Baratta's Restaurant & Catering

My husband and I live in San Diego and planned our wedding in the Des Moines area virtually over Zoom calls. Working with Michelle helped take so much of the stress off. She had great recommendations and provided suggestions with things we may not have considered with our wedding. Overall, it was a pleasure working with Michelle and the food was amazing too! We had so many guests share with us that they thought the dinner was incredible. Highly recommend working with Baratta’s!

We got married at the zoo and had Baratta's cater. Working with Michelle was amazing! She was super helpful, nice and made sure everything went perfect on our wedding day. Her entire staff was just as awesome and very nice. Our guests continually said how amazing the food was and that it was the best food they've ever had at a wedding! We decided on a buffet style with the chicken amaggio and Bistecca Calabria - both were a huge hit!

Michelle and the Baratta's staff did a great job at our wedding! Michelle was so kind and communicative during the planning process. She was quick to respond to emails and showed a high level of experience and professionalism that made us feel comfortable. The food itself was great! We had the bourbon glazed pork and chicken amaggio with vegetables and a potato croquette. Their staff did a nice job serving our guests (we had about 170 people!).

Baratta's catered our wedding meal last week and I'm still dreaming of the smoked chicken pasta and beef tenderloin. I can confidently say that they exceeded our expectations in every way. We hosted a small wedding with just 40 guests, but Michelle and the team made it feel like a grand affair. From the very beginning, Baratta's professionalism and attention to detail stood out. They took the time to meet with us for a taste testing, which allowed us to customize the menu to our liking. On the day of the wedding, the food was served on time before the ceremony, stayed warm, and was absolutely delicious. It was clear that the caterer used only the freshest ingredients and cooked each dish to perfection. They even made a special meal for my BIL that has a strict dietary restriction. But it wasn't just the quality of the food that impressed us; it was the entire experience. The staff was attentive, courteous, and accommodating to our guests' needs. They worked seamlessly to ensure that everything ran smoothly, and they even took care of the setup and cleanup, leaving us free to enjoy our special day. Overall, we would highly recommend Baratta's to anyone looking to host an event. They truly served up the best food we have ever had, and their attention to detail and professionalism made our wedding day unforgettable. We can't thank them enough for their hard work and dedication to making our day so special. ❤️ The Springer's

Baratta's catered our wedding and we could not have been more thrilled. My guests couldn't stop raving about the food and Michelle made the entire process easy and stress-free. From the tasting to the Big Day, Baratta's was professional and easy to work with and I would reccommend them for ANY event!

Baratta's is absolutely iconic, a Des Moines institution. Michelle was so fantastic to work with leading up to the big day, and the whole team the day of was also incredible! The food was DELICIOUS as always (we did spinach artichoke dip / tortellini skewers / shrimp cocktail / bruschetta for apps, beef tenderloin & chicken cordon bleu for dinner, and the best sheet cakes on earth for dessert). Everything went perfectly according to schedule.

Baratta's was already one of our favorite restaurants, so we knew we would have absolutely fabulous food for our cocktail hour and reception. We were not disappointed!! Michelle and her staff were so easy to work with in the preparation. We had a two year delay due to Covid, but she was always on top of everything. The food was delicious and our guests were raving about how amazing everything was. I can't compliment the banquet staff enough. They were quick to answer questions, immensely helpful to our guests. I highly recommend Baratta's Catering for any event and if you are in the area, I definitely recommend that you stop in for a meal, you will not be disappointed!

Baratta’s is one of our favorite local restaurants so when it came time to choose catering for our wedding, it was a no-brainer! We served our guests chicken amaggio, smoked chicken pasta, potato croquettes, green beans, and carved turkey and they raved all night and into the next week about how great the food was. Each of our food options were specifically mentioned by name by our guests, so you really can’t go wrong. I’ve been to lots of weddings in the area and can confidently say we had the best food of all of the local weddings we’ve been to. The food stayed hot long enough for every one of our 130 guests to eat! Michelle Dodds was so great to work with and made our catering experience stress free. I’d you’re thinking about having Baratta’s cater your event, this is your sign to do it!!

Michelle and her team are absolutely AMAZING. Michelle went out of her way several times to ensure our day was perfect and we cannot thank her enough. We also appreciated her honesty - our venue was about 45 minutes from Des Moines so she gave us very honest recommendations for what food would and would not travel well. Everyone at our wedding LOVED the food and couldn't stop talking about it. We are so grateful and highly, highly recommend Baratta's!

