For the past couple months Craig from The Morning KIIK Start and I have had a standing lunch appointment on Tuesdays. There is a meeting in house that we both have to attend on Tuesday morning and then we are off to lunch.

It is allegedly a meeting about station things and such but the reality is it is a little bit of everything from talking about music to just plain old gossip. But we enjoy it and we always try a different place each week.

It occurred to me that since I enjoy writing and always kind of wanted to be a restaurant critic that this forum might provide me with that opportunity, at least on a limited basis.

So I decided that I would review the restaurant we attend each week, share some thoughts and invite your opinions as well. This weekly adventure will henceforth be known as, “Fork It Over.”

Week one of Fork It Over took us to Barrel House in downtown Davenport. Being lunchtime they were pretty busy but we were promptly greeted and invited to seat ourselves. Shortly thereafter our server arrived and took our drink order. It seems that one thing I have noticed is that Craig and I always seem to have a lot of questions about the menu. The Barrel House Menu is very extensive and the server had tremendous knowledge of the offerings and was even happy to make a recommendation when I couldn’t decide between a couple entrees.

I finally settled on the Pulled Pork Sandwich which is listed on the menu as one of their signature sandwiches. Craig insisted that the homemade chips were a house specialty and that I really should try them.

When the sandwich arrived the presentation was great and looked spectacular including a garnish of lettuce, tomato and pickles. The pork was very tender and had just a hint of smoke topped with a sweet barbecue sauce and onion strings. I am a big fan of onion strings and wouldn’t have complained had there been a few more on the sandwich but they were a nice compliment to the meat. I did ask for a little additional barbecue sauce as I thought the sandwich was just a bit lacking in sauce. All in all it was a very good sandwich. I can be a bit of a pulled pork snob but I would have no problem ordering it again. I was not a fan of the chips. They were pretty tasteless unless you really put a lot of extra seasoning on them. But that really wasn’t all that important because the sandwich was more than enough to fill me up.

The service was attentive without being too much or intrusive. The price was in line with similar area restaurants. I enjoyed the visit and would have no issues recommending it. Next time I want to try The Miami another one of the signature line sandwiches.

The Barrel House has locations in Davenport, Moline, Silvis and Dubuque. The location we visited was at 211 E. 2nd, Davenport. Their website is barrelhouse211.com

Love to hear your thoughts.

-Jeff

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Jeff Lynn
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