The location/ambiance of this restaurant is really making me want to bump it up to a 4-star rating, but I just can't. It was good food, but not great. It was a neat building with a cool history, but just not enough to make me bump it up a star. I'll say it's a 3.5 star... We ate lunch here as a party of 9. I'm not sure if we called ahead or not, but at any rate, our tables were put together very quickly. We opted to sit inside as it was a touch warm in Burlington for some folks. The story of the building is quite interesting, and the front of the menu tells you all about it. It's got a really neat feel to it: exposed brick walls, old hardwood floors, etc. The menu is quite varied and is your typical "American" fare: burgers, sandwiches, salads, pastas. Even though I'm from Texas and know that the best Mexican/Tex-Mex clearly doesn't come from Iowa, I went with the Chicken Quesadillas.... and I was pleasantly surprised. Granted, the salsa they serve with it was obviously canned/jarred, but that's to be expected in a lot of places. The chicken had good flavor, and the cheese was just the right amount inside the quesadilla. For some reason, they set the `dillas on a bed of salad greens, topped with cheese. So some of that cheese melted to the underside of the tortillas. Then they sprinkled some cheese on top, so some of that melted to the top. The biggest downside of this place was the service. Our server was quite nice, just a little slow. Water glasses sat empty for a little while, and some dishes came out a little wrong (one person ordered chips for a side and received fries; another ordered fries and received chips, etc). They were completely happy to fix any mistakes, and brought out the right sides for both people. I think this would probably be a cool place to eat (outside, so you can get a view) in the right weather. Reading Yelp now, I see that another reviewer has said "don't be in a hurry, because you will be disappointed" and I have to agree with him. Overall, though, if I found myself in Burlington, Iowa again... I'd come back. Hopefully it'd be a little cooler outside and I'd sit on the patio and have a drink. They had a large selection of beers on tap! read more

Favorite place to meet friends whenever we're in town. Love the fried pickles, thinly sliced, perfectly crispy. The chicken hooter pizza is fantastic, great blend of flavors. The patio is a super fun gathering place along the river in the summertime! read more

Wanted to love this place - as the Mgr/owner(?) clearly cared about customers and apologized for kitchen being backed up. I appreciated that and we weren't in a hurry. But, the food was just ok. Salmon was over cooked and DRY! Our friends' gave theirs the same- couple stars. It's a Great location for outdoor drinks read more

First visit here. For lunch, we ordered the Grilled Mac & Cheese with Bbq Brisket and the Meatloaf Horseshoe, both were excellent. Our server, Christina, was a pleasure. The atmosphere is casual without being too casual. We highly recommend this establishment and for you to ask for Christina. You will not be disappointed. read more

This was our second time here. The first time was OK but over priced and watered down soup. Tonight most things lack seasoning. We ordered breaded cheese cauliflower 8.95 we were surprised that it was such a small amount in the order total of 10 small pieces, it was served on a small saucer. I got the small prime rib $23 cooked right but not much flavor and the au jus was little more than brown oily water I added salt to it, that helped some. ( I don't use much salt at home because of sensitivity to sodium, so my husband knew the flavor wasn't there just by seeing me use table salt.) As I looked at other tables next to us I watched as nearly everyone had to add salt too! It's bad when you see a guy salting his hamburger!! My husband had full rack of ribs $24. These were great! The flavor was spot on! But the disappointment was with the sides, corn bread so dry it was just not anything to enjoy eating, the baked beans and very bland Cole slaw served in 2oz plastic cups on the plate. It just didn't show as fine dining but more as fast food or Hy-Vee deli take out. So if they want to charge $23-$25 for a meal they should invest in dishes and lose the plastic cups. And train the cooks to season the food. It is a nice building with lots of character, there was live music tonight. The wait staff did a great job at filling drinks. read more

We visit the Drake usually on Friday night for the happy hour and pizza . Usually pretty busy but the outside seating and pizza are worth it . As you enjoy the outdoors the smell of the smoker is heavenly . Menu read more

Awesome Elk burger and both the manager and my waitress were awesome. Baked beans were good and the atmosphere was great. Really clean.

