Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant

carlosd74

Pennsylvania

2.25/5  rDev -43.5%
vibe: 3 | quality: 2 | service: 3 | selection: 2 | food: 1 | $$

The reason for my visit on 2/17/08 was because the nearby Drafting Room was closed for flooring work. A fact not realized until pulling into their drive-way.

I wanted to take my Girlfriend to a beer bar that had better than pub food. That pretty much narrows the choices down unless you are ready to drive some distance from Horsham area. It was pouring rain and now we were getting hungry. I had been to the Hill several times but it had been over a year since my last visit. I have always had mixed feelings about this location.

I will just cut to the chase. The place wants to be a chain and they succeed. It is an attrative place (not kitschy like Applebees)full of attractive singles and hungry families. No crime in either but I think it is that segment of patrons that results in the very average beer. They have a full bar and many folks were taking advantage of that fact by getting 'tinis and other girl drinks that masquerade as Cocktails.

The beers they offer every day are a Light lager, Raspberry Wheat, Pale Ale and Porter. Light beer? Why? Couldn't they have at least brewed a Dortmunder lager? In my visit we tried the APA and the wheat plus a special ESB offering.

My Girlfriend asked, "where's the wheat?". It was rather inoffensive brew with a nice raspberry flavor in the end. However, it had 0 carbonation and was very thin bodied.

Now I don't know about you but the gold standard of APAs is Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. The Ironbound Ale (Iron Hills' attempt @ APA) claims to have 4 varieties of American hops but it ended up tasting like a British bitter. It just missed what makes a Pale Ale...well...American. It wasn't even on par with the Phoenix Ale.

The ESB was a good example of that style...though it would have been better served on cask as the pint was too cold for an ESB.

Some will say that I could have tried their specialty bottles but why should I have to pay $19 for a bomber of beer taht I have no way of sampling. If they can't deliver a decent APA why would I trust them to deliver on far more complex styles?

Since the beer failed to WOW me, perhaps the place has placed their focus on delivering great food to the suburban masses. Strike TWO! My lamb chops had more salt than a bag of Walker's Crisps. The saltiness was confirmed by the Girlfriend's taste buds. She joked that the salt that ended up in my lamb should have been in the Humus appetizer. I will take her word as I am no expert on Mediterranean cuisine. Oh the menu said I would get Haricots Verts with my lamb. Now my French is on the same level as maybe a 3 year old Frenchie but I am pretty sure those are thin green beans. What I received was cold asparagus. If it had been at least hot I wouldn't have cared but it was cold. Not to beat a dead culinary horse but they then screwed up February's special Entree...Jambalaya. Now I am pretty sure the Creole folk down in LA never intended this New World version of paella to resemble Campbells soup but Iron Hill must have been paying homage to Camden with this concoction. The bright spot of the meal was the salad and the solid service from arrival to our departing. Am I harsh? Well as a disciple of Chef & Author, Anthony Bourdain, I refuse to sugar coat piss poor food. I cannot understand how this place earned an A rating on BA.com.

02-19-2008 21:55:14 | More by carlosd74

haazer

Pennsylvania

3.15/5  rDev -20.9%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3 | service: 4 | selection: 2 | food: 4 | $$

Wanted to try this place out, went there on my birthday from 8/25.

A- Very relaxed and laid back setting. Pretty cool place. Nice sized rectangle bar in the middle of the resturant with booth and table seating.

Q- The beers I tried were pretty decent. Nothing crazy, fairly average for the styles. The standouts were the rasberry wheat, something hoppy, and the oatmeal stout. But for those three I've had better beers of each style, still ok though.

S- The waitor we got was actually fairly helpful. He brought us a sampler to try each individual beer and made recommendations as well.

S- I was less than pleased with their selection. Although I guess I should've expected from a brew pub they might have a few beers to go around, but with limited brewing space theres barely any available at certain times. And they sell out quick. After I was done eating there were 2 750 ML bottles that I was interested in but they were out of course. There was another style they were supposed to have on tap at the time but had already run out too.

F- The food was good, and most of the entree's did sound interesting. I deff wouldn't mind going back for another meal.

09-15-2010 23:53:24 | More by haazer

atigerlife

Hawaii

3.25/5  rDev -18.3%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3.5 | service: 2 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

Nothing very exciting about this places atmosphere. Seems sort of generic...like if Chilis made their own beer. Too sterile for a brewpub...lacks character.

They had about 10 brews on tap. All seemed decent enough.

Large menu to choose from and food seemed good. Among our food ordered:
Sweet potato fries: good
Ribs: good
Pizza: very good
Mussels: very good

Service got knocked because at one point we had empty beer glasses and had to actually go and find out waiter!!! Anytime you have to organize a search party to get a beer it is not a good thing!

Overall, a decent place. Not one I would go out of my way to visit, but if you are in the neighborhood then it is worth a stop.

07-04-2008 18:39:55 | More by atigerlife

Gilgemesh

Pennsylvania

3.25/5  rDev -18.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3 | selection: 3 | food: 3 | $$$

Right when this place opened I thought, YES, we finally have a great microbrew house in the backyard. After a while the feeling has subsided and I don't go much anymore.

The Good:

The decor is nice. Gives a good upscale impression. The beers they have are generally good. I am a fan of both the Russian Imperial and the porter when they are fresh. The growlers are a bit pricy, but they give a fairly decent fill and they last for a while when you need them to. The Pizzas are decent and they have enough variety that you can get one to go with what your drinking.

The bad:

It is extremely crowded. It is loud. The fish can be a bit iffy sometimes. The beer list doesn't change much.

