Branding Iron Restaurant

This place is classic! It’s like a movie scene where the script says «man walks into 1970s supper club». It is everything that you expect it to be. If you’re looking for a Michelin three star restaurant, you’ll be disappointed. But if you’re looking for classic supper club ambiance and attentive septuagenarian wait staff, this is your place.
To the foodies out there, yes the salad bar is fairly pedestrian but everything was fresh. Yes the prime rib meat quality was not likely aged USDA prime, but mine was cooked perfectly and the spice rub and au jus were spot on. And the au gratins were a little stainless steel bowl of heaven that would shine at any potluck dinner.
The reason that this place gets five stars is that it executes «70s supper club» absolutely perfectly. If you’re expecting haute cuisine that utilizes molecular gastronomy, you’ll be disappointed. But if you want to go back in time and have a meal that reminds you of celebrating grandpa’s birthday when you were a child, this is your place.
PS to the reviewer who busted on the «Melba rounds slathered in butter». Bread like wine should be properly paired, and the buttered Melba toasts perfectly paired with the tasty beef soup broth in which we dipped them. Some fancy bread like artisan ciabatta would have been a gastronomic non sequitur here. Yes. We did it. We dipped bread in soup. And we’re still card carrying members of the foodie club.

Standard small town steak house, but done as well as could be expected. The salad bar was boring, the prime rib was nice, but I had to pour a lot of greasy brown water off it (why do so many places out here pour aus jus on? The green beans looked go and so did the fish. This was a relief after going to Estelle’s nearby where i left my disgusting meal and bailed. I may have to start packing a lunch when I go to these rural areas

Midweek, passing through Preston, stopped for dinner.
Didn’t go well.
Had an unremarkable, generally poorly prepared meal. And we were assisted throughout by a tired, taciturn waitress whose reluctance to offer menu advice resembled tooth extraction.
The entrees — pork ribs and battered cod — were barely fast food quality in both taste and presentation.
An au gratin potatoes side order had to be forcibly scraped off the tin it was baked/​burnt onto.
A green beans side order was an overcooked, rubbery mass that could NOT be cut with a steak knife. (The waitress admitted green beans weren’t requested often.)
I gave the establishment one star for their location (great view!).
I would have given another if they served real bread.
Note to restaurant: nobody serves convenience store bread sticks and Melba Rounds, even if they are slathered in butter. Few of your customers are teething.

The salad bar is always fresh and my favorite thing is their chicken strips, they are hand-​dipped in their house batter, and are amazing! Bread baskets are always offered and the atmosphere is very nice with a great view of Preston. Definitely give their homemade soups a try!

After reading the reviews posted I was apprehensive of trying it. We were staying in nearby Lanesboro and there was not anything open so some locals said to go here. Nice salad bar great Beef mushroom barley soup. I had a Chick-​k-​bob it was a grilled chicken breast with mushrooms cherry peppers and onions on a kabob. I had it with rice. My husband had ground sirloin and a baked potato. They had garlic toast in the bread basket that was SO good! I would go here again. Also the parking was fine I thought.

I’ve been to this restaurant on more than one occasion and really gave it three chances to impress me. It failed every time.
The place is always busy and that’s probably because there aren’t any other family restaurants anywhere near here in Preston that are open this time of day. The best thing about it has to be the location — it sits on a hill and overlooks the town of Preston.
There haven’t been any reviews recently, so I’ll try to shine a little light on this place since apparently nobody has eaten there since 2011. The parking is horrible and you might be forced to park down the hill and walk up to the place if it’s super busy. The décor is really, really dated (60s-​70s). They have a «salad bar» in the middle and it’s your basic lettuce, dressing, croutons, toppings, soup & crackers. Nothing fancy.
The service is not too bad, I guess that’s a bonus.
The food is nothing at all to write home about. I would totally avoid the steak (yes, that’s right… I am asking you to avoid steak at a steakhouse). It is very overpriced and the one time I did order it (my cut of meat was about twenty bucks) it was fatty and gristly. The sides came cold. The second time I was here they had a Friday night «all you can eat» fried fish special (yep, during Lent). It isn’t really «all you can eat» since they don’t come back around and ask you if you want seconds. They are probably hoping it’s only one plate. The fish was overcooked and bland anyway, so I didn’t want a second helping. It’s still nice to be offered.
There’s nothing really all that special about this place. They are overpriced and the food is alright (you’ll go home full) but it’s nothing exciting, that’s for sure. It’s crowded because it’s the only place to eat in town on a weekend night, but I’ve definitely had better experiences before.
I don’t recommend eating here, but I can’t recommend another place in a town where there really aren’t too many other restaurants. If you like Mexican, there’s a nice place just up US 52 about four miles north of here in Fountain… they serve up pretty good food. Just don’t go to the Branding Iron… waste of money.

