1st time customers. We didn't know it was grill-your-own dining. Seated us at a rickety unblanced 2-top table in the middle of the floor and then ignored us for 1/4 hour until I got up and asked for service. We ordered off the a la carte menu and the waitress acted like this was a huge inconvenience to her. We then waited for 25 minutes for our food, which was cold when we got it. I flagged her down and informed her of this and she muttered something about telling the manager. No manager or anyone else approached us until we got up. Then she suddenly reappeared with the bill. There was no adjustment or compensation for serving us cold steaks. I went to the manager but when he saw me approach he walked away. We won't be returning. read more

Place was very busy for a Tuesday evening. We were seated by a very nice customer who bussed his own table because he saw the crowd waiting to be seated. The wait staff seemed stressed and overworked, and their service definitely was lacking. It took almost two hours to get our raw steak and a couple sides. The place itself could use an update, all the tables seemed to rock and the toilet seat in the ladies room fell off the toilet. I am all for small town places and supporting the beef industry with great cuts of steak. I just wish this place was cleaner and had better service to reflect the prices they charge for an entree. read more

Attend with a large group which had a specific menu, so 1st disappointment but understand the need. However, meal was received VERY late compared to rest of the group, heard multiple issues and when food did finally arrive was not cooked as requested. Ordered Medium steak and it was very rare and baked potato was luke warm at best. Very thankful for alcohol drinks but clearly very skimpy of the alcohol in them. Would not recommend and will not return. Best wishes to those who try! read more

Love the food, drinks and the owners and staff!!! Great place ! Freddie's special and onion rings are must have appetizers for our family !!! read more

I visited the open flame on a typical Wednesday night. It was quite cozy and quiet. We sat bar side and enjoyed several cocktails and the fried mushrooms. I got the fish and chips and my wife got the French dip. Overall, I felt the food was good not great. The fish and chips had a pretty substantial amount of breading for the amount of fish. We would definitely go back and try the grill your own steak as that is more for what they are known for. read more

Food was outstanding and the staff was friendly and nice clean to sit down and eating

Great food and service. Never understood cooking your own steak at a restaurant but to each their own. Great bartender btw

One of my favorite spots. My boyfriend brought me here for the first time and we had countless date nights here after.... and we've taken all our friends here, too. We love Open Flame. We always choose to grill our own steaks, which is a fun experience. I've also ordered from the menu (steak burger), and had them cook it- so, so good. With the steak you get salad bar, Texas toast to grill and a baked potato to also grill. I know nothing about cooking steak or picking quality meat, however, my boyfriend is always impressed at their selection. I always leave here full and extremely content. They also have great drinks, huge (delicious) appetizers and a nice/attentive staff! read more

Nice restaurant, good place to have dinner with family or close friend. Meat is very nice.

We loved it! Cozy environment, we had the sweetest waitress (Lyndzey), the quality of the food was excellent. We spent our Friday night date night together here and it was fun cooking our steaks together but not having to do the dishes and cleanup after. We will be back thanks for a great night out! read more

Yummy.... I have been looking for a good steak ever since I got here open flame provided that tonight fantastic martini wonderful staff friendly everything was delicious I'll be back close to my house I love that!! read more

Wonderful place for dinner! 15 min from Ames, IA and worth the trip! Great appetizer platter, prime rib, philly cheese......and great service! Will go there again when visiting Iowa State University... read more

We were traveling through the Ames area and were searching for a good place to get a steak. We found Open Flame on Yelp. We found that they were completely booked up, but we were able to find a place at the Bar. All of the staff were very good, from the person who took our call to the bartender who served us to the staff who brought the food. We were well attended to despite how busy it was. I had a ribeye and it was cooked perfectly (I like rare and you would be surprised how often I get steak over cooked). My wife had the prime rib. Hers too was perfect. I didn't realize until after I ordered I could have grilled the steak myself. That may have. Even fun! I believe this is a family owned business. We will make this one of our regular stops on our way through in the future. read more

