March 31, 2012
Conference hotel was a couple blocks away so figured I’d duck in. This is the kind of joint that would’ve gone over huge maybe 15 years ago. Nice enough space, friendly (if not especially efficient) staff, medium pub fare, and just a few standard brew offerings. Interesting that their brew with the most IBUs was their ESB. Hmm. Anyways, a friendly couple of hours over a couple pints but pretty middling in all honesty.

February 8, 2012
Not the best brewpub in the area, but they seem to be getting better. Service is always good and friendly. Atmosphere is very laid back and there is an upstairs bar as well that is sometimes less busy. Beers are nothing to write home about or bother going out of your way to get. If it isn’t out of the way you may as well stop in, but nothing too special.

September 21, 2011
Fairly typical brewpub. I had a sampler of their beers. English-style ales, mostly. Some of them are solid, but none of them really jumped out at me. There are some interesting food options, but the quality is a bit lackluster. Ambiance is normal for this type of establishment: quite a bit of wood, brewing equipment visible. They seemed to be a bit understaffed, with only one server handling several tables. Decent experience, though.

August 11, 2011
Went there late on a Monday night, probably around 9pm. I really enjoyed my time here, though my rating might not convey that. Two of the six brews on tap were gone, which was disapointing. Didn’t eat any of the food, but other table’s got food and it looked good, smelled good, and they appeared to enjoy it. I personally thought the 3.75 brews were really well worth it - considering I’m used to $5+ dollar brewpub brews out East. The bill for the group of us didn’t break $20 dollars (including tip) so I was pleasantly surprised. It kind of sucks that the riverboat that used to be docked across the street is gone, as I bet the place was jammin’ back then. Sadly, I worry that a diamond-in-the-rough like this (and the other brewpubs in this area) could be under-appreciated in this mostly "blue collar" area, where people would probably be more willing to spend $2 on a PBR or Bud Light at some dirty dive than be adventurous and support local breweries. I’d like to head back here next time I’m in town.

June 8, 2010
Popped in for lunch one day. Wasn’t too crowded (although I heard it normally is) but there was one kid there who was NOT happy. He screamed the entire time...which got annoying. Bartender was cool and chatted with me the entire time. He had worked there for 14 years so he had lots of stories. I tried all they had to offer in the way of beer, which I thought was pretty good. They also offered a sausage plate that was made locally, which was pretty freaken good. A good stop for sure.

August 3, 2009
I visit Blue Cat every couple of weeks when I’m in the Quad Cities, and it’s a nice place that sort of markets itself as a nice restaurant rather than a brewpub, though the upstairs bar can be much more rambunctious. The ambiance is nice, especially in the restaurant. Dim lights, great food, and a generally nice aura. The service is usually fine, but not outstanding, be it in the restaurant or up in the bar. Sometimes when it gets busy upstairs they really need more bartenders. The selection is okay - they usually have 4-6 of their own beers and a very small bottle collection of the macros. The food is very good, much better than your typical bar fare. If you have a chance to go to one of their "beer dinners" with specially crafted meals paired with their beers, you should. The place is pretty expensive for a brewpub, draws usually pulling about $3.75, and the food isn’t cheap either, but it’s hard to gauge because the food is really good. Overall, I like the place, but they need more beers, some of their own beers aren’t super amazing, the prices are a bit high, and the night life isn’t much there - it dies down much after 10 or 11pm when people head out to the bars in the nearby District.

October 20, 2008
Went here with a friend late on a Wednesday night, so it was pretty quiet at the time. Good feel to it though, and a decent location from what I could tell (although as noted before, it is a little dark inside). The beer wasn’t exceptional, but it wasn’t bad either, and the prices were very reasonable. The bartender was friendly enough, and the beer was served in proper glassware. Worth stopping at, in my opinion. I didn’t try any of the food, but my friend tells me that it is good and very reasonably priced also.

June 15, 2007
Ok at best. Not a bad place to go but nothing outstanding. Very average overall.

December 29, 2006
Visited at around 9pm on a Friday night, and the restaurant was packed, so a lot of people were packed in the bar while waiting for their tables. The bar area is really small for a crowd at that time. Beer quality was a little better than average. The imperial stout in a pint glass is $3, no different than any other beer. That rocks. The 10% ABV Belgian ale was pretty gross, though. Those were the only two that I tried, since the other APA/wheat/golden selections looked pretty lame. Easy to find, easy to find parking, and located really close to other clubs, casinos and bars in Rock Island. They have no happy hour or late night food specials, though.

December 3, 2006 [ Updated December 6, 2006 ]
You don’t get the impression that the beer is the most important thing here. The staff and bartenders are fairly beer ignorant. Decent selection, but mediocre brews. Run over to Bent River Brewing for the real stuff.