Reuben in Des Moines

4 restaurants in Des Moines list reuben on their menus. The cheapest is Hessen Haus at $14.00. The typical price across town is $15.50, and the dearest we found is $18.00 at Proudfoot & Bird, so the two ends of the list are $4.00 apart, which is 29% more for the same dish. Of the 4 kitchens listed, 1 charges more than a dollar under the typical price, 2 sit within a dollar of it and 1 charges more than a dollar over.

We track reuben in 10 other areas and compare them all on reuben across United States. The typical price there runs $16.64 at the median, so Des Moines is cheaper than most of them, with a lower typical price than 10 of the 10. The lowest best price anywhere we cover is $10.00 at Airport Cafe in Portland, OR, and the highest best price is $16.50 in Madison, WI. The nearest area with it is West Des Moines, about 10 mi away, where the best price is $15.00.

Where is the cheapest reuben in Des Moines? Hessen Haus, at $14.00 on 101 4th Street. The same dish reaches $18.00 elsewhere in town, so where you order it changes the bill by $4.00.

What should reuben cost here? About $15.50 is the typical price across the 4 kitchens in Des Moines that list it. Of the ones listed above, 1 is more than a dollar below that and 1 is more than a dollar above, so the typical price is a middle rather than a floor.

Is it cheaper nearby? The nearest area we track it in is West Des Moines, about 10 mi away, where the best price is $15.00. That is $1.00 more than the best price here.

Why do the prices differ so much? We compare what each menu calls the same dish, and menus are not identical: portion, cut, sides and the kind of room you are sitting in all ride on the price, and none of that shows up in a number. Part portions and half sizes are kept out of this comparison, and a chain charging the same at several addresses is counted once, so the spread above is between genuinely different kitchens rather than the same one repeated.