Blue Cat Brew Pub

No Longer In Business

It was understaffed but the waitress did a good job, the appetizer portions were very small but still expensive, my son and i both had a Ruben sandwich very fatty meat and when we were done the was a mouse running around - told the staff on the way out and she basically blew it off - NEVER GOING BACK !!!!!!!!

April 2018. Finally made it in here before a Ribco show over the weekend. The beers were pretty good, if not unspectacular. The vibe was as expected, sort of a 90's brewpub timewarp in hues of turquoise and purple. High ceilings at the bar, with the brewhouse visible through a large window. We tried a few of the beers, a chile beer, BSDA, and an Old Ale. The chile beer was actually pretty good and the others were average. The lineup here seems to rotate fewer beers than most, but there was a decent variety of styles. The younger bartender was really friendly and helpful. He lived in Chicago for awhile so we had some common ground to chat about. It was fairly slow on a Saturday night as well, we were the only ones at the bar. Groups and families dining in. I'd tried coming here a few years back. There was a line outside right before they opened. When the owner came out he goes "if you're not here for the bartending class you need to leave". Kind of weird, but oh well. One of the few Quad Cities breweries closed on Sunday, which I wasn't aware of at the time. Not my first, second, or third choice* in the Quad Cities, but worth a stop if you're heading to Ribco around the corner. *See also Endless Brews, Wake Brewing, and Radicle Effect.

Sitting here with my wife. This is an upscale place. The food menu has much more quality than is typical. Ambience is nice and they drown the noise well. It is in a very cool area and parking is available but could be more of it. Music playing is blues. I assumed the name was from a river fish but it must be a double entendre of music, too. Have their 6 sampler set in front of me. Not many winners here. I do like their English bitter but everything else was subpar. I added none of the beers here which is unusual. Either they don’t rotate often or there are active RateBeer people who have been here recently. Their beers seemed to be overly sweet and not all that flavorful. My wife ordered the chicken and absolutely raved about it. Indeed, it might be the best chicken I have ever had. It is baked and has stuff on it that is just amazing. I ordered the sausage sampler which is also very good. But that chicken . . . Bottom line: As a brewery this is just ok at best. But as a restaurant that also has craft beer this is excellent.

Pretty cool place. Flight of 6 house beers. Decent food menu. Ambiance isn’t fancy but it’s cool. Service is okay.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.