Old Armory BBQ

We were a group of 36 people leaving the Vesterheim Museum across the street at 5 p.m. and wanting to be on the road at 6. We preordered by dropping off individual orders at noon. Matt, the owner, was very helpful in getting this set up. Everyone praised the food. Even though we were paying individually, we were on our bus at 6. Discovering the two bathrooms in the basement helped a lot, too!

Old Armory BBQ is one of my favorite restaurants in Decorah — tasty food, friendly service and a great value. I love the burgers, tacos and the ribeye — my husband loves the burgers, catfish and the club sandwich. The sides are all pretty good but homemade smoked baked beans are incredible.

What a gem for Decorah! My wife and I had the specials, beef tips and the pulled pork chimichanga, and they were both excellent! The portions were great and I thought the jalepeno cornbread was terrific. I could have just eaten that! They don’t serve alcohol which was a bit of a downer, but I will definitely return when we are back in Decorah.

Love it! The service is always amazing! And the owner is great about helping everyone, he will answer and questions you have, or help you in deciding what you want! The food is made to order and ready quite quickly!
My husband recently had the steak, and he said it’s the best he has had in a long time!
One of my favorites are their Asian Salmon!

Everything we had was really tasty, and came in larger portions than I was expecting, which was a really nice bonus. I got as tender a brisket as I’ve ever seen, really good mac & cheese, and house pickles that were a really nice acidic compliment to the heaviness of a good BBQ meal. Decorah isn’t on our typical route through Iowa, but between here and Toppling Goliath, we may have to adjust our route to include it!

Loved out meals! I had the beef brisket sandwich with green beans and bacon. Wife had the blackened catfish with potato wedges and loved it! What a great find!

We love good BBQ, we decided to try this for lunch. It was okay, good flavor the sauces were alright, blueberry BBQ pretty okay… who knew? The meat could of been a bit more fresh.

Nice menu with everything you would expect from a good BBQ joint. I had the smoked prime rib sandwich, cole slaw, and smoked beans. Very good. Other things on the menu looked interesting — like Asian BBQ Salmon & Blacked Catfish.

In Decorah on a fishing trip. Found Old Armory BBQ on Unilocal and decided to give it a try. Brisket was excellent but fatty. Sweet potato tater tots were dynamite. Great prices. Nice ambience. Bar attached. Fun place

Yum! We were in Decorah for a night and this place was so good we ate there for both lunch and dinner! The prices are super reasonable and everything we tried was delicious-​smoked chicken tacos, beef brisket sandwich, pork ribs, cornbread, mac & cheese, and sweet potato tator tots. This will be one of those places I fantasize about when I’m hungry for years to come. I wish they would open up another location in Minneapolis!

Probably one of the best BBQ I’ve ever had. Brisket sandwich was so tasty, probably should’ve gone for two! Meat had full flavor & I could’ve eaten without sauce (that good). Sauces made the sandwich that much better though! Sweet Potato tots were very flavorful and a great side. Great environment (sucker for blues in BBQ) & will definitely return!

We were visiting Decorah and wanted some good food that would fit two distinctively different diets. The vegetarian and the two non-​vegetarians. This place fit the bill. The staff was nice, the food was great. We went here twice in the three days we were in town.
We’ll be back again next year when we are in town again!

Wow. Best BBQ I have had in ages. You must get the pulled pork. So tender and perfectly seasoned, doesn’t even need sauce. But, great sauces too!

Fresh green beans, succulent Iowa pork chops, ribs with the meat falling off, craft beer, football game on the TV, and old time jazz on the sound system… Close to perfection. What a great surprise.

By the time I reached signs for Decorah during my Minneapolis-​to-​Dubuque trip, I was so hungry that I was willing to lower my dining standards considerably. Fortunately, I didn’t have to.
Decorah’s a bit off the main road, and at first I found myself on the east side of town, wondering if the place even had a restaurant. Then I happened upon a happening, lit-​up, picturesque downtown lined with eateries, other businesses and cars. It was nice to see a small town with an active core at 7 p.m. or so on a Friday.
I pulled over and checked local restaurants’ Unilocal ratings, and Old Armory scored the highest. That rating turned out to be well-​deserved, as I enjoyed a large salad laden with meat, good music (Don McLean’s «American Pie» seemed to be playing the entire 20 minutes I was in the restaurant), interesting peripheral conversations among the locals and pro hoops on the TV. The salad was way too large for one sitting and provided a nice late-​night meal later.
I recommend this restaurant to passersby; I also recommend checking Decorah out, if only as part of a five-​minute detour. It’s a great slice of small-​town Americana.

I had the pulled pork tacos, my wife had the chicken nachos. Both were outstanding. Excellent /​friendly service by the owner.
Can’t wait to go back!
Brian

Baby back ribs seemed a little dry honestly. The cole slaw and the seasonal veggies were very tasty. I was a bit surprised when I paid via credit card, that the lowest % for tip was 15%, especially since you order on your own at the counter, no table service. Plus I ordered take out, might want to change the settings.

Ok… you are in Decorah, IA… um you are not going to get a lot of choices for food outside of the norm. This place used to be the old Café Deluxe and it is quite good. This def beats the chain bbq restaurants out there. It get’s crowded here during the work days and it is a self service meaning your order and then wait. Why they ask for a tip before you even eat is beyond me. When you see that option just skip it even though it looks like you can’t. If you like the service just leave money at the table! Nice outdoor seating. The Iowa nachos were a heart attack but were pretty good.

I had the beef brisket platter with bacon green beans and smoked beans. Green beans were cooked perfectly and fresh. No canned beans here. Side jalapeño cornbread was a nice extra. Highly recommend this place.

Stopped by on a Monday evening on our way back from a trip to Duluth. Decent crowd, nice quick service. Struck up a conversation with Matt the owner who told us they had only been open for about 4 – 6 weeks at that point (about a month ago).
We had the pulled pork and I believe the turkey. The good — the sauce and the sides. Not so good, the pulled pork was dried out. Clearly on the warmer for too long. When the owner asked how it was I told him. To his credit he agreed and went and got a fresher piece of pork. He also let us taste a new sauce he was working on kind of a Carolina /​KC combo. It showed a lot of potential .
I am veteran BBQ fan having toured Memphis, KC and St. Louis among others. 3 stars for effort and execution. Great potential.