Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant

onix1agr

Pennsylvania

4.16/5  rDev +1.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

Went here on a mini bar crawl in West Chester since I've never been here in my 30 years in SEPA.

Iron Hill West Chester is big, just like all the other Iron Hill's out there. I think the Phoenixville location is the smallest by far. Anyway this location has a nice outside large seating area with plenty of room. You don't get that at the Philadelphia location. Inside it;s large and the bar is to the right, with the brewing equipment to the right of that. In view of all the fermenters, vats, barrels and other brewing equipment, nice views. A large u shaped bar with an island of booze within, taps towards the actual bar wood area. 15 taps or so, 2 cask offerings I believe, 1 nitro, No sign of any reserve bottles lying around, and the list confirms that only one is available at the time of this writing, FE15 it's called.

Going forward and to the left a huge dining area with some nice art on the wall. A lot of wooden interior with a modern and semi dark look, outlined with white. The dining area must seat at least 150 easy. To the right of the dining area, a smaller bar, which I guess is reserved for private parties or something. The bathrooms are nice, clean, private and spacey.

The beer list is nice and covers a lot of styles. I went with the Saison Melange, which was so good and I ordered another. Had a IPA as well and that was decent. Iron Hill wins mad awards for it's brewing year round, and with the beer they are serving, it's apparent why. could of went with some of the other offerings although the house beers are all the same from location to location. They offer growlers to go as well, with some reasonable pricing for the bigger and bolder beers.

All in all, I will come back here, every beer I had was great and the bartenderess was friendly and informative. Clean and spacious all around. Never been a fan of Iron Hill's food, so maybe I'll give it a go next time I stop into one.

05-06-2012 03:30:24 | More by onix1agr

SolipsismalCat

Pennsylvania

4.28/5  rDev +4.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

I had my wedding rehearsal dinner at this Iron Hill, and have eaten here on several other occasions. As far as food goes, they have a consistent and large selection of food. I've always found everything to be pretty good for what you pay.

The place is always busy, and being in downtown West Chester, there's not a whole lot of parking. Fortunately, there's a reasonably priced parking garage only a few blocks away. I've always made reservations, and have never had to wait to be seated.

The beer selection is very good. They have a little bit of everything, and I've only been disappointed once or twice. I often get their sampler, which consists of a whole bunch of 4 oz. glasses. Be sure to specify how many you want, or else they'll bring out everything they've got, which might be way more than you're looking for.

The ambiance is pretty nice. It can get a little loud sometimes. I try to sit at one of their booths, which are very comfortable and private.

If I'm looking to spend an evening at a nice restaurant, Iron Hill is always the first place that comes to mind, and the one in West Chester is one of the best.

08-13-2011 21:56:35 | More by SolipsismalCat

DeliciousSeeker

Maryland

4.08/5  rDev -0.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

i went to the Iron Hill located in Newark, DE with one of my friends. We've always wanted to go, but we'd always walk past the place and say, "Well, maybe next time." But I'm glad to say we finally did go.

A- Really nice lighting, dark wood paneling and bottles arranged neatly. I'm really big on lighting, and the lighting here made for a nice relaxed and warm mood. Great atmosphere for catching up with a friend, a nice date, or a family gathering.

Q- Everything seemed of a higher quality, and the price signified it. I still rate the price as reasonable though, because you feel that you are getting what you pay for, and that's a pretty rare thing around where I live.

S- Our waiter was very courteous and helpful with what to recommend. She seemed out of the loop with what beers were in supply at the moment, because they didn't have any hefeweizen or triple ale. So, I opted for the Belgian Seasonal Ale, which I ended up loving. Our food also wasn't to long a wait, which is more than I can say for the Chinese restaurant close to where I live. Overall, good service.

S- Selection was above average, although if you are a rather health conscious individual, be ready to pay extra. The average price for the health menu was at least fifteen dollars for a main course. Otherwise, the selection is pretty standard, with not to many surprises.

F- absolutely delicious. Our appetizers were great, and our main course was even better. Our beers felt tailor made for the food, and both complimented each other so well. Best food i've had in quite a while.

