Iron Age - Rockville, MD

Hi Everyone! Recently, the bf, my cousin and I went to eat a super late lunch at Iron Age. We figured since we had another boy around, it would be worth getting All-You-Can-Eat Korean BBQ.

The place is bigger than it appears from the outside. Sticking to its name, the interior is clad in metal/iron, not wood like many Korean restaurants have. Lots of TVs and a huge projector screen play Kpop music videos. They are open until 2am on the weekends, so I'm sure it's pretty popping at night.

The menu is very easy - pick Gogi A ($18) for 3 meats, or Option Gogi B ($22) for 5 meats and sodas. Each of us selected option B because it was more meats and drinks for $4 more per person.

We were given 3 meats, 1 skewer of veggies, 3 frozen triangles of rice, a pancake, egg soufflé, 4 ban chan sides, a soup and salad. The meats we were given were the first 3 on the menu. They weren't marinated, so they were bland, and tough. Both my cousin and I broke our chopsticks! The rice took 30 minutes to warm up thoroughly on the grill. The ban chan didn't include kim chi! The egg soufflé and soup were bland too. Thankfully the pancake wasn't too bad, so we had a few.

They also provided 4 dipping sauces: chili sauce, soybean paste sauce, sesame oil with salt/pepper, sweet sauce. I didn't think they were too special, but the bf liked the sweet sauce the best.

On our table had a call button, which we used at least 5 times because the service was poor. There were about 4 tables in the restaurant and it took them 10 minutes to take our order. They only gave us 3 out of 5 meats, and we thought they were bringing out the others later, but it never happened. We ended up cooking our own food, and using the call button for refills/requests because we weren't checked on. Towards the end of our meal, a server even blew out our grill before we were done cooking all of the meat!

I have a bunch of friends that will probably disagree with me, but lunch took forever, and it wasn't even good. I'd rather drive to VA or even buy marinated meat at H Mart and cook it myself for cheaper. My cousin who hasn't had Korean BBQ before thought it was fine. The Korean bf of mine liked the amount of meat, but not the taste. As a girl, I don't eat that much, so paying $22 for mediocre food and poor service isn't worth it.

1054 Rockville Pike
Rockville, MD 20852
(301) 424-1474
http://www.yelp.com/biz/iron-age-rockville

Kraze Burger - Bethesda, MD

Quick update on my last post: I did the Whole30 diet for 4 days and quit because I wanted to die. So here I am back to eating whatever I want, yet practicing moderation...as I write about a delicious burger joint.

Last week before the "Caveman Diet", the bf and I grabbed dinner at Kraze Burger, which is a Korean-owned burger chain. (As I'm typing this post, I just found out it's pronounced 'crazy' not 'craze'.....hmmmm, interesting.)

They recently expanded the place and added a frozen yogurt portion because the last time I was there, this whole section that you're seeing wasn't there. Overall, very bright, clean, green, modern interior.

The place is small (10ish tables and a bar stools along a wall), so we found it interesting that they give you a buzzer to alert you when your food is ready. Slightly unnecessary, but either way, it's cool!

Onto the menu! They use all-natural, pesticide-free, 100% vegetarian fed beef.  You can expect some Korean inspired sauces, however the menu is pretty normal with sides of fries, chili, salads, and sandwiches, except for the side of grilled asparagus, which I found unique.

I ordered the the Matiz (beef patty, grilled, onions marinated in Kraze BBQ sauce, American cheese, bacon, pickles, tomato, mayo and lettuce). Yummy! The patty was juicy, and everything together worked well. On the flipside, I didn't like how messy it was because of the sauce (look at the bottom bun), so just get lots of napkins.

The bf ordered the Maximum (beef patty, spicy Maximum sauce, bacon, tomato, onions, lettuce, mayo and American cheese), which he added jalapeños. He also found the patty to be juicy. They told us that our burgers would be cooked 'medium', but even though they weren't, they were still fine. He enjoyed the burger though it wasn't as spicy as he wanted it.

As if burgers weren't enough food, we split Chili Cheese Fries (crescent fries topped with chili and cheese). I've had their regular fries before which are skinny. They use thick-cut fries for this dish because they can withstand the toppings. I felt it was the best chili cheese fries I've had, however the bf still thinks Ben's Chili Bowl is a bit better. 

Solid burgers that we think are at the top of our MoCo list. Size-wise, the burgers are slightly smaller than I was expecting. The fries I've had are very good. The burgers are around $8-9, which is typical, but pricey since the patty isn't huge. We'd definitely go back.

4733 Elm St.
Bethesda, MD 20814
(301) 215-9068
www.kraze.us