Granite City Food & Brewery

Stopped in for lunch during a visit to Cedar Rapids and was instantly captivated by the vibe. Wood and leather furniture, warm lighting, and no background music made for a pleasant visit. The wait staff were very attentive, making sure I had everything I needed. The food was excellent and served in short order. Granite City has a small core lineup of beers, plus a few guest taps of locals (in this case, Millstream). Overall, a great place for a bite and a drink or two.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My wife and I stopped in here on June 5th, 2011. I'm from Iowa, but have been in AZ since 1990, and had never heard of this place. I also brew, and the wife makes Mead.

So, we sat down and it obviously has been invested in, really nice place, etc. We ordered some home frys to clear our palates. They came with some kind of dipping sauce, and overall were good. Nothing wrong there.

On to the beer... They had 5 on tap, the 2 pull, and 2 seasonals. Usually when you get a sampler tray, there are a couple that are so-so, and couple that area average, and maybe one or two that stand out. Honestly, I was impressed! Quality was above average across the board. This might be kit or extract beer, but it really didn't have that twang. Now that I think about it, maybe it was missing some maltiness, but that doesn't mean extract. I could be mistaken.

Living in Tucson, and being in the local homebrew club, I'm used to super hoppy IPA's. Theirs was a bit darker and not quite as hoppy. I actually kinda liked it (not an IPA fan heh)

One seasonal was a belgian dubble at 10%. Overall balanced and smooth, and not over the top like alot of belgians are.

Everything else was to style per bjcp guidelines, from what I could remember, but not over the top, and honestly tasted good.

So, for an intro to the masses, this is a good place to start. Homebrew and microbrew turns off alot of people because it is so over the top. These guys obviously make a consistent product, not the one of a kind styles of micros. I see nothing wrong with that, it has it's place.

Oh, last thing. The waitress knew about the beers and seemed knowledgeable, unlike alot of places. The manager gave us a tour and was helpful, but obviously not a brewer, he doesn't have to be the way they operate.

Overall we were impressed with the place.

Ehhh..

emmmm...

meh....

Granite City is--honestly I can't complete that setence. I knew they were a chain that brewed from kit. I've known that for years and so I avoided them. But when we were in Cedar Rapids the other day, when it was late and we could find no other restaurant that seemed even halfway decent, we decided to give it a shot.

And we were pleasantly suprised. But, that surprise probably wouldn't have been pleasant if we hadn't had such low expectations.

The waitress was nice. No upselling, no awkward attempts at flirting in order to try and secure a higher tip. The inside was like a big yuppie bar, not too loud and not too smokey.

We stuck to simple pub fair and got simple pub fare. No flare, but nothing tasted off or bad. They were running a really good happy hour-type deal on the house pints, which was a pretty good value.

The house pints? For kit they were very good. For what the cost, including the deal, they were pretty good. Objectively, compared to good microbrewers (which I admit are sorely lacking in this area), they weren't very good at all. Still, better than macros.

I don't got much else to say except that if you're a beer person you should probably stay the hell out of Cedar Rapids. Old Capital is about 20 minutes away from this place, and it's well worth the trip. Otherwise, you shouldn't be upset so long as you don't walk in expecting too much.

GC is going corporate in 2007. The axe is falling, and the loyal customers will be paying the price.

We have a group of friends who regularly go to Granite City, and in December Granite City decided to change the closing hours from 1am on weekdays to 11pm without warning or an explanation.

Several of us wrote letters to the corporate office asking why, only to have no response.

After an inquiry via email, we were told that the hours were changed because of concern about the safety and "quality of life" of the staff.

This is a total load of cr*p. Staff we asked did not know why this change had come, and the suburbs are not a "safety" issue.

Hours have been cut, and rewards are minimal. Compare to the other brewpubs in town.

The service was prompt and top-notch. The atmosphere was quiet, smoke free, and just on the upscale side of the casual dining spectrum. The food was really good. I had a chedar-ale soup that made the entire visit worth it. Some of the other menu items were made with beer as well. There is a varied menu I had a sandwich that was pretty killer. Tried all the beers. The Mai Bock was interesting, and worth a try. The Two-pull is the only thing I'd drink a whole pint of. In short, its a good place to eat, but don't go out of your way to get a beer there.

Seems to be a fairly upscale establishment for brewpub standards. The bar itself is pretty nice but leans to the smaller side. The service was very good regardless of the fact that it was very busy.

The beer quality is just above average and the selection falls short of the typical 5-6 beers found at most brewpubs. They really only have 4 but you could say 5 if you count the "mixed brew" Two Pull they offer. No seasonals were available when I was there. :-(

Stick with the ales (IPA and Stout) which were much better than the Lagers (Light and Mai Bock)... Strangely enough, the Two Pull! was a mix of the 2 Lagers and was better than the individual beers on their own.

The food was also just above average although our group only had appetizers and not full meals. Will re-evaluate next time I get there.