Iron Bridge Inn — Restaurant in Springfield Township

So I really want to like this chain. I do. I keep trying and trying. While it is probably fine for most folks with 2.75 children, for me, I want a bigger WOW factor for the price. I'll elaborate.

I went to IBI this evening. Since I went late, there was no wait. The staff was friendly. I wanted to order the surf and turf option, but it was not available. The decor is nice and in keeping with the area and the atmosphere is fine.

I ordered an appetizer that was basically toast points with a soft cheese and some jam. It wasn't bad, large enough for two or three people and I really don't have any complaints about it. Then comes the main course, I opted for the Chilean Salmon.

On a scale of 1-10, the wow factor was about a 2. As soon as I see that ratio of plate to actual food, I know that the chain is way more concerned with margins than food. I get that it probably costs a mint to run these restaurants so I won't claim to know much about the business side BUTTT there was absolutely no love, no creativity and the dish was uninspired. The corn thing with butterbeans was kind of the kicker that they are cutting costs down to the bare bones. You can't find cheaper ingredients. You could still go cheap with perhaps a red cabbage slaw? Let's get some color going!!

I'm no chef, but in a hypothetical world where I am, at my restaurant, the same piece of salmon comes with citrus wedges, lime and maybe even a few oranges and some mango. It's served on a bed of spinach (maybe?). That butter is replaced with a pico sauce or an ice cream scoop full of fresh guacamole. The blackening seasoning maybe has a small pinch of Cayenne pepper. If we are going to call it "Chilean", then lets really go for it.

There was no color to the dish, the salmon was sad and gray but thankfully not over cooked. I would definitely NEVER order it again. The drink menu was way more creative and I would have loved a cocktail, but I had to work. I was impressed that they hadn't horrifically oversalted everything like their Hermitage restaurant does (I had to give up on that restaurant all together).

I also ordered the Texas MacNCheese but I haven't eaten it yet (take home for tomorrow's lunch), so maybe it will redeem it. I feel like this restaurant is on the cusp. It is decent, but if something better opens, or even just comparable at a better price point, it will all be over but the crying for this...

Wow. Glad I did some research before heading out to this wonderful place. While I'm happy with some of the local places around Meadville (we live nearby), we've hit all of the 'high-end' places around here, and have not been impressed with any of them. Kings and Red Lobster have been the best thus far, and while I don't consider chains to be high-end, we've at least received decent food and service. All of that being said, I wanted something a bit nicer for my wife on our ten year anniversary. We weren't disappointed. Made a reservation online, easy as could be. We walked in, and the hostess, who turned out to be our server, asked if I was Sam. After responding in the affirmative, she pointed to a table and said that she had us ready to seat. All recommendations for wine, drinks, and food were spot on, without being pushy or arrogant. She read us just right, which is not surprising, since it turns out that both us and her work in behavioral health, which we discovered during some banter after dinner was finished. I would say that anything on the menu should be good, but I can highly recommend the shrimp and lobster cakes that I had, and my wife and son loved their top sirloin steak and prime rib. Ambience was good as well, reminding me of some of the ski lodges I've been to in Vermont, with lots of curios and whatnot on the walls. A huge thanks to Candace, our server, who absolutely nailed it, and the owners, who provided a memorable meal with no issues whatsoever. We will be back, and soon! One other thing: I only write reviews when I'm throughly impressed or disgusted, so take this one as honest...

I am not one to post normally about negative experiences because, lets face it, any problems can be fixed and accidents happen. Yesterday however, was a different. My boyfriend and I both decided to eat out and we picked here. It wasn't fully planned so I admit he was dirty from work and I was dressed down for the weekend. We knew we were going to have to wait a while because they were busy (no problem, it was a sunday). We were told 45 min to an hour. The time came and went and my boyfriend told me he noticed people who came after us had gone in. I shrugged it off. Then it drew to an hour and forty five minutes since we got our buzzer. I went inside as my boyfriend went to the car to book another place. I asked the hostess, who was not the one who gave us the buzzer, what the wait time was for our name and was told it was 10 more minutes. Ok, no big deal, it was busy like I said. She asked my number and after stating it, realized we were long overdue to be seated and had been skipped over multiple times. I did receive an apology from this different person but do feel that the original young hostess who gave the number may have been discriminative due to us being a young couple and also not dressing up like the rest of the guest around us had. I thank the older woman who I assume might have been a manager or a higher up who again did apologize and tried to fix the situation. I want to state that if there is discrimination, this is very unfortunate since style of dress and or appearance dose not always define the customers spending habits. We will wait a while...