Ordered Parmesan-crusted fish, but it was coated with plain panko. Edges were hard and they looked like frozen kind. Corn was discolored and tasted weird. Salad was made with iceberg lettuce for the price of $16.00 read more

The food is substandard. Really for the price you'd think you would be served on plates instead of plastic cups. Had to send the fish back ...crust hard as a rock and very little fish inside. Forgot to give us our fries. Horrible food. Will definitely never return! Best part was a wonderful waitress! read more

The Drake - Plastic in a 4 star restaurant? Ugh - Bars Near Me - Burlington, Iowa

Wow! My wife and I came here for the first time today. What a taste sensation. I had a tenderloin and fries. The wife had steak quesadilla. Best we've had. We will return. read more

See all

worst experience of my life. There was so much hair in the food and the server acted like she didn't even see it, she was very rude about and didn't even seem to care about the customer. read more

Not worth the money. For the price you think they would have better dishes then plastic plates. The Elk steak was delicious but the portion was not worth the $22.00. French dip meat was very dry and the salad was brought with dinner not before. Sat inside and had pesky flys flying around read more

OMG flys are horrible here. Good happy hour ok food but man the flys where horrible. I've seen other comments of the same not sure why they would not try to do something about that. This was in the outside sitting which seems is the best in Burlington. read more

Beautiful old brick building with history! Right on the Mississippi with a patio, but was to cold and rainy to sit outside. I had a special for $8.99 or $9.99, either one was way worth it! 8 oz sirloin, baked potato and green beans, boy it hit the spot! My husband had a burger that was flavorful and big! I would stop here again if ever I the area! read more

Barbeque brisket 75 pct fat. Disappointed to say the least. Service was good, margaritas were weak though. Will try another time and see if they can tweak their product. read more

Very disappointed my last few trips. Both times the steak was very over cooked, baked potato was scorched to the point I had to scrape it out of the skin. Had reservations here for New Year's Eve, requested a table not a booth. Made reservations several months ahead of time. We were seated at a tiny booth table with barely enough room for 4 people, and were treated rudely when we asked to move to a real table like we requested. I will not go back or recommend this place to anyone. read more

The place is big and was not to crowded but it was a Monday. We were hungry from our drive and my worker had been here before. They have a good selection to choose from and I was tossed between the burnt ends and almond crusted walleye. I went for the walleye, should have known better I am in Iowa, it was ok but if not for the almond crust it would have no taste. Others had pork chops, and burnt ends. Both were happy with there choice and said it was pretty good. Nice atmosphere very friendly, I know better and will go for the chose or ends. read more

I love the Drake. My favorite order is blackened fish tacos. A number of other entrees are delicious too. If you are used to Texas-style BBQ, you might not like what they have here. On a nice day, the Drake is a great place for a gorgeous outside meal. The wait staff is attentive, knowledgeable, and pleasant. read more

After several times with bad service we've decided we won't be back. Our last visit included servers not knowing what was on the menu, over 20 min wait for drinks, 1.5 hour wait for food, and an argument from the owner about why our service was so poor. I would recommend Big Muddy's instead. read more

In town visiting and went for lunch on a Thursday. I'm a stay at home mom who goes for leisurely lunches with friends regularly and even I was shocked at how slow the service was. 1 hour and 40 minutes for an appetizer and sandwiches. For as long as it took to get anything you'd expect everything to at least be freshly prepared and hot. Potato soup was funny orange color and lukewarm. Tenderloin sandwich was huge but lacking in any flavor and had obviously sat under a warming lamp. Order of fried pickle slices were so thin they were really nothing more than overly salted pieces of batter. Maybe the dinners are better but would recommend packing a snack to bring along to tide yourself over while waiting to find out. read more

