Whiskey River

Decant food for a bar better than I expected! Ice cold beer. Service is good too! Nice bartenders a little forgetful on times but great staff. Love their fries and the French dip had good flavor.

We were in Ames for the weekend for our son’s hockey tournament and decided to do some exploring. Found this place using the Unilocal app and am so happy I did! The atmosphere, the cold beer, the amazing food, and the wonderful staff make this place a must visit when you are in town!

As someone who did not grow up in Ames, I find Whiskey River rather odd. I’m sure it’s home sweet home for a lot of locals, who I did see in the bar, but to an outsider it’s a bit confounding. It’s a total dive, which I tend to like, but I’m not sure what they do well.
I arrived a few minutes before my group and took a seat at the bar. The bartender promptly acknowledged me and asked if I wanted a drink while waiting for my group to arrive. I said yes and asked for a drink menu. The bartender replied, «We have this one, but it’s not right. We don’t have half the things on there.» Uhm, ok. I saw a tap I recognized and ordered a beer.
Either have an accurate drink menu or don’t have a menu at all. There is no try.
A colleague showed up and ordered a drink that contains orange juice. The bartender asked if she had ever tried the bar’s orange juice before because «it’s awful.» My colleague tasted the orange juice, at the bartender’s insistence, and sure enough, it was not drinkable. The bartender explained that she always asks people to try the juice first because it’s that bad. Bartender would have been better off just saying they don’t have any.
I have to ask, Whiskey River, why are you slinging orange juice you can’t even sell because it’s that bad? Get it together.
If you go in and order something on tap or a standard commercially produced beer I’m sure you’ll be fine. I’m sure it’s wonderful for locals and people who spent their college years there. It’s probably like Cheers, where everyone there knows your name because there’s a loyalty. I’m sure it has a particular clientele, it’s just not me.

Some diversity in tap beer selection. Fairly typical bar food. Nice ambience for a bar, but can get noisy if you want to talk to others in your party. Usually younger college-​age crowd. Service can be spotty. Can be good place to watch sports — if you’re interested in local teams.

Best bar on main street. My boyfriend and I often walk here to get a late snack of Reuben and pulled pork egg rolls. The Moscow mules are the best and they have a huge selection!

Beer selection is better than most bars on Main Street. Servers are always on point. Absolutely love the staff here! Weekends do tend to get a little loud, so we typically frequent on weekdays. On nice days, they open the garage door. Be careful though, the a/​c ducts DO LEAK. And they will leak on you (condensation from the humidity and the cold duct) so be mindful. If the upstairs bathroom is occupied, go down the stairs to the other bathrooms. And have an apple pie shot! They’re the best!

They don’t let you know they can charge gratuity. You have to look for this little sign that tells you so, apparently. Couldn’t find any info about that on their website, either. But that’s no big deal. However, I’m not very happy to learn that this charge almost doubled my tab. Stay away from this place if you don’t want your money stolen.

Whiskey River has gone through a huge change back when I lived in Ames it was a dive bar to the max! With Vikings, and Twins memorabilia on the walls! Cranking out classic rock! It’s was dirty, old, and they had a popcorn machine! I loved it! It was also just a few blocks away from my house!
Now after a huge remodel the place is clean, cosy, and has a retro vibe too it! No more Twins or Vikings pennants, and no more classic rock blaring! No more Popcorn Machine!
But they now have a full menu of food, lots of drink specials always, tv’s playing sports and HGTV, boxing games, pool, and PEOPLE IN THE BAR. Which sometimes was a problem at the old Whiskey River!
I dig the improvements and the overall vibe! The bar tender messed up my beer order but I have never met a beer I didn’t like so I sucked it down and didn’t make a frown!

Neighborhood bar with friendly staff and good drinks. Mixture of high top bar tables and booth and decent bar food.

This is one bar to go if you like pool, cheap beer, live bands, fun conversation, spacious environment.
I never same so many pool tables at the same place. Plus the beer is local and cheap based on the fact that you would have never heard of their names.
Overall the place is great to chill with friends.