Michelle and her team are amazing. I can’t say enough about how great they did with my daughter’s wedding reception. The food was absolutely delicious and we had so many compliments from our guests. The service was above expectations!! So thankful we chose Baratta’s to cater for such a special day.

Michelle and her team did a stellar job for your big day! They did our cocktail hour food, dinner and dessert. She is thoughtful and makes you feel like the most important people in the room. I appreciated her advice and transparency through the planning process, it made things stress free!

We had a very good experience with Barattas catering from start to finish. Michelle was great to work with. She is very knowledgeable and helpful. The food was delicious. We had so many guests tell us that they loved the food.

We used Baratta's to cater our wedding, and we couldn't have asked for a better caterer. Michelle was a consummate professional who put us at ease during the stressful planning process. Every dish we tried was fabulous and our wedding guests agreed! Flawless service, fantastic food -- we cannot recommend them highly enough.

Baratta's was a fantastic caterer for our wedding! The food was amazing and high quality. The staff did an excellent job of keeping people moving by dismissing tables and getting people through the line efficiently. We highly recommend Baratta's for your next event!

Barattas really brought our wedding together, absolutely fantastic food, excellent service. We felt taken care of the whole night, and Michelle was an amazing coordinator throughout the process. We will be hiring them for any future events we have!

Michelle was lovely to work with and people loved the food. We would definitely cater with Baratta's again.

If anyone is looking for a an amazing caterer for their wedding please consider Barattas! Michelle and her staff were absolutely amazing for my daughter‘s wedding last weekend. Very easy to work with, gave great ideas, very accommodating, and the staff was professional and a pleasure to work with! Everyone at the wedding reception raved about the food! Thank you so much Baratta’s for making my daughter’s wedding reception a success!

Barattas did a fabulous job on our wedding day! Everyone loved the food! Their team was so professional and very easy to communicate with!

I would recommend Baratta's and Michelle's catering team for any wedding or event. The food was AMAZING, but beyond the great food, the service and professionalism- unmatched! From the organized attention to detail, responsive communication, and the added personal touches- we felt 100% at ease when it came to our food and our guests' experience on our big day thanks to Michelle and the Baratta's staff. Thank you so so much!- Jordan and Matthew

We had the best experience working with Michelle and her team. Though a wedding is naturally a stressful event, we felt calm knowing with 100% confidence whatever happened, we had Michelle. It is a given that the food was delicious, what stood out to us was what delight it was to work with Baratta's from our first tasting to the day of the wedding. Amazing customer service, delicious food, and reliability, you can't go wrong.

I used Baratta''s to cater my wedding earlier this year at Forte (Rreception venue which Baratta's owns) and I absolutely LOVED the food and really enjoyed working with them to plan our reception and our meal. I am writing this review 8 months later and I STILL have people telling me how much they loved the food and reception. 5 stars in every category.

Baratta’s provided the tastiest food for our wedding reception. We had a wonderful time with Nick and Michelle picking out foods and learning about the whole process. The catering staff showed up and went straight to work. We had many complements throughout the night and days after the wedding about the perfect etiquette of the staff and the awesome food! Baratta’s went above and beyond to provide for over 200 people at this event. Would recommend to anyone who wants great quality food for a great price.

Baratta's did out catering for our wedding and we had the absolute BEST experience!! For weeks after the wedding we had family and friends asking us where the amazing food was from! We worked with Michelle, and she made it the easiest process, from the first taste testing to the execution on the actual wedding day! Not only was the food AMAZING but they had the best staff to work with! Highly recommend!

We chose Baratta’s as the venue/caterer for our Sept. 2021 wedding. In regards to the food, it can’t be beat! We had a lovely time sampling and choosing from their menu what we wanted served at our wedding. We were able to choose two different pasta dishes, green beans, and a salad to have served in a buffet style, and it was great! The event planning and venue was also so nice. We started the process with Nick, and then did transition a few months before our wedding to working with Michelle. While I’ll admit I was a little nervous at first to have a change mid way through wedding planning, Michelle was amazing. We did multiple walk throughs of the space to make sure all the details were exactly how we wanted. Michelle was communicative, kind and honest about everything. Stephanie was our day of coordinator and she made everything run so smoothly during the actual logistics of the wedding day. My family, my husband and I could not be more grateful for Michelle, Stephanie and the whole Baratta’s team.

Nick and the whole staff at Forte helped us create the most perfect wedding day. Nick was great to work with. Very organized and detail oriented about the whole day. He was easy to coordinate with and helped make our vision a reality. We can’t forget to mention that the food is out of this world. Barattas did an amazing job providing food for our guests from the appetizers to buffet meal to dessert and late night pizza. They can do it all. Forte is also such a great location downtown with lots of space, parking and beautiful views of the city.

