We've been in the market for a new car for the wife and we were out on a recent Saturday afternoon over on the Illinois side of the Quad Cities looking for cars at some of the car dealerships along John Deere Road. Looking for a car for Cindy makes her stressed and since it was around lunch she thought she needed something to eat. She had been hearing ads on the radio for a place over in Silvis by the name of The Doc's Inn. She sort of directed me to where the place was, the only problem is that I passed it and had to go back around. Once we got situated and found the parking lot we pulled up in front of The Doc's Inn.
The unique name of the place suggests there's a doctor involved in the business, but it's a take off of another business that owner John Stoupulos and his wife, MaryBeth, owns in Rock Island - Dr. Gyros. While Dr. Gyros is more of a gyros/sandwich shop, The Doc's Inn features a lot of the same items on their menu, only serving beer and liquor at The Doc's Inn location.
The Stopoulos' opened The Doc's Inn in mid-March of 2012 in a small strip mall on the Avenue of the Cities at 10th St. in Silvis. (see map) Already, the Stopoulos' are looking to expand the restaurant, putting in an addition that would add 70 seats in a room that would be used for private parties and overflow in the restaurant. It would also feature an outdoor patio area with a permanent stage for bands to play. John Stopoulos told the Quad City Times earlier this year that he hoped to have the additions in place by September.
As I said, if you come from the east on Avenue of the Cities, you're likely to pass the place and you have to double back on 7th St. Also, the parking lot is a little funky. There's no drive around lane on the far side of the parking lot in front of The Doc's Inn, so if you think there's an open spot at the end - like I did - and there isn't, you've got to back up and manuever to find an open spot. It was a little confusing on our first visit.
Walking into The Doc's Inn, we found a brightly lit small bar/restaurant with a number of flat screen televisions throughout the place. A bar that seated about a dozen people was on the right with an open kitchen to the side of the bar. High top tables were in the middle of the dining area with booths along the wall. We waited for a booth to open up while one of the waitresses wiped a table down for us.
Quite actually, I didn't know there was a connection between The Doc's Inn and Dr. Gyros until I did some research into the background of the new restaurant. I've always wanted to try Dr. Gyros and had I known there was a connection I would have gotten the gyro at The Doc's Inn. But I concentrated on the burger part of the menu that featured a number of different types of burgers. They also had a Chicago-style Italian beef sandwich on the menu that sort of caught my eye.
I ended up getting the breakfast burger that was topped with a fried egg, bacon and cheddar cheese. For sides, I got their seasoned French fries and cottage cheese. Cindy went with the chicken caesar wrap. I asked if I could get my burger medium and our server said that would be no problem.
The only problem is that is wasn't medium. It wasn't even medium-well. It was well done and all the life had been cooked out of the burger when I took a bite of it. And it looked like the burger had the possibilities of being very good, too. There were chunks of bacon on top of the cheddar cheese melted over the hard fried egg laying on the burger patty. It had a good bun, light and chewy, which helped the overall taste of the burger. But the overcooked patty was hard, tough to chew and lacking of flavor and juiciness that I like in my burgers.
Cindy said her chicken caesar wrap was just "OK". She said there wasn't a lot of caesar dressing taste to the wrap and the chicken was a little rubbery and tough to chew. She said it was disappointing.
Actually, the seasoned fries had a good taste to them. They could have been a little more warm when they were delivered to the table. But I did dig the taste of the seasoning on the fries. It's too bad they were the highlight of the meal.
We really wanted to like the food at The Doc's Inn because it looked like a pretty cool place. With all the televisions in the place, it could be a fun place to come and watch some games. If we were to come back, I'd probably stay away from the burger and go with the gyro since that's sort of the signature item of The Doc's Inn and Dr. Gyros. But since it's so far away from our house, I just can't see us making a specific trip back to The Doc's Inn for food or drinks. It's too bad the burger and wrap were so disappointing.
At the top of my list of things I can't stand are well-done burgers. They are so pointless!
Posted by: Jeni | July 17, 2013 at 08:23 AM
We've gone to Doc's Inn two times now and I don't think their food is that good. I didn't care for the Italian beef sandwich. It tasted like processed roast beef warmed up and put on a bun. IT's a nice place and all, but I can spend my money somewhere else.
Posted by: Steph's Mom | July 23, 2013 at 04:49 PM