Bent River Brewing Co — Restaurant in Moline

More than a decade ago, I spent time at Bent River at least once every one or two weeks. Friends and I would get together for dinner on Wednesdays somewhere, then end our night either at the Bierstude nearby or at Bent. I really liked the Mississippi Blonde and the Sweet Potato Ale back then! On a particularly lazy Saturday afternoon, I was craving a burger, and so decided to drive across the river and revisit some of those memories, albeit alone and on a day where I normally would stay in or got to work back then.

The patio is much as I remember it, though currently packed up for the winter months. Large concrete slab, outdoor tables and chairs, all directly accessible from the walkway and drive behind the restaurant. I talked a little with one of the employees out for a smoke break, who echoed the notion that it was too cold to dine outside currently (even though multiple people had enquired about this recently).

The inside looks much the same as it did more than a decade ago, as well. Lots of wood furnishings, large fermentation vessels behind the bar, and a variety of seating, both booths and tables, across the dining room. The floors are composed of a combination of ceramic tile and hardwood, while the overhead has black painted patterned PVC or cermaic tiling, as well. Lighting is pretty low, a combination of various suspended fixtures across both the bar and dining room, with the addition of string lights in some places. Though clearly a little updated since my last visits in the 2010s, its still a dark, chill place to hang out with friends and grab some beers and a burger.

I sat up at the bar alone and ordered a Mississippi Blonde, as well as a Gent Bent Burger with Pepperjack cheese and bacon. Gotta say, the burgers are a bit fancier from the days I remember coming here for the $3-4 baskets. It's a good thing, the burger was tasty through the entire meal and is something I'd definitely return here for in the future. The beer tastes pretty much as I remember it, as well, though I don't drink nearly as much at this stage in my life.

I'd come back here again for a meal and a brew. Perhaps sometime in the warmer months when the weather has warmed up a bit more? It's a fun place to just chill for a while. It was back then, it still is now....

Bent River Brewing Co. 1413 5th Ave. Moline IL 61265

Usually when writing an opinion piece you try and hold the reader in suspense as long as possible, however no suspense here this place sucks.

The joint has a nice façade and brew pubs as we all know are an en vogue concept. The interior could be nice if you didn’t have to enter through the bar down that narrow corridor that is reminiscent of being on a submarine and believe me I’ve been on one. Not to mention they try to be family friendly because they do have a kids menu. Then you leave and have to walk a gauntlet of drunken morons spewing profanity as my kids walk by. NICE. There is another door on the dining area side and I don’t for the life of me understand why it isn’t open.

OK let’s get this out of the way, they have a nice selection of beers and I ordered a sample every one of them. I’m not gonna sit here and BS you and give a breakdown of beer flavors and notes it’s just fun to taste all of the different beers. Blah Blah Blah! It’s the food that sucks and it sucks badly!

We started off with the Pulled Pork Potato Skins which are (from the menu) stuffed with slow smoked pork shoulder and topped with melted cheddar and BBQ sauce. The toppings are fine it’s that the potato portion is in a state of mummification and it is as dry as hell. I then tortured myself by ordering Sheppard’s Pie. I can already here the moron brigade “you should have had a burger man”, shut up. I am now going to try my best to reconstruct their recipe for you. Let’s start with a mirepoix that is barely cooked and still crunchy. Then we will add a package of McCormick Brown Gravy but let’s make it our own and splash a little bit of one of our fancy beers in there. Then we will put some overcooked chewy and gristly beef in there and put that on top of a tablespoon of mashed potatoes. Mmm Mmm nasty. Sheppard’s Pie usually has the potatoes on top and maybe they should have done that to hide the train wreck underneath it. I also tried some of their dried pulled pork and I don’t think they intend it to be that way.

According To The Big Food Jerk.

If you want to eat bad food in a submarine then this is the joint for you. Good riddance and they need to drop a depth charge on...

It was Memorial Day. It was super nice out. Half the city was closed for the holiday. I was in town for the day and wanted to grab some beers at a local brewery to celebrate the holiday and my birthday. We popped in to a fairly busy brewery and decided to sit out back in the patio area after deciding sitting inside was just too silly to do on such a beautiful day.

Our waitress informed us after we sat down that there was an hour wait for food. Cassey and I decided to stay and wait. We picked out a few beers to get and were told that those kegs were tapped out. So we had to pick our 2nd or 3rd best option. Cassey got an Uncommon stout (I think) and I got the Mississippi Blonde. Before I got that, I did inquire about the Jalapeno Pepper ale and the waitress brought me a sample. I love me some Jalapeno and this was just like drinking jalapeno peppers. It was good but not something I wanted 16 ounces of. The Mississippi Blonde was good, if a bit light on flavor and weight.

After a few beers and tons of conversations, we asked the waitress about food and were finally able to order an appetizer. We got some chips and dip to start with and then grabbed burgers once our waitress gave us the thumbs up that a meal was good to order. The chips and dip were pretty tasty. Normally I prefer salsa to queso for tortilla but once I tried the queso... I was in love. I don't know what they put in it but it was amazingly tasting.

I grabbed just a basic plain burger with pepperjack cheese and french fries. Cassey got the patty melt with sweet potato fries, I think. After the long wait, the food was much needed and much welcomed. The french fries were extra crispy and how I typically like them. The burger itself was good if not a bit weird with the pretzel bun and I only cheese as a topping. Without lettuce or tomato to add some juice to the meat and bun, it was a bit dry but that's my own doing as that's how I... for some reason... ordered the burger.

All that said, it was a very random day of dealing with small hiccups but with only chilling and hanging out on our schedule, it didn't derail how much we got to catch up and just...