Firestone's Kitchen — Restaurant in Millcreek Township

We had a party of 7 with reservations on Friday night. When we arrived the table had our name on it and was right next to the door. We attempted to seat ourselves at our labeled table, because the hostess was very busy. The hostess (who we learned later is also the manager) stopped us and firmly told us we needed to wait for her to seat us even though she was aware it was our reserved table. We had to stand in the way of many customers and in front of seated tables just until she was ready, so she could let us sit at the empty table with our name on it a couple feet away.

Three of us had pizza which was very good. Two had flat iron steaks and one had a smash burger. One flat iron was extremely tough, but cooked medium rare as ordered. One of the flat irons was ordered medium, but came out medium rare like the one that was ordered medium rare. The waitress was very helpful and pleasant and sent one back to be cooked longer. It came back out still purple in the middle, clearly not medium. This was mentioned to the waitress who offered to send it back again, but the one ordering it said no thanks. The manager came to the table offering to send it for more cooking. The one ordering said no thanks again. She planned to just take it home and give it to her family member who would eat it, but she didn't say this to the manager. The manager (hostess earlier) was aggressive, rude, and rolled her eyes when she was told no thanks multiple times about taking it back. She threw up her hands and said how she'd tried to make it right but SHE won't let me.

Now, I feel for people working with the public. I am in the service industry and have been for many years. People can be difficult, but we were not and we were not trying to be unreasonable. I never complain even if I'm unhappy with a meal, but after this experience with the manager I mentioned my smashburger was very red inside, too. The manager did offer to take the burger back and cook it some more. (Which I took a bite out of before seeing the red inside, it has cheese on it, and all the toppings. How are you taking that back to cook it more?) I said no thanks, already deciding I would just eat the fries and take the burger to our dogs. I didn't say I would give it to the dogs, just said no thanks. At first she put the blame on me because "they cook everything medium rare unless otherwise requested". I never order medium rare. I said yes, I typically say how I want it cooked, but I forgot so not to worry about it. Then she blamed the waitress for not telling me, who was great the entire time and at this point the only employee we found to be helpful.

I've never been to a restaurant who has a medium rare standard including burgers without asking how you want it cooked. I saw no sign saying this was their standard, maybe I missed it. I was not asked how I wanted it cooked. I told her not to worry about it. I just wanted them to know since it happened to two of us at the same table and it was our first time there (though the one one flat iron was ordered medium two times). This didn't go over well and she stormed off.

There were two of us who stayed after the others left to finish our drink. The manager apparently also clears tables, so she came over to split and clear one of our corner tables off since the party split up. We normally wouldn't see a problem with this, but most people would say excuse me or something to acknowledge that they were disruptive. She was clearly still irritated with us voicing our concerns about the undercooked meat so politeness doesn't apply.

On the way out, I tapped her on the forearm and said quietly she should consider working on her management skills. This resulted in her yelling, "DON'T TOUCH ME" as she backed away and told me to leave which we were already doing.

In hindsight, I should have requested a different manager or called later and asked for the owner, but after this experience we have no interest in ever going to Friestone's again. You would expect with a higher price point you would be treated...

Frankly, this is my favorite restaurant in Erie and one of the best restaurants I've visited.

In a time of rising fast food costs it's becoming more rewarding to find reasonably priced restaurants with good service.

Firestones provides an incredible level of service with extremely nice and efficient staff. Everyone from the servers to the cooking staff are interacting with customers. This is helped by a completely open visibility kitchen and a fantastic pizza oven as its centerpiece. Having the kitchen also increases the trust in the restaurant as there's really no way to hide bad practices if they were operating poorly.

The food itself is wonderful. Their standard menu features a small selection of pizzas, appetizers, and sandwich style fare. All of which are under 20$ and most of which are 12-15$, putting them at a competitive price with most restaurants and even a lot of fast food these days.

They offer a rotating menu of specials. These specials come and go as the cooking staff have ideas and then run out of ingredients. Being attached to Gordons meat market, they also offer a small selection of high end meat dishes, meaning you can have that high class experience if you're looking for it.

They have a great selection of alcoholic beverages as well with a wall of options and the neighboring wine market only steps away.

There's really no way to go wrong with Firestones and it's obvious why they continue to win accolades and awards...

One of my absolute favorite spots in town! The menu gives you enough options without overwhelming you with countless offerings or options. As well as a changing dinner menu.

Personally, I love getting a seat at the bar. Not only do you get to have amazing food, but you also get to enjoy the show as the clean and corridinated kitchen prepares and crafts everything in front of you.

The steaks always look so appetizing every time I watch them pull one off and watch the pizzas go in and out of the massive oven in hopes the next one is mine.

On my last visit, one of their offerings included a toasted brioche or bread of some kind. I watched as he was about to plate it, and unsatisfied by the minor amount of charring on the bread, he discarded it and sliced two fresh pieces and toasted them as well. Just the fine details make your experience all that much better.

The atmosphere leaves little to be desired; the only fault I've generally ever found is that they are absolutely packed, and the service does their best to keep up. They are friendly and polite always; they are just very busy when I go in. I have no doubt that this is a very good problem to have in the food industry. With a little preplanning and avoiding their rush hours, you can absolutely avoid the only minor issues I've ever...