place was great and I am definitely happy it's in Ankeny. Definitely needed more breakfast places to patronize and I will 100% be coming back and trying more of their menu.

We were really hoping to like this place.

The good: got on the waitlist and was seated shortly after arrival. Drinks came quickly and were yummy. Servings were large.

The bad: all of the food was cold and dry. Biscuits and gravy was dry. Eggs tasted fake. Hash browns had funky seasoning that we weren't a fan of. Overall, it is far too expensive for not great food.

I absolutely adore Early Bird. I've been to the Ankeny location twice and both times the food blew me away. I've tried their sweet and savory and both deserve more hype. The service is great, with attentiveness that doesn't become hovering. It's definitely a busy place on the weekends so be prepared for a let of conversations and frivolity. I've found that sitting in the back portion of the restaurant makes it much quieter, so definitely ask for that if you're wanting a more relaxed feeling. Early Bird has become my go-to brunch spot in the Des Moines area. You must check it out!

Recommendations:
Apps - Cinny-Bobs
Entrees - Pancake Sandy, El Gordo Morning Burrito Bowl (spicy!)
Sides - Tots
Drinks - Biscoffee (alcoholic)

Everything was phenomenal! The food and drinks were !! The staff were very friendly and handled a very busy Friday afternoon. The atmosphere was just perfect! Everything was great! I highly recommend this place!!!

This is one of the best burritos I've ever had. It's definitely the best breakfast burrito I've had. The rice was tender and delicious, and the queso was really good. The tortilla was nice and chewy, and the beans were nicely done also. The steak wasn't my favorite, but it did not detract from the overall flavor.
Our waitress was friendly and efficient. The restaurant was busy but clean. Highly recommend!

Checked into the wait line via Yelp, it did not mention that we'd get a phone call when the table was ready only to check in at the restaurant when we arrived.

I missed two phone calls from an unknown number on our drive to the restaurant turns out it was the restaurant letting me know our table was ready- since I didn't answer it knocked me off the waitlist and back down to the bottom. All was discovered upon arrival. We were seated quickly considering all this happened which I was thankful for. I do think all of this should be noted during the part where you sign up for the waiting list via Yelp.

The parking lot to this place is very small and shared with 4 other businesses- it was full & took some time to find a spot.

Our food was really good, lots of menu options and fun drink options for alcohol, if you're wanting a Bloody Mary, mimosa, etc. we ordered the French toast and biscuits and gravy. Both were delicious. Our waitress was attentive and gave us plenty of time to look over the menu.

The atmosphere has a very fun cartoon vibe with bright colors, and pop pictures in the walls. And Toy Story was playing on the screen at the breakfast bar!

Overall a good experience, giving 4 stars because of the yelp waitlist issue and parking.

Great food and it wasn't too loud at all during Saturday brunch during peak times! Grab a spot on their waitlist beforehand and you'll be set!

We decided to try this, my husband had been hungry for waffles or pancakes. He had the chicken and waffles, and said it was really good. I decided to try the Deluxe Grilled Cheese, I always like my grilled cheese on sourdough. Stick with the breakfast items! There was plenty of the homemade bacon jam on the sandwich, but very little cheese! When they said Cheddar, American, and Gouda, I figured there would be slices of cheese, but NOOO all I had for cheese was a little bit of shredded cheese sprinkled on the sandwich, AND some of it wasn't even melted! I had to open the sandwich and look close to find the little bit of cheese. I asked for ketchup, and after waiting 10 minutes for it, I got it myself. After sitting back down, the waitress finally brought it over to me (she saw me asking someone else for it).