The Iron Skillet

It was a comedy of errors for them on Friday evening. Our orders couldn’t have been simpler.
To start it took about 10 minutes before anyone to came over to to give us a glass of water. They have a ton of staff but I just think nobody was assigned our table.
Ordered 2 items: Asian Salad dressing on the side with chicken, and liver and onions, gravy on potatoes.
They came back 10 minutes later to tell me that the Asian Salad isn’t a salad. it’s a hot stir-​fry with Teriyaki dressing on a bed of lettuce … nothing like the menu item stated.
So I ordered Greek Salad, dressing on the side with chicken on top.
Meals come:
Greek Salad with dressing mixed in, no chicken.
Liver and Onions with Gravy smothered over the liver. not the potatoes.
Lettuce was bagged and had that smell to it. When you charge $ 16 for a salad they should invest in a little better quality. That said, I tasted the liver and it was actually pretty good and a huge portion.
Also, didn’t realize they had a whack of specials until they brought the sign board in from outside and placed it next to every table that was seated after us. Not sure why they didn’t do this for us.
I am going to stick with quality over quantity and stay away from this place. Collingwood has an amazing array of quality restaurants and chefs these days.

Wow. So I heard this was on the show You Gotta Eat Here… after visiting, I can see why. Whatever you order, it will be a massive dish. I have to say the enchiladas I got were delicious, and all of my companions really seemed to enjoy their dishes as well. One thing I did not like was that their menu is not very comphrensive. They have it up everywhere (along with walls full of sauce bottles and other kitschy cute things) but none of the menus really explain what your dish is or what it comes with. For example, I got the enchiladas, and it’s served with a cesear salad. That has bacon on it. It’s not mentioned anywhere that we saw about a salad coming with the dish. The server also did not mention it. What if I can’t eat bacon? What if I’m allergic to lettuce? Another example, some friends got the Brownie Supreme. They assumed it would be a large piece of brownie with some cold ice cream. What they got instead is a sundae. Loads of ice cream and a tiny morsel of brownie at the bottle of the glass.
I enjoyed the atmosphere, the service and the food. However, I think they should consider updating their menus or what information is on their menu.

Dropped by for a late breakfast (they serve from 10−3pm) after a cozy night in the lodges by Blue Mountain. Greeted by friendly hostess, we got sat immediately to a table for 5. Everyone ordered from the breakfast menu and it had standard breakfast items like omelettes, pancakes, eggs and bacon, home fries and toast. I had a ‘Make Your Own Omelette’ with spinach, sausage and mushrooms. My omelette was bigger than my friends, so not the most consistent sizes and it was a bit heavy and dry. No matter, the many choices of hot sauce and ketchup solved this problem!
All dishes came out together so we were waiting a bit for the food but everyone enjoyed their meal. Not groundbreaking delicious food but homey, large portions and reasonable prices. Friendly service doesn’t hurt either. The drinks took a while to come out as well (nothing difficult to make– OJ, coffee, tea). I’d come back!

Consistently great food and service!
We live in Collingwood and love this place.
We recommend to friends and family. Huge portions — bring your appetite to this awesome diner!

In keeping with our Collingwood adventures, we couldn’t seem to string together two great restaurant experiences. Unfortunately for the Iron Skillet, they were one of the «not great» restaurants. As a matter of fact, we couldn’t even get through the front door without it jamming into the carpet — a warning sign not heeded by my wife and I.
From an ambiance perspective, The Iron Skillet is wholly itself — a divey pub with a big menu and, according to our hostess, huge portions.
The huge portions was in no way misleading, as our plates were piled high. My wife got the Enchiladas which were… odd? In keeping with the huge portion mandate, the corn tortilla that the Enchiladas came on were effectively buried to death as mountains of pepper, sour cream and cheese shrouded it’s presence. I ordered the Naked Burger, as I am wont to do at a new restaurant (if you can’t make a burger, then…) and it was pretty decent. Encapsulated in a pretzel bun, the patty was good; however, the cheese was not melted which was slightly off putting.
The chief reason for the 2 star review is the 30+ minutes we waited for our meal. Our server dutifully checked in on us but strangely kept inferring or blatantly declaring that he hoped we would come back again. If there were ever a time to read the room, this would have been it.
A final word: this restaurant was featured on You’ve Gotta Eat Here, which seemed like a nice bonus to a place we were already planning on eating at. We advise the following: You Do Not Have to Eat Here.

we went there today for lunch and I can say that it was bad I order the western sandwich and the fries were so bad I could not eat them and my friend order the blt sandwich also tasteless will not be back there

Got the redneck burger… blew me away, everything was cooked to perfection, I don’t know what you guys do to the fries but holy smokes… crispy. The beer was cold, my glass was never empty, the desert «poutine» was out of this world. When we placed the order for desert I thought «man I’m so full no way can I eat anymore» then when it came my stomach MADE ROOM! It was incredible. This was some of the best food I had ever had, affordable too nothing too over the top and what else. the sauces were amazing. Highly recommend.

Pretty great diner good with an eclectic atmosphere.
Like most Collingwood restaurants, confused and searching for an true identity.
Is this pub food? Mexican? Diner? Does it matter? No really.
Portions are generous and definitely some love is put in to these dishes. The schnitzel was great and loaded with with (real) cheddar and (real) bacon on top.
Caesar salad was from scratch and one of the best I’ve had ANYWHERE.
House made hot sauces are spectacular, exceptional. Just order something that you can put it on. The Cajun sauce was deadly on the schnitzel.
Going back for more soon.
With the mixed lot of joints in Collingwood, this place is a keeper.

