Driving from Saint Louis on the way to Las Vegas... we stopped at this wonderful restaurant.. From the moment we arrived we were greeted by Lindsay with a warm natural smile, then Zack took care if us, kept checking on food quality and our well being, super friendly nice young man. Now the food ... wow .. best Cobb salad ever, think juicy bacon, fresh avocados and an unbelievable house made blue Cheese dressing. Zack's suggestion "the engineer sandwich "... what an explosion of flavor (3 meats perfectly cooked, coleslaw and a nice toasted bun)... fantastic ... I highly recommend it. read more

Iron Rail Brewing - Traveling from Saint Louis MO to Las Vegas NV ... stopped at this fantastic restaurant for a bite.. oh boy.. what an experience.. - New American Near Me - Topeka, Kansas

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Everything was great. Bbq brisket Mac and cheese appetizer, craft beer, pretzel with cheese, smoked sausage. You name it, it was good.

Parking is ok. Topeka had free 2 hr pking. I am super hungry and needing a cold drink at 5 pm Monday. I heard this place was good, I am completely ignored. There are five customers total. Two managers, very self-important, are following each other around. I need to find a good place to eat in Topeka. I will not go back. It smelled faintly of beer and I was relieved that place did not reek of yeast. Bar was also not wiped down. BECAUSE THERE WAS NO BARTENDER. Goofy. They spend easily $500,000 on a lovely restaurant and will not hire quality help. But they had two managers and one waitress. Maybe I left my invisible cloak on by mistake in 94 ° heat downtown Topeka. Maybe it was the governor's office. No service, and I left. read more

Tried their new brunch today. Service was polite but slow. I had the breakfast burrito smothered in gravy. The gravy was great. (I was concerned it would be bland like their sister restaurant The Weather Room.) When I pay extra for it to be smothered, I would like enough to have some gravy with each bite and they fell short. The burrito was good but contents weren't hot; a couple bites were even cold. My husband had the locomotive, which he enjoyed. He had to have it redone because initially the eggs were overcooked. I also expect better coffee and would pay a little more for it. Topeka has some great local roasters they could support. read more

I really like the atmosphere; not super noisy but you will have a good time here. The food is really good. I highly recommend the pulled pork sandwiches and mac n cheese. I also really love their nachos. Wait staff is always awesome. Their selection of beer is ok. I kind wish they would experiment more in making themselves stand out a bit. There is nothing "signature" about this place and I think they need to find that. read more

Dined here 8/03/19, in from KC visiting TTown friends. They've been to Iron Rail numerous times and liked it enough to bring us there with them, saying that the food is really good. Well, sadly, that's the reason for this 1-star review. Arrived at 5:15 on a Saturday because we had a 1yo in tow. Entire fleet of high chairs (totaling 7 for the whole restaurant), were being used. But wait, there's more... some were being STACKED on each other for kids seated at high tops. But... what? Seriously? The restaurant was maybe 50% full, possibly a little less, so we didn't see this as a good omen. We requested first available high chair, and we asked to be seated. We were told it would be 45 minutes, despite the place being half or less-than-half full, so that was fun. Friend had to go home to get portable high chair adapter for regular chair. He actually made it home and back before we had appetizers, which was the first thing we ordered with the beer. *For the record, high chair finally offered to us well-after receiving entrees, which came an hour after we were seated. Like, what?* Had to go inside to the hostess table to get anyone to come out for water refills and to talk to a manager. You see, by the time we got our food, including the toddler's meal, which we requested to come out ASAP, like, before our entrees, but which came out with our meals, everything was cold except the mac and cheese for the little one. I got the meatloaf, husband got the brisket mac and cheese. Both cold. Not even luke warm, as in, had been sitting not under a heat lamp for easily 15 minutes. Waiter never came back after receiving food, so that's when I went inside and told the hostess someone needed to come talk to us about our food. I'm not eating cold meatloaf, sorry, I'm not interested in food poisoning. ‍ I digress. Chef came out, addressed our concerns, and said they'd make us new food. By that point, mom and baby had to go because we had been there almost two hours, and half of us hadn't eaten anything. Mom quickly chowed down on a taco, but left the other two because hers were also cold and she was pissed because she had talked up the place to us and the visit was circling the drain. She left with baby, and the three of us sat and waited for our new dishes, which we ordered to-go this time. They took nearly 30 minutes to be brought out. We really should have opened the boxed meals at the table before leaving.... the brisket was dumped on top the pasta, not even shredded, and my meatloaf was, would you believe it, probably 25% smaller than the previous plate. To top it off, our friend was hungry still and decided to finish wife's tacos since none of the plates were taken AFTER THEY VISITED OUR TABLE AND ADDRESSED OUR CONCERNS, and he found, embedded in the inner bowels of the taco, a piece of plastic wrap. In the taco. Deep inside. Didn't offer us new tacos when the chef came by, for a second time, but said they'd deduct it from the check. Plates also were not taken at that time. Plates of inedible food were still in front of us when we received new food and checks. Food was probably warmer at that point, being seated outside, than when they came to us. ‍ Now for the checks: do I have to tell you they were very wrong, or did you already guess that? Great, you've learned something! Our flight and appetizer, which we personally ordered, made it on to our friends' check. They paid for it because they felt so bad about it, so we hid a $20 bill at their house, which they've since found. We ended up getting BOGO entrees, but when we got home I had to season the crap out of the brisket pasta because it somehow wasn't seasoned this time around, and the meatloaf was honestly disgusting. I'm ending this review by saying we will probably never return for food, but beer was decent. Also, we aren't *that* high maintenance, but restaurants should expect to hear from their customers. This place was awful. read more

