Iron Horse Restaurant, Cincinnati, Ohio Restaurant Details

Food:

Many Valentine couples were HIGHLY disappointed last night by the complete incompetence and disregard for customer service shown last night. How do I know? We all sat and discussed it out loud while the wait staff was out of our dining room. We shared our stories and discovered that misery does indeed love company!

Incompetence. The Iron Horse had a small, special Valentine's menu that should have been easy to plan for (4 appetizers, 5 entrees, 3 desserts to choose from). They started running out of menu items, however, at least two hours before the event was over. Several menu items and wines were long gone and very poor substitutes were put in their place. Not good when it's $90 per couple. The Iron Horse has a track record for falling flat on its face for these types of events. Google it and see.

Disregard for customers. Much more important that simple poor planning and culinary incompetence is how you react to difficult situations and whether you put the almighty dollar ahead of your clientele. Well, rest assured that the Iron Horse management had its complete disregard for customers on display, strutting like a peacock. We were seated at 8:35 and had a small container of bread put on our table at 9:26. That's nearly an hour to see the first small signs of food--in a restaurant of all places. The couple to our right was waiting an hour and a half before the waiter came with appetizers. Unfortunately for them it was not what they ordered. The Iron Horse ran out of items, did not tell the couple, and surprised them with a substitute item that they did not want or possibly could not eat! The couple to our left had made it through the entire meal that took three (3) hours due to the Iron Horse's incompetence. The couple let us know that they were still waiting on their credit card to be returned. They gave it to the wait staff 30 minutes ago! I could never have been so patient. Viewing the customers as cash cows or at least cattle, they followed a mismanaged assembly line mentality. When they ran out of filet mignon, sirloin was served instead. Fine. Wait staff, however, were intentionally not asking customers how they wanted it prepared. Our server let us know, they're preparing all the steaks medium. I have to ask, why do what the customer wants when you can simply do what makes your job easier? Classy. Wait staff seemed more than ample in supply, but were seldom seen. Under these circumstances, I can almost sympathize with the desire to avoid the public--we the restless natives who were chattering our complete disappointment with one another. Couples with problems were all around us. It takes a special moment like this to bring strangers together to publicly discuss such things.

At every turn, incompetence and disregard for customers was on full display. The female manager or possible owner paced around a bit made, but made no effort to interact with customers or do the common sense things that needed to be done. Clearly, not everyone is cut out for this line of work.

View the positive reviews with a healthy dose of skepticism. Some almost read like a advertising agency wrote them, evoking images of amazing food, train nostalgia and wonderment.

Food:

Our first experience with the Iron Horse was great. There was a buffet and live music, though the place was practically empty. The food was wonderful, the chef there is obviously talented. But when we tried to set up dates for the "cocktail classes" that were offered around the holidays, not only was it very difficult to agree on a date (ended up on a Thursday), they wanted to charge us more than quoted, and weren't happy with the amount of people we were booking for (we had 5 couples, they wanted at least 6). We were disappointed with the "class." It was given by a rep from the vodka company who gave us very small samples of the drinks. The owner and a "marketing person" hung around the whole time, taking samples as well. It was not nearly worth the price. But the food was great, so we tried to make arrangements again after winning either a meal cooked at our home by the chef or a dinner for 4 at the restaurant. It was IMPOSSIBLE to get a hold of ANYONE in that restaurant to arrange dates for the home prepared meal. When I got ahold of the "owner", she basically called me a liar twice as we were discussing dates. I gave up. If you want to try the Iron Horse Inn--get it to go! Not worth the misery.

Food:

We reserved a table for our family for Christmas Eve dinner. We called the morning of and they had lost our reservation. An establishment of this character should not be making amateur mistakes like this. Our Christmas Eve was ruined. Especially for our mother.

Food:

Reservations on 2/13/10 for 7:45p. Downstairs they say "your table is ready, head upstairs to be seated." Upstairs they say "we have a problem you'll have to wait" - and did we ever. After 45 minutes, we are seated at 8:30p. Server offers little (better/friendler service at McDonalds), we place order and wait 1 hour before our food arrives (server never provides an update, never apologizes). A group of four seated near us who also waited an hour, refused their meal and took it in to go boxes. The whole epsiode could have been part of the Fox show Kitchen Nightmares. Scallops were average and barely warm. Mahi Mahi was actually pretty good. The hostess, who was trying to make things work (should have used her in the kitchen) did offer a free drink (we declined) and eventually comp'd our $8 appetizer- way too little too late. We'll never return.

Food:

The Iron Horse held a wine dinner last night for $50 per person. This included a four course meal paired with four wines. The meal started with an appetizer of Steak Tartar paired with Domaine Drouhin Pinot Noir, followed by Hazelunt crushed Salmon paired wtih Willakenzie Estate Pinot Gris, then Herb Roasted Lamb Chops paired with Novelty Hill Syrah. The desert was Mango Gratin with Ricotta-Brown sugar Gelato paired with Robert Hall Orange Muscat.Overall the food was good and they did a good job with the wines they paired with each course but it is important to note that the dinner event had some major problems that definitely affected everyones abilty to enjoy the evening.

Here are the problems we encountered.
1) The Wine dinner was held on the Iron Horse Patio sitting on cast iron chairs and tables in 85 degree heat with 85 degree humidity. Many of the guest complained about the event being held ouside but the owner continued to say it will be perfect outside shortly. It never cooled off outside and this proved to be a major issues for eveyone attending.

2) The wine dinner was advertised to start at 6pm. Our guests left work early to make the early start time. The event did not start until 6:45. The owner said she was waiting for everyone who made reservations for the wine diiner to arrive. I have a real issue delaying the start and waiting for people who may or may not show up for the event. If you say the event starts at 6pm, then you should start at 6pm.

3) My wife an I attend quite a few wine dinners and it is important that when tasting wine that you are drinking out of the right glasses. The wine dinner did not include the use of crystal glasses which if you are a wine drinker, you realize the importance of using crystal glasses. In addition, we had to ask for replacement glasses. They intended to pour all of the wines in the two glasses they had on the table. One for red wine and one for white wine. For a wine dinner where you are tasting wines you should be provided a fresh glass with each wine that is poured and it should be a crystal glass.

4) The owner limited the amount of wine to one glass per taste. In all of the wine dinners we attended the servers have all been very good at keeping your glassed filled during each course of dinner you were eating. If you are paying $50 for dinner and wine, then there should not be any limits on the wine you are drinking with your meal.

Due to the number of problems that I described, I would not recommend that you spend your money on an Iron Horse wine dinner. If you want to attend a very high quality wine dinner I would suggest that you go to Eddie Merlots, Jags or Antonios. I found all three of these restaurants to do an excellent job. I do not intend to attend another wine dinner at the Iron Horse.