Rock Bar American Grill

Came here on NYE. Excellent boneless wings, attractive waitresses (equally great service) and awesome environment.

Nachos are nasty. Cheese sauce, not grated. Water was good. Probably will not return.

Great food, prices, and hospitality! The buffalo chicken salad was very large and priced nicely. I received more chicken on the salad than I could get for the same price at BWW. And, the chicken was tasty and great quality. I forgot our waitress’ name but she was so kind and attended to our every need. It’s a great place for happy hour, dinner date, and a night out on the town. I’ll definitely go back!

Pretty Good! My wife and I stopped here for dinner before a concert. We got the pulled pork, fries, and a chicken Cesar salad. Plenty of TVs, good rock music, and good wait staff. Not a place for a quiet dinning experience.

The first time I went here, I was just grabbing some cocktails with a group of friends. The drinks are great: tasty, generously sized, and fairly priced. Our waitress was a little flustered because it was busy, but in general, she was pretty nice. My friends and I all wanted to pay separately, so we all started our own tabs, which the waitress accommodated without any trouble. BUT THEN… the waitress was nowhere to be found when we wanted to close out, and after waiting almost a half hour for her, we just went to the bar to pay, get our cards back and leave. So we approached the bar, and the bartender was completely unprofessional and rude. My friends and I politely asked for our receipts and our cards back, explaining that we were all on separate tabs, and the bartender glared at us and said, «we don’t do that,» and walked away to chat with other patrons at the bar. My friends and I turned to each other in shock and waited another five minutes for the rude bartender to return. During those five minutes, the bartender took shots with other patrons, pulled down his pants in front of everyone, and continued to glare at us as we tried to flag him down. This man was wasted and acting a fool. I thought it was all a joke! Eventually, he came back and we asked for our checks once again. Although we told him our names so he could easily find our cards and give us our receipts, he grabbed EVERY credit card with an open tab and rudely sifted through all of them until he came across ours. Once he found them, he literally threw them at us and walked away, making us wait another five minutes to sign our checks. I’ve never experienced such rude service anywhere – it was truly incredible.
The second time, in an effort to give this place another chance, I tried their lunch. The food was so disappointing! I ordered the fish and chips and it was almost inedible. The fish was overcooked, the breading was borderline burnt and very salty. The fries were soggy and INCREDIBLY salty. I couldn’t even eat half of the sad little pile of fries. The worst part was: I went here with my boss, and the rude bartender from my earlier experience was our waiter! During this experience, he was inattentive – failing to check in on us or give any refills – and when he was greeting us and taking our orders, he was overly sweet to the point of insincerity. I had to put on a serious poker face whenever he came to the table. At least he didn’t appear to be drunk this time! But still: so awkward!
I’m not the type of person who normally writes scathing reviews, but my experiences at Rock Bar have just been SO bad. I don’t recommend this place at all.

Excellent food! I had the smothered chicken sandwich — done perfectly and steak fries were hot and crispy. My husband loved his wrap and had grilled asparagus for his side (delicious and also cooked perfectly)!
We did not try to ride the mechanical bull but it looked like fun — maybe next time — We’ll be back for sure!

We had lunch here and it was a good experience. The menu variety was better than I expected. We had a fairly large group and the server worked hard to be attentive and quick. Good experience.

I’m not in to the «All American» type food places, I really just don’t like burgers for the most part but I was pleased to find out they have way more then that to offer. I tried some of my boyfriends burger just to check and it was really good however.
I’ve eaten there four or five separate times, from afternoon until late night, it’s so nice to have the late food option other then Taco Bell or McDonald’s. The food has been fresh and hot (clean oil in the fryers are noticeable). The service is always chipper and quick and more then willing to help, I also love knowing the owner is obsessed with keeping the kitchen overly clean, he may have a little OCD but I’m totally fine with that!
As far as a fun night out this place nails it. They have a mechanical bull, again not MY thing but people have so much fun with it, it’s fun to watch. Plus it’s nice to see something different in the downtown area, who knows maybe some day I’ll give it a shot (haha — probably not). Service in the bar is quick and friendly and always seem to be having a good time which encourages everyone to have a good time as well!
Over all you get the sense of a group of people that strive to accommodate their clientele instead of the entitled servers I tend run into at so many places these days. I always have a great time there and highly recommend it! If you happen to have a bad experience, let them know I’m certain they will do all they can to make it right. It’s not their typical business practice to provide less the stellar service so give them another shot at showing you what they’re made of!

Decent atmosphere. The service is average; our waiter was pleasant but not personable, and took 15 minutes before acknowledging us or taking our drink order. The menu is a bit underwhelming, but the prices are low. However, you also get what you pay for. Our meals were made with cheap ingredients and tasted as such. It was a fine experience, but not impressive in the least bit. We won’t return.

I am feeling rather conflicted on this review. It was some parts great and some parts… meh. So, we came in after our first two attempts of finding a good lunch spot failed. We walked in and saw the mechanical bull and thought «Okay, this is neat. Let’s give it a shot!»
So, after waiting around awkwardly and getting the stare down by rough looking biker dudes we were greeted by a friendly waitress and escorted to our booth. Hubby ordered coffee, but he got his cream in a Dixie cup. Sweet Potato fries were a bit overdone, and they forgot his side dish.
The service was good, and they were exceptionally friendly and polite.

