‘Quad Cities Restaurants You Miss Most’ Post Went Viral

Here's what I know about Quad Citians. We know our restaurants and we have FEELINGS about our favorite Quad City restaurants; especially the ones that aren't here anymore.

I'm a native Quad Citian and without mentioning my age (a-hem) it's safe to say I've been to most all the QC restaurants and I've seen them come and go. So have many of our KIIK 104.9 listeners.

Earlier this week I posted a question on our KIIK Facebook page. In that post I said, "Tell us a Quad-City restaurant you loved that isn't around anymore."  

The post blew up. Believe me. My phone is still lighting up like a Christmas tree with notifications each time someone comments. The last time I checked the post had over 1,700 comments, over 10,000 engagements and reached over 29,000 people. That's HUGE for our hometown KIIK 104.9 Facebook page.

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It was so fun watching all the posts come in as it took me down memory lane. You see I was the kid and grandkid of restaurant families. My grandparents, Irv and Lucille French owned the El Rancho Villa restaurant in Bettendorf where the Tree House restaurant stands today.

My mom and her husband and later my brother, owned Kernan's Riverview restaurant in Princeton, Iowa. So, I know my way around a restaurant and have been to practically every place to eat in the Quad Cities.Here's what I learned from the post.

You all have great memories! You mentioned some restaurants that go way back like Pepe's Tacos, Bettendorf and one of the first Mexican restaurants in town. The Dock, Davenport...fine dining right on the river. So much on the river, that it was devastated with flooding a number of time and was finally demolished. How many of us went there for Sunday brunch or dinner before the prom?

The Plantation/Velies, in Moline...another fine dining place with it's signature Plantation salad dressing, the Tahitian room and the tragic murder of Plantation owner, Nic Cherikos. Killed in his own office by a disgruntled employee.

 Sambo's, Riefe's, Chi-Chi's, Davenport Pizza Works, the Star Sandwich Shop, the Greenbriar Tavern, Bon-Aire, O'Meara's and the pizza at the Arrowhead Tavern in Bettendorf.

Here's what surprised me though. Many commented about missing Ponderosa. Specifically the Ponderosa in Rock Island. It's a chain restaurant, but apparently you made a lot of good memories there. There was a Ponderosa on Avenue of the Cities (23rd Avenue) and maybe on Kimberly Road in Davenport too. You had some fine memories of learning how to cut your steak there. Many of you worked there in high school too.

The Ground Round was also a popular place. The building used to be a Los Agaves and is now a Mexican seafood restaurant across the street from Griggs Music on North Brady in Davenport.

I loved it there. You got free peanuts and could toss the shells on the floor. Specials on beer and free wings on Monday night made it the perfect place for an after work happy hour.

I could write pages and pages about the Quad City restaurants we miss. It's fun to drive down Memory Lane again sometimes.

And speaking of places we miss, it looks like Ming Wah in Moline will reopen April 23. Read more about that here.

If you'd like to add to our KIIK 104.9 Facebook restaurant post, please do. Send me photos if you have any or post them. You can reach me at tami@kiik1049.com. Now I'm hungry!