Fort Diner

We frequent The Fort @ least once a week! The best food in town. We have never been disappointed for breakfast, lunch or dinner. No frills, but excellent food & friendly service!

Uhm, okay… This place… hmm… where do I begin?
Well, the food was really good actually. We came through, on a mini-​road trip/​vacation, from Chicago. This place looked… quaint. I wore my super cute, slim, blue-​green pants and a nice top (about a year ago). Let’s say that the locals had a lot to look at.
I felt like they jacked up the prices for us, since we were city boys. It was very dirty and a little unsettling, but overall I really enjoyed the experience. The waitress was real nice. I just wish they would upkeep it a bit more. I’d visit this place again, if I ever had the balls to go out to Fort Madison (which I don’t).

What a quaint historical place to eat. It is an original dinner from the settler days (see photo). Tiny two seat booths, rustic original bar stools at the counter keeps it’s original look. The food was all home made. My friend and I had the meatloaf and mashed potatoes with gravy. Fantastic! I love small town diners and this one was great.

Yum! You can’t go wrong here! Well, unless you have dietary restrictions! Food is all excellent. My favorite is the philly, but the Cajon is a close second. Most of the food is greasy, bad for you, deliciousness, which is what I go there for. Very good eating!

Another ma and pa joint one of the best places to eat in town. Have specials every day and a full menu. Breakfast can be ordered at any time.

Greasy Spoon dining at its best. Typical fare. Grilled chicken sandwich was great, cucumber salad was a treat instead of fries. Fun atmosphere.

Marvelous tenderloin and fries. Needed a bit of seasoning, lots of tenderloin, either breaded or plain. Worthy of praise.

Best tenderloin I have ever had and I have had more than my share. Fun counter staff and very talkative! Fun experience.

I went here with my best friend to grab some food before we made our way back to Chicago. The place came recommended to us by a friendly local. It reminded me of a truck driver stop which I absolutely have nothing against. However, I know there is a certain type of people that will not eat here because it will not be cutesy enough for them. The place itself is very clean and The service is acceptable. You have your choice of sitting at the counter or swivel stools or at small tiny cramped in booths. My friend wanted to sit in the booths, if I were you, don’t make that mistake. If you order a decent amount of food there will barely be any space for your food. I don’t like a cramp table myself and I think my friend regretted his decision to sit at the booths. In terms of food, stay away from the pancakes. They are nothing special probably aunt Jemima or Bisquick out of the box. This applies to both the regular pancakes and the blueberry pancakes that I decided to get. My friend enjoyed his biscuits and gravy and I enjoyed «the mess». The mess consists of eggs hashbrowns and a medley of green and red peppers tossed in bits of sausage. It was pretty tasty, I have to admit. My friend enjoyed his coffee and my orange juice was nothing special, probably straight out of the carton. You probably won’t find a great variety of breakfast restaurants in the area that will do much better than this place, so if you’re in the area and don’t mind truck driver like places, stop on by they open at 6 AM.

Stick with the specials or a burger and you can’t go wrong. We went with our kids for dinner during out trip to nauvoo. We got the burgers and a Ruben sandwich. All were delicious.
As I sat and watched the cook much of what they cook is frozen. But the burgers were cooked fresh– and they were yummy.

Because of Road Food l was aware of The Fort and since I was in the vicinity, I made an effort to get there for a try at some real road food. It was only 18 miles out of my way one way and it turned out to be worth it. This is a classic, little diner. I want to go back.
To start with The Fort is «Home of the Wally Burger». I had to ask what this is and learned it is a 1 lb burger with grilled onions, sautéed mushrooms and two slices of cheese. That seemed a little excessive, so after the waitress brought me my drink, she said I could get a Mini-​Wally Burger, which is only a half pound. I could not pass this up and since Road Food recommended the breaded pork tenderloin, I ordered that as well.
When you walk in you are greeted by the smell of grilling burgers on the flat top. It is not a greasy smell, just the wonderful smell of grilling beef. My burger Mini-​Wally burger did not disappoint. I recommend you get whatever you want on yours; the main thing is the patty is juicy, loose and tender with a nice grill crust. I added a little yellow mustard. Outstanding.
I also enjoyed the breaded tenderloin. It is real meat, reasonably thick and very tender, but not obviously machine tenderized. The coating is very crispy and it was fried just right. The only issue is that the pork had very little if any pork flavor. That is not The Fort’s fault, it is just the way today’s other tasteless white meat is.
The Fort is worth a drive from the 18 mile distance that I faced and more. I highly recommend it to those who are driving the Great River Road and love old diners. This is the real deal. It is a solid four star place. Maybe even five… for being what it is.