Not so good. Slow service, took 15 mins to even get a server. Creamy chicken noodle soup was veeeery salty. Paid 17.95 for SIX shrimp and bland potato wedges, absolutely overpriced. Got an "ice cream sundae" for my birthday and it was completely melted. Our bill ended up being 80$ for 5 people and 4 of us shared two dishes. Won't be back. Was not impressed by any means. read more

I was there on Sat. Took my wife for a nice dinner, walked out very disappointed , steak was a poor cut of meat, garlic mashed potatoes were dry , salad was mostly hearts, and the cooked vegetables I had we're awful. I said something about the steak but I was shown by the floor manager that I was wrong. Wife's salmon was a little better by somewhat the same, she said the soup was good. They do have good beer,so if your looking for beer and soup I think you will be happy. Otherwise this place just thinks its all that , and it really isn't. I never write reviews but I just had to , there's better places up the road. read more

Really liked this bar; if I lived here I'd be a regular. Very cool old exposed brick building; cozy but not too small. Big TVs for the sports watchers in the group. Guy singing and playing the guitar; entertaining but not so intrusive that we couldn't talk. Next time I'll try the food. Won't come to Burlington again without stopping here. read more

I ate here on November 8th, 2018. I had the almond encrusted walleye it was terrible nothing but frozen pre-breaded fish dropped in oil. The batter was so thick that all you taste is batter and oil you cannot taste any fish. This is a shame because walleye is one of the best tasting fresh water fish but if you were blindfolded and someone fed this to you, you would never know you were eating fish. I gave it two because the waitress was good. read more

Great service and great food. It was a nice day so we dined outside by the river. What a gem!

The Drake's patio is wonderful - right on the MIssissippi! The food is also excellent. The service can be hit or miss, but usually their servers are pretty good. One of the best places to dine in Burlington! read more

Food is good once you get it. Very Slow service. Very big restaurant. Everytime I have went in there to eat I wait for the hostess or someone to seat us for about 5-10 minutes because no one is there to greet you. Poor layout. The Servers never come back to check on you or refill your drinks.Nice location. Outdoor seating in the summer seems to be the best spot to eat but uncomfortable chairs. Woodburning stove makes for a real treat on your steaks, ribs and fish. Dont go if you are in a hurry. read more

We were visiting in town for just one night. So, the pros: great view of the river. Yep, that's it. The cons: the food, the service, the bugs, everything else. And wow was it overpriced! We got our salads before our appetizers. And the soups came with too. Chili cheese fries were bland, and I think the chili came from a can. Baked potatoes were cold and steaks were overdone. We didn't bother trying dessert and the bill was still over 80 bucks. Not worth the time and certainly not worth the price. read more

Been here many times during my visits to Burlington on business. Located on the riverfront this restaurant features a varied menu ranging from tenderloin sandwiches to angus beef steaks. They have a wide variety of pit style barbeque selections but I found they don't stack up. This place has a nice bar and never seems to be crowed whenever I have been there. On my recent trip the owner made it a point to let us know how glad he was that we chose his restaurant. read more

Let me count the ways that this place was a disappointment. 1. We waited over five minutes before a hostess made an appearance at the podium to acknowledge us and inform us that we would have to wait even longer when there were open tables. 2. After giving our name to the hostess to wait for a table, we witnessed another couple walk in, say openly that they didn't have a reservation, yet were then seated immediately before us. Let me add that we, ourselves, were a couple and gave the place the benefit of the doubt that maybe the couple requested to be seated at the bar. Once we were finally seated five minutes later, the couple seated before us, without waiting at all, were seated at a table and not the bar. 3. The waiter couldn't tell us about the types of beer on tap and then he got our beer order wrong. 4. My boyfriend ordered the Elk steak. The waiter didn't know they were out of Elk and when he came back to inform us, he didn't even bring a menu so my boyfriend could pick something else easily; he had to do it from memory. 5. My salad was from a bag, the croutons on top were from a bag, and the salad dressing was store bought. Expected more from a "nice" restaurant. 6. My Almond Crusted Walleye was NOT almond crusted. I found four almond slices on the whole thing. The "tomato tarragon butter" was a teaspoon worth of burnt paste which was beyond recognition and tasted...well, burnt. They charged me $18.95 for this. 7. When the waiter brought us the check it still had the more expensive Elk steak dinner on it rather than the meal my boyfriend chose in its place. The owner of the place was sitting at the front table and welcomed us in before being sat down by the hostess. If he was still there on our way out, we would've voiced our disappointment firsthand. We won't be going back, which is pretty frustrating considering the lack of options there already are for restaurants in the Burlington area. read more