Had a not good experience at Iron Rail. Not good reception at all! Need to work on customer service skills! Drank one beer and left.....very hungry :( read more

I was visiting and decided to stop in for beer and a sammich. I try to stop at local places and we don't have one of these in Nebraska. I ended up taking home a growler with the intention of filling it every time to visit Topeka. The food was really good, I had a club sandwich and fried pickles for the table. The service was also pretty good for as busy as it was so thanks for that! read more

This place is so hit and miss. Another cool place with a so so menu and lack luster staff. I have had some pretty good meals and some completely trash meals here. The beer is not great either. I actually forgot it's supposed to be a brewery. It's another restaurant that needs some help. read more

This was a really neat place in a city that has very little to do. The bartender we had was awesome and friendly. We didn't have to wait to sit at the bar and the food came out quickly. The only reason I give it 4 stars is because there were not very many options for me as a vegetarian. I know...I'm at a brewery In the Midwest what did I expect? But I was in town for a work trip so I had no choice. read more

Iron Rail Brewing - Bar area - New American Near Me - Topeka, Kansas

My girlfriend and I visited for the first time this past weekend and absolutely loved it. The brunch menu is great, the mimosas were fantastic, and a lot of good beer on tap. read more

I was not impressed with the server. She was rude several times. Maybe she was tired. The food was just OK. The chicken was moist and had flavor but the entree salad I ordered was pretty bland. They chicken wings were wonderful. They were out of two of the three desserts on their menu. We have visited many local restaurants in Topeka and this was not on our top ten list. read more

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Def more a restaurant then brewery, at least for me... unfortunately I didn't find them to be particularly good at either... The food didn't come off as very fresh...more like it all came from a food service and was thrown together and heated up. Beers were OK, but nothing particularly creative or memorable. All that said, drink local! Better than a miller lite, to be sure! read more

This review is from 2 visits here while I was in town on business. I really wanted to like this place, but it was clear that the management here is seriously lacking. My first visit back in February went ok: food was kinda cold and the wait was overly long. The service though, 10/10. Our waiter Shane was charming and funny, and lent his honest opinion about his favorite entrees. I think my mom almost invited him to come to family dinner! The second visit in March was almost sad. I asked for our former waiter, but we were told he was let go (the hostess even mentioned it was due to unfair circumstances). Mom was sure disappointed! Similar story here: Cold food (again) and the beer was average. Solid and pleasant waitress. I spoke to a manager on the way out, and she was obviously annoyed by my complaints. The manager (Lydia? I believe) was rude and didn't even apologize and walked away in the middle of me talking to her. Wow. I've spent my whole life in sales and management, and I was shocked by the attitude of this manager. Reading the other reviews, it seems I'm not the only one complaining about her. On a positive note, the menu is nicely diverse. Per our waiters suggestion, the meatloaf was great - even a little cold. The ambience is cool and the giant paintings of Topeka Railroad history are beautiful. This place has so much potential, but I'll have a hard time coming back here due to my impression of the management. It's a 3 star review because of the remarkable service the first time and the nice art and design. In the meantime, I'm gonna give Iron Rail time to get it together. And there is another BBQ joint across the street. Go there, for now, Topeka. read more

I waited far too long to try this local gem. Food was excellent and the beers were top notch. Can't wait to return and try more items!