V- For what you get, the price is reasonable. Between the two of us, it was a little over fifty dollars. For us that's quite a lot, but it still felt worth the cost, and we didn't feel ripped off.

08-14-2010 19:27:17 | More by DeliciousSeeker

jwhancher

Pennsylvania

4.03/5  rDev -1.9%
vibe: 3 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

I've been to a few of the Iron Hills over the years. At first, i was simply not impressed. A burger from the Media location seemed like it was a frozen patty version. This experience left me completely turned off for quite awhile. Recently, I went to the North Wales location and the West Chester location (last night) for a couple of homebrew competitions. For the WC location, I found the service to friendly and helpful. Beer selection was good and the beers were tasty. Mussels were excellent, frites average, calamari good. Prices are around average for a brewpub, but I used my AHA card for a 20% discount on food and drink. Atmosphere is a liitle loud and the wait times for a table can be extremely long. While this isn't my favorite brewpub in the world (don't prefer the chain feel), it's not a bad spot by any means. This chain makes a killing moneywise so they must be doing something right.

05-23-2010 17:29:49 | More by jwhancher

glid02

Georgia

4.14/5  rDev +0.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$$

Went here while visiting a friend in the area.

Atmosphere is good, very similar to the larger brewpub chains including Gordon Biersch, Max Lager's, etc. A lot of wood and well-placed brewing equipment in a huge space with plenty of seating for everyone.

Quality is good. The beer came out with a good amount of head in room temperature glasses. The glassware wasn't the most accurate in the world but nothing was way out of line.

Service was good. Our server never made us wait to long and promptly answered questions pertaining to beer (albeit he had to check on a few).

Selection was solid. I remember five or six year rounds, including a light lager, a porter, and an APA along with five more seasonals, including an oak-aged brown, an ESB, and a few more I can't remember. A solid selection for a brewpub and the barrels in the brewing area made it evident they're planning on keeping it up.

Value was a bit on the expensive side. Although this may just be me, but I expect beers in a brewpub to be at least a little cheaper as it's brewed on premise and that wasn't the case here. Still, it was far from being overly expensive.

Overall this was a solid place that I would frequent if I lived in the area. A solid selection that looks to rotate semi-frequently. Worth a stop.

01-20-2010 01:21:29 | More by glid02

mhatters

Pennsylvania

2.93/5  rDev -28.7%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3 | service: 2 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3.5 | $$$

I want to like this place more than I do. It cannot decide if it is a restaurant or a brewery. The place is huge, 2 bars, lots of tables, outdoor seating on the sidewalk. Menu is pages long, portions are big, but not overly original nor impressive. I think it is focusing on the general public more than the beer crowd. Lots of 20-somethings - in West Chester. Beer is actually OK,. there are some standard beers always on, the Pig Iron Porter is good. Some special beers rotate in and out some really good, like the bourbon vanilla porter, some quite pedestrian. Service is generic, not always knowledgeable but friendly. They have a ful bar, and wine, which always surprises me in a brew-on-premise establishment.

04-19-2009 00:13:43 | More by mhatters

aerozeppl

New York

4.3/5  rDev +4.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 5 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$

Went here due to the drafting room being closed, and Cappones, and every other beer bar in the Philly area.

The bar was really nice and open. They had a tons of beer available with a diverse line up including 2 lagers, a porter, a pale ale, a dubbel, bourbon tripel, raspberry wheat, and an ESB. The porter and pale ale and the seasonals were great. The light lager was modeled after coors light which I thought was awesome. The service was excellent and quick. The prices were a really good with a sampler at $5 with pints for $3. We got a plate o fries with some different dipping sauces that were excellent. Really great place I would recommend if you are in town.

01-02-2009 14:08:36 | More by aerozeppl

sholland119

Pennsylvania

4.18/5  rDev +1.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$$

The closest Iron Hill to us and, overall, our favorite.

Atmosphere is good with a large rectangular bar and plenty of dining space.

