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Granite City Food & Brewery
Rating Details »
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Good for:
- Dinner
- Happy Hour:
- Yes
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Smoking:
- No
- Coat Check:
- No
14 reviews for Granite City Food & Brewery
We stopped in for beers and food one Thursday night and I was pleasantly impressed by both. I went for the beer sampler, which included a number of their standard brews, plus a couple of seasonal options. The Bock and Stout were excellent, and the rest of the brews were decent too. However, I was not a fan of the seasonal "blueberry" beer as it tasted like it was flavored with blueberry sauce rather than real blueberries.
For dinner (on recommendation by the waitress) I had the Blackened Chicken Linguini. The chicken was tender and flavorful with just the right amount of charbroiled saltiness to go with the creamy pasta. The linguini was served al dente with a delicious parmesan sauce, diced tomatoes, béarnaise sauce and green onions.
The only drawback to the place was that the famed dipping sauce never arrived with our french fries. Despite pointing this out to our waitress, the dipping sauce was charged to our bill. The matter was easily rectified and in the end we left happy and satisfied.
I'm not sure about the service complaints in other reviews. Our service was fine and it was packed. There were a ton of staff to take care of us.
The food was fine. Med-rare steak was not over done... BIG surprise to me. No complaints.
I did not try the beer. I am sure it is fine, too.
This place had a short wait on a Wednesday night in a bad economy. That speaks volumes. The prices were reasonable as well.
Food... good.
Beer... good.
Service.. .good
Prices.... ACK.
Way over priced. They are very proud of themselves. And its a little over crowded in there. They have really packed in the tables. Get a booth if you can because the tables tend to be a little tight. The food and service are the only reason this still rates a 3.
This is mostly due to the recent service I received. A while ago my mother and I stopped here for a weekday lunch after shopping in the surrounding area. My mother ordered the pull pork sandwich with fries and I ordered the turkey tortilla, hold the aioli, grille with fresh fruit. Not liking honeydew or cantaloupe I asked the server if they could just give me strawberries...expecting to receive just a few. My plate came out with a pound of fresh delicious strawberries...and mayo. The server brought me a small plate so I could continue to enjoy my berries and said entree would just take a few seconds...apologizing of course.
The server brought out my accurately made tortilla grille and another pound of berries. A few minor hiccups but great service recovery. We left a nice tip due to same even though our bill was small.
There aren't a lot of good restaurants in Cedar Rapids, so I end up going to Granite City almost every time I'm in town. There seems to usually be a 30+minute wait, even on a weekday.
The beer is excellent if you like microbrews - unfortunately most of the people I saw on the last trip were drinking Bud Light or something similar. I strongly suggest getting a sampler and trying a few different beers to get an idea of what they have.
The food is consistently good. I really like the salmon, but a few others in my party ordered shrimp pasta last time and enjoyed it too. Service has always been very good, very friendly waitresses and everything arrives quickly (especially fast considering how packed it usually is). I'd strongly recommend this restaurant.
The short version: food is pretty good for the price, service leaves much to be desired.
Every time we've been to Granite City, there's a wait, and often a long one (30 min is not uncommon). Because it's so busy, parking can be tight, but there are always spots if you're willing to walk. One of my travel buddies likes that place very much and we go with her when she recommends it.
The restaurant itself is pleasant. The tables and booths are generally clean and in good condition. The specials are usually also worth looking into. The food overall is good. The portion sizes are a good size, somewhere between "Just enough" and "I'm going to die if I eat another bite."
We had the homemade potato chips (yum!!). At one visit, I had the caesar salad with dinner (also yum!) and the chicken parmesan (triple yum for the win!). At another, I had the asian chicken salad (pretty good!). My dining partners had steak or burgers or ravioli and they all enjoyed their food.
The food is generally good quality, good tasting, and is devoured when it arrives.
WHEN it arrives.
For as nice as the atmosphere and food are, Granite City has poor service. (Not mediocre. Poor.) Special requests are forgotten (a side of ranch dressing) and it takes forever to get drinks, get food, and get the check. (At our most recent meal, it took more than half an hour for us to get our drinks, and one in our party had to ask for his at least four times before it was brought to him. And the bread for the pasta dishes came just as they were bussing the empty pasta plates at the end of the meal.)
Even when the house isn't crowded, before the dinner rush, the service staff is hard to find - except in that one minute interval between when the food has come to the table and before you've had a chance to take a bite, when they never fail to ask, "How does everything taste?" before anybody has tasted anything. Drinks don't get refilled, the delay between salad and entree can be 30 minutes or more, and (to my absolute astonishment) it can take more than 15 minutes just to get the check after requesting it.
I guess if I was with a bunch of friends - and making good use of their reputedly tasty microbrews - and had plenty of time to kill, it might not bother me so much. But for a mid-week dinner after a long business day I can't say I look forward to returning to Granite City in the future.
