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    Old Armory BBQ

    3.6 (92 reviews)
    ModerateBarbeque, American
    Closed 11:00 am - 8:00 pm

    Old Armory BBQ Photos

    Business Info

    OLD ARMORY BBQ ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Moderate noise
    Outdoor seating
    Good for groups

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    a man sitting at a table with a plate of food
    Marky N.

    Far better than the first time we tried it. We avoided it for two years. The difference now I believe is that the owner was there this time, so everything was delicious, generous and worked smoothly! The new place is more comfortable than the he old place! If you didn't like it before, give them another chance. I'm glad I did! Here's my smoked cheese steak.

    Smoked Chicken Sandwich Potato Wedges Mac - n - Cheese
    Johanna B.

    LOVE Old Armory. I have been going to Old Armory for years and the would never disappoints. When you come in, you go straight to the register to order your food and pay. I really enjoy this way of eating. I typically will sit in the big booths over by the window so I can people watxh. If you don't know what to order, I recommend any of the pulled chicken or pork sandwiches. I also recommend the mac and cheese. It is some of the best mac and cheese I have ever had. I am so glad Old Armory has stuck around all these years. They really have some amazing food.

    Jadyn T.

    The Luther Basketball team loves Old Armory. Always friendly and the best BBQ place in town. Owner is always suggesting new sources and thing to try. One of the best food spots in tow

    Menu 1
    Michael M.

    Having spent my formative years in Kansas City and many moons in Texas on numerous business trips I know BBQ. I know good BBQ. And while I consider myself a native of Kansas City, I prefer Texas style BBQ even over my beloved KC. The ironic thing is the best BBQ brisket I've ever had wasn't a product of Kansas City or Texas but rather the product of Marco Antonio, a fishing guide from Punta Herrero, Quintana Roo, Mexico. He slow smoked that bad boy for an unholy number of hours, with nothing but salt, pepper and I believe a touch of cumin. Damn thing was like butter. Add to that beer and eating it with sand between my toes and Nova in a bikini all adds up to the best BBQ I've ever had. But your chances of ever having that or even finding Marco are slim to none since he has relocated to Costa Rica so we'll stick to stateside this time around. I ended up in Decorah so I could help a couple of guys that work for me. Decorah is a 3 1/2 hour drive for me and it's a Monday. Mondays are generally my office days. That and Nova had kept me up half the night talking about how we need to communicate more all because she caught me watching a YouTube video about "How to tell if she's a psycho". I was not in the mood but being the boss sometimes you just do what you gotta do. I was pleasantly surprised/pissed when I arrived because my guys already had completed 90% of the job. On the one hand, I was happy that I'm smart enough to hire people better than me and on the other a bit pissed because I drove all that way but regardless I thanked them for a job well done and asked them to pick a place for lunch. The older of the 2 picked BBQ. The younger picked Old Armory. Fine, let's do it. The Old Armory is located downtown in an extremely cool old building and walking into it you are drowned in a smoky aroma that immediately causes your mouth to water. It smelled like a BBQ joint should smell. Each one of us ordered the Brisket platter. 1/2 lb of Brisket, jalapeno cornbread, pickles and 2 sides. The sides we got were coleslaw, smoked beans, house BBQ chips, sweet potato tots and red beans and rice. First up, the cornbread. The cornbread was the star of the show for two of use. It was more like a muffin. Sweet, moist and delicious. The sweet potato tots taste like you'd think sweet potato tots would taste like and in all honesty, weren't that bad but when I think sweet potato I think lots of butter and brown sugar which of course the tots lacked. The chips and were a bit weak on seasoning and the coleslaw was average at best. The red beans and rice were nothing like the red beans and rice I have had anywhere, ever, in my entire life. In my 50+ years on this planet, every time I have ever ordered red beans and rice it has always, ALWAYS been served wet and by wet I mean it has a gravy. This was more like refried beans mixed with rice. It was lifeless and pasty. I suspect that if rice a roni offered red beans and rice it would be like this, only better. I don't even think you can legally call it red beans and rice. Popeyes red beans and rice destroys whatever this stuff is. Lastly the brisket. Being the fan of Texas BBQ that I am I was excited to learn that their brisket is dry rubbed and smoked for 12 hours which in my mind is 3 hours short but I'll take the heat for the brisket because I ordered it wrong. I appreciate that they do not smother it sauce but rather let the meat speak for itself because to me that shows a level of confidence in the pit masters abilities, however, when I ordered I just said I'll have the brisket platter. What I should have said is I'll have the brisket platter and Id like my cuts to come from the fatty side. Don't get me wrong here. The brisket was alright but the cuts we all received were from the lean side and were, therefore, a bit on the dry side. Each of us had to use liberal amounts of sauce but again, this is on me. Great atmosphere. Great building. Great smell but overall it did not translate to the food this time around. I'll hit em up again next time I'm in Decorah and order the Brisket the right way and pray to the BBQ gods that whatever the bean smash with rice was was just a mistake.