Would I go back:

Yeah. Probably. The noise makes the wife feel comfortable taking the family there for a meal and letting the kids be kids. And, for me, the beer selection is adequate if you aren't going to often and getting bored with it.

05-21-2008 16:13:43 | More by Gilgemesh

onix1agr

Pennsylvania

3.48/5  rDev -12.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | food: 3 | $$$

Went here recently

A- A very big building with alot of wood and just bigness. Walk in brewing equiptment to the left, huge bar area in front and dining room area to the right with a host stand as you walk in. I sat at the bar.

Q- This place is clean and I got to say that im really digging the bathroom, i like the plant in it. The saison I had tasted freat and the DIPA I had was even better. There was a infected baltic porter on tap so that really brings the points down though.

S- Service was ok when I was here in the dining area, service at the bar was sub-par because of lengthy wait times in between beers. I was just sitting with a empty glass for a while, scratching my head.

S- Selection is pretty standard for a brew pub, a nice array of styles from light to dark plus a Belgian on tap which was a wheat. Some corked and caged bottles for sale as well. I would just stay away from the dark beer if I was you, who knows what you will get. Liquor as well.

F- I had the 'frites' which were more like boardwalk fries. I had a pulled pork sammich that was dry and lacking in volume. I think I saw on the menu a $10 ham and cheese sandwich, HUH!

It's alright (c)- mikkeller

09-05-2010 15:02:06 | More by onix1agr

splat215

Pennsylvania

3.5/5  rDev -12.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3 | $$

I like the inside of this place, classy yet not to overdone. Service here has been a little better then at Phoenixville in my experiences at both. Attentive wait staff, and they've managed to answer questions about the beer when I've asked. Food's been a little iffy - not quite up to the standards I've had at the Phoenixville location.

Really hit or miss depending on the quality of the food and how busy it gets. The bar area can get really ,really overcrowded and the place can become very loud at times.

10-14-2007 20:49:39 | More by splat215

aforbes10

Iowa

3.55/5  rDev -10.8%
vibe: 2 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$$$

The strip mall where this place is used to be all gutted out a full of hobos, so i give them some credit for turning things around. However, the change was maybe a bit too drastic because now it is yuppieville, USA. I don't plan on going back here mainly because of the clientele and their cellphones. The beer is good though, for the most part, so maybe i could be persuaded. Several beers available with both mainstays and seasonal brews. They had a pumpkin beer when i was there. Their menu includes lots of specialty pizzas that are all very good and go well with their beers. Service slow because of all the yuppies. stupid yuppies were all drinking wine instead of beer too. idiots.

12-21-2005 21:55:02 | More by aforbes10

HopDerek

Pennsylvania

3.63/5  rDev -8.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 2.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$$

Finally had the chance to stop at this Iron Hill location prior to needing to be in Philly. The place is fairly easy to find, and parking wasn't a problem, but the strip mall it is located in is a traffic nightmare. Be prepared to wait a while to get out!

Like many other Iron Hills, this one had two dining areas and a nice large bar area with plenty of seats around square U shaped bar and many tables in the bar area. I was surprised how much smaller the dining areas seemed than at other locations.

10 or 11 beers were on tap at the time of our visit; besides the staple 4 beers there was an Irish Dry Stout, Belgian Triple, Oatmeal Stout, American Brown Ale, Biere Noir, and Framboise, possibly others but I cannot be certain. The majority of the special beers were of the darker variety, the IPA was on earlier in the day but kicked around lunchtime.

The food was good as usual, and was a sufficient amount.

The place didn't seem very crowded when we got there, but our service at the bar was less than stellar. The bartenders seemed more interested in talking to their buddies on their laptops surfing the web than actually refilling drinks and paying attention to the other customers. It took about 15 minutes after we had finished our last beers and signified we were done with the coaster on top of the glass for us to get the bill, and I believe someone in my party had actually flagged the bartender down to let him know. That was the only really disappointment of the visit. If it was busier I could understand it better, but with 2 bartenders and only about 15 people in the bar total I would expect better.

03-08-2009 17:17:55 | More by HopDerek

sholland119

Pennsylvania

3.7/5  rDev -7%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$$

I am a huge fan of the Iron Hill chain but this is my least favorite outpost, though the beer was much improved on my last visit here on 3/18/11.

Layout is quite similar to the Media location, with a large u-shaped bar in the middle and dining areas behind and to the side. The beer definitely took a step backward during the transition to the latest head brewer. Not enough seasonals, and mostly underwhelming. My last visit featured Ramrod, the best beer I have had there in the last couple of years. So I am hopeful this is a sign of good things to come.

I find the bartenders here to be generally douchey and slow moving. On my most recent visit, more than half of the bar patrons had either empty uncleared plates, empty unfilled beer glasses or both, while the staff did not appear to be breaking a sweat.

Food is very good, as at all IH branches, but a bit pricey for a brewpub. I love the chain and I am glad there are four other locations that are closer to my house.

04-01-2011 17:55:23 | More by sholland119

boelker62

Pennsylvania

3.78/5  rDev -5%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

Stopped in to see how this locale stacks up against all the others...

Good news - just as good as the others.
Bad news - just like the others.

I guess that's the nature of a chain, consistency. I wasn't looking for anything differentiating from the others, but was hoping. I favor the Phoenixville location for it's layout and atmosphere, but I have to admit, the selection of 11 beers on at the North Wales location has to be the highest number that I have ever seen at once at any location.

The service was very good as well. I would rate this higher overall, due to the ervice and selection. I saw the menu, and it's the same, but I did not sample the preparation.

Still, my local one is my favorite for setting, atmosphere, AND the Maibock in Phoenixville, beats out the Maibock on at North Wales 10 to 1.

06-22-2007 13:30:07 | More by boelker62