This place has to step up their food game. The first time we can here the beer was great, but the food was just okay. Seemed a little bland to be honest. Fast forward to last night, we decided to give it another chance. 8 of us went in, ordered some beers, then ordered food. My in-laws were here from NYC. Our server was amazing, but here's where our issues started. The menu had an $8 bowl of chili I ordered that was supposed to have burnt ends and brisket in it. It sounded fantastic. The chili had none of these items in it. Only ground beef. I mentioned it to our server and the managers reply was, "we need to update our menu." So you just have normal chili or you're completely out of the items that go in it, or are you trying to still pass it off as an $8 bowl of chili with none of the pricey items in it? We all placed our orders and about 15 min later, our nice server had to come tell us they were out of all sausages for the meat plates so we had to change our orders. Once that was done, the manager came out 15 min after that and said, "looks like we have an unlucky table." Then proceeded to tell us they now have sausages available but only have enough burnt ends for 3 of the 4 orders. No apologies whatsoever, just a comment of an unlucky table. I completely changed my order to a pulled pork sandwich to accommodate. When our food finally came out, it was just okay. It has a nice smoke, but no flavor whatsoever. I smoke meat at home and there should be flavor with your smoked meats. My wife's smoked Turkey sandwich was kind of bland too. The Turkey was smoked nicely and moist, but the entire sandwich just didn't work. Our Mac and cheese was also bland. At the end of the meal, our server said the manager was going to take some off of our bill, which we appreciated. It took another 20min to finally get our bill and when we got the "adjusted" bill, it was still $160 for 5 beers and 8 meals. The only thing that saves this place for me is that the beer is good. I don't want this place to fail because it's a beautiful place in a part of town that has been a seedy area for years. They have to step up not only their quality of product but their food pairings. I don't mind paying the prices if the food is good, but it's not great. It's such a cool environment but the food makes me not want to return. read more

This place is just what downtown Topeka KS needs. I come here to meet my friends bring my family and have had business lunches here. The food is incredible and there is a variety of beers. I have been to several brewery's but of all the ones I have been to this one has everything u want. read more

Iron Rail Brewing - New American Near Me - Topeka, Kansas

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Mostly forgettable. I was looking forward to trying Iron Rail and now I know I should have waited. First the good. The waitstaff is very friendly and very fast. I consider this a big plus. Our food came out in a timely manner so the kitchen staff moved quickly as well. If it wasn't for our waitress, Roxanne, this would likely be a two star review to be honest. Now everything else. Atmosphere. This gets a solid... meh. I get what they were going for and throwing back to the railroad is a pretty cool idea, but it seems they were shooting for railroad chic, got bored halfway through, then gave up entirely. The murals on the wall are good, the stools at the high tables are uncomfortably at best. They wobbled, had no backs, and had no padding. I'm okay with the work stool vibe they were shooting for but it doesn't even pretend to invite you to linger. We were sat beside the doors as well which made it more than a little chilly. The food. This is where things went downhill. My wife and I started with the the Chicken Chicharrones... this is described as fried chicken skins... in reality they were a cross between fried chicken skins and really small chicken tenders. They weren't very crisp, and the seasoning was sporadic. Some were bland, others were coated and almost like eating a salt lick. This is a recurring theme. For lunch my wife had the brisket sandwich and I had the cheesesteak sandwhich. When our orders came out I was excited. Huge portions. My cheesesteak was massive and had meat, cheese, red peppers, green peppers, onions... and zero flavor. I have made toast that had more flavor than this sandwich. About a quarter of the meat was inedible as it was just a huge chunk of gristle. This came with a heaping mound of fries that were mushy, and continued with being a mix of no seasoning and salt lick. As for my wife's brisket sandwhich... the best she could say was that it was tender and once she added mustard it had flavor. The meat on both sandwiches was supposedly smoked but there was no hint of smokey flavor. And for a place that has a decent selection of barbecue on the menu, you would never be able to tell it from the smell. All in all, I see where they were going, but they missed the mark entirely. If you are downtown and absolutely want to go eat at a brewery then it's fine I guess, but if you don't care about the brewery side then I highly suggest going to any of the other restaurants downtown that actually have atmosphere and food with flavor. read more

Great place for lunch. This place was hoping on a Sunday afternoon. Great atmosphere with historic paintings of local landmarks. The service was very friendly but a little slow with the check. I highly recommend the meatloaf on a bed of mash potatoes and spinach yummy. Did not have any beer save that for next time. read more

Iron Rail Brewing - Meat loaf at Iron Rail Brewery downtown Topeka, KS - New American Near Me - Topeka, Kansas

Was really excited about this place, but the food was really just bad to be honest. I had the Top City Cheesesteak that is probably the worst cheesesteak I've ever had. It's really bad when I've had a better version at Subway. The bun was crunchy which is unheard of for a cheesesteak and the meat was also cooked to the point of being crunchy with some hardened cheese on top. I had to drown it in ketchup just to get it down. On top of that the fries were over cooked and foul tasting. This would be a 0 star review if it weren't for the fried pickles that were good. Not sure if I'll return. read more

