Iron Age Korean Steak House - Duluth — Restaurant in Duluth

Honestly, it pains me to give this place a 4/5. This was my first introduction to Korean bbq a few years ago, and those times leading up to yesterday would have been a 5/5 no question. However, now the quality of the restaurant as well as the selection of meats have decreased over time while charging the same menu price. Do NOT trust their online menu; it does NOT have many of the items listed on there. I will include a picture of the updated dinner menu.

The two BIG menu items they have removed from the list is their beef brisket and their pork belly. These are two of the most ICONIC Korean bbq items to see on a menu, and yet they are not removed. Really sad, but not completely disappointing.

However, all their other food is still good. Their bulgogis are sweet, flavorful, and amazing (specifically their beef), their seasoned steak is juicy and tender, their chicken is moist, and honestly everything they have is still delicious.

The real hidden treasures people forget about is their banchan (side dishes). These you can NOT forget to get. Be sure to order spicy rice cakes (glutinous sticky rice that has been melted down to a cylindrical shape and covered in gochujang (sweet/spicy sauce). These rice cakes are always quick and tasty to eat while waiting for your meats to cook in the center. Get their salad. “Really, salad, Nikhil?? I’m here for the meat!” Well, you are here for the salad as well. While just simple romaine lettuce, the dressing and pickled onions in it are the game changers. I could not tell everything in the sauce, but there was a peanut-y component, a sesame oil component, and then a sweet component (maybe kalbi/galbi?). It’s good, regardless. Japchae: cold, sweet potato starch noodles. These are great and easy and fun to eat, especially if you have never tried it before. Vegetables: yes, order mushrooms, onions, potatoes. Grill them, dip them in the sauces. Yum. Speaking of sauces, my two personal favorites are their galbi (sweet) sauce and their salt & pepper sesame oil sauce. These are served in a two-compartment dish, so be sure to try your meats dipped in these sauces! Also, they don’t give it, but ask for gochujang. This is a thicker sauce (almost paste-like), but it is a spicier (and a little sweet) sauce! Pickled veggies: you’ll get pickled veggies at the beginning, and be sure throughout the meal to ask for more. They don’t give you kimchi (fermented cabbage) unless you ask, by the way. These make excellent in between snacks while meat is cooking. They also act as a mouth refresher, cleansing your palate while adding a much needed acidic taste to cut through the fattiness of the meats. Last but not least, the obvious staple. Sure, you can say “I want my money’s worth and rice is so cheap.” Yes, sure. But honestly, you don’t go to a restaurant/buffet to get your money’s worth. You go to it to get an enjoyable meal. The rice will be needed, trust me. Having a plain carb source is great, especially when you decide to go all Gordon Ramsay on the meal. Add some cooked meat, some sauces, a spicy rice cake, some grilled veggies, and some pickled veggies and kimchi, and then try to take the best bite of your life.

One major con is that the servers don’t come around often at all, so learn your server’s name and call for them if you see them walking by. Also, whenever they come to ask how you’re doing or to occasionally adjust the meat on the grill or the flame, have a few items in mind that you want to order next because it could be 15-20 minutes before you see them again. Also ask for water refills as much as you can also because the saltiness will be overwhelming eventually.

Oh yeah, the ambience is awesome. Setting is very dark, and there are giant screens playing Korean pop, rap, hip-hop, and trap music videos. It is fascinating to see a cultural side that you probably don’t see too often.

So overall, I can’t give this a 5/5, and really I wish I could rate it 4.5/5 on google. But go here. You won’t be...

