Lion Bridge Brewing Company

I love spending time at Lion Bridge Brewing Company. The atmosphere is casual and the staff is always friendly. We’ve gone there to play games with friends or just to have a beer. The appetizers are delicious, and I would highly recommend the pretzels with beer cheese – it’s amazing!
They have a pretty good variety of beer here, too. If the cucumber saison is ever on the menu, that’s the one I would highly recommend. It’s so delicious!
It’s a great place, and it’s located in the Czech Village. If you are there during the day, check out the fun shops and the Czech bakery.
Five stars!

I love everything about Lion Bridge. The atmosphere is modern, but relaxed and there is ample seating. Service is usually good to excellent.
They have an ever changing selection of beers that offers the regular something new to try, but the greatest hits are always on tap so you are guaranteed a great brew.
The menu is smaller than most bars, but the majority of the food is sourced locally and a bit more creative. Everything I have had has been delicious. Recommended apps: pork nachos (THE BEST!) and pretzel with beer cheese.
Keep in mind: As with most microbreweries, they do not offer a full bar — so if you do not drink beer, you are out of luck.
One of my favorite’s in CR!

A great selection of beers! This is a microbrewery that has a vision for the future. Lion Bridge understands that everyone has a different palate for beers, so they offer a variety of styles. The girl that wrote the ²⁄₃ star review is being unreasonable, and I suggest everyone try the selection of beers/​food out for themselves. Laura and Cole are superb!

Definitely a cool spot! They craft their own beers and have quite many to choose from so far. Many saison’s, a variety of kinds! I started off with a flight and throughly enjoyed the shipyard. They have tapas and a few other food items and we enjoyed the pork nachos and their hummus and pita cup. The atmosphere is awesome and this spot is a great addition to Cedar Rapids. I’m looking forward to checking it out again when back in town!

The Iron Lion would have to be my favorite beer here! Amazing beer, and great food. Not much more one can ask for.

Few things I love about LB… It’s practically in my back yard, the food is always changing and amazing, the beers are the
and the staff is genuinely happy to see you and help you pick the perfect beverage.
You can’t go wrong with their hummus… it’s what dreams are made of. I recently tried their sliders and whoa! I would eat those babies daily… so delicious!

Some of the Best beers anywhere. If you like the indie brewery scene this is one of the best in the country. Cool space. Friendly people. Cool shirts. Food is simple and good. But the beers here shine

Good varied styles of brew and excellent friendly service makes this a wonderful stop in Cedar Rapids.

Oh yeah, this is the real deal. Local beer that’s really stinking good. We have gone there three times and each time has been excellent. Their cheese board was excellent, the sausage sliders from the local sausage maker was perfect. I had steamed mussels which were absolutely divine.
Then there’s the service which was friendly, authentic and just plain awesome. I’ll be recommit this spot to my «eat local» friends.

Great beer choices, good food and good atmosphere too. Took the servers recommendation and had their Herr of the Dog. A must try if you are in town.

Got the flight and was really impressed with each of the beers. Also tried the beer cheese and pretzels and the cheese plate. Both were great to snack on on their patio. Awesome CR spot.

As a native cedar rapidian, I visited LBBC with some friends last week while visiting. The beer selection was small but what we sampled was tasty. I had a ginger wheat that was unique and delicious. My hubby had a nitro ale that was smooth and easy to drink with mellow flavor.
The atmosphere is trendy brew pub-​meets-​European style pub. There is open seating indoors with an outdoor patio as well. You can help yourself to water from a cooler, they don’t bring it out to you. The waitstaff was attentive but not overbearing.
Why 4 stars and not 5? While I like what they’re going for, they need more of it. There were only five brews available; the menu had more listings than that but they were sold out of some and were awaiting the arrival of others. I had planned on getting a flight but there were so few options to choose from I just stuck with a single brew. The food, while delicious and attractively plated, could use a few more menu options. We mostly stuck to appetizers with the corned beef and cheese balls (a hit, though I didn’t partake), the pretzels, and the hummus platter which was quite good.
I love what’s happened to «Czech town» in recent years and Lion’s bridge brewing company is a great addition! I’ll definitely be going back!

Great spot with a focus on great beer!
Quinton does a great job creating amazing beers and pairing well with awesome menu items!
We had the highly recommended pork nachos and they did not fail! So many great toppings that you would not think would be on nachos! Plus the thick chips are great with all the cheesy goodness slathered on, they stay so crunchy!
Love the patio.
Service is sometimes a little questionable because they stay so busy, which I can understand. But great customer service when at your table.
All in all a great spot and it’s awesome to see him doing more for the community!
Go Quinton and LBB! I’ll be back.