I don’t even know where to begin, this was by the worst experience I’ve had. I ordered a Miami Vice with a shot of Malibu rum on it but when it came the «waitress» said it’s mafe with Malibu so I didn’t add the extra. I left it at that thinking it had to get better. Did I mention it took forever for the waitress to even acknowledge or table. So we ordered our meals and after waiting an hour she comes back over to tell us she forgot to hit submit ib the orders. Wet all had burgers and I ordered mine with American cheese rather than chedder, when it came out it had chedder. I told her and she took it back only top come back 2 minutes later staying they don’t have American cheese.
So all that being said, I was so frustrated that i just told her to take our back and not to worry about it. She then said I’ll get you a round of drinks for all the issues, well when the check came she didn’t do as she said so by this time I was so over it i just asked her to take the bill and she argued with me. Never will I go back.
If i could give it less then one star I would.

This one left me conflicted. I’ve been 3 times and each time has been different.
The service has been average, the bartenders are engaging and bubbly (I’m stealing that from another review I think), fairly playful and cheerful.
My standard bar approach here twice, me at the bar a bit later on a Thursday night, the place was pretty busy, open for about 2 weeks. Seems like they have most of the kinks worked out — my burger came cooked as ordered, nothing to rave about but a solid burger for this price, decent portion of fries. The beer I washed it down with was pricey, they’ve got your standard 8 – 10 draft rail with a couple domestics and shock-​top, Guinness, and even Stone IPA (my favorite craft). A 6-​pack could be had from the store for the price of a pint here.
yep, mechanincal bull. Stay classy, Cedar Rapids? Décor described by other accurate, exposed brick and beams, HVAC, stand-​alone bar in the middle of the space, a few elevated booths along the walls and high-​tops otherwise for seating.
Lets just say they’re aiming for the ‘high-​class country’ feel, that is folks who consider themselves cowboys and country folk but haven’t haven’t set foot in a stable in years, if ever. They’ll take your money just as well, though, so give it a shot.

Cold Ribs. Cold Mashed Potatoes. Cold Pulled Pork. Only foods that were hot came from the fryer (fries & chicken bites.) Ribs were reheated in the microwave when I sent them back. (Server confirmed.) Pretty sure the ribs and pulled pork weren’t smoked in house. Tasted like and had the consistency of precooked processed food from the grocery store. I’m betting that they are precooked and simply heated up in the microwave. $ 50 bill for 2 adults and 1 kid with one $ 6 beer. Way overpriced

My husband and I, along with another couple, ate here for the first time tonight. We went in with low expectations and they were meet. One star is for the experience and the other is for the cool mechanical bull.
Here’s the run down.
Décor: I believe this was the Blend location in a previous life. So there are the trendy brick walls, the trendy industrial air/​heat pipes and the trendy craft beer selection wall advertisements.
I love the whole «urban renewal look» but I’m tired of paying extra for it. How am I paying for it? By the inflated prices for «bar on the corner» quality food. Plus, those high ceilings make everything seem loud!
Tv’s are every where, because no one can go out and eat without seeing tv. Great, but the screen I was facing was showing an episode of Sex in America (something like that) and I got to watch computer generated penis’ become erect and uterus’ tingle (no sound, but that uterus looked happy). I would have rather watched NBA playoffs. See how desperate I was.
Service: Our perky waitress was attired in short shorts and cowboy boots. Ah yes, looked good on Jessica Simpson in Dukes of Hazard Movie, but left us wishing for less. When asked for suggestions, «I love everything!» Sure you do, but what actually tastes good? She wasn’t bad, but she hopefully won’t make this a career.
Drinks: Beer was pricey; more than White Star Ale House and more than Newbo Ale House (both over priced as well). Tap beer was not overly cool. Ok for my husband’s Guinness, but not so good for my Bud Light.
Food: We ordered onion rings as an appetizer and at first look and bite we were very disappointed. I highly doubt that these are made fresh there. They were very thin cut and very greasy. The amount of salt was excessive and for seven dollars I would have hoped that four could have been satisfied. The good thing about them sucking, there were plenty.
Husband and I ordered burgers, friend ordered ribs and his wife had the pulled pork.
Burgers were greasy and lacking flavor. His was cooked to order, mine was slightly over done. The bun was good and that pickle was a damn fine pickle.
I had the burger that had pulled pork on it, more on this in a moment and he had the smother burger — onions and pepper jack cheese– nothing exciting. The steak fries were good.
So this «American Grill» seems to be setting itself up as a bbq restaurant and burgers type joint. Fail. This was the worst bbq I have had since Fareway and Hy-​Vee started selling it.
First the pulled pork was saturated in a thick, sticky sweet red sauce. Yuck! There was no flavor other than the sauce. I could have been eating pulled woodchuck for all I know. If I want pulled pork, I want the pork to be what I taste. BBQ sauce is for bad cooking or to enhance, this didn’t enhance. I didn’t eat the pork on my sandwich and my friend didn’t eat much of hers.
The ribs were «falling off the bone», which is great if you have no teeth and have to gum your food. These appeared to be boiled first and then «smoked/​cooked/​microwaved» whatever they did to them. Ribs should still have a little resistance when you eat them. They too had a crappy sauce smeared on them. I didn’t pay attention as my friend ordered, so I don’t know if they are available with a dry rub only.
Mechanical Bull: OK, this doesn’t seem the right atmosphere for this bad bull, he even has horns. Perhaps Hazard County (the bar up the street) would be a better home? Rides are 2 for $ 5 and the only one we saw on this was one of the servers (?) who obviously didn’t have any silverware to roll.
I give this place three months before they become a distant memory. Don’t waste your time or your taste buds.