Granite City Restaurant features a full Bar and Brewery and has a growing amount of Restaurant and Bar locations in Cedar Rapids, Clive, Creve Coeur, Davenport, Eagan, East Peoria, Fargo, Fort Wayne, Kansas City, Lincoln, Madison, Maple Grove, Olathe, Omaha, Orland Park, Rockford, Rogers, Roseville, Sioux Falls, St. Cloud, St. Louis Park, Toledo, West Wichita, Wichita, Indianapolis, and South Bend.

Granite City Continues Expansion with Davenport Opening
Lincoln, Nebraska & Maple Grove, Minnesota on Horizon

MINNEAPOLIS, January 28, 2004 - Granite City Food & Brewery Ltd. (Nasdaq: GCFB) announced the opening of its sixth restaurant/microbrewery yesterday in Davenport, Iowa.

"Yesterday's opening in Davenport was great...our sixth successful Granite City opening," said Steve Wagenheim, Granite City Food & Brewery's President and CEO, "On the heels of our Cedar Rapids opening, with our strongest honeymoon period yet, we believe Davenport, too will be another high volume opening. The results we have seen over the last five months with our three most recent openings, speak to the strength and depth of our overall concept, including our location choices, operations teams, and well-trained staff." Wagenheim added, "Our next Granite City is scheduled to open in Lincoln in March, where our management team has been established and staff training is underway. Following that, we are looking forward to our Maple Grove, Minnesota opening this summer"

Granite City Food & Brewery Ltd. currently operates six Granite City Food & Brewery casual dining restaurants featuring made-from-scratch food and handcrafted beers. Its broad menu offers traditional and regional foods served in generous portions at reasonable prices, affording guests an excellent value and great dining experience. Its first Granite City location, in St. Cloud, MN, opened in June 1999. Subsequently, the Company opened restaurants in Sioux Falls, SD, Fargo, ND and West Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Davenport, IA.

Certain statements made in this press release of a non-historical nature constitute "forward looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. Such factors include, but are not limited to, changes in economic conditions, changes in consumer preferences or discretionary consumer spending, a significant change in the performance of any existing units, the ability to obtain financing for, and complete construction of, additional restaurants at acceptable costs, our ability to implement and execute Fermentus Interruptus and the risks and uncertainties described in the Company's Form 10-KSB Report for the year ended December 29, 2002 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

CONTACT:
Steven J. Wagenheim
President and Chief Executive Officer
(952) 525-2070 or (612) 751-3331