Caved in and returned after learning that Quinton had hired a new chef. Found a table on the outdoor patio on a late Saturday afternoon and enjoyed live music coming from the Czech Museum. Warmly greeted by server whose first question was, «Have you been here before?» I debated in my brain whether to let her in on the fact that my first (and only) visit had been a total failure due to jerk server. I confessed and said I was here giving it a second try. She promised better service. I had high hopes.
We ordered two flights of beer and shared the pulled pork nachos. Quinton is impressing both me and my beer snob boyfriend. Good beer coming from Lion’s Bridge. Nachos were good, not outstanding. Service continued to be good. It was fun to chat it up with friends who showed up.
I am sticking with three stars because food could still improve and we were not told about guest taps.
I will definitely be back and I feel like we are headed towards full reconciliation.

brews own beer. food was edible, clean, and «local» but not that great. maybe we didn’t have enough beer.

May have been renting the front room for a private event but they still filled my growler on this Tuesday night.
This is exactly this kind of place Cedar Rapids needs. Great service great beer great people.

Loved the beer selection, specially «The Collapse of the Multiverse», a wonderfully crafted Belgian Pale Ale. I also liked the «iron Lion» which has a hint of hibiscus, but had to lay low on that one since the alcohol percentage is a little higher.
Since I was there practically everyday on thanksgiving weekend I tried almost all items on the menu and all were a success! Loved and would recommend trying the chicken buffalo dip and the reuben fritters… And if you haven’t tried the Regional Havarti cheese, it’s a must!!!
Service to boot!!!
Just hope I lived closer and could go everyday every weekend!!!

While visiting CR (my hometown) over thanksgiving from Chicago, I decided I must check out the growing beer scene in CR. I am a huge fan of craft beer and am always looking to try something new. We made the trek to solon first to visit Big Grove since Lion Bridge wasn’t open until 3 on Black Friday (uh guys, huge mistake, huge!).
First off, I love the space. They’ve really retained the interesting parts of the building and yet it’s still comfortable and inviting.
That said, I was underwhelmed by the beer. My friend and I shared two flights and out of 10 beers, both of us only liked 2 of them. The chocolate stout and the Iron Lion. It seems like they are on the verge of doing something really interesting but just aren’t there yet.
Lastly, the staff was really lackluster. They were not all that busy but barely engaged customers. If you asked a question about the beers you were lucky to get a couple of words out of anyone.
We didn’t eat so I cannot comment on the food but the menu looked interesting.
I will likely go back next time I’m in town to give them one more chance.

Free Radical IPA is fantastic! Others at my table had great things to say about the porter and millstream root beer on tap.

Around this time last year, I left North Carolina – which has a booming craft beer culture with tons of emerging breweries – to start a job here in Iowa. Much as I started searching for good coffee, I also started searching for good beer. I’ve been happy to see new breweries open up over the last year within driving distance of Iowa City. But when I saw the beers that the folks at Lion Bridge make, I thought: now *this* is what I’ve been waiting for. Ginger and hibiscus Belgian strong ale? Indeed.
Last night I attended a beer + cheese pairing they hosted with New Bo Cheese Company. They paired cheeses with five of their beers – a saison, an English rye IPA, a Belgian amber, a dark mild («Workman’s Compensation»), and a Czech pilsener («Ziva Voda», for «living water»). I also tried the smoked chocolate stout, and their Belgian strong ale made with ginger and hibiscus («Iron Lion»). The dark mild, rye, and Iron Lion were personal favorites.
These beers were impressive, both in diversity of styles and in execution. Relative to the Iowa craft beer scene, these are some unusual styles, and they’re pulled off well. No IPA’s or pale ales on tap, which are already hit out of the park by places like Toppling Goliath. Rather, Lion Bridge is targeting a more diverse array of beer styles to expand the palates of Iowa craft beer enthusiasts. Having seen this happen successfully in NC, this portends exciting things for Iowa beer culture.
The venue is nice, set in a historic building in the Czech Village neighborhood of Cedar Rapids. The business nicely integrates with the revitalization that is happening in the New Bohemia area, and it would be fantastic if they could get some food trucks to park nearby. And customer service is great. I talked with owner/​brewer Quinton about the philosophy of Lion Bridge, his approach to brew making, and plans for the future. I will definitely be coming back.