The Iron Gate

We hit this place up on New Year's and had a great time. We showed up and we hung out in the waiting area for about 15 minutes till we got our table while we were there we noticed the bar area, where people were having a great time. It's was an older crowd, a couple of young people sprinkled in and a DJ bumping some beats. I gotta admit, they were playing some good music! If you haven't been to a French restaurant, I would suggest this place, to break you in. It is not too fancy, but definitely fancy enough, so dress up. Like I said, expect an older crowd in the dining area as well. But at the end of the day, who the hell cares, as long as the food is good. The service here is phenomenal and there is also table service for certain things on the menu. That being the chicken flambé and be ready for the flames. Unfortunately, I don't remember the chicken plate. My girlfriend had but I knew she was happy as hell with it. I had the special, which was the ribeye steak. You better believe I enjoyed some of it the next day. Above all, the girlfriend and I welcomed in the New Year, having a good time with other restaurant goers and the staff.If you're in the area and just wanna grab a drink, this would also be a perfect spot to stop at. There's plenty of room in the bar area and the restaurant has parking right next-door.

In my conclusion, this is a place for the long term Bay Area residence who are nostalgic about the glory days of Iron Gate. It's a pricey traditional French style restaurant, food is fine, but their casual but personal services is what most restaurants lack. The Iron Gate owner got this place in the 1930's and in 1940's, the Iron Gate was founded. It has its own parking lot, making it a bit safer than parking along El Camino. Most of the wait staff there worked for over 20 years, and the restaurant is famous for cooking flammable dish on carte tableside. If you see "flambe" on the menu, the dish will be cooked in front of you with high fire. There's a minimum $60 spend limit for each customer but the dishes are not cheap. So if you order an apertizer, an entree and a dessert, you will reach the limit and more.We ordered the La Maison Iron Gate salad for 2, which they mix the salad in front of us on a cart. It has feta, avocado, lettuce, bacon, mushroom and a chunk of tomato. I tried the Veal Jerusalem and it tasted good. The veal was pan fried and then added on a creamy sauce. Hubby tried their signature steak Diane. The meat cut was not thick and we asked for medium rare. The total cook time was about 3 minutes, they first seared the steak, then added all the sauces and brandy and let it cooked till thickened and then serve. After adding the brandy, a huge flame shot up and making it like a show. The store manager cooking for us said in a busy night they would be making 150 times of this dish. We were being served by 2 waiters. One of them was smart enough to ask if we wanted souffle for dessert so we don't have to wait long after entree. We ordered souffle for 2 of chocolate but was pleasantly surprised when it came as one chocolate and the other vanilla and that was decided by the sauce. the souffle came out very beautifully risen and jiggly. Each bite was soft and consistent and soaked in all the sauce. It was very well executed. After the entree, I was asked if we came for a special occasion and I told them I was one year wiser. The waiter then came out with a candle on top of my souffle and a happy birthday song. There was no free desserts but the nice conversations here and there carried the character of this restaurant. Lastly I tried the white zinfandel on their menu out of curiosity, it came out a red drink, but very light and sweet, almost like grape juice in water. Super easy.

The owner left a message acknowledging and apologizing for what had happened after he received a letter I wrote about this. I am impressed and grateful that he took the time to respond.According to a friend I spoke with afterwards, if you go there for any kind of celebration, forget about the hostess, let the server know.

Date: Thursday, June 22nd, 2023Time: 7pmMeal: DinnerParty of: 2Reservation Made: via OpenTable about 3 weeks prior*Escargots Borg ($24)*Crab Cakes App ($26)*La Liaison Iron Gate ($36)*Steak Diane: Med Rare ($75)*Prawns & Scallops ($44)*Souffle Chocolate ($17)*Combo Souffle ($22)*Silvia Reserve Cab ($25 glass)*Diet Coke ($5)*Espresso ($7): Double ($2.25)*Jameson: Neat ($8)*Corkage ($35)I had never heard of Iron Gate until my friend suggested having dinner here. (I don't get to Belmont much.) I adore French food, so of course I agreed. Plus, the menu and ambiance had an old school vibe. White tablecloths, etc. Reminded me of my Dad's French restaurant growing up.The escargots were delish! It's all about that butter! I always try to soak up all the tasty sauce with the bread. I adore salads. (I love my veggies.) I had no idea when ordering, this salad came with shrimp. (I believe they were bay shrimp.) Felt almost like a main due to the added ingredients. I don't recall much about the surf and turf we created for our main dishes, but that probably means it was fine. For dessert, we immediately went to the souffles. Normally, the souffles I get are served in their dish / bowl. But they actually scooped it out and plated it, so it lost it's airiness. The flavors were good tho.Great restaurant if you are looking for classic French cuisine.REVIEW #3520