Iron Rail Brewing - New American Near Me - Topeka, Kansas

Great lemon martinis. The catfish dinner is also very good. The pulled pork while it had good flavor the meat quality was not good. It was mostly fat and not edible. We will go back but never order the pulled pork again. read more

Atmosphere & Service:The atmosphere in Iron Rail is fun; they had local artists create murals depicting Topeka history, and they're really well done. Our server (I think her name was Laura... I can't remember) was professional and explained the cocktail menu to us when my mom and I couldn't decide what to order. She also explained the menu and offered her opinions about what she liked. She gave us a lot of attention since it was their first night, but she wasn't overbearing. Food & Drink: I ordered the Old Fashioned, which was definitely the best version of this cocktail that I've had- the perfect balance of smoky, citrusy, and sweet. I enjoyed the giant ice cube, and prefer bars that use these to chill a drink rather than many small cubes that melt quickly. As far as dinner went, my mom and I ordered a variety of items to try: We each ordered a bbq plate which came with two sides; I had the ribs and she had the brisket, and we shared the smoked green beans, creamed corn, mac and cheese, and French fries. Their ribs are AWESOME- they're smoky and pair well with the restaurant's bbq sauce. I usually don't order ribs because I hate eating "messy food", but these fell off the bone and I could eat them with a fork. All of the sides were great. I wasn't necessarily expecting the fries to stand out amongst all of the other more "curated sides", but they were delicious and I would order them again. We shared the banana and waffle dessert, which was good. We were surprised at how large the dessert was, which could've easily been shared by another person. All in all I think Iron Rail is a positive new addition in Downtown Topeka, and I can't wait to go again to try more of the menu (meatloaf, burgers, and chicken gnocchi all looked great as they passed us on the way to other tables) and order a beer flight so I can sample the brews made in-house. read more

Iron Rail Brewing - New American Near Me - Topeka, Kansas

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We wanted so badly to like this place. First impression was great: kind bartender, clean, neat atmosphere. After we were seated, things went downhill - and not quickly. We waited AN HOUR AND 40 minutes for three entrees. We were about to pay our bill for drinks and walk out, when the waitress delivered our food. The food was okay at best. read more

Yes, Topeka! Sleek modern design meets Kansas nostalgia in this lively space. Great house brews and barbecue. Service is friendly and responsive. Some items on the menu have been unavailable on my two trips, which I view as a positive: when you make things from scratch, you sometimes run out. Chicken chicharones? Street tacos? Fried bologna? Beer brewed 50 feet away? The inclusive cultural anchor downtown Topeka needs? I think so. read more

The food was delicious, however, we had a real issue with the drinks we ordered and how we were billed. The waitress was not helpful either when it came to try and resolve it. We ended up being over billed and I doubt we will return due to this experience. read more

I just can't get enough of this place. The beer was perfect as we shared a flight of four different beers. The food was quick and plentiful. What a nice way to start the first Friday art walk. read more

Ended up here by accident on a date night last night with my husband. Got their around 6:30 & they were busy but got us sat in under 10 minutes. We had an amazing server who made recommendations and was attentive. When we got our beer flight he gave us a "cheat sheet" so we knew which beer was what. Then our food. We ordered the nacho fries which were amazing! Then on the advice of the server I order the burger, which had so much flavor and tasted so good! My husband got the street tacos and again the food was great. The atmosphere is a little loud and the seating isn't super comfortable. We were sat at a small table by the beer brewing area by the bathrooms, but overall not a major complaint! We will 100% be back and recommend this to anyone looking for delicious food in Topeka! read more

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Great food, excellent service. Wide variety. Accommodated our large group quickly and without a wait. Lived up to the positive reviews.

Horrible food and drink. The customer service was fine.. but charcuterie board was obviously prepared by someone's 2 yr old. And we ordered fish and chips. Also a big mistake. I will not support this local business read more

