The 2nd iteration of the Jeffersonville, Indiana Cast Iron Steakhouse has been open in the old Chick Inn location at 6325 Upper River Rd in Prospect, Ky. for three weeks now. My son and his best bud, both 14 and always hungry, joined me on trying out the new spot in our area on Friday evening.
We arrived shortly before 6:00 PM to a full parking lot. The outside of the restaurant hasn't changed. It is a sturdy looking rectangle built atop large concrete pilings to keep it well above the water line of nearby Harrods Creek. It remained high and dry during our recent spate of flooding that dealt a serious blow to both CQ and Cunninghams.
Walking up the front steps I noticed some nice black tables and comfy looking chairs on the front porch. About half of the tables were filled with people enjoying drinks on the verandah.
Opening the front doors and walking to the host/hostess stand the first thing that you notice is that the new crew has really perked the place up with some fresh paint and a good cleaning. It really needed a scrubdown of the patina of fried chicken grease that had accumulated over time. It sparkled.
If you are facing the host stand immediately to your left is the bar area which includes 10-12 comfy looking bar stools at the bar and four 6 top tables in a row against the wall overlooking the front porch. We were led to the last open 6 top as a party of five had just been seated right behind us. Seating is tight and you end up backing your chair into those behind you as you worm your way into your seat. The tables were covered with black tablecloths and standard flat cutlery in a cloth napkin.
On the other side of the host stand (right side facing it) is the other half of the restaurant containing some booths and mainly 4 tops scattered about. The spacing seemed better over there but they were all full.
Right after we were seated Matt (I believe) from the bar staff came around to give us our shiny laminated menus and take our drink orders. The boys chose a regular and diet coke among them and I opted for unsweetened ice tea. The menu: http://www.castironsteakhouse.com./menu.html
has some subtle wording differences and some slightly higher prices at this location.
The drinks arrived and were sipped. The coke products had a mix problem. Carbonation was fine but the syrup ratio was off and left a faint medicinal/metallic taste in the finish. They were returned for replacement and the second batch was a repeat. They both changed to Dr Pibb which came out fine. My ice tea was brown and cold.
While we were perusing the menu the bar began to fill up with those waiting on tables. Then the porch filled up. Then the space in front of the host stand filled up. The slam had begun.
Matt came back by and was ready for our order. There were no specials for the evening. I got the feeling from him that it was a straight menu concept with no specials anytime. He explained that every main got a salad, bread and a side.
Boy #1 ordered the top sirloin rare, no salad and mac & cheese as the side.
Boy #2 ordered the hot brown, sans tomato, no salad and mac & cheese.
I ordered the delmonico steak rare, sauteed green beans and salad.
The boys wanted the Cast Iron Steak Queso as a starter.
Matt let me know that the salad dressings were made in house and that his favorite was the maple balsamic. I am a blue cheese freak and asked him how it was. He thought it had too much "bite" which made me want it. I really like a snappy blue cheese.
Matt was soon back with my salad, the queso and a demi loaf of the house bread. 4 slices of a parmesan/yeast french bread and real butter were quickly devoured by the boys with 2 thumbs up. I didn't move fast enough for a taste.
My salad was as advertised. Cool, crisp iceberg lettuce with all the trimmings had the dressing on the side. I really liked the size and amount of fried onions on the top. Matt had included a ramekin of the maple balsamic in addition to the blue cheese. After one taste I ignored the blue cheese. The maple balsamic was outstanding with neither predominate flavor overwhelming the other. A promising start.
The boys queso was served with a large order of mixed color corn tortilla chips. It was topped with pickled jalapeno and was thinner than your average queso at some of our local mexican places. It had a good cheesy/beefy flavor. the beef fat left a somewhat slick coating to the palate and tongue.
We made short work of the apps, bread and salad. Our beverages were kept topped up by an increasingly harried bar staff.
As I had mentioned the place was full and also filled up with those drinking in the bar and others waiting in the available spaces to dine. The noise was average for a Friday night; full of bonhomie, energy and light hearted banter.
Time passed....and passed.....and passed. The 5 top behind us that was seated at the same time ordered, ate, had coffee and conversation and then vacated. the table was quickly taken. Here and there tables finished their meals and others were seated.
Matt came by and said that our order was "coming soon".
We waited some more. people on the porch waiting soon grew restless and came inside to remove themselves from the waiting list; they departed. Some people in the bar threw in the towel and headed for greener pastures.
We waited....and waited some more.
Matt finally came over and said "The kitchen is in the weeds, we are working on your order". I mentioned that it seemed like our ticket may have been lost. It happens to everyone at some time or another. I was OK with that if that was the reason. Matt said "No, the kitchen wasn't expecting this kind of crowd and is seriously in the weeds!".
75 minutes after our arrival our order was plunked down in front of us. Thank goodness as the boys had started gnawing on the corners of the table.
Boy #1 reported his steak as "medium rare, well seasoned, the mac & cheese was good".
Boy #2 was puzzled by his hot brown. It was a piece of texas toast that had a slice of swiss cheese on it. On top of that was another piece of texas toast that had three rolled pieces of processed deli style turkey slices. Two slices of bacon adorned the top and the whole thing was covered in a salty parmesan/mornay sauce.
My delmonico steak was medium well and dry. I slathered some leftover bread butter on it and tucked into it. I wasn't about to send it back as I had to work the next day at 2:00 PM and couldn't afford to be up all night. The sauteed green beans lacked any seasoning and perked up a bit with salt & pepper. They had flecks of pork product in them but I was unable to ascertain what part of the pig they came from. They added nothing to the finished dish. The beans lacked the mouth feel of silky pig fat that would have elevated them to great.
We ate quickly and then asked for the check. Matt brought it over and then asked how our meal was. We were honest with him. The wait was too long and the price was too high for the end product. $63.95 for our meal. No alcohol and food that left us underwhelmed served to us after an interminable wait. He offered to comp us some desert but we felt like we needed to flip the table for him.
I tipped Matt 20 percent as his service was very good and he had nothing to do with the wait. He hustled and was informative and friendly.
There is alot to like at Cast Iron and some areas that need some tweaking.
Bottom line: Expect to be busy in the area you are in. Get a handle on the kitchen. Learn to cook the steaks as they are ordered. The Hot Brown as you have it is an abomination, learn the classic recipe and serve it. It wasn't a cheap meal and to serve a steak way out of the way it was ordered is bad business. As of now our best steak meals still come from Stoney River. I want the local to beat that experience. I want to come back. I hope too hear that it has improved.