I wanted to give two stars but I cannot. Scott F’s review from 7÷30÷2011 is accurate. The very courteous and attentive waitress served us a bottle of wine that we hope she just opened and then recorked in the back but it had a very bad metallic after-​taste and I could not ignore it. Who uncorks a bottle of wine in the back? Oddly most of the wines were available by carafe rather than by bottle. Was my wine old? Refilled? My New York Strip 19.95 with salad bar and baked potato for the evenings special was served medium rare despite my request for it to be served rare. It had significant gristle. My wife reported her rib eye was tough. My youngest daughter liked her burger a lot. The salad bar was an interesting anachronism. It was fresh however. The baked potato was well baked, the appetizer of house-​made onion rings were delicious, and the view of the river valley was indeed beautiful. P. S. The beer selection was very limited with nothing of interest.

Went for a dear friend’s rehearsal dinner. Parking was much to be desired. Walked in, lovely hostess greeted us and personally escorted us to our private party and assisted us to our assigned table.
There were gorgeous bouquets on each tables. As well as tortilla chips with salsa and mixed salted nuts. The apps (chips/​salsa/​nuts) did not appear to be part of the restaurants usual menu. They also were lacking in culinary art and flavor. The salsa tasted like tomato paste and the chips were stale.
The salad although fresh, was rather plain.
The walleye was top notch «lake». Lightly battered on the outside and flaky texture on the inside. No overkill on the grease! The steak was a little dry for my liking, despite my request for MR. Monstrous potatoes.
Service was a key component of our merriment that evening. Pleasant, on task, always flashing a smile and a moment away with the beverages!
I would definitely return for another round of «lake» and drinks but I’ll pass on the beef.

Oh, Branding Iron, you are… not really that good. I mean, not terrible, you won’t starve there. But I would not go here of my own accord.
Being taken here by one’s in-​laws, however, is another story, so there you go. It’s a very standard American-​style restaurant; meaning steak, some pasta, salads made with lots of iceberg lettuce, etc. Pretty much all the food here is mediocre in the strongest possible sense — not bad enough that you wouldn’t eat it, but not good enough that you really enjoy it, either. That goes for everything we had from the salad bar and side dishes to the entrees (fish, their allegedly famous ribs, etc.). There is one exception: they do, in fairness, know exactly how to cook up a steak. I would not order anything else here, though.
Once again, if you’re hungry and driving by and it’s late at night, you will do fine here; the food is okay and the portions are solid sizes. Wait staff was nice enough. But don’t go expecting a great meal, either.

Ultimate small town dinner club with an amazing view of the river valley. Its very easy to overeat here since most dinners come with the soup and salad bar. The salad bar has everything, even two types of lettuce, chopped and shredded! The beef barley soup is the best, but all the soups are good. A basket of texas toast and bread sticks is also served. Then there’s dinner. The best items come off the grill. I don’t know this for a fact, but I imagine the grill is as old as the restaurant and has never been fully cleaned, so there are years of char that get transferred to every piece of meat… oh that lovely char! If they ever get a new grill, I’ll picket! All meat is tasty, even the salmon and walleye are great. The prime rib is wonderful, even if it doesn’t come off the grill. Everything else is excellent too, including the sides. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing unique here (we’ll except for the grill items) its all standard small town dinner food, but its fresh, well prepared, and priced perfectly.