We went here before dropping my brother off at Augustana. We will not be back.
We arrived for a late lunch. The place was DIRTY, our table had stuff all over it. There was spilled space on the picture frame next to our booth and the floor was coming off the ground. Also, it looked like there was something in my glass from nay drink.
The food we got was not very good. I got a burger and it was nothing special, the fries were good though. Our table got the sausage sampler and it wasn't bad, I liked the uniqueness of the item. We also got some of the pulled pork and the corn bread, the corn bread was dry. Seriously!?
We wanted to like this and support local businesses band even though we will be in Rock Island a lot because my brother is going to school there but we will not be going back here.
Blue Cat always has been and always will be the one place that comes to mind when I think about downtown Rock Island, Illinois. I spent so much time and money at Blue Cat upstairs and boy did I enjoy ever minute of it. Great beer and even greater food (surprising, for a brewery, which typically aren't known for great food). I will always nurse a soft spot in my heart for Blue Cat.
Review Source:A friend recommended this place to me based on his experiences here 5+ years ago - It is still great! I was too busy getting a Whiskey 101 lesson from one of my colleagues to try their beer (yes, they have quite a good scotch selection), but I will definitely need to go back to do so.
We were all pretty impressed with the food and service as well. The bread, which comes with the soup/salad was AMAZING. I know I shouldn't spend too much time talking about the bread, but it was so soft and tasty with a hint of sweetness that I had to order extra. I was feeling adventurous so I tried the chicken and caper soup. It was definitely interesting, although I don't know if I will order it again. The other soups sounded great too though. As an entrée, I had the chicken gnocchi. The chicken itself wasn't great, but the gnocchi and red sauce was delicious. I will be back next week to try some more dishes!
A local brew pub is a always one of my most favorite places to meet with my ladies. Â As far as brews go, all the beers are high quality, and I tend to prefer the pale ale. Â However, th!!ey also make a fantastic Cosmo. Â They have a variety of gourmet appetizers that will absolutely please the hungry bellies at the table. I suggest the beer cheese dip with veggies and pitas or the artichoke jalapeno dip! Â The full menu is lovely, and I find the soups to be pleasantly surprising every time. Â For dessert, the caramel apple crisp is worth saving some space for...I usually have soup and salad to ensure I have room for it! Â Also, the bar upstairs offers darts, pool, and other fun stuff.
Review Source:Wow, oh wow. We recently visited Blue Cat Brew Pub and I was blown away.
We started with beers. I had an English Stout and the hubby had something that I can't remember (he liked his a lot though). The English Stout was good. Not sure what the alcohol content was, but after two and dinner, I felt pretty good!
For dinner I got the Blue Cat Whiskey Steak. I can honestly say, hands down, that this is the BEST steak I have ever had in a restaurant. I'm not sure what the seasoning was, but it was a bit spicy. It was marinated in whiskey and it almost caramelized while being grilled giving it a sweet flavor. The sweetness of the caramelized marinade paired with the spiciness of the stuff that was sprinkled on top gave it an amazing flavor. It was cooked perfectly to temp, also. I'm still craving it 2 days later!
I made the mistake of giving everyone at my table a bite of my steak. It kinda ruined their dinners because mine was SO much better. The other entrees were the honey glazed half chicken and two top sirloins. The sirloins were cooked perfectly and had a good flavor. Not overly seasoned, just a great, steak flavor. The chicken was good, not excellent, but couldn't stand up to the Blue Cat Whiskey Steak.
The dinners came with salad and a roll. The roll was great. The salad wasn't anything overly special, but still good. For sides, our dinners came with new potatoes and the veggie of the day. I barely touched the new potatoes. They weren't bad, but they were not great either. The veggies were steamed carrots and broccoli. Nothing special either. I didn't leave hungry though. The steak and salad filled me up plenty.
The only cons about this place is that the bathrooms weren't very clean. I'll let that go because it was packed and a Saturday night. The other was that our waiter was pretty slow to acknowledge us after we sat down. It took almost 10 minutes for him to get our drink orders. I'll let that slide, too because he did have 2 other big tables that he was dealing with at the same time. The food is what keeps this review being 5 stars instead of 4.
While we live in Champaign and don't make it that way often, we will try to make it again. It's worth it.
Was in town visiting our son at Augustana. Decided to go out to dinner so we read a good yelp review for Blue Cat. Called ahead and was told it would be a 30 minute wait. We arrived in 5 minutes. An hour later we were seated at a dirty table in an area with lots of empty tables. No placesettings or menus.