Beer selection and quality is generally good. The standard beers are pretty solid, with the Pig Iron Porter and Ironbound Ale aways safe choices. This IH has begun specializing in Belgian style beers and they make them well. Other seasonals are hit and miss.

Food is really excellent for a brewpub, with great sandwiches, pizzas and entrees, along with a great app lineup.

Prices are crazy high for a brewpub so, even with the high quality, we don't go here as often as we might.

HV

08-24-2008 22:18:15 | More by sholland119

AltBock

Ohio

3.88/5  rDev -5.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4 | $$

This Iron Hill is located in the heart of historic downtown West Chester. It's situated on the corner of (no joke) Gay and High Street. It's across the street from Starbucks and next to a salad shop. I haven't been to all of the Iron Hill's, but this one looks the same as the one in Media, PA. That means it has wood paneling, wood floors, a big rectangular wooden bar, the brewery by the bar behind glass, wood tables, and an open kitchen. This Iron Hill is huge! When I went to the restroom, it seemed like I had to walk a mile just to get there. This place is so big that there's another bar in the back across from the restrooms. It's much smaller than the one in the front, but it's still a bar. There should be no shortage of tables here. If you have to wait for a table, that means there are no servers or there are more than 1,000 people there. Street parking for this place is alomst non-existant. There are however plenty of parking garages near by. These garages are free on the weekend.

It was almost the same menu they had at the Media Iron Hill. I didn't go through line by line, but it looked the same. They have all of your usual family restaurant food. The menu contains appetizers, salads, pasta, burgers, brick oven pizza, and entrees, Everthing was average priced. The pizza was in the $10 range, pasta in the $12 range, entrees in the $15 range, and everything else in the $9 range. At this Iron Hill, I opted for the Memphis Style BBQ pulled pork sandwich. That sandwich came with cole slaw, spear pickle, and fries. The cole slaw was OK, the fries were good, and the sandwich was pretty good. I didn't taste much BBQ on it. For some reason, they served the sandwich with red vinegar. I tried the sandwich the the vinegar and it didn't complement it at all. I should have said "hold the red vinegar and add more BBQ sauce." If you do order the pulled pork, get it without the red vinegar.

I didn't have any problems with the service. I sometime had a hard time flagging down the bartender for another drink, but another bartender came in and I got my drink. When it came to the food, I got that right away. When I ordered it, I took out my West Chester map and as soon as I turned around, my food was already there. It probably took about 5 to 8 minutes for my food to come out.

When I was here, the beer selection was very limited. Oh they had 10+ taps, 1 nitro, 1 cask, but the beer variety was lacking. All they had were Weizens, light Ales, and only one interesting beer. That interesting beer was called "Cannibal." It was a Belgian Strong Ale flavored with tropical fruits. I had and it wasn't all that bad. It was a good beer with out the tropical fruits, but sometimes you need to test out new beers.

If you like visiting the Iron Hill chains, then this one shouldn't disapoint. I enjoyed my time here. It was just to bad that their beer selection was in a lull. Would I go out of my way to visit this brewpub? Not too far out of the way, but this Iron Hill and the city of West Chester would make a nice place to visit.

08-17-2008 16:41:55 | More by AltBock

Brianmerrilyn

New York

4.53/5  rDev +10.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5 | food: 4 | $$

Another microbrewery I had the two opportunities to hang out in all day long while the GF visited local residents involved in the Fresh Air Fund.

Bar is front and prominent as soon as you walk in with the tanks to the right and nice window tables to view the quaint main drag. Vast dining area in the back and nice pool areas nestled even farther back. I changed my opinion of chain microbreweries mighty fast when I saw the extensive selection and always rotating seasonals (Dry stoudt beyond creamy and yummy) and the Pig Iron Porter were my favorites. Vienna Lager and the Dubbel make this a beer class if you have the time. Was surprised there was no stoudt, but that was just about the only category not covered. Pricey menu to some extent but fancy pub grub in generous portions. Staff "tends stick" well and knows their product and is quick on the sample draw. Cool indy record/cd store down the block.

03-27-2008 20:43:54 | More by Brianmerrilyn