Branding Iron Supper Club — Restaurant in Town of Saratoga

Fiance's Meal: The salad bar was small but standard. There were a few varieties of pasta salads to choose from. Both my fiance and I enjoyed the salad bar, though its rather difficult to mess up a salad bar. My fiance ordered the JC which is a special of theirs. It is an eight ounce steak with mushrooms. It came with a scoop of potato and a small bowl of soup. My fiance absolutely hated most of his meal. The mushrooms were chewy and hard in several spots. They also tasted as if they had been stored in the freezer for far too long. The steak showed promise at first, it seemed very soft but then tasted freezer burnt. My fiance found the flavor incredibly disgusting. The center of his rare steak was not red or scarlet but a deep burgundy. The steak itself was also very cold. He would describe it as "refrigerator cold". It was not bloody, there was no juice to it. It also had the consistency of a soft gummy bear when chewed. My fiance's potatoes were certainly of the boxed variety. The soup was store bought. My fiance actually recognized it as the stuff we buy from Walmart.

My Meal: I had the shrimp and six ounce steak with a side of fries. My steak was medium rare and my shrimp were boiled. You had the option of having your shrimp either fried or boiled. Again, salad bar was standard. I enjoyed the soup very much but I don't think it was homemade. (I had the vegetable soup and my fiance had the creamy broccoli). My main meal was brought out on a large plate that had a small candle in the center. The candle was heating melted butter for the shrimp of which there were three or four. The first thing I tried was my steak. While mine was juicy, it was incredibly bland and very gummy. The second thing I tried were the shrimp. They were, without a doubt the worst shrimp I've had. They were clearly over boiled and tasted a bit like plastic bouncy balls. I tried to salt my food to improve the flavor but there was really no saving the plate. As for the fries, you would be much better off getting fries from Culvers.

To say we were disappointed with this restaurant would be a massive understatement. We are a young couple just starting out and going to a nice place isn't something we can do very often. We went to The Branding Iron as a sort of gift to each other for Memorial Day and our night was an absolute waste of seventy hard earned dollars. The only reason this review is even receiving one star is because our waitress was a lovely, kind, and wonderful woman who was incredibly attentive to our needs.

If you want the same (or better) standard of food, I'd recommend going to a very nice fast food restaurant. At least there you aren't...

This may have just been an off evening.

Atmosphere: First off we walked in and everyone just stares at you which is not the businesses fault whatsoever, it just made it uncomfortable. Us three girls sat at the bar ordered an old fashioned which were good. As we waited to order our food we asked the couple next to us to take a photo of us. The guy was super nice but the women bartender said to his wife/girlfriend that we are drunk after we asked her to take our picture first. Just would like to note that we had two old fashioneds after we just drove almost three hours to get there for our girls weekend. We all three are in the service industry and it was just rude, even though we can take sarcasm pretty well being bartenders ourselves. It’s just really unfortunate because we love to take care of bartenders that take care of us. I think she judged to quickly and that’s just sad. Then, we sat down for dinner it was like walking into a funeral home, sooooooooo quiet. If you laughed you were stared at so that’s just uncomfortable. We honestly should have just sat in the gorgeous patio area. Now, that was something beautiful and felt way more welcoming. Just the inside supper club vibes were off.

Food: I had the ribs and they accommodated for stuffed shrimp with my ribs with the combination dinner which was amazing. Plus, our server was just the kindest women I think I ever met. I’d love to note she was great and working so hard - wish I had her name! My two friends had the tenderloin and we’d have to echo the same as another review that there isn’t much flavor. I wouldn’t recommend the twice baked potatoes, they aren’t the greatest but also not the worst. The baked potato, stuffed shrimp and ribs were spot on though!

Not sure if we would ever make an effort to go back. Like I said, we all have our off nights and that could have just been this. I hate giving reviews like this because of one employee too, sad.

PS, if you love ribs like I do, get these. They are fall off the bone...

Thought I would take a chance as we were in the area camping and enjoy hitting up local supper clubs. Walking in is confusing as you walk into the bar area not knowing where to go to check in. Finally figured it out as I had a reservation I called in earlier in the week. We were escorted to our table as seating is very tight and squeezing between chairs to walk in and out. We had a young and very nice waitress who I think was overwhelmed by how many tables she had with I think was limited staff. Ordered an old fashion sweet with Southern instead of brandy with olives and my mother in law ordered a cocktail in a tall glass. As we ordered drinks we also ordered appetizers and our main course. Our appetizers came before our drinks and my daughter didn’t get her lemonade until the main course but in a dirty glass that I had to go over to the fountain station and ask for a new drink. I walked back to my table about twenty feet away and they went to wrong table. Needless to say I’m kinda a hard guy to miss at 6’3” 330 with a big beard. Finally our drinks come and mine has oranges cherries and one olive in it. My mother in law gets a short glass instead of the tall. Our appetizers come and we ordered the calamari which were four sticks looking like French fries and tasted like frozen fish sticks. My wife and daughter ordered the chicken noodle soup instead of the salad bar which was very good. Not one noodle in each of their bowls!! More like chicken vegetable soup. For main course I ordered the 18oz prime rib for $45! I get it and there was as much fat as meat while being luke warm. My mother in law ordered same thing and she said it was a cold. The taste and tenderness were good but highly disappointed with the meal for $224!! I still gave our waitress a hefty 20% because I really believed she was doing a good job....