Union Station Sports Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Cedar Rapids

Myself and three friends (ages 61 to 74) picked this place for a mid-week lunch based on Google reviews and looking at their extensive, reasonably-priced menu on their website. There is also a pizza place built into the same building, and the pizza is listed as part of the menu.

We arrived just before they opened at 11, and stayed three hours. The young lady bartender was very friendly and refilled our soft drinks regularly. As this was our first time here, she also was helpful in explaining the specials, soup, etc..

The place is very large, with a variety of seating. It was clean and well lit. The TVs and jukebox were at a comfortable volume for talking in normal voices, and there was never more than about 20 customers ( max ) at one time, and usually less than ten. We were the oldest people there, with a mixture of ages present. It was a very pleasant and relaxing atmosphere.

The M-F daily specials was either a cheeseburger or loose-meat ( Maidrite style) sandwich, served with a choice of two sides ( fries, steak fries, cup of soup, cottage cheese, small salad, onion rings, onion straws), and it also included a fountain soft drink with free refills--- all for a very reasonable $6.50.

The soup choices were chili and Zupa ( a spicy potato and Italian sausage soup similar to one served at the Olive Garden restaurant).

An alternative to the above mentioned daily special was a choice of a large salad ( three or four choices; including Chef, grilled chicken, and taco ). It was also served with a fountain soft drink with free refills, and also was $6.50. One of my friends had the taco salad. It was huge-- about dinner-plate sized and about 4" deep, and served in an edible, fried tortilla bowl. He liked it, and said it had a lot of meat in it.

Another friend had a bowl of chili ($3.00) with onion and cheese on top-- he also thought it was very good. Although the menu says the chili and soup were seasonal, the bartender said the chili ( and some type of soup) are available year round.

Myself and my other friend each had the M-F cheeseburger daily special. The burger was large, about 1/4 " thick, and was juicy. We both had the tasty Zupa soup, and as our second side dish my friend had a good sized portion of fries, and I had the onion rings ( nine or ten large rings-- tasty and lightly battered).

It was a filling lunch, and an excellent value. We were all very impressed with Union Station and plan to return.

The place is very large, with several tables that seat 8, and several that seat 6, as well as numerous other seating at the bar and along the walls. There were also three pool tables.

They even have a separate annex building for over-flow crowds and parties.

Its obvious that although the Wednesday lunch crowd wasn't huge, they must have large crowds at other times ( which online photos show). The parking lot is large and well-paved for...

12 of us went to Union Station last night.....When the waitress came to take our orders, she started with the person to my right and went around the table...she took the order from the person to my left.....and left without taking my order. We had to yell across the room to get her to come back. I ordered the blue cheese burger, a dinner salad, and steak fries. She repeated back blue cheese burger and onion rings....no, I ordered steak fries. One hour and 15 minutes later she finally brought us our food. She plopped a burger down by me and said she would be back with the fries. I had looked at my burger which was not a blue cheese burger, just simply a regular cheese burger. she told me i has only ordered a cheese burger....no I ordered a blue cheese burger. She would get me one. I ate my salad and fries waiting 20 minutes or so for the burger. Everyone else was done eating. I asked for a to go box.... which took about 10 minutes to bring. She said she wasn't charging for the burger....which was great, as I had no intention of paying for it anyway. I doubt I will ever go back On a scale of 1 to 5. bad to best, I'd give this place...

Really big place. Nice bar. Nice amount of seating. Went specifically for the pizza. I've been on a hunt for a certain type of crust.... not thick n not thin, not hand tossed, and not wood fired. This pizza was thin, but the dough wasn't flimsy and held the toppings. The crust rim was a little thicker than the thin crust for their regular crust. It was good pizza. I like that they used beef and sausage for the meat on the taco and no refried beans. The Hawaiian had a good amount of cheese and ham pieces, not slices. I asked for pie cut, but came party cut. The service was good. Pepsi products. The bathroom stalls were a little tight, 3 stalls, and 1 was out of service. The 1 stall was barely big enough for my 6th grader. 2 pool tables, 4 dart boards in another joint room, basketball hoop for the kids. Good size actual bar. I would go back for the pizza. ...