Ironwood Kitchen — Restaurant in Albuquerque

First off I'd give this place about a 3.5. Was a little odd walking in, and no one was around and it was empty. Realizing we needed to order at the counter we waited 5 mins just standing there. We had a nice lady take our order, definitely a fair price which I liked. Simple menu, places always screw up when they have too many things on the menu and do not execute it well.

We got the biscuits and gravy along with the burger. Wait time to get the food was quite short, which is a plus. The iced tea tasted a bit old, and the syrup for the soda machine also tasted a bit off. The guy who brought out our food was alright, didn't say much. Seemed like the head chef (unsure or not) was a great guy, very nice to us and the other customers.

Burger, was cooked decently, well done and kinda juicy. I did enjoy the different choices of cheese for it. The outside of the actual burger was a tad dry. I'd say it was a bit above average for a burger. Simple and to the point, just wish there was a bit more flavor. The fries... The fries were only cooked once. One of my biggest issues with the more "fresh" fries is that people don't cook them correctly. If anything, they came out in a precooked state. Best way... precook, let them sit a few mins, then cook again for a nice crunchy exterior with a soft middle. The worst place that does this is Wingstop. It's not like it's a nostalgia thing to have soggy undercooked fries. It's just gross.

Biscuits and gravy were alright, came out cold and the eggs were not cooked consistently. One was overcooked. Flavor was alright, more on the bland side. Maybe work on the timing of the items. Assume gravy is already made, along with biscuits. Heated those up, plated those first then the eggs and potatoes last. If anything, plate items already prepared last.

I'd like to go again and see what other items taste like, as the price is great, and distance from my home is fairly short. It was not busy, so I expected a slightly better experience food wise. It's by no means a bad place to eat, and I think it's worth going to if...

For some reason, I've had it in my head that this diner was more steak-house like. After my initial double-take over the super-informal decor, I moneyed up to the counter and put in an order. Raz and I were doing lunch on Independence Day before my usual swing-shift. Raz and I are both in professions that can't stop for holidays, so we are super grateful when we find restaurants that can accommodate our unforgiving schedules. That we were having good local comfort food surrounded by an amazing gallery of our local veterans and memorabilia of their service on Independence Day felt really fitting.

Now about that food. For some reason, don't ask me why, Raz had never managed to try Philly Chesesteak before. Since many posts raved about it, we went for it. Turns out he doesn't actually like cheesesteak. I'm not complaining, though, because that meant the entire toasted hoagie with its mound of mildly spicy, cheesy, steaky goodness was mine. As cheesesteaks go, it was well executed, and that toasted hoagie stood up well hours later when I finally got to finish it between crisis calls at work.

The Ironwood spuds we also tried didn't survive long enough to be dinner leftovers. We split the potatoes, cheese, chile, and things, that I initially ordered, and you could practically see yourself in the plate underneath since we polished off the food so thoroughly.

It's nice to know we have a local diner, and since this place is a 5 minute drive, we're guaranteed to be back in from...

Rude staff (not all), Some appeared to have trouble multitasking, the lady in the back handling the food wasn't wearing any gloves or anything to cover her hair, I watched her wipe sweat away from her head with her bare hand and the proceed to fold a tortilla and place it on a plate. Also, the food is mediocre at best. Drive a little further for better food.

Edit: Thanks for the reply, ironwood kitchen. Pretty sure whoever wrote the reply was high. Also, this reply was about 4-5 years late! I forgot about this place. Don’t compare someone’s mom cooking to a random lady cooking in a restaurant! That’s silly!! No disrespect to the lady who was working but when she wiped the sweat from her brow with her bare hand and proceeded to continue making someone’s burrito, coupled with the bad attitude of the staff, the atrocious wait time, and the fact that the order was completely wrong, I was a tad upset. You’re reply was out of sorts, ironwood! But you mentioned something about wing a foe (lol) i haven’t been back, I haven’t given your place a second thought until now, now I remember why I never went back. That was the last time I spent money at your establishment. I hope that over the last 4-5 years you have improved upon your customer service both in the kitchen and otherwise. Also, I hope your tacos...