I can't say enough good things about Baratta's. I had my wedding at the Blank Park Zoo and they were the approved cater. I was a little nervous about not having the choice but WOW. Michelle was literally incredible. Not only was the food wonderful (and wonderfully done) but she was so so good helping with all the little things. She was so much more than a caterer and I can't recommend her enough. Her staff was incredible and professional. My wedding wouldn't have been half the day it was without them. Definitely recommend.

Barattas was the best to work with. Michelle makes everything so easy and she is SO friendly. She answered any and all questions we had and knew exactly what to review so we were fully prepared. The food was exceptional and all our guests loved it. Pricing was great and very reasonable for the amount of service that comes along with both the planning process and then the meal itself. I would recommend them time and time again and I will never be able to thank them enough for truly making our day perfect!

Michelle was such a pleasure to work with! From our first meeting she was so informative and pleasant. She gave us options to choose from and sampling the food was delicious! She came down the day before the ceremony and set up the tables to relieve us from some of the pressures and by the time everything was done it looked so gorgeous! The food and the staff were above and beyond and I would definitely be going back to Baratta's for my catering needs in the future.

Baratta's catered our wedding last week AND served as our venue (Forte) - and we can't say enough great things about our experience. We worked closely with Michelle and Nick while planning our wedding. They made everything super easy and always made us feel so comfortable and excited for our big day. I would 100% recommend working with them for any event. Also, the food was AMAZING. We received many compliments from our guests. Thank you, Baratta's staff!!

I cannot recommend Nick and his crew at Baratta’s enough for anyone looking for a great time. Nick was incredible throughout the entire process of planning our wedding, despite having to postpone due to COVID. He made everything so easy for us, and we had so much fun along the way! The food was also AMAZING, everyone absolutely loved it. Thank you for everything, my husband and I would not want to host our special day with anyone else!! 🥰

I absolutely loved having Baratta’s cater my daughters wedding. 2020 was a very interesting time to try and plan a wedding. Nick was very patient with all my questions and assured me they would make it work no matter what happened. The food was amazing, we ended up getting the cake and appetizers from the as well. Super friendly staff, professional servers helping and an all around amazing experience. Highly recommend.

I have used Baratta's and Forte for several events, and I am most happy to have the chance to tell everyone what a wonderful experience our family has had with them each and every time. We recently had our son's wedding reception at Forte, during the 2020 pandemic. . .a month filled with changes . . . they provided excellent service during the worst of times. . . I can't even say enough nice things about Nick, who understood exactly what we wanted and made it happen. The evening was seamless and he provided everything we asked for and more! He made it look so easy, and we were able to have the most stress-free night!!! He coordinated everything flawlessly, even discussed decorations with the wedding planner! I will recommend Baratta's and Forte EVERY TIME someone asks. . . . the food, the service, the venue. . . EVERYTHING WAS PERFECT!

Best catering service you will find! They catered our wedding with the upmost professionalism and quality! I was blown away by their meticulous care to detail and hard work! So thankful we had such an amazing vendor to make our day perfect!

Michelle and Meg were amazing! They were so thoughtful and cared about making our rehearsal dinner so special! They went above and beyond to make our evening special! The food and service was amazing! We had so many compliments on the venue with the scenic views at Cafe Barratta’s. It was a night we will always remember!

Michelle was a dream to work with! Staff was great too. Very responsive, friendly, and made sure everything ran smoothly. Would highly recommend.

Let me start by saying Baratta's was truly the star vendor of our wedding. Michelle and her team organized a lovely evening for us and our guests. I knew Baratta's food would be great, but the service is what puts it above and beyond. They answered any and all questions I had and gave us great advice. They were so accommodating to our wedding party making sure they had food and drinks at all times. If I could give them 10 stars I would.

Baratta's was the exclusive caterer for our venue. They made our whole dinner experience unforgettable. Michelle and her staff were great to work with. Our reception was supposed to be outside but due to the 100 degree heat index we moved it inside. The Baratta's staff were so flexible in accommodating us with the heat. the Staff was super friendly and great to work with. I can't recommend this place enough.

Barattas catered my wedding recently and it was AMAZING! My whole head table had plates made for them and served right to them...staff was super friendly and made sure everything was perfect the whole night! Had so much food my family and I are going to be eating it for what seems like forever! So happy that I chose Barattas to do my wedding, HIGHLY recommend! Wish I had more events planned for them to cater those too!