Eventually the hostess returned with silverware and menus and apologized for the long wait. She also said that the waitress would be with us in a while but she might be delayed because she was busy with a large party. After 10 minutes the waitress came to our table with attitude. Before she came over I had noticed that the hostess had approached her and asked her to wait on us.
She asked for our drink order. Since we had waited so long I asked if we could go ahead and put our order in. With a big sigh she said OK.
Our soups showed up before our drinks. Then my drink showed up on me. Literally. The waitress spilled the drink all over me and my cell phone. And she didn't even apologize. She did however bring over extra napkins for me to clean up her mess. Food was delivered relatively quickly except for one order which came 10 min later. Ribs were OK. Burger, Pork Tenderloin Sandwich and Steak Salad were also OK. When the check came the waitress said "Sorry for giving you a bath".
So in summary the service was poor, facility dirty and the food was decent.
The place is pretty filthy. Bathrooms were run down and in need of attention. The windows to the brewery tanks were so dirty you could hardly see in.
Probably wont return unless I hear that new management is brought in.
I'd like to try this place again to be sure it doesn't deserve a better rating. Â The beer was good, but I am not an expert or very picky about craft beers. Â Service was very good and the waiter was quick with some recommendations when I asked which sandwiches he liked. Â I went with his second choice, a Ruben sandwich which he claimed was one of the best around. Unfortunately, it lacked real flavor and the corn beef was really dry. Â This is the kind of sandwich you expect strong flavors, so I am not sure how there was almost none. :( Â My son had a BBQ pork sandwich and he said it was great and sampled my sandwich and thought it was also great. Â Soooo, maybe it's just me. Â Like I said, I'd like to come back and try this place again to be sure they couldn't do better.
Review Source:I started out my brewery/Brewpub tour of 2012 with Mud Cat based on an experience I had with them at Great Taste of the Midwest. They offered up some exceptional beers and I happened to be passing through the Quad Cities on pleasure so I thought I would take some time to check them out. The first thing I noticed is that all of the parking around there is either metered or two hours only during the day. Well when you plan part of your trip with visiting a brewpub, you don't plan to stay for just two hours if you are going to sample as many of their beers as possible, and I only sample by the pint. I ended up taking the risk of getting a parking ticket and stayed for three hours. Keep this in mind if you are going during the daytime hours.
The atmosphere is really nice. It's a two story building with a mezzanine area. You could fit a lot of people in here. It is in an older building that has been converted that has a more upscale look to it with modern art, but it keeps its Brew Pub feel with them showing off their fermenters in a room separated by glass right behind the bar. Â
We were there for lunch. I know a lot of places are big on their expanded menu's that they try to cater to a higher scale crowd, but when I'm getting ready for some good old fashioned beer drinking I want me a burger and fries. They have specialty soups, salads, sandwiches and entrees that are available to those that want that. The burger was okay. I think it was a pre-made patty, which kind of disappointed me. It wasn't bad and it did the job. The fries were good and made an excellent pallet cleanser between pints.
They had some good beer on tap. I was a little disappointed as that they say they have 6 beers on tap but when I was there they only had 4. They ran out of their two specialties earlier, so we only had the choice of 4 of their beers. I was told the owner might come in to add new beers, but if he showed up while I was still there, no one told me. I really would have like to try more of their beer.
The service was excellent our server did a fantastic job of answering questions and giving us information about the brewery. He was very polite and knowledgeable. He even put up with some good natured ribbing from my wife and over the missing beers.
The prices here are cheap for a pint compared to other Brewpubs. My wife and I had two burgers, multiple pints and we were able to get out of there pretty cheap. Of course I bought a growler which drove the price up on us. They have some of the most fantastic, orriginal growlers I've seen from a Brewpub. It's $30.00 for an empty growler at the time of my visit, but it's very cool looking.
Overall I enjoyed my time and experience and am glad I stopped in. I'll definitely do it again the next time I'm in town.
Absolutely in the top 3 BBQ ribs I've ever eaten. Ever. Â Also enjoyed the beer sampler. Good range of tastes. Nice, environment, friendly. If you are in the Rock Island area - and you want to enjoy some good food, be sure to visit Blue Cat Brew Pub! Â Wished we lived closer so we could go again. Maybe my kid will decide to go to Augustana and we'll have an excuse to return!
