Iron Rose — Restaurant in Charleston

My friends and I made reservations for brunch at the Iron Rose with high hopes and expectations after seeing so many rave reviews. We were celebrating my 22nd birthday and this was one of the only things we had planned in advance for our trip. It was safe to say that the food was a robust failure. We ordered the pickled shrimp, hummus, panzanella, and cab burger between myself and my partner. The butterbean hummus was unseasoned and served with stonefire naan dippers. The lemon oil was missing and the naan cold, we had to send it back because it was inedible. The pickled shrimp dish was unbalanced and again, lacked seasoning. The “herb salad” was parsley. The abundance of pickled items in the dish was overwhelming, but the mustard and aioli helped redeem parts of the dish. The cab burger was decent, but undercooked and the French fries were egregiously undercooked but generously salted. The fries needed another fry at a higher temperature, as seen in the picture some were still translucent and hard. The only dish we enjoyed was the panzanella an unassuming gem in our disappointment, but nowhere near worth the $16 price tag. This is only the review of the food we received, but it would be remiss to say my friends had better experiences with the food. The scrambled eggs were akin to the premade blocks one would find at a budget inn breakfast buffet. Our server was wonderful, she was kind and attentive and made the most with what she was given but I am quite disappointed that there was no mention of my birthday. The accommodations in terms of seating was lackluster. We made reservations at a hotel restaurant and the dining room was decorated accordingly. Overall, we came in expecting a restaurant quality meal and atmosphere and ended slightly worse than a senior frogs drag brunch. This is hotel food and make no mistake to...

I’ve been living in Charleston, SC for a month and have enjoyed wonderful meals at various places, but unfortunately, The Iron Rose was a major letdown. We chose it to celebrate my dad’s 75th birthday, and the experience was far from what we had hoped. To start, the service was incredibly disappointing. Our waiter spilled a pitcher of water on both the floor and on me while explaining the drink specials. Strangely, no one came over to clean up the mess, and it felt like that shouldn’t have happened, especially at a restaurant of this caliber. The food was subpar. The focaccia was basically an underdone roll with no herbs. I ordered the “Half Chicken,” but it arrived as three tiny bland chicken nuggets. When we mentioned our disappointment to the waitress, she casually said, "Yeah, the chicken’s not really that good, but we don’t tell people that." That kind of honesty would have been appreciated before I ordered the dish. Despite the clear dissatisfaction, there was no offer to make up for the poor meal, and even worse, my dad didn’t receive any kind of acknowledgment for his birthday. The only thing they were concerned about doing was clearing the plates from the table before we were done. The décor felt lackluster, and the ambiance didn’t have that warm, welcoming Charleston vibe I’ve come to expect. On top of that, they don’t validate parking, which is just another small thing that adds to the overall negative experience. In a city known for its Southern hospitality, The Iron Rose missed the mark in nearly every way. I hope they can make some improvements, but after this experience, I won't...

Not even remotely close to fine dining...this was an embarrassingly bad experience considering the reputation of the Mills House. My wife (Karla) and I had dinner here this week (locals but first time here) and were incredibly disappointed. We had a 5pm reservation (we have a newborn hence the early res) and walked in around 4:50...4 separate people came up to greet us, none knowing anything about our reservation, ultimately someone said we could hang out at the bar until our table was ready (the dining room was 100% empty). We had a drink at the bar, bartender was friendly and professional. We were seated in dining room a few mins after 5, ordered round of drinks and our meals...after a very long 30+ minute wait (again, the restaurant was nearly empty), we received our dishes. My wife ordered the burger (menu was very limited), medium well....it was rare. I like a medium rare burger, this was too under even for my preference. The server (who's name I don't know since she never shared it...she was very robotic, not the interactive type that are common at higher end places downtown), agreed that the doneness was "unacceptable"...another 25minutes later, my wife was presented with a properly cooked burger. Very little apology was given, at this point my wife was starving. I had the tuna tartare and the octopus, both were satisfactory at best. This was a special occasion for us and we left extremely disappointed and unlikely to return....we should have stuck to our usual...