Baratta's did an amazing job for our wedding at the State Historical Building. The food was great and they were accommodating to our guests. Definitely would recommend to others!

Lora and her staff were exceptional for our wedding caterer. The food was amazing and the entire team was professional and warm. Lora took the time to answer all my questions via email. Her being so available and receptive made planning a wedding from out of state significantly less stressful. I would highly recommend them for your catering needs!

Baratta’s is the exclusive caterer for our venue. When we had our tasting with them, the food was amazing and they let us try everything. We had originally planned to cut costs and go with grocery store cakes, however the Baratta's cake was so good we made room for it in the budget. We ordered a small round cutting cake (that we got to take home) and 3 sheet cakes - two chocolate and one vanilla. Baratta’s offers a couple of different options for catering; plated, buffet, and stations. We went with 3 catering stations - an appetizer station, a pasta station, and a roast beef carving station which we kept open for 2 hours. We did run out of the roast beef during the time, but we had a lot of pasta and most of our guests returned for second and third helpings of the food. Everything was cut and set up for our guests, and we received so many compliments on the cake and food. For the quality that we received, I can’t believe how little we spent.

Lora and her team did an incredible job! Lora was fun, straightforward and a pleasure to work with. The food and service were fantastic and everything went seamlessly. Many compliments from our guests!

Thank you very much for your part in making our wedding perfect. All of the food was exceptional and everyone commented on the entire menu. The wait-staff were extremely helpful and everything went off as scheduled. We could not have been more pleased with Barattas from our first phone call to the end of the evening. We will be giving you our hardiest recommendation to anyone we know needing catering services. Thank you again, Mike & Brent

Loved our food! We had an assortment of pasta and it was so hard to pick because they are all so good. This place also came in as the most affordable for our venue so I would definitely recommend.

Lora was way more helpful than our venue in planning for the wedding. She went above and beyond what I expected from our caterer. The food was great, we received many compliments from our guests. Even though I technically didn't have a choice for our caterer because the Blank Park Zoo requires you to have Baratta's, I am very pleased with all of my interactions with them and with the food!

We had our Rehearsal Dinner and Welcome Party at Baratta's and I couldn't recommend them enough. The food was absolutely delicious, which all our guests agreed with (still dream about that chicken!). I also planned my wedding from the East Coast and Lora could not have been more accommodating or helpful. She worked with me on a menu and was so quick on updating any small change I had and was very quick and polite in responding to my many questions. The staff really went above and beyond to make the whole night absolutely perfect and I'm so glad we kicked off our wedding weekend here!

Working with Lora was the easiest part of our wedding planning. Before our initial meeting we were concerned Barattas would pressure us into adding on extras we didn't want. That couldn't have been further from the truth. Lora was very understanding of our desire to keep it small and went way above and beyond just providing catering services. Since we didn't have a wedding planner, she provided tips and feedback based on her experience in the industry, and she was available for any questions we had during the planning process. The food and the staff on our wedding day were top notch. We couldn't have hoped for a better experience with a caterer.

We absolutely loved working with Nick. He made everything so easy on us and our wedding day was so perfect. He made sure to pay attention to every detail and handled problems the day of the wedding without us even knowing anything was wrong.

We had Baratta's cater my daughter's wedding and I could not be happier about the food and service. My daughter wanted Italian food food, and since she lives in Texas had to rely on her sister and me to do the food tasting. We wanted a buffet and were having trouble choosing the entrees. Lora suggested swapping the carving station for a third dish. We went with the white chicken lasagna as the 3rd dish and it ended up being the favorite! We received many compliments about the food, especially from our out of town guests. You can't beat a southside restaurant for Italian food : ) The presentation of the appetizers for cocktail hour and dinner was very nice and unexpected. The catering part of the wedding planning was stress fee and everything was seamless the night of the wedding. I definitely recommend Baratta's for your catering needs!

We had such an amazing experience with Baratta's. Lori worked with our schedules since we did most of our coordinating states away! The taste testing was wonderful, the food was amazing and the experience was superb! When the wedding came around I didn't have to worry about a thing. Baratta's came early to set up, confirmed everything for the evening, served the bridal party, and left everyone full...but wanting more! The other thing that meant a lot to me was the fact I briefly mentioned one of my bridesmaids had a severe gluten allergy while doing our tasting. I didn't have to mention anything again, and a gluten free plate was made just for her and she was so appreciative! I highly recommend Baratta's for your wedding, because they listen, leave you worry free, and the food is absolutely amazing!