Review Source:The two star rating says it all. Â It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either. Â This can be said of both the service and the food.
The food: Â I got the steak salad with the smoked cheese dressing. Â The dressing was out of sight, but the salad was just meh. Â It was romaine and there were huge ribs of romaine that really should have been discarded and not served to customers. Â The homemade croutons were delicious, but the other items of the salad looked like a mix from Hyvee - and not the expensive mixes from the organic isle, but rather the sad pathetic mixes that are usually on sale 2 bags for $3. Â Here's the really bad though - the piece of steak was terrible. I asked for medium well - and what was given to me was well done. Â No big deal, however it was inedible b/c there was a huge vein of gristle running down the center of each and every slice. Â I Â finally caught the attention of the server (see below) and he was more than happy to get me another piece of steak - but the vibe I got was kinda like "you can eat that why are you complaining." Â But regardless - after another 20 minutes or so I got a piece of steak that was cooked properly - medium well and had no fat/gristle. Â However - the rest of my salad was long gone so I basically had a side salad and a piece of steak for dinner.
The service: Â The server appeared to be having trouble with the credit card machine and/or closing out his tickets. Â He spent the entire time behind the bar sorting receipts. Â This presented a problem - when our meals were delivered even though he was less then 20 feet away he never came over to check on us. Â I didn't wanna be a jerk and scream across the room to him. Â When he finally came from behind the bar about 15 minutes had elapsed. Â 15 minutes of me trying to eat around the horrible steak. Â
My girlfriend also got  a salad - hers was also most likely from a bag mix, but didn't feature any protein so she had no complaints.
In town for a few days and thought I'd check out the Blue Cat based on the always reliable Yelp reviews (or 90% of the time anyway!), I'm glad I checked them out!
I wish we had a few places around my neck of the woods like the Blue Cat, fantastic selection of micro brews, the food, and service were top notch in my opinion. I've actually eaten here twice in the past two days, yum!
My first selection was the BBQ roasted pork sandwich, it came out faster than a Big Mac at McD's and was mouthwateringly good, the sauce was crazy thick and had a nice little kick to it!
Second selection for lunch today was the Blackened grilled Ahi tuna steak sandwich, wow was it good! I couldn't believe how thick it was and cooked just right!
Service both times has been prompt and friendly, great job Blue Cat! If I find myself in Rock Island again I'll be coming back!
Took a walk from my hotel in Davenport to Rock Island to see the Mississippi river and get some grub. After seeing that Blue Cat Brew Pub had a couple vegetarian options, I decided to drop in.
The restaurant was pretty busy the entire time I was there but my server was very attentive. I was able to order a non-beer cocktail, and they have an extensive drink list. (that's not always the case in brew pubs!)
I started my meal with a house salad. They have a really great house dill dressing. For my entree I had a pesto pasta with a smorgasbord of roasted vegetables. As a vegetarian, I've had more veggie pasta dishes than I'd care to remember, but this one really was amazing. The vegetables were perfectly cooked and crisp and had a salty kick to them.
This is definitely a neat place to check out if you're in the quad cities. It's a little off the beaten path if you're staying in Davenport, but it's a quick walk away!
Decent and flavorful beer. My favorite was the Off the Rails Pale Ale, but they had a seasonal with coriander and ginger that was very inventive and smelled and tasted great.
Did a decent cheeseburger, fries, and the warm German potato salad was great. Air conditioning was a bit on the cool side. Wait staff was laid back and cheerful. Will return. Â I give Front Street Brewery across the river points for a better kitchen which also costs 50% more.
This place was great. Â The food was great (I had the BBQ Beef Brisket off the "regional favorites" section of the menu) and my wife had another meal with mashed potatoes and a lot of gravy (what the meat was escapes me now). Â The place was pretty quiet. Â The staff was nice and relatively prompt and we liked the laid-back atmosphere overall. Â The place has the air of the historic and distinctive. Â It was nice that there were a lot of booths as well as the bar and other seating. Â The bathroom was small but serviceable. Â If I visit Rock Island again I would make a return visit and recommend it highly to others.
Review Source:Food: A-
Beer: C+
Service: Â D-
----
We went to Blue Cat Brew Pub before the Quad Cities Marathon last weekend. Â
The food/atmosphere was wonderful and very affordable. (try the pretzel appetizer, the turkey/swiss and tuna sandwich and the carmel apple dessert--TDF!).
