Ironwood Kitchen & Cocktails — Restaurant in Homewood

We were a party of 5, and went on Sunday evening of Valentine's Day weekend. Honestly, we'd been once before the previous year and found it overpriced and mediocre, but this restaurant was the only one we could get a reservation for due to the holiday.

Our server was Josh, and at first I thought he was just a bad server (never refilled drinks, took forever to take our order, even telling us to wait when we told him we were ready, etc.). He appeared completely stressed out and overwhelmed. Later, I observed him having to bus his own tables and that he had half the restaurant he was trying to serve. Thus, this is a management/staffing issue and wasn't his fault. For the prices on the menu, it's ridiculous a server would have to bus his or her own tables.

Food was a mixed bag. The bacon appetizer was on point. Even with the horrible service, I would return just for this one item. It's not overly-candied and has the perfect amount of heat. As a true bacon lover, it was scrumptious. That said, I would order it at the bar so I could get better service. Oysters were also good, though I didn't have any. We were never offered bread. The seafood salad was well-presented and tasty with a good shrimp portion. The crab, though, consisted of a few microscopic shreds on the top of the lettuce wedge.

Entrees: I was hesitant to order the $85 "Valentine's" special ribeye because of our past experience. Plus, it would have to be incredible for $85. It wasn't. It came out in separate pieces, which was weird. I ordered it medium rare. The smaller end piece was well done. The other pieces were rare. I was good with those, as well as the purée under them (I forget what it was, maybe butternut squash?). Risotto was a bit gluey, but tasted decent. I had a mild allergic reaction to something in this dish. My sinuses all clogged up tight and my face got hot. Couldn't breathe out of my nose. I don't have any known food allergies, so this was bizarre. All said, $85 is a prime steakhouse price for something that was far from prime.

My daughter ordered the hanger steak medium rare. It came sliced. It was well done except for one piece that was medium well. Garlic fries were good when piping hot. Josh never came back to see how our meal was, so we couldn't say anything. I had to ask the hostess for silverware and steak knives. He was nowhere to be found. We had long run out of our first cocktails (that took 30+ minutes to arrive once seated). We did order another round towards the end of the meal, but had to ask for tea refills for the parents.

Filet was "fine" according to my husband. Pork and beans were great according to my father-in-law. That looked like the best meal, by far. Don't remember what my MIL ordered, but she liked it (seafood risotto?). The whole experience took two hours, most of which was spent waiting for Josh to make a rare appearance, so we didn't bother with dessert. I think they only had the two Valentine's menu choices, neither of which sounded tempting.

All in all, the hit or miss food and the poor service makes this a spot to go to only if you can't get a resy anywhere else. Again, I'm not blaming the server. He clearly had way too much for one person to do. You'd think a high-end restaurant like this could afford staff, but something is off here. For us to have two mediocre experiences a whole year apart shows this wasn't simply an off night. It's a consistent management/staffing issue with no truly memorable food to offset the rest of the problems, not to mention the high prices. If I ever go back, it will be just to the bar for a cocktail and that lovely bacon. Then we would go somewhere better for our...

I had an opportunity to visit this restaurant on Saturday evening with a group of 9 friends for a birthday celebration. I arrived late so the others had already ordered and ate their starters. Sam, our server came over after a few minutes to ask me did I want to order a starter. I saw that a Blue Crab Cake Pancake was on the menu so I ordered that being an extreme lover of seafood. I asked him about this starter given this was my first time at this restaurant. He only told me the size of the crab cakes and how many I would get. OKAY??. I took TWO bites of it and I was not pleased with how it tasted. Very bland, doughy and just not very good, and the black eye pea mush on top definitely elevate the dish. I quickly sent it back but the crazy thing was I ended up getting charged for it anyway?? When I noticed this on my check, I asked Sam why I was charged for the starter and he abruptly stated that "there was nothing wrong with it", so of course I told him, obviously there was because I sent it back. He pretty much shrugged it off and said he was sorry. It would have been nice to recommend another starter or have a manager come over to an unhappy customer instead of making the decision himself to not rectify the situation. To add insult to injury, I was also charged ($3.50) for bread that I didn't even know was on the table?? Not a good experience at all for a first-timer and given it's new I expected better. Very pricey place, portions of side items very minimal, and I was not pleased with service. Great ambience and cocktails but that's about it. I paid nearly $100.00 for this meal and I left feeling underwhelmed and underappreciated. Will...

I was really looking forward to dining here with my out-of-town guest and trying the new menu, but unfortunately the experience was disappointing. Service was extremely slow, our food was severely undercooked, and the overall customer service was the worst part.

As you can see in the photo, the lamb chops we ordered as an appetizer were RAW. Instead of our order, the server first brought mozzarella balls, and after a 35-minute wait we had to flag someone down just to get the correct dish. By the time the lamb finally arrived, it came out with our entrées. We decided to take them home to avoid further delays, but after flipping them over we saw they were even more raw on the other side. At that point, we asked to have them removed from the bill.

The server complained to the manager, who came over with a very nonchalant attitude. He admitted it was only his third day and that the kitchen had “temperature inconsistencies,” yet he had not even looked at the lamb before dismissing our complaint. Only after we showed him the photos did he agree to remove it. To make matters worse, the server’s response to our concern was, “Typically at a fine dining restaurant, the meats are served medium rare,” which felt condescending and implied we weren’t familiar with fine dining (this restaurant is far from it). Medium rare is one thing—raw is another.

Overall, this was a very disappointing experience, and I cannot recommend this restaurant based on the service and food quality we...