Firebirds Wood Fired Grill — Restaurant in Millcreek Township

We have visited and enjoyed Firebirds in numerous locations on numerous occasions, so were stunned and disappointed in Erie Firebirds' inability to handle the needs of our service dog-accompanied party.

Having indicated we had a service dog at the time of reservation, I was surprised that the hostess was surprised that we walked in with one. She proceeded to take us to a booth despite there being a number of empty tables. When we requested a table she said they would soon be filled with other parties who required the space of a table.

With no additional space at the booth we had a decision to make: lift up our legs so the dog could lie down under the table, or have the dog lie next to the table/booth and in the path of customers and staff. We attempted both for 10 minutes before realizing the only real solution, short of leaving, was to take the dog back to the car and attempt an accelerated service-dog-free dinner.

To add insult to injury, during the entire 90 minutes we were there, all of the nearby tables remained unoccupied. At the end of our meal I asked the hostess why she couldn't have reseated us after it became clear the tables were in fact available. She replied that they don't book reservations for the same table "within 2-3 hours of each other." She also had the nerve to blame the dog for licking the leg of the waitress. When I asked to speak to her supervisor she said that person is based in North Carolina, but then curiously a man appeared from the back claiming to be her boss. He empathized with our experience and promised a "VIP Card" from his manager the following day as a token of their apology and appreciation. Neither the card nor an update has materialized.

We're left to conclude the restaurant is incapable of handling guests with service dogs with any measure of common sense or compassion. Such guests should take this guidance into account before making plans there.

9/12/24 update: company offered a gift card to make up for the gaffe and promised that the feedback has been shared directly with the team. While I'm grateful for the monetary gesture, my main wish is that by acting on the feedback they will ensure no guest has to experience something similar...

Upon arrival, staff greeted us with a smile right away. Front had a nice flow & decor was interesting. We were seated in the rear of the dining room where you have a view of the kitchen, which is great. It's always a treat to see a chef doing their thing. Beverages to start were a margarita & soda. Margaritas was super flavorful, I ordered 2 more. The server brought bread & butter to the table. While my companion very much enjoyed it, it felt like it could be improved upon. Removing the cornmeal would be a great start. The flavor itself is like any other bread. A topping of craquelin would truly make it pop. The first order was a 7oz sirloin, medium rare with parm mash. The steak was cooked perfectly, and the texture was good but overly heavy thyme flavor that almost overtook the garlic. The mash was kind of loose & barely warm. It lacked on salt & would really benefit from truffle. The second order was a 7oz bacon wrapped filet mignon, medium rare. The steak was cooked to temp, but that's where the happiness ended. The bacon was rubbery & could have used a quick roll to crisp it a bit. The steak beneath was an odd shade of gray. For the first time ever, I cut into a filet that had fat, requiring dissection. Filet is known for being lean & melt in your mouth tender. This was not that. I had 3 bites with hope it would get better. Sadly, I did not eat the steak past those few bites. The French fries were delicious, I'm assuming they were ordered in, not freshly prepared daily. Still delicious. Our server was so friendly, the type of person you like to see smiling when they walk up to you & gave off a positive vibe. The singing though from staff, if you're going to sing, don't keep repeating the same part over & over, we would have liked to hear the rest of the song. 😊 We will return. One meal that isn't what one was expecting doesn't mean "DNR." Maybe it was an off day & the next items we try could truly...

TL;DR - Don't try to sell select quality steaks at prime quality prices.

Went to Erie for the day and wanted to try somewhere new. Saw Firebirds Wood Fired Grill as we were driving by and started looking it up. Then better half said it was a steak house and I was all in. When we went in, the decor was nice, the staff was friendly (which they remained throughout our time there), and it was a pretty busy place. We ordered the NY Strip and Ribeye with our respective sides. We also got side salads and drinks.

The on the house bread was very good. A hard crispy crust. The inside was warm and tasty even without the butter. Our salads arrived and I stuffed half of mine into the crust of my bread. I got the BLT salad. It was a fun and tasty mock pita. Our server wanted one after seeing it. Honestly the best part of the meal itself.

After the two straight home runs with the bread and the salad, we were looking forward to what this place could do with steak. This is where we struck out. My rib eye was a bit thicker than the strip, so my center was closer to raw than to medium. I'm thinking both of our steaks were put on and taken off at the same time. Mine could have done with another minute on each side. The seasoning on the steaks was fine and they were handled well as they were both juicy. However, both steaks were quite grainy in their texture. Nothing was done with the fat cap, so they just tasted like raw fat. At the prices they changed for our steaks, you would think that you'd be getting prime, but these were select at best. Our sides were completely unseasoned and lifeless. The steaks themselves were selling for ~$30 each. That money would have been better spent buying steaks at Walmart and doing them at home. A very disappointing end to a meal that had such a great start. 5 stars for everything else, but 1 star...