The beer was just okay. Â I started with the Wigged Pig Wheat and it was lackluster. Â Not what I expected. Â So I switched to the Off the Rail Pale Ale. Â It was better, but still nothing to write home about. With a race the next day, two was my limit.
Unlike every other commenter here, we had *horrible* service. Â It's possible we just got the wrong server on the wrong night. Â The place wasn't too busy, yet she forgot to put in our appetizer order, Â got our food order wrong and failed to reflill beverages. Â She was unfriendly and had little knowledge of the food or the beer... in fact, she pointed us to the menu when we had questions.
I'd go again for the food... and to try a different selection of beers, but would hope for a better service experience!
Always one of my favorite in the Quad Cities. If your at the bar Bob will take care of you. Love their beers and the Ahi tuna is tasty. Head there on Thursday evening if your looking for the seafood, that is when they usually get it in.
Also, the soups are some of the best I have ever tasted and always very interesting combination's, but I have not been disappointed yet.
My trips to the Blue Cat came long before I had any appreciate for craft beer. Â For example, I used to consider Blue Moon and Killian's Irish Red exotic imports. Â I owe the Blue Cat a return visit in a major way. Â
Brews aside, they have all the makings of a fine bar in order. Â It's a nice enough layout, spacious, with a few pool tables upstairs. Â We had our 5-year high school reunion here. Â That's all I got, folks. Â Give it a try.
The Quad City region is blessed with great, independent breweries, creating multiple nectar's of life, BIER! Within a five mile radius, four independent micro breweries bless the area. Each has its own, distinctive flavor and character. The four independent breweries (NOT chain) in order of my preference are the Great Lake, Front City Brewery, Bent River, and Blue Cat. The cost of the bier was affordable, from $3.75 to $4.00 a pint! I do not know if the citizens of the Quad City realize the how fortunate they are to have so many great independent breweries.
The Blue Cat produces good, decent flavors of bier, unfortunately, they just brewed my favorite, IPA, so it will not be ready for a few weeks. I did imbibe in a pale ale, not bad, but does not have enough hop as in the IPA. Staff is knowledgeable and friendly. Kitchen serves food, but did not have food, thus cannot comment. I went for the bier - I will have some food the next time so will draft another review.
In addition to the restaurant and fully stocked bar, the Blue Cat has a second floor where folks can play billiard and darts. A place to "hang out" and enjoy a few biers. Located in the heart of downtown Rock Island, at the edge of the "District," it was within walking distance from my hotel (Holiday Inn), so I did not have to worry about driving.
If staying in downtown Rock Island, the Blue Cat is a good place to enjoy a few flavorful brews, shoot pool, and relax.
This is one of the tastier casual places in the QCA. If you're looking for an inexpensive and decent meal, this is your place. The beer is good and the soups are always creative and yummy.
I would give four stars, but they never seem to get it just right- if the service is excellent, then the grilled pita breads are burned; if the dinner is perfect then the service is slow. I'd like to see it be a little less sloppy and more pulled together. Â However, if you are visiting friends and family in the QCA, you will find this place to have a nice variety of options, at a reasonable price and lots of flavor.
Overall a wonderful staple to Rock Island and great place to eat, drink, and hang out.
Downstairs features a full bar and dining area. Posted is a menu of their microbrews they have for the season. (My faves: the Pumpkin Spice, Arkham Stout, Raspberry Ale)
The food is wonderfully cooked and prepared. I usually go for the open faced Reuben or the Pot Roast sandwich. Both are flavorful and decently priced for the amount of food you get.
Their Key Lime pie isn't bad either.
If you get tired of the scene downstairs and want to unwind, then go upstairs for a different feel. There you will find another full bar, two dart boards, juke box, pinball machines, and four pool tables.
If you are in RI and need a place to go...I strongly suggest Blue Cat.
Moved here a week ago and been there twice already! In desperation to find food we flipped through the phone book (internet was still not set up) and found the brew pub. We had carry-out. I ordered the Greek salad and it was delicious! Second time we went in we again had great food and excellent service. Tomato and coconut soup was the special. I went for it despite the odd combo. It was surprisingly good! We also ate the tilapia, blackened catfish and drank a great IPA and their coriander and orange beer. So yummy! Highly recommend. Will go again!
