Iron Paffles & Coffee — Restaurant in Charlottesville

I visited here this afternoon and was very excited to try the paffles, I had been planning to come for a while. I have a dairy allergy and had been perusing the website and knew there were dairy free paffle options.

Maybe this was my mistake because I was on the phone while I was in the restaurant (my boyfriend and I are long distance and my lunch break is the only time I get a chance to talk to him during the work week because his timezone is 7 hours ahead of me), but I felt like when I was ordering it was hard to make it clear to the guy working that I wanted the dairy free paffles and even though you can select the dairy free option on the register I was still nervous that it would actually contain dairy because they market a vegan paffle that has butter on top, which i found out was vegan butter, but wasnt specifically mentioned on the menu.

I tried the vegan pizza paffle and a build your own with hash browns, tofu scramble, peppers and onions. I also selected the dairy free option. As I was finishing the second paffle I started not to feel so great and a few hours after I ordered I felt quite sick, exactly the way I feel when I have accidentally ingested dairy products.

I'm really sad that my experience was not what I had been so looking forward to. It feels like if dairy free is an option to select on the cash register, then there should be hopefully an expectation that your food will also be dairy free? Idk, maybe the guy was new as well. I'm just really...

The sandwich is good, but definitely not worth the price. The pros are that it’s unique - the waffle is puff pastry texture, and puff pastry waffle sandwiches are rare. The taste overall was quite good - I got the choriz and subbed the chorizo for fried chicken, and got sriracha mayo instead of the aioli. Taken together, the flavors worked quite well together and I recommend that combination. Their coffee was also really good - I’d give that alone 5 stars. I got a caramel iced coffee with oat milk (extra $1), and it was flavorful and bold, which I recommend.

The biggest drawback is the price - its $9 for a sandwich that is quite small, and probably won’t fill you unless you’re trying to get a snack to tide you over. Nothing comes with it except for the sandwich (I.e. no chips, fries, or drink included). I got 2 sandwiches and an iced coffee and the total was ~$25, which I don’t think was worth the price. Their aioli is quite lemony and adds an...interesting flavor and aftertaste to the sandwich overall, which can be avoided by getting the sriracha mayo instead. Atmosphere is lacking - it’s definitely a get in and get out kind of place. Also I should also warn you that the sandwich is quite messy. Due to the texture of puff pastry, it falls apart and it gets everyyyywhere when you bite into it - so don’t go eating this before an interview!

Overall, it’s nice to try, but I wouldn’t go there expecting to be full off the meal without really shelling...

The first line on the menu reads "Chicken and Paffles". The second line clarifies that the chicken is fried in peanut oil. Now...if I had to choose between the words "Chicken" and "Paffle" to offer further explanation, I would not choose chicken. In fact, nowhere on their menu do they explain that a paffle is a waffle made with puff pastry. Baffling.

I went for lunch and ordered the TBLT sandwich, which was served on two paffles in place of bread. By the time I finished my sandwich, 20-30% of my puff pastry had exploded and fallen on my tray when I tried to fit the sandwich in my mouth. Bread plays a critical role in sandwich craftsmanship and to do its job well it must offer flavor, texture, and structural integrity to hold the sandwich together. Puff pastry is not up to the task. It was dry, airy, brittle, and disintegrated when I tried to eat my sandwich. Every bite left me wishing that they had used regular waffle batter.

Otherwise, the ingredients were good and the menu options seemed well composed. If my sandwich had used regular waffle batter I think I'd be leaving a 4 or 5 star review. Puff pastry waffles could work splendidly for an open-faced desert sandwich, especially with a syrup to give the puff pastry some much-needed moisture, but for sandwiches I think they are a non-starter. Offering customers the choice of regular waffle batter would be a great step in the right direction. If they do I would be happy to give it a...