Bar La Tosca

Iv been here a couple times and still have not had the food. However the drinks are amazing and the service is great.

Bar La Tosca is a fantastic spot on Ames’ Main Street. It’s a beautiful space, cozy and intimate, and makes you feel more like you’re in a big city than small town Iowa. You’ll feel right at home at the bar or in one of the booths or tables, and feel like you’re in your own little world.
The specialty cocktails are wonderful. I haven’t had one I haven’t liked, but some favorites include the Bee Sting (tequila, lemon, honey, and jalapeño) and the French 75 (prosecco, gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup). They have a small but well-​curated selection of tap beers and a nice wine list.
The food menu is not extensive, nor does it need to be. If you’re sharing some small plates, don’t miss out on the gnocchi fritti. The pastas are delicious as well. The penne with pork shoulder bolognese is divine, but my personal favorite is the gnocchi with tomato, basil, and mozzarella. What can I say? I really like gnocchi.
Watch for happy hour specials, not just on cocktails but on small plates and the occasional specialty small plate.

This a a nice little restaurant on Main Street in Ames. Slightly upscale but very casual. I ordered the Penne pasta with pork. I’ve never had a dish like this before, it was great. The pork and noodles were succulent and tasty and the sauce complemented it well without taking away flavor from the meat.
They have a full bar and a few beers on tap. They feature mostly local breweries which I’m a big fan of. The staff is always friendly. I’ve only been here during the times when they’re not very busy so I’d be interested to see how they do on a Friday/​Saturday night.
This is a tranquil place to get a bite to eat while still providing the quality of a popular restaurant.

The Gale’s root beer was an excellent way to start lunch. While racing
from Minneapolis to Kansas City, my dad and I made a pit stop
in Ames, Iowa. We found ourselves at Bar La Tosca hoping
for fresh and locally sourced European fare. Jackpot! We had
roasted beets in grapefruit juice with walnuts. They were cooked
perfectly and brightly purple/​red. I had calamari on flatbread which
was sublime. The calamari was lightly breaded, something similar
to tempura. The green side salad had a delightful citrus vinaigrette
that tasted liked it had freshly squeezed Meyer lemon. The flatbread was
lightly dusted with parmesan. My dad had a chicken sandwich
on a cibatta bun that had a rustic look and appeared. He was happy
with his selection. Sadly, we were on a scoot and didn’t have
the opportunity to sample their excellent offerings of local beers
or mixed drinks. The décor was a bit dark yet charming. The facility was
spotless. They had a great selection of music that was serious
and relaxing, at the crossroads of Nick Cave and Delta Spirit. This is
a lovely place to have dinner with your lifelong love. The bar overlooks
Main street and a bright park area with tables. You are guaranteed
to enjoy your visit to Ames’ soon to be famous Bar La Tosca.

I’ve been to Tosca a few times. Great atmosphere, location and awesome chef.

My friend and I went to Tosca on a Tuesday evening, so we were seated right away. The atmosphere was nice and relaxed. The background music was quiet and not distracting. We ordered an old-​fashioned ($ 7) and a margarita ($ 6) for beverages. My Margarita was tasty and strong.
We got three different small plates: a chickpea and ratatouille on flat bread, ricotta crepes, and fried gnocchi with a creamy Parmesan sauce. The gnocchi was amazing! Flat bread, very good! The crepes were average, I guess. Our total bill was $ 40. The staff was friendly and accommodating. We were very impressed overall and would come back and try one of their pasta dishes!