I am visiting Iowa State on business. I came into my hotel around 630 and got hungry for dinner. After searching on Unilocal I came to quickly realize that Ames is very tiny and there are not many options here. I finally decided on Whisky River as it had a higher rating than most and also offered alcohol which I could use to unwind.
Walking in, you will notice this place is a sports dive. It happened to have an Iowa game on so the bar was probably busier than normal. About half the seats were taken and I sat at the bar. I heard the Cowboy burger was the thing to get so I ordered that with french fries. The bartenders were very friendly and attentitive. The burger took about 30 minutes to come out unfortunately but maybe being half full is more busy than normal for them. The burger was unfortunately cooked to a gray texture (well done) which makes me believe it starts out frozen. The fries were clearly out of a bag frozen and fried. All in all, it was a mediocre experience and I would recommend trying somewhere else unless you are searching for a greasy dive bar… in which case this fits.

this place is neat inside the girls are friendly the food is fairly good but im giving it 2 stars because the prices are high the drinks are weak the specials always seem to be out (progressive pitchers) you feel like you are in jail or on a realty TV show there’s like 25 cameras all over the place the restrooms smell horrible all the time like they haven’t been cleaned ever. however i did enjoy the bloody mary i had.

Pretty generic bar, with a bunch of wacky décor on walls, really loud music, and drinks, of course. They do have a really delicious BBQ pork eggroll appetizer that is unique and works wonderfully well with just about any drink.

When I was a student, this place was awesome. It reminded me of somewhere my dad would hang out. Beer, good burgers, and really grimy and smoky.
We had stopped in for a beer a while back and were very impressed with the remodel. It’s super clean and nice now, yet it still feels like the same old dive bar from 20 years ago.
Yesterday we stopped in for lunch, since Wallaby’s was closed. We’re very glad Wallaby’s was closed. Had a fantastic burger yesterday, I believe the Cowboy Burger. It was excellent. I miss the crinkle-​cut fries, but the shoestrings were very good, too. My girlfriend had a pulled pork sandwich, which she also thoroughly enjoyed.
So, a great atmosphere, good beer selection, and great food. Amen, go with peace and get a burger and a few beers at the new & improved Whiskey River.

We had lunch here yesterday when we discovered our first choice (Wallaby’s) was closed. I ordered the pulled pork sandwich with sweet and spicy sauce and it was SO GOOD. One of those sandwiches you hope will never end. The meat had a great smoky flavor, the sauce was the perfect balance of spicy and sweet, and the hoagie roll was the perfect density to support it all. I ordered onion rings as well, which were thick cut and breaded to perfection. A+.
My boyfriend had the cowboy burger, which looked delicious as well. Together, our meals and two beers were under $ 20. Great food for a great price!

Very fun bar to be at for a football game, lots of BIG TV’s. Food is no good but what do you expect, it’s a bar.

Older crowd (but not too old, you can find anyone from 50 to 21, so I guess it kinda depends on the night). It actually can be kinda fun. The only bar on Main street that is kinda okay, and after they renovated the place, it looks a lot more welcoming!
Haven’t had the food here, so can’t give my opinion on that.

The whiskey River was completely remodeled last year and it’s a beautiful bar. The food is very good and the beer is cold. Stop by for a good lunch

I miss the old Whiskey River.
After visiting Ames for the first time in years, I was excited to stop in for a drink. I was surprised to see that the bar has been totally renovated. Not sure how I feel about that…
They still have a good beer selection and decent prices. I did notice that they now have a small bottle of Louis XIII, which seems odd for a dive bar in Ames, IA. They are charging more for a shot than we do at the 5 star hotel I work at in Las Vegas. I mean, come on! This is a college town dive bar. It just doesn’t make sense.

Whiskey River is back baby!
After a hiatus of several years, Whiskey River has returned to downtown Ames. There’s been a substantial renovation, but much of the character remains albeit new and different. Even though it’s only been open a few weeks this place looks like it’s been open for a long time. Fantastic neon sign.
They’ve got an interesting menu with many bar-​food staples with some interesting twists. You can get an Vienna beef hot dog topped with pulled pork (the closest thing I’ve seen in comparison with the famous KC BBQ Dog at the Sprint Center) or Mac N’ Cheese.
The previous incarnation of Whiskey River was well known for their burgers so I opted to see if these burgers would inherit the legacy of its’ predecessor. I had the Cowboy Burger: topped with onion rings, bacon and pepperjack cheese. These are very good burgers, with an expertly cooked patty. Very satisying but lacking some accoutrements. It would be launched in to the stratosphere with the addition of a buttered toasted bun, lettuce and tomato.
Sure to be one of my favorite burger n’ beer places for long time to come, this is the fulfillment of a well-​thought, quirky plan for the return of an Ames classic! Big thumbs up.