Good and fine... After approximately an hour reading Yelp reviews after botched travel plans and ending up in Topeka versus Kansas City (where we were really looking forward to BBQ on our road trip), we stopped here for dinner. On the positive, food came out fast and our 7 year old was hungry. Atmosphere was good/inviting and the service was solid. The wings and fried pickles were good. If you go wings, stay with the Buffalo sauce. You may be tempted to get the honey siracha, don't, it was more like a sweet and sour sauce? Hm. The meat (we had burnt ends, pulled pork and chopped brisket) was good, nothing overly special, but smoked and tasted homemade. Pulled pork was slightly dry but good with the sauce, burnt ends were probably my favorite of the three. For our sides we got broccoli and fries. The fries were fries, but the broccoli was awful. Drenched in a way overly garlicky butter sauce. Maybe I should not have expected anything healthy at a BBQ place. My bad. Haha. Beer- I ordered the hazy IPA. There was nothing hazy about it. Description said good for a summer afternoon, yep, definitely, which for me is more characteristic of a west coast IPA. Not a traditional east coast beer. My husband had the lager. It was fine. Just fine. A fine and good meal. Probably should have gone to Blind Tiger, but they had a wait and the kid needed to eat. Or that grilled cheese place, and skipped the BBQ quest. Oh well. read more

Food was good. Portions were a little small for the price. Outdoor seating was nice.

Ate there last night with a group of friends and was not pleased. Seated right away while waiting for others to arrive ordered a Diet Coke which arrived fairly quickly, iceless and with just a little fizz to it. When the others arrived we ordered appetizers, one of which was the chicken skin chicharrones, they took a while to arrive but were well worth the wait, just incredible. I ordered the cheesesteak sandwich. After a 30+ minute wait, it finally arrived. I was not impressed: it was a large sandwich and stuffed full of and indescribable over cooked something. The meat was dry and tasteless, even though dripping with grease at the same time. The bottom half of the roll was saturated with grease. The person sitting across from me had ordered the same thing and his looked even worse than mine. The fries, of which I had heard good things were just as bad. They were a dark brown and shriveled, the outside was hard, not crisp, the inside were dry and chewy. It almost looked like they were possibly stale and they had tried to freshen them bo recooking them. Even ketchup couldn't make them edible. The service wasn't the best either. I was never offered refills on my drink and when I asked for some water, room temperature water was poured into my empty Coke glass. I did tell the server about the fries, as did others in the group. I also told him that the sandwich was greasy as well. One of the other persons in our group had eaten there before, but only at lunch time and stated that it had been very good then. She was one of those who had complained about how horrible the fries were. I have a feeling I won't be going there again. read more

I really like this place. Their beer selection is nice (both made in house and guest taps) and the food is really good too! I had a smoked IPA made there that was great & also enjoyed a chocolate Cherry stout from Firestone Walker. My wife had a couple of good cocktails. Food is largely barbecue and we enjoyed it was well. Check out the wings as an appetizer! I'd make a meal out of them...they were excellent. read more

Dined here twice on a recent visit to Topeka - dinner and Sunday brunch. We enjoyed both. At dinner, I had the brisket street tacos - good and filling. We also ordered the charcuterie platter for the table which, while tasty, would benefit from some veggies in addition to the sausages and cheese. At brunch I ordered the brisket hash with two eggs. Again, abundant portions and very delicious. Several at our table ordered the half portion salads which also looked like plenty for one person. read more

Restaurant was a bit cold. Beer was really good, mixed drink was good, very nicely decorated and contemporary feel. Soft pretzels with beer cheese were tasty and our entrees were yummy. We will be back, just will be sure to take a sweater. read more

Iron Rail Brewing - New American Near Me - Topeka, Kansas

Their beer wasn't good. Hummus appetizer looked like a recycled vegetable platter. Very under whelming.

Good Kansas BBQ. Energetic environment in a quiet city. Food was not warm enough but menu was creative and well rounded. #Where'sMyToGoBox read more

Iron Rail Brewing - Pretzel Twists - New American Near Me - Topeka, Kansas

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The decor is amazing! We have some really impressive local artists in Topeka. The service was good and so was the food. I got the pulled pork sandwich with House fries and it was pretty good. I got the Super Chief Lager (I think it was a lager) and it was a little lighter than expected, but still pretty good. Overall a huge addition to Topeka! read more

Iron Rail Brewing - New American Near Me - Topeka, Kansas

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The wife and I tried out Iron Rail for the first time today. Very, very good. We tried four out of the six draught beers that were brewed in house. The Stout was our favorite, followed closely by the wheat. I had the chicken tenders and fresh cut fries which were delicious. The wife had the Shrimp and Grits and she said it was very good. Portion size was a touch small though. Atmosphere is very cool with an industrial look crossed with some local artist murals. Very cool stuff related to Topeka and Kansas history. Definitely check it out!! read more

Great place to get a good sandwich and a brew! Fun atmosphere with some cool murals. Staff/servers were friendly and helpful. Lots of choices on the menu from sandwiches to salads and steaks! We will plan on coming back soon...great addition to downtown Topeka! read more