My wife and I are originally from central Iowa but have lived in Seattle for years. Whenever we come back for a visit, we look for good local (non-​chain) restaurants. So we were delighted to find Bar La Tosca.
Our party of three arrived on a rainy Friday night without reservations and were seated right away (there was a tornado warning in effect, which might explain our good luck). We each started with a green salad with a delicious raspberry vinagrette. The most interesting ingredient in the salad was thin slices of pressed ricotta cheese, a first for us. Next we shared a big dish of lightly breaded deep-​fried calamari. It was served with an aioli sauce with a good balance of garlic and heat. Then we ordered three different pasta dishes (penne with chunks of pork shoulder, fettucini with chicken, rigatoni with a pork ragu). Each dish was very flavorful and each had the pasta perfectly cooked (al dente).
The restaurant does not place salt and pepper shakers on the tables, and fresh ground pepper was not on offer. In our experience this means that the chef is telling you that additional seasoning is not needed. In Iowa, we find that most prepared food is overly salted, and we watch many people routinely salt their food before tasting it, so no salt and pepper on the table is a bold statement from the chef. One person in our party still lives in Iowa and found that for her the dish needed just a touch of salt, which was gladly supplied by the waitress.
We each had two glasses of Italian wines (white and red) and were impressed with the small but carefully chosen wine list and the reasonable prices. Alas, we had no room for dessert.
The service was impeccable and the pace of the courses was just right. We travel almost every year to Europe, including Italy, and It is a real pleasure to find authentic, creative, and reasonably priced Italian food like this on Main Street in Ames, Iowa. We will certainly return to La Tosca every time we’re back in Iowa.

I need to correct myself on my review of Tosca. I was completely off on my presumptions. I’ve gone back for dinner with friends and it was a completely different experience! Fried Calamari is delicious and the salmon toast is so good. It has become a great local restaurant!
*writing this re review on a cell phone has keeping this short and me unable to delete my past review.*

Pretty good food. The special pasta dinner was great. Good wine list. Prices are fine. The ambiance needs a little work.

After returning from a trip to Spain I had a hankering for tapas like none other. Eating toasted bread and cheese just wasn’t cutting it anymore, so I went online and tried to find a place near Ames serving tapas or something similar. That’s when I discovered Bar La Tosca. Before this I’d never heard of the place, nor seen it all the times I’d been on Maine Street. But I gathered my fellow Spanish adventurers and we headed right there to order every single «small plate» they offered. Every single one was delicious. I don’t think I could pick a favorite if I’d tried. It was the closest thing to tapas I’ve had since being to Spain. Even if you haven’t been to Spain to experience tapas in their homeland, you can get an authentic experience at Bar La Tosca. If you have a large group, grab a bunch of small plates and pass them around!

Firing on all cylinders. Pork belly, calamari, bucatini, beef, and dessert were all delicious. Cocktails and service were excellent.

Go right now and get yourself a slice of their Lemon olive oil cake with mascarpone cheese filling. It’s topped with caramelized pecan and makes me say «Yes. Yes. Yes!» It’s one of the best dessert I’ve eaten and it reminds me of growing up in my Italian grandmother’s home.
Bar la Tosca is a visual jewel. It’s posh little restaurant in a swanky art nouveau meets mid century modern space. Lush and rich colors and textures dotted with retro décor and Parisian style penny hex tile floor. It’s gorgeous.
Food is inspired and delicious. It’s creative and inventive but with Mediterranean influences. I wish there were more non-​shellfish options so my allergic husband and I could eat there more regularly.
Service is great: friendly, helpful, knowledgeable.
Well done.

This place reminds me of some of the classy bars in Iowa City. There aren’t any other places like this in Ames. We’ve been here twice already since discovering it about a month ago – once for brunch and once for dinner. Both times, the cocktails were on point. The food was also pretty good as well. This was the first time I’ve had pork belly… and it won’t be the last. They also have a unique spin on biscuits and gravy for brunch – tasty! We had pasta when we came for dinner. Nothing spectacular, but I’ll keep coming back for the atmosphere and cocktails.

We chose to go to Bar la Tosca this evening for a birthday occasion meal. We had never been here before and thought we would try something different. We were greeted the moment we entered the restaurant and seated immediately. We were in a cozy booth, which, for the three of us seemed a bit small but worked out to be fine. The waitress was quick to take drink orders and arrived with cold beverages shortly after.
The menu might be considered slight as there aren’t a lot of choices. However, the choices that are available cross a wide range of flavor from seafood to chicken to pork and beef. We each ordered something different. The Chicken Fettuccini was fantastic as was the Rigatoni with both beef and pork had a very unique flavor that was excellent. The Bucatini had a great guanciale (Italian bacon) and creamy tomato sauce with a little bit of heat from the chilis. We received a few pieces of bread after our pasta had been served. Almost seemed like an afterthought but we were glad we had something to soak up the pasta sauces. The quantity of our meals was good. Allowed enough room for dessert.;-)
We finished our meal with a couple desserts. One Chocolate Cayenne Cake and one Cherry Turnover with rum sauce. Both were exceptional.
We will return for more authentic Italian food.