Review Source:We were passing through the Quad Cities on a cross country road trip, and we wanted to grab a bite to eat before hitting the road. The Blue Cat Brew Pub is in a little downtown area that seemed to have a lot of other shops/restaurants. Parking was easy, and the place was just fine for our purposes. The food was reasonably priced and it was good but not out of this world. My companion had a beef stew, and I had the Dixieland Special which was a very 'saucy' BBQ pork that came with coleslaw. It was good, but not spectacular. Definitely a decent brunch/lunch place given we were not familiar with the area and just picked it semi randomly (after consulting other Yelp reviews). Seems like it'd be a fun place to go have a beer in the evening and hang out.
Review Source:I have to agree with the previous post that stated blue cat was "OK". Â
I am a huge beer fan and a big supporter of micros and brew pubs. Â I am also an even bigger dive bar fan. Â That being said, a dive bar needs Character, it can be weathered, but it has to balance that with character. Â Like an old salty dog sailor... not a run down house out in the country. Â Esthetically, this place needed a face lift, not real clean and fairly run down. Â
I did not eat (as we were heading to the duck city bistro after a pint), so I can not speak to that, but I did look at the menu and frankly, it looked pretty standard issue... cheese sticks, fries, potato skins... basically, frozen stuff from costco. Â Nothing stood out on the menu as "YEAH, we make it and we are proud of it".
As for the beers... I would give them a C. Â It was an average micro (at best). Â Nothing was glaringly wrong with the pints I tried, they just lacked (hate to use the term again) character... it was a standard red and a standard pale. Â
Overall... the place seemed serviceable.
Our waitress was sweet, but uninformed about the brews, I do have a problem with that... if you are going to work in the butcher shop... know the meat. Â Work in a bait shop... know the tackle. Â Work in a fricking brewery... know a bit about the beer. Â "its like the red, but hoppy" is not enough for me. Â Maybe I am jaded though. Â
Bottom line, if you need a pint, go here... if you need want a pint that has something going on... check out another brew pub in town. Â There appears to be several.
Hubby had been out here a few years ago on business and was fortunate to find this place. He fell in love with the tuna. Â For three years, every time we had tuna he mentioned the tuna he ate at this place.
Finally, on a family trip to Iowa for a wedding, we happen to drive through the quad cities. He was bound and determined to eat at this place. Â After a little driving around to see the area, he pulls up to the neat looking restaurant about a block away from the river. Â Nice location.
The service was amazing. Â I am going to give 100% of the credit to our server. Â He was knowledgable, helpful, and had a good personality. Â He obviously understands consumers and he'd probably be able to sell eskimos buckets of snow.
The food was really good. Â I ordered the tuna on a salad. Â The mistake was that the dressing (which you blend yourself from a small cup of balsamic vinegar and a small cup of garlic infused oil) ended up overpowering the tuna. Â I almost couldn't taste it.
Hubby got the tuna on a sandwich and seemed to be pleased. Â He did say that neither lunch version compared to the dinner entree version.
The kids each had a bowl of soup. Â Their Chicken Dill Pickle was excellent (and a nice variation on a theme) and their Tomato with Basil and Fresh Mozzarella also had a great falvor. Â Only change needed to be more fresh mozzarella in the soup. Â :)
We ordered some sides and appetizers. Everything was good.
The ambiance was very interesting. Â Sort of urban loft meets art gallery meets warehouse.
Hubby's beer was really good. Â A very nice dining experience.
The only problem was that the bill for lunch was a little steep.
I was in the Quad cities on business recently and was told to check out Blue Cat Brew Pub. Â I went here with a very open mind.
Overall, the experience was okay.
Pros - Good beer. Â I had the Toad micro amber. Â Good ambiance. Â The place needs some new artwork, but other than that, it was nice.
Cons - Service was pretty slow. Â I didn't take the first bite of food until 45 mins after walking in. Â Seems a little slow for a Wed night. Â The food was not very good, but it was cheap. Â I ordered the meatloaf, which was covered in spinach. Â My hopes were high based on presentation, but the delivery was lacking. Â
I hate to be a total snob a-hole, but I don't think this place would cut it in Denver. Â My brew-pub expectations are really high.
Where to start, where to start... the microbrews (Wigged pig)? The full bar? The capable bartender? The fun upstairs games room with billiards and dart boards? The great music? The special dinner and beer events? The pub crawl... the menu? Excellent Mississippi delta and American classics such as the pulled pork,spicy catfish, salmonburger, and all the delectably unbelievable appetizers.
There's high end and yummy grub, a little or a lot, for everyone.
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