Iron Age - Columbia Heights — Restaurant in Washington

We’ve been regular guests at this Iron Age location—coming nearly every other Sunday—and usually have a great time. However, our recent visit under new management was one of the most uncomfortable dining experiences we’ve ever had, and I feel compelled to share what happened so both customers and the owners are aware.

My girlfriend, who has PTSD, brings her small service dog (a 10 lb Shih Tzu) with her when we dine. The dog is a trained service animal whose primary task is acting as a social buffer, which is a legitimate and medically supported function under the ADA. We’ve never once had an issue at this location—until now.

The new manager approached us with a stern, unsmiling demeanor and asked my girlfriend to switch sides of the table because of “other guests’ allergies.” This is not a legal basis to ask someone to move or be separated from their service animal—especially since Shih Tzus are hypoallergenic. Then, the manager returned and told us the dog must be placed on the ground and not in her lap. Again, that is not a legal requirement under ADA guidelines, especially when the dog’s trained task is proximity-based.

At no point were we asked the only two questions that businesses are allowed to ask regarding service animals: Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability? What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?

Instead, we were told repeatedly, “Service dogs sit on the ground,” as though that’s the law. It is not. What matters is the dog’s behavior and function—not the management’s opinion of how a service animal should appear.

What made this worse was how prolonged and public it all was. Multiple staff members approached our table over the course of 20 minutes. One staff member was visibly nervous and shaking. He mentioned the dog should wear a vest (which is not required by law) and told us not to feed the dog—something we were not doing. He also claimed we had said “no” when asked if the dog was a service animal upon entry, then “changed our answer”—a claim that is completely untrue and possibly the result of a language barrier, as the manager did not speak to us directly in English.

We carry a service dog ID card for moments like this—not because it’s required, but because it often helps avoid confusion. In this case, it was ignored until convenient for the staff to cite as justification after treating us with suspicion and confrontation.

The overall tone was hostile, not hospitable. No one smiled. No one offered a respectful solution or asked us privately if we could discuss the matter. Instead, we were publicly singled out, judged, and left feeling extremely anxious—defeating the very purpose of having a service dog in the first place.

I’ve worked in top-tier restaurants in New York City for over 15 years as a floor staff member and manager, and I can confidently say this was some of the poorest hospitality I’ve ever witnessed. A skilled manager knows how to handle sensitive topics with grace, discretion, and compassion. This was the opposite.

We left feeling shaken, unwelcome, and no longer hungry. Our guest was stunned. No gesture was made to apologize or make amends. Just continued scrutiny and stress.

If this is the new direction of Iron Age under the current leadership, I sincerely hope the owners take notice. Because this was not only mishandled—it was triggering, unprofessional, and...

Literally never had a good experience here. They told us a 30 min wait then made us wait for 2 hours. The grills are wack and don’t hold the juice appropriately so they catch on fire because the meat sticks so the food burns and dries out. I’ve been going to kbbq for over 10 years and have tried places all around the country and this is the ONLY one that wants to make themselves feel “unique” by doing things out of the standard. The waiters come over and place the meat directly onto the grill for you before you can confirm if it’s the right order or the right serving amount so that they can charge you for extra “uneaten meats” at the end of the night. Most places put the meat on the table and allow you to do it yourselves. They wouldn’t bring out our meat more than one at a time and didn’t let us use two grills despite having 6 people there (typically it’s a grill per 4 people). When I asked if we could use a second grill they told me they required a 7 person minimum (again, weird) and when I asked if we could use the normal grill instead of their cheap wire one they told me we “weren’t allowed to” and then never elaborated.

Our server was slow and rude and continuously forgot to bring stuff we had asked for. We got there at 7pm and had a non-refundable reservation somewhere else at 10pm that we ended up missing because we didn’t get seated until 9pm and then the waiter was slow (despite us telling him and the host that we had reservations somewhere else at 10pm and they reassured us we would have time to eat and enjoy ourselves when we clearly did not). We wasted our money here and then lost the money we spent on the next reservation. I would ask the server for something 10 times and be told “yeah I’ll bring it out in a minute” and then disappear and not come back. The radish wraps are cut too thick (again trying to be “unique”), the dishes are small and don’t hold enough sauce, which is extra annoying when compounded with the fact that the server wouldn’t refill our sauce and disappear for long stretches of time. They don’t call their brisket sauce “brisket sauce”, which again, every kbbq place does. So the waiter would act confused when I asked for more brisket sauce for the table. Their salad dressing was mids and the rice was mushy instead of sticky. They cut the cabbage in their kimchi into weird shapes. Every kbbq place has a waiter who takes the orders and a food runner who brings the food to you. We had ONE waiter who also doubled as the bartender so getting any kind of service out of him took forever. This is literally the worst kbbq place I’ve ever been to in my entire life. I would sincerely hope that the owners go to ANY other kbbq place and see...

Seriously not recommend this Iron Age (would give 0 if I can), never tried such terrible service before. As some previous reviewers mentioned, the Korean waiter here is so rude, this Iron Age is much worse than other Iron Age, please choose wisely.

Let me share my terrible experience on 2021/06/26: The Korean waiter let me and my friend wait for more than 20 mins for no reason when the restaurant is not busy at all. There is only 5 group of customers there and plenty of tables available. We stand and watch him walk around slowly for nothing important while he never comes to serve us and just let us stand there like we are not guests at all, and then he rudely asks us to actually go outside of the restaurant and wait under the hot weather. His attitude is extremely bad, the worst I have seen in my whole life. He thinks he is your teacher, your god, and wants to teach you waiter's policy first and let you starve before letting you eat, and we tell him we have already waited so long and no one cares about us, we are totally invisible to waiters, we didn't get treated like guests here at all, and we want him to speed up a little bit and let us eat lunch instead of embarrassingly standing there being hungry. Then he unexpectedly super rudely ask us to leave by saying "YOU CAN NOT DINNING HERE". I was shocked hearing this from a waiter, so unusual to see such a rude waiter actually rudely ask you to leave if you are not willing to listen to his policy and ask him to act faster. Thank him for saying that, and I will surely never dine in this restaurant ever again nor recommend this restaurant to others. This is my first time try this Iron Age, and my friend's first time trying Iron Age, and we got this kind of service. We should definitely check reviews before coming here and choose Iron Age in other places. We eventually went to Iron Age in Rockville, which is much much better than this silly restaurant that needs you to wait for no reason like an idiot, learn waiter's policy before you eat, and insult you by saying "YOU CAN NOT DINING HERE" with an extremely terrible attitude as a waiter. I strongly agree with others' reviews, the Korean waiter should get immediately fired if he is in other places, but luckily, this poor restaurant has one space for him and make him act as the owner of the restaurant and allow him to treat guests so rudely. Maybe that is why this Iron Age gets so little review and so little amount of guests comparing to other Iron Age. Be wise, my friend, don't ruin your time and good mood in this place, with that...