I'm definitely a fan of Granite City. Mostly for it's food and beer. The service is hit or miss, with a long wait to be had at the door. The dining is loud, so if you prefer peace and quiet, this is not your place.
Fortunately, the food usually comes quick and with a smile. Though slightly pricey, I would recommend visiting Granite City.
My beer brewing friends have commented that granite city has some sort of patented way of transferring unfermented beer on trucks so that it can ferment at the restaurant. While that is kind of cool, I let taste be the final judge and the beer is good. The stout is the best of the 4, but my cedar-rapids-hops-deprived palette usually leads me to the IPA. I have had 3 of the 4 beers (not the light lager) and they were all good. The problem is the food.
Hamburger: The bread is cheap or maybe was just old when I got it. The meat had something wrong with it but I couldn't place it. It might be cooked in some sort of weird not grilled way. The lettuce drenched everything in water and it made the bread soggy.
Some sort of alfredo type noodle dish: I can't remember the title of this dish as it was several months ago. I do remember it looking sloppy and it reminded me of 4th grade lunch trays where something in a big pot is served with an ice cream scoop. There was very little flavor and the noodles were squishy like they had been boiled in water that wasn't hot enough.
Cheese Ravioli - This was actually good, though at $15 I expected a little more... extra seasoning or something green and fresh looking sprinkled on or just anything that made it look like a $15 dish (I don't know how this cheese ravioli is one of the most expensive items). Even though it is over priced, this pulls my overall food score up a little.
For beer I would give this place 5 stars and for food 2 stars. This place is fundamentally a restaurant so I'm averaging 2 and 5 to a 3.
The beer was not so great here but the salmon was nice! I did not really feel the vibes in this spot, maybe cos I was the only brown man and did not feel as welcome.
The place had a total small town mentality and put a place like the TV show "Cheers" to shame. I mean, people stuck to themselves and did not even want to offer that one empty seat to sit at the bar- I had to pry it out of amongst the WASPY folks. Besides, I really did not have the time to get into conversation with someone about Jesus.
All in all, if you're stuck in Cedar Rapids, get a meal and run to your hotel room!
I think GC is somewhere between a 3.0 and a 3.5. It's not a 4, but a straight 3 seems like selling it a little bit short to me, and it's definitely not a 2.
Yes, it's an American food chain (around 20 restaurants if I recall correctly), but it's no Appleby's, the food is significantly better than that.
The chicken wings are top notch, and I'm a bit of a wing aficionado. The Idaho nachos are good, but nothing special. I really love the dip though (which I think they gouge you an extre 50 cents or a buck for, but its worth it) and the quantity is enough to choke a horse (way too much for an appetizer for two people, four is better), so that's a winner in my book.
I've had most of their dinner entres. Nothing is amazing but none of them are bad either. Pretty much everything is what I would consider slightly above average. You won't be amazed but I don't really see how anyone could be disappointed either, and the portions are gargantuan. The steaks they serve are solid, and I love the onion strings they serve with them (and almost all of their dinners). I like their ale & cheddar soup as well.
Sunday brunch is also worth a visit.
Granite City is one of the most popular hangout in town. Traffic has been busy since they opened their doors and much of it is due to the bar. My favorite brew is their pale ale, Duke. The food is average to above and they heap on the food, so you might want to share a dinner.
Granite City is Applebee's for Frank Lloyd Wright fans. Let me explain: the restaurant's menu duplicates the successful Applebee's formula: lots of safe American food options (burgers, steaks, pizzas, pastas, etc.) that are good but not especially memorable. Instead of lots of crazy crap on the walls, however, GC is a relatively classy affair, decked out with lots of stonework and wood in a vague Prairie style. I've never had any problems with service, but expect to wait - this place is popular, especially on Sunday mornings for the brunch buffet.
Atmosphere and menu-wise, it feels more like a chain restaurant than any brewpub I've been in (other than BJ's on the west coast). That said, the food has been shockingly good nearly every time I've been. Red meat dishes were great... sirloin salad, london broil (make sure to get the sauce on the side), rosemary filet. They have lived up to the brewpub tradition of having a fantastic burger, served at the proper temperature. The best I've had outside the home in years, in fact. (Annoyingly, they charge extra for fries. Chips are for hot dog carts.) My wife loves the lump crab cake on the app menu. The cuban sandwich is regrettable. The beers are acceptable, but not very exciting. The Bock is good, but I'd be more inclined to come by more frequently if they had a little variety in the selection. It seems to always be the same 4.
This is probably the most overrated restaurant in the area. The food is less than impressive when you consider the prices, but not bad. The service is usually very good too. The brunch is marginal... great idea but poor execution. I'm not cheap, but over $20 for eggs benedict on a stale, hard english muffin is not my idea of wonderful. I have to wonder why this place is always so crowded, but I think it's because of the micro-brews.
