The Filling Station in Davenport Serves Up Wings with a Side of Nostalgia

A restaurant with a unique concept is bound to get a lot of attention. A restaurant with a concept predicated upon paying tribute to an entire industry, the people who made it what it is, and evoking nostalgia of decades past is a triple threat of inspiration.

The Filling Station in Davenport, IA checks all the boxes. My girlfriend and I stopped at the restaurant during a day-trip to Davenport (she wanted to get a limited edition Ghostface lava lamp, and it was worth every mile we drove for it)! Per a friend's recommendation, we stopped at the establishment located on East 35th Street in the Quad Cities.

The Filling Station is dedicated to the petroleum industry. As soon as you walk in, you are reminded of dozens of old gas stations and traditional filling stations that made Americans (and America) run smoothly throughout the 1970s and even further back than that. Their website contextualizes the homage the business looks to pay those folks every single day it opens:

The Filling Station is dedicated to those men who knew America shortly after we entered the 20th century and so had the good fortune to know the petroleum industry first and realize it's worth to the fullest.
Their names are seldom recorded, for they were simple people whose days were spent in doing routine chores at the filling station. He had the reverence for excellence, a reverence so profound that all things he did, he did well. America's landscape is still dotted with his monuments; the pot belly stove that kept him warm, the signs that were nailed to his building and along the roadside, the gasoline globes that announce the brand names and finally the visible gravity feed gasoline pump built by these perfectionists more than a century ago.

Besides serving up a worthy tribute to some indispensable folks, The Filling Station also offers hungry locals and travelers alike an opportunity to get some well-executed bar food. The restaurant is most known for their chicken wings, which can be combined with orders of fries, ribs, and onion rings, or ordered on their own. They have all the popular sauces (hot, honey BBQ, spicy BBQ, Asian Zing, garlic parmesan, etc), and a litany of sides to pair with them as well.

While I opted for the "No Refunds HOT!" sauce wings, my girlfriend tried the BBQ wings and loaded cheese fries. It was a meal big and delicious enough to keep us full for the remainder of our Davenport excursion. Beyond wings, The Filling Station's menu offers a plethora of different salads, soups, pizzas, and charbroiled burgers.

You stop at a place like The Filling Station because you're hungry, and it's an added bonus when you see the homage it pays to an industry that was so essential to America's formative years:

Few of the structures being erected today will last the lifetime of their makers. Many will be replaced as being obsolete, out of date, or not earning enough money to pay their way. Those who seek the spirit of America might do well to look where the spirit was born. While remnants of Americana remain, will serve as an authentic guide to the past.

Outside The Filling Station are old gas pumps that recall the early days when gas stations provided drivers with service as well as an experience. Now, the repurposed building has become a local icon in itself. It's a lovely place to get something to eat.

The Filling Station is located at 305 East 35th Street in Davenport. You can like them on Facebook as well!