Iron Bridge Wine Company

Finally, after 11 months, I took my sister, Bird, out to celebrate her birthday. We've been trying to do it for ages, but it's just not worked out. Since I was in Columbia for a meeting this morning, we decided to meet someplace out there and I chose the Iron Bridge Wine Company. Chef friends Cat & Dog had mixed reviews, but we decided to go anyway.
Iron Bridge is on Route 108, a rather schitzophrenic strech of road in Howard County. There are farms and fields on one side of the road, and houses and businesses on the other. Next to Iron Bridge, there's an old abandoned house.

I got there a little before Bird, and the waitress tried to put me at a table that was three inches from the one next to it, even though there were other available tables. I balked at that, and she said I could wait until another table opened. The place was crowded from when we got there at 12:30 until we left at 2:30. It would have been nice if they opened the other side of the dining room to give people some space.

After checking to make sure that nothing she wanted had onions in it, Bird ordered the Sun Dried Tomato and Toasted Almond Chicken Salad on a croissant with herbed Yukon Gold potato wedges. I got a Grilled Wagyu Beef Burger on Kaiser Roll with Citrus Scented Orzo Salad. I'd never seen the multi-coloured orzo, but since it's a pasta, I am sure you can add anything to colour it. It was quite good and very fresh tasting.

Both were very good, but it took about 40 minutes between the time we ordered and the time they were served. Of course, we had to have dessert, and chose a creme brulee, a favourite of both of ours. It was slightly different from the usual, as it had a chocolate ganache on the bottom, which was a nice counterpoint to the creme. I had requested that they bring it with a candle and they did. I did like Iron Bridge, but it shouldn't have taken two hours for lunch. It wasn't that we were taking our time, it was that the kitchen was very slow. We were next to a table of four women who looked like they must have worked at the same office, and their waiter made several mistakes, forgetting to put in orders, bringing the wrong drink, etc.

I think I am with Cat & Dog - it's a mixed review.