The Iron Whisk Bistro & Bar — Restaurant in Cobden

Hard to put into words what I just experienced here... Amazing??!!?? Unreal!!??!! Those words to me just don't seem to cut it when it comes to The Iron Whisk.

The nostalgia of this location is incredible. They have done a beautiful job of decorating, and utilizing the space to fit in as many tables as possible, and yet it doesn't seem to be crowded even with a full house.

I personally had the "Benny Bowl" and my girlfriend had the "Dutch Benny", both of which were delicious and cooked perfectly as ordered. Adding the tomato and avacado on top was well worth the extra few bucks, as it brings out some wonderful flavors otherwise missed. We paired this with a carafe of mimosa's that were on point! I know this is saying a lot, but it was the best breakfast I've personally ever had. That isn't the champagne talking either. Hands down... The best.

The staff was polite, fun, and seemed to work well as a team. Getting tables cleaned, put together for larger groups of diners, and then broken apart again for groups of four or less was done with precision and quickness.

Do yourself a huge favor and get yourself to The Iron Whisk ASAP. I would suggest getting there a little earlier than you would expect on a weekend, as there will most likely be a wait time, but it seems that about 15/20 min is standard, but expect a few more minutes if your eating with a bigger group.

Thank you to the owner and staff for a wonderful Sunday breakfast, and we look forward to coming back...

It’s Fall tradition for us to travel to Cobden, take photos, and have brunch at The Iron Whisk. It’s quite the drive, but worth it. Mostly. Our server this morning was incredibly rude. I wondered if maybe she was just having a bad day, but after observing her at neighboring tables, I realized it was just us that she was bothered by. I’m not sure if it was because I mispronounced a menu item or that we had to actually look at our menus before ordering. We typically view menus online so that we don’t hold up the servers, but the website is just awful. It doesn’t load properly. I honestly didn’t think it would be such a big deal to just wait and look at a physical menu. But it definitely ruffled some feathers. Find a menu online and study it. Then head over to Google and enter menu names so that you pronounce them properly. Otherwise, a server might hit you with the biggest eye roll.

The food was absolutely amazing as always. The Sinnerman Dutch Baby is a must-try for sure. Honestly, anything on the menu is a winner. The quality of the food is the only reason I didn’t get up and walk out. Well, that and the 1 1/2-hour drive there.

If you’re a foodie with thick skin, you’ll love this place. If you’re a foodie that’s huge on customer service, you might not dig the whole mean girl vibe. I wish I could shave off more points, but the food really is that...

EDIT We didn't make it back again last time. 🙁 However, my wife has talked about wanting to eat the Trainwreck sandwich again almost weekly since my last review. So I planned for her birthday a weekend getaway (9/17/22 & 9/18/22) to Cobden just so we could go to this restaurant and have the added perk of great hiking too. The food and service was just as we remembered - absolutely amazing! We enjoyed our experience so much that we decided we had to eat breakfast here on Saturday AND Sunday. I failed to take photos last time, and this time the only photo I managed to take before I dug in was of my Bagel and Lox breakfast.

FIRST REVIEW:

I haven't even left the restaurant yet and felt the need to leave a review. This place was quite the discovery by my wife and I while here in Southern IL. Completely different than what we were expecting... in a good way! This place is downright amazing. Somehow the basic wheat toast hit way differently sober than any café I have been to at 2am after a night out with my buddies. If you're in the area I cannot recommend this place enough. We're here for only a few days and we will be back! The wife just finished the Trainwreck sandwich and she's already planning out how she will have it again for...