New Restaurant Coming to Fort Madison

The owners of The Palms Restaurant and Bar in Fort Madison, Brett Matlick and Danielle Keefe, have announced they will be opening a new restaurant titled River Rocks Bar and Grill that will be in the same location as the previous Atlas restaurant in Fort Madison.

Matlick recently hinted that something was in the works on his Facebook page, but did not share the newest news.

“Brett leaked a little, he leaked a little on Facebook, but we just picked out a logo today,” Keefe said.

Keefe said they have been in the restaurant recently cleaning and will begin the hiring process for a new staff, hopefully, within the next month.

According to Keefe, the restaurant will have the nickname The Rock and will be a sports bar atmosphere. Keefe said the menu, however, will be slightly different than a normal sports bar, but did not go into a lot of detail.

“We’re going to lean towards, like, healthier bar-ish type food. So, I mean, we’ll have your basic, you know, appetizers and sandwiches and some dinner items. We’re not really going into the menu yet, we’re keeping that kind of on the low for now,” Keefe said.

Keefe also said there will also be local beer options and just like at The Palms, it will have a nice variety.

“People like their local beers, they like their variety,” Keefe said. “I like to have a different variety here at The Palms too, something, little bit of everything. I don’t have a lot of beer on tap, but I like to have a nice variety for the customers.”

The restaurant will hopefully be opened around the beginning of February and Keefe said she and Matlick are ready for the new challenge.

“We’re still in the beginning stages of it, we’re really excited to bring something different to Fort Madison other than what we’ve already got going on,” Keefe said.