I visited this restaurant recently with a party of 7 including my three kids. Overall, the service and food were both fantastic.
I had the jambalaya with chicken and shrimp and it was really amazing. A huge meal. Really filling and really tasty.
My wife had rainbow trout which she said was really good, as were the liver and onions, and the steak that were ordered at my table. In addition, the kids meals were really large, and of a good quality.
Really impressive restaurant. This was the second time I’ve been there, and I’m sure I will go again when next in the area.

Chicken schnitzel was out of this world! It was very easy to see the specials of the day because they set up a life size billboard right in front of your table.

I’m going to keep this short and sweet:
Breakfast!
Had the 3 eggs, bacon, ham and sausages and I gotta say I was stuffed and very pleased.
I have to say the potato home fries are especially amazing!
Also, my mom had the gluten free toast and it was actually tasty and edible. Everyone’s a winner!
D

Attentive server, great food!
I bookmarked this spot after I saw it on you Gotta Eat Here and was not disappointed!
Good beer selection and great options for food! My boyfriend had the steak pad Thai, which he said was delicious and filling. I had the jerk chicken. The sweet potato casserole side was amaaaazing, the cornbread was perfect for eating with the chicken, and that chicken was soo good! Enough for an entire second meal at lunch the next day which made it a good bang for your buck! I’ll be back.

Horrible food ! I was so looking forward to this restaurant from the reviews. It was horrible, horrible, horrible !! Paella was $ 25 and all I got was tasteless mush with some mussels and 5 small shrimp. My wife’s chicken fajitas were equally disgusting. Find another restaurant, this one sucks !

Went here with the girlfriend recently and it was a hearty meal. She had the pork tenderloin and I had the prime rib. We both enjoyed our meals and left very full. Mine came with potatoes, veggies, and yorkshire pudding. The prime rib wasn’t as lean as I would have liked but it was still good. Service was good and our server was nice and came around every so often and wasn’t overbearing.
One thing I found that was odd is they have a whiteboard where they post the specials but they move it next to every new table that gets seated. I felt bad for the hostess/​servers who had to do this and is kind of a waste of their time. I would have thought the servers should know what the specials are. Much less effort to remember than drag a heavy board around every time a new person sits down.
Try it out if you’re in the collingwood area!

Revisited on our first trip back to Collingwood in 14 years. We remembered an average restaurant with good service, fair prices and great food. The Iron Skillet 2015 is a different place (literally) than it was back then but it satisfies the same way.
What is lacking in atmosphere is easily made up with tasty, well-​made food and good portion sizes. Pricing isn’t quite what we remember but we left The Iron Skillet full and satisfied.
Decent selection of beer on tap too!

I went there with a group of riders and we were received very well by the owner who even asked if he could take a picture of our motorcycles to put in his FB page :)
The restaurant food is also good and has a very generous portions. They have good Tex-​Mex type of food.

Visited the restaurant after a day of snowboarding at Blue Mountain. Located in a convenient location on our way back to Toronto. The servers were friendly and the owner (came out to say hi to us).
Between my friends and I we ordered the seafood paella, chicken schnitzel, Yorkshire pudding and some drinks. The portions are good. Yorkshire pudding was tasty but would personally like the gravy a bit less salty (i don’t usually put a lot of salt when cooking so its a peronsal preference). The seafood paella also tasted really good and it actually had alot of seafood. Prices are ok (same as a chain restaurant). The paella was one of the more expensive menu items. Plenty of others to choose from
Will likely visit again if I’m in the area.

We’ve searched for good restaurants in Collingwood before and unfortunately haven’t been able to find one. On our way back from the Scandinavian Spa I was craving a French onion soup and TA showed photos of this restaurant. Since my husband felt like the pub feel this place seemed perfect. This restaurant /​pub has a great casual feel with fantastic service (very quick, friendly and professional) and superb food. Our food was fresh and came up quickly. We had a home made French Onion Soup (the best one I’ve ever had) and Cajun pineapple wings, which again were phenomenal. We were so happy to have found this place and will make this restaurant our regular stop on the way to or back from blue mountain. Can’t wait to go back.

Had an enjoyable meal here tonight with the family. Very friendly service. I had Greek Salad with a homemade vinaigrette. It wasn’t bad. Kids had the chicken fingers and hand cut fries and the penne alfredo with home made caesar salad. The dad had ‘build your own pasta’. Everyone enjoyed their food. Everything was home made and from fresh ingredients and much better than the average «chain» fare, which was a nice change. It won’t knock your socks off, but it has a nice atmosphere and you’ll leave full and feel like you ate real food. Prices were good. We always find it hard to find good food in Collingwood that isn’t ridiculously priced, but this place did well in our books.

Came here mainly because of the hype– restaurant being featured on ‘you gotta eat here’ and considered the No.1 restaurant in Collingwood. I would rate this place a 1 based on the service we received. But I’ll be kind and give it a 2, as the food was decent for the simple fact that we ordered their Jerk chicken and Cajun chicken sandwich and since there seems to be a dearth of any ethnic restaurants in this hood, the chef has made some effort of replicating the dishes. If you’re from a city though, you will find the dishes quite disappointing. What ticked us off the most though was our server didn’t smile until it was time to pay the bill (aka tip) that’s the only time we seemed to get any attention. She was also serving a table right in front of us and didn’t come check on us even once until we hand signalled her for glasses of water with lime and she came back without the lime. I’m not sure if they were tired coz of the long day they must’ve had on a Wednesday in what is otherwise a pretty dead town. Or maybe that’s just me trying to make an excuse for shitty service. Will not return.