All Visitor Reviews for The Garden (7 reviews)

I'm not sure what I expected, but overall this place was a big disappointment. I would have rated it as "skip it," but there are so few gay bars around that you don't have a lot of choices. The actual club is really cool, I thought. It is a great space. There is a spacious dance section, a separate area where there are drag shows, and a back patio. I would have given the club 5 stars for it's setup. The real problem with The Garden is the people. This is the same problem I had with the Saddle. We started out at the Saddle on a Saturday night and found the crowd to be really unfriendly and clique-ish. So we decided to head over to The Garden. Basically, everyone who was at the Saddle came over to The Garden. I understand that most people here come to the bars with friends, but I have never seen such an unfriendly bunch. You could look around the club and see little circles of people standing. No one was really mingling. It was odd. I grew up here and have moved away. I brought a friend from out of state with me for this visit and have spent several days listening to him talk about how friendly the people in Iowa are, only to have the gay crowd at both the Saddle and The Garden ruin it in two hours. I tried at one point to start talking to several locals, thinking that maybe I just needed to start the conversation. Nobody seemed interested in talking to anyone besides their friends. Lame. This is why I moved away. I think I rate it "skip it" after all. Go hang out at a straight bar or dance club, at least someone will talk to you there.

How many underaged trashed faggots can get into one horrible bar. Drugs galore, drunk older people out on the prowl looking for the underage group, dark and horrifying...Ugly twink skank in cages dancing...just a horrid place. The only good thing is one owner is a nice guy, but it's not even worth going to regardless of who owns it!

a verry nice place to go and have fun and meet others,

The Garden is a great space. But I have to say that the music was bad and to top it off the DJ was a bitter lemon. Also did not care for a drag show every weekend night.

A LITTLE LOUD, A LITTLE BIT LIKE- IF WE DON'T KNOW YOU, GET LOST KINDA' FEEL. IT TOOK FOREVER AND EVER TO GET A DRINK. THE BARTENDERS WERE CUTE AT LEAST, BUT STILL! THERE WERE AS MANY STRAIGHT PEOPLE AS GAY PEOPLE, WHICH WAS A LITTLE ANNOYING. SEEMED LIKE A LOT OF REALLY YOUNG KIDS TOO. I HOPE THEY CHECKED IDS! I WOULD MAYBE GO BACK JUST BECAUSE DM DOESN'T REALLY HAVE MUCH ELSE TO OFFER. OH YEAH, THE QUEENS WERE GORGEOUS.

We heard this was the place to go in Des Moines. What we found was the semblance of a gay bar where the gays where outnumbered by local 'straights' and an annoying busload of bachelorette party girls. The back dance area bar was cool until water leaking through the roof dripped into my companion's drink... ewww! Patio wasn't open but looked cool.

The Garden attracts a younger (21 - 25) crowd and occasionally hosts youth nights (18 - 21, with no alcohol served of course). The Garden is many bars in one, with a dance bar, a stage for drag shows, a section to just hang out and have a drink, and an enclosed patio open during the summer. The perfect hangout for the young, gay and beautiful.