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    Toppling Goliath Brewing - Seismic Sue

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    Second time coming in. Can't say I like their beer but the food is tasty…read more Got a burger and cheese curds this time. Super filling. The fist time, we shared a crab Rangoon pizza, which was oddly delicious. Will definitely come again.

    This was not on our hoppassport- so, not an official Hundreds of Hops Amazing Brewery Race Stop…read more We have been meaning to swing in for quite some time &, while on a bike trip, decided this was THE time to go out of our way to get here - scenic riding to an out of the way location, perfect! First things first, it's out of the way for almost everyone, no doubt. That said, once you arrive there's a large open parking lot & tons of seating, as this place is huge. We opted for bar seating, tho tables were also readily available. Speaking of huge, the tap list is also rather large. I love the way they do the flights, with no real set number, just as few or as many tasters as you'd like. Each taster has FANTASTIC signage, keeping you informed as to what you are drinking. We did a flight & 1 full high abv BA. The oktoberfest had lovely spice. This was also our lunch stop & we ordered a pretzel with 2 sauces - cheese & mustard, the mustard sauce is a sweet mustard, be warned & the cheese sauce was so-so. The pretzel was a bready-type, as in pretzel shaped breadstick. While it wasn't bad, it also wasn't that authentic Bavarian-style one might be expecting, as I know we were expecting it. I wouldn't order it again here. We also order the Blackened Mahi Tacos. These went nicely with the brews & we both enjoyed them. Initially, service was very attentive, and we were adding as we went. Once we stopped adding to the order, service tapped out & we ended up standing at our stop waiting for the bill. Nothing too drastic. We had both used the restrooms in turns while waiting & the bill came up just as the 2nd of us walked back up. All in all, pricing wasn't crazy high, service was good, the selection was varied & appeared to have something for everyone. The vibe was a bit underwhelming, perhaps because they had just opened for the day(?) We were both glad that we'd made the stop & there was only 1 beer from our selection that neither of us cared for. Each of us disliked 1 other, but that worked, as the other 1 did like it. The only real disappointment was the pretzel, as pretzel snobs... if there is such a thing as a pretzel snob...

    The Waterfront Restaurant & Tavern

    The Waterfront Restaurant & Tavern

    (384 reviews)

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    We are SO incredibly sad to hear this fine establishment will be closing its doors this coming…read moreMarch. While not always on the menu, ask for a raspberry lemon drop and you won't regret it. The BEST one I've ever had. I will be begging the bartenders to teach me their ways before they close their doors. This is our top choice in town to celebrate accomplishments and achievements. The tavern and patio offer a more casual ambiance, while the restaurant itself is chic and has an element of more formality. The staff is always ALWAYS incredible and thoughtful. The food is always on point, interesting, and flavorful. This place will be well-missed come March, but I know I will be back here plenty in the mean time to get my fill and and support this staff before then.

