Want to dine al fresco? Here are 16 Galesburg-area restaurants offering food outdoors

As the weather warms, outdoor dining is ramping up.

One of Galesburg’s newest options for outdoor dining is a venue which specializes in beverages and doesn’t serve its own food. However, Reserve Artisan Ales, 185 S. Kellogg St., has started hosting area food trucks that will offer an ever-changing variety of cuisines to enjoy on the 4,500 square foot covered patio.

Henn House BBQ Catering and Food Truck was the first food truck to set up at the Reserve Artisan Ales patio last week, and the award-winning Altona-based business will be a regular this season.

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Reserve Artisan Ales will bring in food trucks most weeks for a Thursday-Friday-Saturday experience. Some days, lunch and dinner will be available. The food truck schedule will be updated on the Reserve Artisan Ales Facebook page.

“We’re going to start out with Henn House and The Watering Hole (at Oak Run), but we’re certainly looking for more food trucks from around the area,” said Blake Benedict, co-owner of Reserve Artisan Ales.

The patio area features regular tables and chairs, along with fire tables and outdoor lounge furniture. Overhead doors will also be open into the tap room. Over time, live music will perform on the patio.

Here are other restaurants offering al fresco dining in the Galesburg area.

Baked offers dining at three tables in front of its restaurant, weather-permitting.

The covered patio at Big Catz features new tables and chairs and seats approximately 65 guests. It’s open — weather-permitting — from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Guests can dine outside — weather-permitting — during store hours, which are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. Cornucopia has several tables under its covered entrance, and will set up tables on the sidewalk when weather permits.

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Craft on Seminary Street has an elaborate outdoor dining patio that features a concrete floor, plants, fencing and a retractable roof to protect from the elements. The patio, which seats around 35 people, will open as warmer arrives. Craft also offers live music on its patio on a regular basis.

Craft is open for dinner from 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and for Sunday brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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• 285 Knox Highway 2, Rio

• (309) 972-5616

Gimpy’s offers patio dining, weather-permitting, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday.

Jalisco offers six tables for outdoor dining, weather-permitting.

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Innkeeper’s Fresh Roasted Coffee

Innkeeper’s allows dining outdoors on the sidewalk and the tucked in patio in front of its store seven days a week for breakfast and lunch.

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Iron Spike seats approximately 20 people at tables in front of its restaurant along East Simmons Street. The area, which includes heaters during the cooler months, is open weather-permitting during regular hours, which are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.

The La Cantinita patio, which seats 25 guests, is currently open. It is covered which allows for sitting under light rain, but still allows sunshine through. It operates Tuesday through Thursday: 11 a.m. – 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday: 11 a.m. – 11 p.m

The patio features booths and picnic tables for dining, along with adult swings and a bench to gather and mingle with friends. There is music with occasional live performances and lots of beautiful plants.

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The outside decks at Lake Bracken Country Club are open weather-permitting from May through September. The decks seat nearly 32 guests. Lake Bracken offers dinner from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday; lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; and breakfast from 6:30 to 10 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Guests are encouraged to call ahead in case the decks are reserved for events.

One of Galesburg’s most-established outdoor dining venues, the patio courtyard at Landmark Cafe & Creperie has been open since 1979 and is a summer destination for fans of al fresco dining.

The patio seats 76 and according Landmark owner Phil Dickinson, “is our single largest home-field advantage we have. Obviously, during the pandemic it proved to be incredibly important.

“We have a number of guests who we see occasionally, but once the courtyard is open, we see them fairly frequently.”

Landmark’s patio — set in secluded area surrounded by numerous hanging flower baskets and brick pavers — generally opens for the season the week leading up to Memorial Day.

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Sidetrax offers outside dining on his back patio, and plans to offer tables on the sidewalk in front of its restaurant when facade work on the building is completed later this month.

Taco Hideout will offer outside dining on its front deck, weather-permitting. Hours are 5 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 5 to 10 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday; and lunch from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Friday.

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The outside patio overlooking Oak Run Golf Course opens for the season Memorial Day weekend. The area currently features eight tables, but is expected to double in size when another eight tables arrive this summer. Patio dining is available during regular restaurant hours, which are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

As warmer weather returns, The Whiskey Barrel will set up for outdoor dining on its front sidewalk, and in its beer garden behind the restaurant.

This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: Galesburg dining: 16 restaurants to try if you want to eat outside