City Limits Saloon and Grill – Rock Island, IL

A friend of mine from GRADESCHOOL and I got reconnected after 20+ years and he and I have tried to get together over the past couple of family holidays, to no avail. We finally both ended up being back in Illinois around Thanksgiving. We decided we’d head to a long-standing staple of the Quad Cities divey bar and grill scene – City Limits. It used to be a rundown scary kind of dark bar, but they threw some serious remodeling funding at it years back and it’s actually a great place to eat now. Of course, I forgot which day we planned to meet there and got all panicky, but we figured it out eventually.

MyKrore met me there and thankfully, we had seen photo of each other before this meeting, else I wouldn’t have known him from anyone. He was always taller than I was back in gradeschool, but that was 20 years ago. Now he’s a mountain of a lumberjack man, which is hilarious because his mother had found some memorabilia from when we were kids in the family hope chest, which he brought. MyKrore held up a tiny shirt from when we bowled in a league together. It was REALLY small. I flat out said, “You never fit in that shirt did you?” It was classic and awesome reminiscing about the old days when we were both smaller and more awkward. Fortunately, we both grew up… some of us more than others…

MyKrore had been to City Limits last year and told me they were known for their hand breaded tenderloins. The bartender who took our order said it’s his own special recipe for breading and he was pretty proud of it. I’ve always been a fan of tenderloins when they’re hand breaded and this sounded amazing to me. You know what else is amazing? We were back in Illinois where places actually carry Pepsi products – Mt. Dew for the sasquatch, thank you sir! It’s sooooooo nice, and yes, I make it more of a big deal than it is, but it’s one of those things noticeable to those of us who care. And you know what’s even MORE amazing? I ordered this sammich with bacon. Dur. Why WOULDN’T I?

The tenderloin came out and looked delicious. It comes with a pickle and a bag of chips. I got rid of the chips quickly but only because I was waiting for this delicious fritter of deep fried pork to cool off. This thing was really quite amazing. Not greasy at all, but not dry. I only used ketchup because I’m an addict, not because it needed it to flavor or lubricate. I don’t think you’ll go wrong if you order the tenderloin here.

The people are nice and friendly and it’s not a loud place at all. If you’re a Quad City native and you were scared to go to City Limits years back, don’t be now. It’s really awesome and I’d eat there again over and over. [MyKrore, hilarious note, one of our gradeschool classmates (whose name rhymes with Mindy, but starts with a K) works at City Limits every day EXCEPT SUNDAY – when we were there. Small freakin world.]

Top 5 things about City Limits
1. Hand breaded tenderloin
2. They have Dew
3. Hanging with MyKrore after 20+ years
4. Super awesome staff
5. It’s got a pretty good sized bar menu

Bottom 5 things
1. Gerd would have loved this place and I’m sure would have enjoyed crap talking me to my long lost gradeschool friend and reminding us how old we are…
2. The City Limits website music makes me want to kill
3. I wish I didn’t have to drive multiple hours after dinner, or I would have enjoyed some serious drinking with MyKrore – next time, brother
4. We missed our other gradeschool classmate by one day
5. Seriously, you’d be hard pressed to find something bad about this place

www.citylimitssaloonandgrill.com