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 Expands Into Lincoln
Maple Grove, Minnesota Scheduled to Open in June 2004

MINNEAPOLIS, May 5, 2004 - Granite City Food & Brewery Ltd. (Nasdaq: GCFB) announced the opening of its seventh restaurant/microbrewery yesterday in Lincoln, Nebraska.

"We had a great opening day in Lincoln yesterday," said Steve Wagenheim, Granite City Food & Brewery's President and CEO. "We anticipate the same high volumes in Lincoln that we have experienced at our other locations, and are looking forward to another strong addition with the opening of our Granite City in Maple Grove, Minnesota next month. We are very pleased with our first quarter results," Wagenheim said, "and while our older stores are performing at a high level, I believe the performance of our new prototypical units has taken us to a new level of unit economics." Granite City Food & Brewery Ltd. currently operates seven 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, West Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Davenport, IA, and Lincoln, NE.

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 28, 2003 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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