I can't even with this place. Waited for the host who took forever even though when we went, there were only 2 tables in this joint that looked like a shabby dining area where they try to sell you timeshares.Cold bread and meh butter.My steak was bland, and if it weren't for the compound butter, I would have asked for ketchup to get through this tough yet dull tasting piece of meat. It honestly reminded me of a Dennys' steak at triple the price.Don't even get me started on the horrible bland veggies and super salty mashed potatoes that tasted like they were squeezed out of a dollar store tube.My creme caramel tasted like it came from a cheap Safeway dessert pack, and my coworkers' fish was so small and thin that I thought they gave her a kids plate.A part of me was going to order their veal marsala for lunch, but at $42 dollars, I'm glad I didn't after I had their horrible steak. It's not worth the price. Definitely not good food. We have no idea how this place survived the pandemic. They need to work on adjusting their prices and improving their food quality.

It's been quite a few years since we last visited The Iron Gate. Very lucky girl as I was gifted a gift certificate, so hubs and I decided to have a date night. Made reservations for a Friday at 6pm. We were greeted upon our arrival and immediately brought to a table.Hubs had been reviewing the menu and reviews prior to our visit, so he already knew what he wanted. We started with the fried zucchini blossom. For me, can't say there was much of a blossom, but it was stuffed with crab meat and i had to sop up all that yummy sauce with the bread. Next, the clam chowder - creamy and another good one for dipping the bread. Caesar salad made tableside - good flavor, but maybe could've used just a little less oil. We were then brought raspberry sorbet to clean the palate. As for the entrees, I went with the Veal Jerusalem. The veal was very tender, although alone it didn't really have much flavor. The veggies and rice had more flavor, especially with that sauce. Hubs ordered the bone-in ribeye - very flavorful and cooked perfectly medium rare. Night ended with coffee and the souffle with berries - fluffy souffle and the berries complemented it nicely. Service was very good. Our water glasses were kept filled and they cleared our dishes quickly. This was a treat and I look forward to when we can return again.

Amazing food & service... table side Caesar salad prep & also flambé is table side.Delicious soufflé too - don't skip that!

We came here for our celebration dinner and picked this restaurant due to the mid-way location among our group. Really got a mixed feelings about this restaurant for the foods vs services. I love the services where the waiters greeted you and didn't rush us out until we felt like we wanted to go. They cooked the steak right in front of you and gave a little show which I enjoyed, but the smoke is also a bit too much. We ordered a variety of appetizers to share. Seared scallops, escargot, fried calamari and Caesar salad. Got to say that the scallop is a little disappointing and the escargot is not great neither. Too be fair, I didn't love escargot anyway but I am a scallop person but didn't quite like the scallop. Fried calamari is normal and I like the Caesar salad. I order the 10oz filet mignon and it came with garlic butter on the top, with mashed potato and a few mixed veggies. My steak is grilled right, medium rare, to my liking. The meat is very tender too. The only complain I have is really a bit dry, there should be some natural juice from the steak, but really none came out from slicing the steak. I also tried my friend's steak flambé (flambé is fire that they cooked the steak in front of you, brandy goes in to the cooking pan, throwing a fire), the sauce was pretty good to make a saucy steak. I had their pomegranate martini which is pretty good. Their coffees (everyone of us complained about the coffee at the end of the meal) taste and quality are just not there. The original soufflé is pretty good for dessert. They have three flavors (original, chocolate and mixed berry). My favorite is the original soufflé. You need to place your order at the beginning of your meal since it takes 30 min to bake it. Overall I enjoyed the welcoming atmosphere and great services, but the foods could bring up a notch to better taste. This place is somewhat expensive so I'd expect both great service and great foods.

A one of a kind experience! The definition of fine dining from remarkable food to excellent service all in a unique atmosphere you don't see very often anymore. Tanner ensures you have the best experience from the moment you walk in the door. Thank you and look forward to coming back for the lamb chops.

Our recent trip to the Iron Gate was a memorable one, once we entered we were greeted by a gracious hostess that gave us seating options with recommendations , once seated the waiter was efficient gave us recommendations and most importantly time without being pushed. The ambiance was old school.The food was spot on, hearty and delicious, we had the steak Diane and the Caesar salad, which they are known for.Would go back again for our next special occasion.