Chuck's Tap — Restaurant in Davenport

Chuck's Tap was recommended to me by a work colleague earlier this year as a great place to grab breakfast. I don't live close to Chuck's - in fact, I pretty much live on the other side of town in Bettendorf. In the interest of expanding my horizons though, I resolved to make the journey across town to West Davenport on a lazy Sunday morning to get some breakfast.

After parking on the street close by, I walked over to Chuck's, which is positioned on the corner of Division Street and 6th Street. From the outside, it definitely looks like a dive bar. The north half of the building looks clean and white with a scrolling sign advertising daily specials. The southern facade of the business, however, looks completely different, almost like someone's house. In place of the white siding on the other side of the building are wood grain supports and paneling with multiple levels of outdoor patio seating available.

While it looks a little strange, I'm certainly not passing judgement. I can imagine walking to Chuck's in the summer and sitting on one of the upper patios with a beer and hamburger, just relaxing with a few friends. In fact, I'm certain I need to return in the warmer months to make this a reality.

Walking into Chuck's definitely dissuaded me from the initial dive bar impression. Sure, there's a bar and associated seating, but there's also a fair amount of high top and normal table seating around the fairly large interior, as well. The floors are a clean patterned concrete slab, the walls are painted a light blue and the ceiling black throughout. Lighting is provided by a combination of recessed and ceiling fan fixtures, but also in part from the neon beer and soda signs. TVs are distributed throughout the space, running anything from sports to the current music playing to the news in one corner.

All of this comes together to give the picture of a sort of community space. From the scant amount of parking behind the building and on the nearby streets, I can only assume a certain portion of the patrons walked to Chuck's. Again, not passing judgement. If anything, I felt a little awkward coming all the way across town just to get breakfast here.

That feeling of unease disappeared quickly, however, as I sat down and was handed a menu. The bartender was really busy, but had my order taken within minutes. While waiting, I had a front row seat to observe the cook prepping breakfast for everyone on the flat top opposite the bar. I watched her scramble my eggs and shuffle a large pile of hash browns around the surface. Chuck's is a big place and it was still pretty busy a little after 10 when I ordered. This sole cook was handling all sorts of orders, but still had my plate of eggs, hash browns, toast, and bacon to me within minutes. It was a sight to behold.

The food was exactly as I'd imagined as I watched the prep. The hash browns were greasy and filling, with only a bit less crunch than I'd normally prefer. The bacon was crispy, the eggs were plenty fluffy, but best of all, the toast had some real color on it! I love me some toast that's actually visibly toasted and has some crunch to it. All in all, it was a satisfying breakfast.

The only thing off a little from what I'd prefer at Chuck's was the ambient noise level. I can't really complain much about this though - the place was super busy! It bothers me when places play loud music and cause this problem, but this was clearly not the case here. If anything, this further reinforces my intention to come back in the warmer months to try the patio for a change of scenery.

If you're living in West Davenport or otherwise close by and want to go out for some good breakfast, you should give Chuck's Tap a go....

My brother mentioned this was a good spot to grab a hearty breakfast. So, I took my early bird parents out for breakfast & quality time. The menu has changed as they no longer serve steak, but there were plenty of other meal options to choose from. My Pops ordered the Pancake sandwich, my Mom ordered the country fried steak, eggs & hashbrowns and myself the French toast sandwich. Nothing about this joint is high class, but it's definitely worth the stop. The food is delicious homestyle cooking. Check em...

I met a friend here for Karaoke. The people there are so friendly and polite and most of them are really good singers! There was a man who sang who looked to be in his 80s and a young person in his 20s sang, so it is a varied group of people. The building was clean. The service was quick. The tables are spread out and are not too close together. If I lived closer, I would sing here a lot. I haven't eaten here myself, but other people said the...