Iron & Ale Lynchburg Tap and Table — Restaurant in Lynchburg

After calling a week ahead and being told that we can not make a reservation and that seating was first come, first served, we arrived at Iron and Ale at 3:30pm after leaving Liberty University's graduation ceremony, with a party of 20. We were told upon arrival that there would be a 35-40 minute wait. Great, for a large party, that is very reasonable. After waiting 45 minutes, and watching other parties go inside and be seated rather quickly, we asked if we would be seated soon and were told that it would be an additional 30 minute wait. After another 45 minutes of waiting (total 90 minutes), and seeing more parties being seated, we checked again and were told that they don't know how much longer the wait would be and that would go and wait in their outside tented bar area if we didn't want to wait on the sidewalk anymore, but there wouldn't be food service back there, so they will still let us know when our table was ready. As we walked through the restaurant to the tented bar area, we noticed a table for a large party set with no party seated at it and another large party table across from it with only 2 people (that arrived after us) seated at it. We wait eden and additional 15mins before checking in again, and when we were told that they still didn't have tables for us, despite them having an empty large party table and another large table with only 2 people seated and not taking reservations.

This was the final straw and we chose to leave and dine elsewhere. Being unorganized and not knowing how to accommodate a large party is one thing; However seating other parties that arrived after us at tables that should have been used to start preparing our large party seating, having one empty large table and then another large table being held by 2 people while having a no reservation policy, and constantly extending a party's wait time because you are not properly allocating resources to provide them seating and service is down right unprofessional and disrespectful.

Also, the host staff showed absolutely no sense of urgency in actually trying to get us seated and never apologized for constantly extending the wait time. I wouldn't recommend this establishment to anyone with a party larger than 2 people, unless you don't mind being...

This was my first visit while visiting some family members who live nearby. Parking looked like it might be a mess, but there were plenty of spots hidden behind the building . We sat upstairs outside. The aromas from the kitchen were very present and delightful in that location. I kept expecting to see a river or some type of notable landscape from the terrace but there were only tops of other buildings along with some very loud motorcycles. The service was better than I normally expect get when dining on the patio. And they had a TV or 2 out there, but nothing like the big screen inside. We began with a few sets of cocktail flights. This seemed kind of unique. I am not a big drinker, but I have tried beer samplers at the micro-brews on occasion. I just had not experienced this with cocktails before. So we selected 4 out of 6 available. I found the mixed berry to be the smoothest and tastiest of my selection and considered ordering a full sized version. After tasting mine, one of the others in our party, did just that. My brother was a fan of the orange, scalping my orange cocktail shortly after finishing his own flight. So tastes will vary. We started with a crab dip appetizer which arrived about halfway thru the meal with apologies from the kitchen. It was ok. I ordered the $20 salmon platter with loaded mashed potatoes and Mac n cheese. When it arrived, I was somewhat shocked that my plate looked a bit empty. The salmon portion was about 2" by 2" in size, much smaller than I am used to getting for $20. The potatoes were average .The Mac n cheese had a white cheddar sauce on it, which I don't see often. It was ok . It seemed like they were at least, attempting, to give it some flare. Flavor was still pretty average. I was thankful that we had ordered the appetizer to help as a filler . We ordered 1 slice of cheesecake with chocolate drizzle to try and share. It was exquisite! I savored the one bite that I got before my brother's pre teen declared he was appropriating the remainder of the dessert. I was tempted to order a 2nd for my own indulgence, but thought better of it. We may certainly return on a future visit to Lynchburg, more prepared for high prices and small portions. I suppose that's just the...

My wife and I went Wednesday May 9th. I ordered the ribeye, fried brussel sprouts and yukon mashed potatoes, she had the lobster mac n cheese.

Our server was very nice and really worked hard. It was very busy the night we went with multiple large groups. I asked for a medium cooked steak, it came out medium well/well done. No pink in the middle at all but it was juicy and I was hungry so I decided to let it go. The mashed potatoes were room temperature. The fried brussel sprouts were just luke warm.

Into the second cut and bite into my steak I saw what I thought was a string of melted cheese, then I thought it was a hair, but after picking it up it turned out to be a piece of plastic. It looked like it had melted from something. I inspected it closely and it was definitely a piece of plastic. Our wonderful server came back around and I notified her right away and she said she'd notify the manager and bring me a whole new order. The new plate of food didn't take long and everything came out nice and hot except for the mashed potatoes, again, which were room temp.

The 2nd steak was cooked perfectly and was nice and juicy. However I think the amount of garlic or garlic salt they used this time was way way too much. Coupled with the garlic-y potatoes it was a lot. I love garlic by the way but it this was over powering. My wife commented several times how much of it she could smell throughout the evening and into when we got home. The steak was juicy and flavorful otherwise and I didn't want to send it back, I didn't want to be a high maintenance guest and I was starving. The first steak although cooked a little too long had a better balance of flavors. The fried brussel sprouts were quite good.

About 10 minutes into my 2nd plate we had to start fighting 3 to 4 flies constantly buzzing around us and our food. We dined inside but we were close to the exit for the outside seating. It was frustrating.

In hindsight I am also disappointed that a manager never came by to apologize for there being plastic on my steak.

All in all I do want to come back and give another try as their menu looks fantastic, I hope my next meal is better. I will leave another review for my next...