This place is amazing. While my boyfriend and I were visiting his mother in Ames from Des Moines, we happened to stop by this fantastic little place– and it was FANTASTIC. Him and I shared the chicken breast, which was phenomenal. The spinach on the side was mouth watering-​ly delicious. The chicken was juicy and tender. I couldn’t have asked for a better meal. For dessert we decided to all split the blueberry tart. The cream on the side was so warm and the vanilla taste just melted my mouth, especially after I rolled a few blueberry in it. The tart was hard to cut through without feeling like you were going to break the plate, but it tasted wonderful. Our waitress was great! We never had to ask for a thing, especially water. She was on top of it! Totally helpful and really sweet.

Great cocktails, decent ambiance, consistently good food. Ames really needed a place like this – it fills a niche!

My family went to eat dinner here one night and we were very unimpressed. When you first walk in you are awkwardly stared at and were unsure if you were supposed to waive over an employee in the groupd by the bar or seat yourself.
When we sat down at our table our waitress handed us our menus and then gave us time to look while she went to get us water. After she came back with our waters she asked for any other speciality drinks and also explained the menu and awknoleged the chefs specials and speciality drinks.
We ordered the flatbread for an appetizer and our main dishes.
While we were waiting we noticed the quit, calm atmosphere with dimmed lights and excellent music.
The flatbread was DELICIOUS! It was warm toasted flatbread with a cheese spread, mushrooms, candied tomatos and crunchy onions on top. Very tasty!
The main meals dropped our bar way down. They were very bland and had NO taste. I got a pasta dish with chicken and it was well plated but the noodles seemed a little chewy and oily. Onother person in our group described the meat in her dish as «Mystery meat» and lost her appetite after a couple of bites. Another in the group had potatos with mushrooms but it was such a small portion it was a joke!
Other things we noticed was how unorganized the staff were and how they just sat and talked together behind the bar, the tables were very close and not very private, there were no candles on the table which was very disappointing since it would add to the ambiance and there was no salt and pepper on the table. Something that also bothered me was how the waitresses did not use tray but carried the dishes one in each hand which caused her to make 2 trips.
At the end of the meal the group member with the «Mystery Meat» told our waitress that she was displeased and the waitress was very sympathetic and took it straight to the chef and even tried to offer us dessert on the house and eventually took her plate off the bill.
Overall it was a great atmosphere and it had a nice feel and look of it with the long black leather booths and wooden bar and tables with lights hanging from long wires. Out waitress was very knowelegeble and deeply cared about our experince. (5 stars for her) Since this resturant is very new we expected these kinks and will probably not come back until they are fixed. If I do and my experience had changed I will update this review.
(Another thing I saw while eating was the bartender taking shots which I thought to be unprofessional)

It was just ok. I had the salmon which came with a potato purée and cherry tomatoes. It was 19.00. I thought the portion of the salmon was generous and cooked well, but everything else was minimal. And you did not get salad or bread or anything else with the entrée. I thought the seating was also a little bit unusual as well.
They had these large banquet style booths with small tables pushed in, and so you were sitting right next to somebody that wasn’t even in your group. I won’t go as far as to say that I was disappointed but I probably won’t be back. If you want to stop in for a drink it looked like they had a nice bar area.

I had the salmon, she had a pasta dish. Both were OK. Good service and atmosphere. Overpriced and just OK food makes me believe their future is limited.

La Tosca has a very pleasant layout, it’s definitely the right place to hang out with friends. Our drinks were very tasty, just maybe a little weak. The appetizer, a flat bread with hummus and fried onion was yummy. The gnocchi is so so. Maybe more vegetarian options would be a good addition to the menu.