Bent River Brewing Company (Moline)

Went to Bent River over the weekend to check out recent changes and new management.

Adding booths was a nice touch, and the new menu had some interesting looking items on it. The beer (an English Strong) was excellent as usual. The food was pub-food serviceable, for the most part. The battered green beans were an interesting app, though a bit lacking in any specific flavor (until dipped in the wasabi dip they came with). The "rotisserie cooked" piece of fish I had (in sandwich form) was surprisingly tasty. Whatever they season it with adds significantly. The fries on the other hand, still had that slight freezer taste in the middle and were a little limp. Underdone, I'd say. My GF liked the beer bread - especially the honey butter, but there was some confusion in how the soups were written on the chalkboard, and was surprised to find meat in what appeared to be listed as a vegetarian soup. Her normal rule, is always ask, and I guess we should have.

I'm afraid to say that while the services has risen a great deal above our previous abysmal experiences, it was still lacking. First we threw them off by coming in through the bar and just seaing ourselves. there was no indication otherwise - no sign or anything. Maybe it was by the other entrance, but there was nothing we saw between the bar and dining room. So, a waitperson was slow to get to us to begin. And we sat at a still dirty booth, which wasn't cleaned off until after our drink order was put in. No silverware/ napkins were delivered with the apps. Nonetheless, the waitperson was very nice, and agreed that the soup board was confusing and offered to bring a different soup.

One other comment I'd have is that it was louder than I ever remember it being. It was Bent River, so I didn't expect a quiet atmosphere, but I was surprised at how loud it could get.