Iron Works Barbecue — Restaurant in Austin

We saw that this had some good reviews and decided to try it during our top to Austin from Nashville last night. I was highly disappointed to see the stark difference from the reviews to the actual food. We walked up to the line that was out the door. Then we proceeded to be “out the door” for the next 30-40 minutes. The line was very inefficient and we only had maybe 20 people ahead of our group. We finally get to the front and see what takes so long to order the food. Apparently they make the food at the window when you order it. So, we waited forever, and just to find out it’s because it was an incredibly inefficient machine! The poor girl working the counter was trying but it did not see that she spoke the best English, which made communication slow and difficult. We finally get the food we are thinking the worse is over… Well then half of the soda machine is isn’t working (syrup was out). Then we go to sit in this incredibly HOTTTTTT restaurant (it was 70 outside, summer must be horrible). The food was just bad. I have gotten better pulled pork from a baseball game. My green beans had no flavor. Then to top off the food they give you one piece of while loaf bread. Not toasted, just plain. The atmosphere was just off. The place didn’t look clean. The resturant was hot on a day where most people in town were in light jackets. The bathrooms had 6 foot ceilings with NO air conditioning, and it wasn’t clean. It was just not a good experience from when we walked in, to the service, and most importantly to the food. We were very disappointed, and honestly there were so many ways that it just needs improvement. Clean the bathrooms, speed up service, toast the bread. It just was a bad time and we didn’t want other out of town folk making the...

I stopped here during a weekend visit to Austin for a wedding/family trip. Coming from Las Vegas, we do, contrary to belief, have some great BBQ restaurants but I definitely wanted to have BBQ while visiting Texas. Most of the TX BBQs I've experienced happens to be in the Northern part of TX, so this was the first time having BBQ in Austin.

I will say that overall, the food quality is good - the smoke flavor is definitely noticeable in their meats. I tried the beef ribs, pork ribs, pulled pork, turkey, and their sausage. Normally, I'm biased to my pork ribs, but out of all of those meats, my favorite was the beef ribs. I ended up getting the mac-n-cheese, pinto beans, green beans, and cole slaw (I like to sample a bunch of different sides). I was a little bummed out that they didn't have fried okra (one of my favorite Southern side dish of all time)...but I ended up surviving the night. The pinto beans were my favorite out of those sides and the mac-n-cheese was probably my least favorite (just didn't seem as flavorful as many other variations I've tried). Although it's not awful, I would eat it again if it was in front of me - I just didn't think it was their star performer for sides.

The staff working here are very friendly and attentive - please keep up the great customer service! I did wish that the restaurant temperature was more adequate. Whenever walking through the restaurant, it felt like a warm swamp cooler. Because of this, we ended up eating outside, which provided a nice, relaxing view, but due to the humidity, it wasn't as pleasant as anticipated.

I highly recommend this restaurant...

This was my second time coming to Iron Works Barbecue; first visit was unremarkable/had no complaints. As a frequent out of town visitor, I do appreciate how close/convenient it is to my hotel.

The turkey sandwich was 7/10. It was a little slim on meat compared to the amount of bun. The turkey was Smokey but the outside crust was a little too pepper heavy for my liking. I would come back but try something else next time.

I was mostly put off by the customer service experience I had during this visit from someone named Marie. Marie took my order in the kitchen window.. & she must be having a pretty crap day to treat a customer the way she treated me. When I approached and said hello she didn’t reply or reciprocate - that’s fine. When I asked a question about a sandwich she was instantly annoyed in both tone and body language. When I asked where to get some sauce she said “if I would give her a minute” she would be packing it into my bag. It wasn’t even busy so I was confused as to why she was so frustrated with my existence.

When I got my sandwich - there was no BBQ sauce (even tho I asked previously). I returned and asked for a few. She questioned whether I even looked and I opened the box to show her. She said nothing else and slid one across the counter and walked away from me… When I please asked for one more cup she stomped back to the window and actually tossed it at me! I was lucky it didn’t break open all over my shirt.

The whole thing was a bit shocking and for an adult ? I think she might need a minor lesson in...