We had Baratta's cater our wedding because they were the caterer for the venue, but what a happy surprise! The food for our wedding was amazing! Everyone raved about it. We chose a buffet because it gave guests a lot of choices. The food was refilled when needed, and there was plenty of food for everyone. We even had leftovers! The menu options were great. I don't eat meat, so we wanted a main course option that was filling and meatless, and there were a number of great options.

We not only used Baratta's for our catering, but we also held our reception at Forte, which they rent out separate from the restaurant. We had visited the restaurant before so we knew the food was amazing and would please every single guest in attendance. But, the best part was meeting the team that would help us plan the event and be there the night of to make sure it went exactly as planned - and it absolutely did!! Nick, the event manager was there for me all year answering questions and helping us with all our crazy ideas/wants/needs. Then, we met Lisa who was the team lead the night of our wedding. She is a miracle. I cannot thank them enough for all the hard work they put in and their impeccable service throughout the night. The setup was gorgeous, the servers were so polite, and everyone was there to literally cater to your every need. Our guests raved about the food... plus NO STRESS whatsoever. I would hands down recommend them for ANY event, but especially weddings. It really made our evening a dream.

We celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary at Forte by Baratta's in Downtown Des Moines. Days after the event our guests were still calling to tell us what a beautiful venue it was and that the food was excellent!!! We had a buffet with a nice variety. The food was prepared perfect and served hot when the guests went through the buffet. Baratta's were able to prepare separate meals for our guests with special dietary needs. The staff was outstanding and before we could even ask for anything they were there to help. They were very helpful in suggesting ideas for the layout of the room. It was a perfect evening and we can't say enough about the great staff, beautiful venue and food...they truly made our celebration one to remember!!!

I could not tell you how amazing Baratta's did for our wedding! They made everything as easy as possible for us and were very accomodating to our needs for the wedding! I never once had to worry about anything. The food was delicious, the venue in general was great and they pulled the room together and it all looked amazing! I would highly recommend this venue to ANYONE!

Our venue was the Des Moines Downtown Public Library, and Baratta's is one of the approved caterers. Since I've enjoyed the foods they have prepared at their cafe at the Historical Building, I thought it was a good choice. It was the BEST choice ever! I had notified Baratta's in March of our intention to use their services in October, so that wasn't a large window of time anyway. However, they DID respond right away and provided me with all of the information I would need. I was very slow and late in getting my vendors in order, so it was actually the end of August before I got back to them. They still treated me very respectfully and graciously, and not in a judgmental way at all. The finance' and I finally got around to scheduling a tasting the end of September, but they gave us several food-choices to try. We wanted appetizers rather than a plated-meal, and there was one item that we decided wouldn't fit into the menu. We were given suggestions of substitutions, AND, Lora paid attention to MY dietary needs and assured me that we could have a wide variety of offerings. She also took the time to answer my questions regarding the contract, so I understood the rights and responsibilities of both sides. They even allowed me to bring in additional desserts, which they graciously served also! The day of the wedding, the staff worked in a very professional and efficient manner to set up the table linens that I had also ordered, and asked me if I liked how they had folded the napkins to better fit the design of the tables. They even allowed me to change one of their decorations to one of mine, to better fit our color-scheme. The set-up up of the serving tables was very inviting and the food smelled divine! I was busy enjoying the company of my guests, so I ate only a little that day, but it was all really good. My guests kept telling me what a wonderful reception we had and how much they loved the food! Their clean-up was also very efficient. I did have left-overs, and Jessie and her staff followed my request to prepare them to go home with us. I wanted someone with expertise to take over the prep and serving of the food for the reception, so I could enjoy the time with my guests. And, for the money I paid, I got a VERY good value!

I've used Baratta's in the past for company functions, so I knew that they'd be just as good for my wedding. Everything from the planning to the day of went smoothly. We received a lot of compliments on the food. Hands down, Baratta's is the best in the Des Moines area!!

We met Nick about a month after we got engaged, he was wonderful to work with!! He was prompt to answer any questions we had and was willing to accommodate all the services and things we wanted to have at our wedding, it was absolutely beautiful and they are so great to work with! I couldn't have asked for better to people to help make our day so special, and the food was excellent! We had so many compliments about the meal!

Working with the Baratta's catering team was a great experience. The tasting was delicious- after trying 5 entrees, we settled on the pollo penne and the chicken cacciatore. The staff customized to whole wheat pasta and added whole wheat rolls, too. When we added the potato croquettes just 10 days before the wedding, the team easily accommodated the request. I would highly recommend Baratta's for an elegant Italian meal.