    The Waterfront is truly a very special restaurant. We were in the area and were so in love with how…read morebeautiful it was along the Mississippi River walking path that we dropped by here for an early dinner. We were so fortunate that they were able to seat us on the outdoor patio facing the water. This restaurant isn't just great for the views--the food and drinks here were phenomenal as well. Our appetizers of beer-battered cheese curds and mussels were so flavorful and hit the spot. We also loved our fish tacos and linguini with scallops (I absolutely loved the crushed red pepper that came with it too!). Our food all paired nicely with their extensive cocktail/drinks menu, which included many different breweries and distilleries. This is one of those restaurants you'll remember visiting forever--definitely come visit if you can!

    Twin Springs Supper Club

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    (49 reviews)

    My favorite place! Everything is always seasoned and cooked to perfection. Staff is attentive and…read morecourteous. Owner checks on tables and takes pride in his restaurant.

    It certainly pays to go off the beaten path... My parents recently went to a family reunion in…read moreDecorah and told me about this meal they had at Twin Springs Supper Club. My mom said that if was totally my vibe and boy was she right. After winding down some gravel roads outside of Decorah we came across this restaurant that looks more like a cabin. It's cozy with limited tables inside and a beautiful patio space with Christmas lights, gorgeous views of the woods surrounding the property, and heaters for when it gets chilly. They had a great cocktail list with seasonal offerings and a food menu that made it difficult to choose what to order. Everything sounded good and we finally decided that we had to go with the surf and turf because I love shrimp, but heard how amazing the steaks are. We had these amazing little eggrolls with a sweet chili sauce and I loved the French onion soup. It's no wonder this restaurant ranked number one in five different categories this year by OpenTable for Iowa. If I could give you a couple of recommendations based off of my experience, it would be to make sure you have a reservation because it fills up and if you enjoy red meat, you have to get a steak. This 4 ounce fillet had me wishing that I had opted for the ribeye instead just because I wanted more.

    Spring Lake Inn

    Spring Lake Inn

    (47 reviews)

    $$

    Our friends took us there after highly recommending it. We made the 2hr drive for what was to be to…read moredie for food. Sad to say I was disappointed. We ordered two appetizers- river rat balls & brushetta. Both were really good. All four of ordered the Saturday special of prime rib. Came with two sides. The side salad was the bombdotcom with homemade croutons. The American fries were decent but a bit soggy. The prime rib had ZERO seasoning and I paid an upcharge of $1.00 to make it Cajun. Nope... no flavor. Nada. Just a hunk of meat. I did scope out all other food coming from the small kitchen where you could hear the staff having a great time. It looked good so maybe we ordered wrong... but the menu is limited on prime rib days and what I normally would order wasn't available. Side note- I've worked in the restaurant business... not one person in the kitchen had hair nets on. Food was handles with barehands and I saw repeated cross contamination. The prime rib they cut our hunks off of laid on a counter dripping blood onto the floor that then had a towel thrown over it. I didn't feel great about eating our meal after noting all this.

    I've been coming to Spring Lake Inn for around 25 years. Over the past 5 or 6 years it really went…read moredown in quality. Everything use to be perfect. I stopped going to Spring Lake for a few years and just recently went back when I heard they had new owners. I was pleasantly surprised! I had the peel and eat shrimp which were cooked perfectly. My dad had the prime rib, while it did not have the herb crust it used to have back in the day, it was wonderfully seasoned. My husband got the smash burger- which was not smashed at all and was pretty thick. But it was juicy and he loved it. My mom shared the prime rib with my dad but got a plate of American fries that were just like how they used to be and she loved them. The cheese curds were cooked just right. The portion was smaller than in the past, but they are around the same size or a bit larger than the other restaurants around town. Our favorite servers, Nicole, was there! Overall, we're were very happy with our meal and will be back soon!

    Old Armory BBQ - bbq - Updated May 2026

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