10/7/15: what the hell happened to this place??? I last ate here several weeks ago and had good pizza and good service. Tonight it seems like aliens took over! The moronic barmaid--she couldn't even remember what she just poured me as she was punching in my food order a few moments after I ordered. I also ordered a salad as an appetizer so I could eat it before I got my pizza and she brought out a dinner salad with the wrong dressing; she took it back and then came back a few minutes later after I told her what dressing I originally requested and asked me again, "What dressing did you order?" Told her to just forget the salad since my pizza was coming out. The pizza--what did they use to make it--cardboard? I've had better pizza at Pappa Johns and that's horrible pizza. Maybe it was an off night, but sadly next time I'm in town in a few weeks, I won't be going here. Too bad. read more

I am very particular about my steaks. My rib eye wasn't prepared properly, but the chef obliged my re order. Other than that, this is a great place to grab a beer, some American Food, and dine on the patio. read more

We walked in and the hostess was not at all friendly. Considering there were 10+ in our party, meaning a nice chunk of business, she was really not welcoming and told us she had tables reserved in over an hour from when we arrived, hinting they wouldn't be able to accommodate us. Well the patio was wide open and it was a nice afternoon, so we elected this option. We ordered a couple super samplers appetizer plates which weren't bad and lots of drinks. I ordered the shrimp and fish po' boy sandwich. It was basically a salad on a bun, with one small piece of fish, with a couple small not even bite size chunks sloppily tossed on, and ONE shrimp. It tasted decent but was seriously, a joke. I was hungry and we were dealing with a death in the family so I didn't want to cause any more stress otherwise i'd have complained. I would not return, seriously, one shrimp and maybe three bites of fish. Our server was super nice, so I guess there's that. read more

Rude rude rude ...waited forever..terrible kitchen organization. Only seem to serve people drinking. Waited an over hour for food. Manager bulshited with other tables and ignored us. Its a shame in this dying town no one cares. Doesnt matter food when service is not accepatable. read more

The 4 of us had a nice experience but the other couple has had inconsistent experiences. My biggest pet peeve is table clearing-most places are trying to turn the table asap so they bring your food without clearing the salad dishes, as was fine here. When we left our empty dishes were still on the table-that sucks too. Salad is quite unremarkable. All of our meals were very good and our waitress was nice. She was our cocktail waitresses outside in the bar area too-odd. Excellent view of the river outside and they had a live band that played good (or is it well?). Not many choices in Burlington so this was a good night out. read more

always great, I think I've had everything on the menu over the last 10 years. Summer time 1/2 price apps on the patio is the booooom! read more

Good food, good atmosphere. The price is a little expensive. The brisket Mac and cheese is to die for! The wait staff is friendly.

I used to like this place but it has gone down hills, overprice menu and I left very hungry. They charged me extra for side salad and no side dish for slow cooked barbecue. My husband and I decided to go to Dairy Queen for our dessert. read more

We've rated here twice in this week the first time, the steak was inedibly tough. They didn't charge. The second time, the brisket was horribly dry. DO NOT ORDER THE HALf OFF MARGARITA!!. It is nothing but ice water with a little flavoring. A total too off. read more

This is a very neat restaraunt that used to be an old hardware store. Very nice location right on the river front. Good food, lots of typical midwestern stuff like tenderloin sandwiches and fried cauliflower. read more