I visited the Duluth location with my family. My server Sam was horrible and extremely rude. We had a party at nine, so I assume he was not concerned about gratuity since it is included. I had to ask three times for the vegetarian options. I selected Iron Age for a Mother’s Day/graduation celebration because they had a few vegetable vegetable options as well as seafood options that my husband and I enjoy. I told him I don’t eat chicken or steak at the beginning of our experience, he said, and I quote “ Well that’s kind of on you“. I thought that that response was odd, considering the menu specifically states vegetables as an option. After asking Sam twice and waiting more than an hour for vegetables, I’ve been requested the time politely. He said I’m going to go get a few other things for your so I just need you to wait, I corrected him and told him that I have asked things several times and at the time I think he was headed to get salt and pepper for the table as well as to refill a child sprite. So they weren’t many things he was. So they weren’t many things he’s headed to do for the table. Sam is a horrible server and rude. I am certain that his behavior yesterday would’ve alarmed a manager, and it likely would’ve been fired hat I cared enough to inform someone. He never brought gloves or a bucket, so that we can peel and devein the shrimp, although we requested this, at least once. And when we went to a different our age, we did not have to request this at all, the server just bought these things. Finally after leaving. that when he informed him that the stove and his end of the table wasn’t working properly as the proteins were cooking very slowly, he stated to my son, “that’s just how life works sometimes”. My son said he seemed like a young, overwhelmed waiter, who just hates where he landed in life. Sam needs a different type of job. He should definitely be fired just based on how my family was treated so rudely. we were a party of nine and when we were younger, we have all worked as servers so we are fairly patient because we understand that busy days like Mother’s Day are very taxing for the kitchen in for servers. Sam’s disregard for decorum and good customer service is inexcusable. My bill alone was more than $200. Not to mention we had a party of nine, so I’m sure that our table alone spent more than $500 to be spoken to the way that we were is not what we were paying for. There were many more remarks made and behaviors that I would call rude and disregarding but they ALL came from Sam. I sat at the bar prior to the dining experience and the young lady that was bartending at 3:30 was amazing. Also, the hostess was very sweet, kind, and accommodating to our party. Great customer service on their end. Sam, however, ruined the entire dining experience, and I will never return to this establishment. If you are considering dining here, just know that you run the possibility of getting a server That is completely disinterested in customer service. Sam was my server at 3:30 for a part of 9 on Mother’s Day and I am very disappointed in the service. If you are considering iron age, I would suggest going to a different location. DO NOT visit the Duluth location, you will be disappointed especially if Sam is...

EXTREMELY horrible service on the managements behalf. My family and i ate here on 3/30 and had an amazing dinner, on our way out the door we took a picture and my 3 year old accidentally walked out, leaving my husbands ipad on the table. My husband was able to come into the restaurant that following Wednesday where one host, the ONLY helpful person throughout this entire process, confirmed that it had been left in the restaurant, but it must’ve been moved because it was no longer where she had placed it. Manager Edwin told my husband they had to review camera footage and that it would take some time but they would reach back out to us. A week passed and it had been radio silence, and it felt as though they were trying to sweep this under the rug. I drove to the restaurant myself to speak to the manager. The host greeted me quickly, and was able to explain that the managers still had not had time to review the footage but she could get me a manager to chat. The manager, Neil, comes out to the host, then approaches me. I explain to him the situation and that i was frustrated because i feel as though we aren’t taking this seriously, it’s been a week and we still haven’t gone through any footage. He seemed completely unaware of what was going on. I let him know that i would like an answer before I left that afternoon, if not unfortunately I would be getting the authorities involved as it seemed as though they were doing nothing. He laughed in my face walking away and mumbled “ you do what you want ma’am.” He walked back up to the host stand and turns around to snap at me and say “well i need all your information ma’am” He then confirms with the host that the ipad was there, to which the host replies that she herself had put it to charge. He disappears for about 20 mins before coming back out, approaching me and then turning to walk away for another 15. When he finally did come out, he approached me with Ipad in hand. He did not mutter a single word to me, not an apology or an explanation as to how he found it after a week of him “not knowing it was there”, just a toss saying “here’s your crap now get out.” I have been in the customer service industry for 6 years and i have NEVER experienced a worse manager. It truly seemed as though he was trying to get away with the...