Alyssa Ryan

Review of Iron Gate Restaurant

My boyfriend and I went to Iron Gate for the first...

My boyfriend and I went to Iron Gate for the first time to celebrate my birthday. I had heard so many great things about the ambiance and food, so it was on my DC food bucket list. This place deserves a five star rating because Jenny was an absolutely wonderful server, but the hostess ruined that chance.
Having worked in a five star fine dining restaurant for several years, I expect to always receive a warm greeting and interaction with a host/hostess. When we arrived there were two other couples ahead of us waiting to be seated, so we patiently waited to the side as not to crowd the very small space. While the hostess seated the second couple, Jenny had come to the front and checked us in and assured we would be seated when the hostess got back. Two other couples arrived after us, and when the hostess returned she seemed to ignore our existence (felt as though it was due the fact we were the youngest couple present). The couple she began to try to help acknowledged we had arrived first, so the hostess then turned to my boyfriend and snappishly asked how she could help us. Taken aback by the attitude my boyfriend did not answer immediately, and then she turned back to the other couple. He then spoke up, and she seemed to struggle to find our reservation. Luckily, Jenny came back up to the host stand at that point and showed that she had already checked us in. Jenny asked her if she could show us to whatever table, and the hostess gave her attitude saying "no, they can either sit on the patio or right here" gesturing to the tables next to the host stand. I immediately said we would sit outside, and Jenny let us have our pick of a table.
It was very obvious that I was quite annoyed at that point, and Jenny did everything she could to try to remedy what happened.
Overall, the food was amazing, compliments to the kitchen, and our server was superb. I was very excited to try this restaurant. I just wish we had a better first impression, and maybe I would have enjoyed the first half of our dining experience more.