The Open Flame is a good grill-your-own steakhouse located in downtown Gilbert. If it qualifies as a downtown. My parents live on the west coast, and they lament the fact that they can't get good, corn-fed beef in their area. A visit to the Open Flame is always a high priority request when they return to Iowa. I would say that the Open Flame is more of a place that caters to locals and families. This is not a place that you'll need to wear slacks. It's not elegant or formal. It's a come-as-you-are steakhouse. Their meat in my experience has been very good, and it's always fun grilling it myself with the wide selection of treatments that can flavor my steaks. They have a Top Sirloin, filet, ribeyes and kabobs for beef, and chicken breasts and bacon wrapped chicken for poultry. The salad bar can be a little sketchy. It gets busy on Fridays and weekends, and the service may require a little patience on your part. There are better steak places if you are willing to drive, but for the price this is a great place to visit. Fair prices for good steaks in a laid back atmosphere. It's easy to see why the Open Flame is well known in the area. read more

Love the "cook your own" option. Onion rings are very tasty and the prime rib is outstanding. Full bar, small town charm and excellent service. Highly recommend. read more

See all

I did not go in with high expectations, but I left pleasantly surprised. I was not to keen on grilling my own steak at first. The fact that I had the best cooked steak I've ever had at a restaurant is probably because I cooked it. I also love the old church pews used as booth seating at some of the tables. My wife noticed the little communion cup holders and the pockets for hymnals almost immediately. All in all this was a fun night. It would be good to time the steaks so everyone is back at the table at the same time. I figure this will come with practice. read more

The best steak in Ames. Anna was the best bartender attending to all our needs. Trevor cooked our steaks to perfection. Definitely coming back here in my next trip to Ames. read more

Open Flame Steak & Lounge - This is the best place to get a steak in Ames. The service was phenomenal. Our bartender Anna was the best - Steakhouses Near Me - Gilbert, Iowa

See all

Steak was the worst piece of meat I've had in a long while. It was extremely tough; I had to saw and tear it apart with the steak knife as it could not be cut. The menu described the top sirloin as lean, but it was mostly fat and gristle. Definitely not worth the cost. Also, was not cooked to the wellness I ordered. Have been pleased with the Open Flame in the past, but I will not be going back. Don't waste your money! read more

I always get excited when I see those grill your own steak restaurants. If I am ever anywhere even remotely close to one, I will definitely go. So imagine my excitement when I found one near my son's college. This is pretty ironic, considering I'm not really into cooking at home, yet I'll go to a restaurant and get excited about cooking my own meal. Weird, right? This is a dark, cozy, somewhat intimate restaurant, where you walk through the bar area to get to what seemed to be the main dining area where the grill was and meat case tucked off to one side. So, the waitress comes and takes our order. It takes forever for her to come back with drinks and then she brings my husband and son's plate, but not mine. They both ordered filets. I ordered the top sirloin. So, we are sitting there. And sitting there. And sitting there. And everyone around us is getting their food. I am like. WTF??? And everytime the waitress came out from the back, she was carrying food and would bee-line back before I could grab her. I finally got up and went to talk to her and she was like "Oh, your steak is in the case over there, you just need to go get it." And I'm supposed to know this EXACTLY HOW???? Never having been there before, how on earth would I assume this??? I was a bit peeved. The other times we have gone to grill-your -owns, I have never ever had to walk up to some case and get my own steak out. So, finally after we all got our meat, we got our grill-on. Next issue was that the grill was not sufficiently hot enough. It took FOREVER to get our steaks cooked. Hubby thought they were done after about 10 minutes or so, but they were still raw in the middle, because they were so thick. Mine finished fairly quickly, but the garlic bread seemed to take a long time to heat up too. They have a big basket of bread, where you can make your own garlic bread. A tub of butter, plus all the seasonings you could want for your bread, steak and potato. There was a pretty small salad bar in the corner, which was pretty decent. And then the staff didn't bring the potatoes out until after we all were done and had started eating. This is funny, as the waitress brought us butter and sour cream in a basket basically before she even brought us drinks. I didn't know you were supposed to get the potatos from the grill, until the next table told us there were potatoes out up there. Maybe we got there too early (around 5ish), since they didn't seem to have their act together until about the time we were ready to leave. We had a movie to catch on the other side of town, so we ate early. The food was good, the cuts of meat were phenomenal and the prices weren't bad at all for what we received. The bill was around $85 for the three of us. As you have already figured out, service was not great. They shouldn't assume that everyone who walks in are regulars and are familiar with the routine of things there. They get docked one star for that. We would probably go back again, at least now we are familiar with the process. If we do, I will review them again. read more

Great family owned small town spot to grab some dinner. Never have had a bad experience here. Staff is attentive, cook time isn't long , and the food tastes great! read more

Interesting concept...Choose, then Cook your own steak. The steak was good and obviously cooked perfectly since my husband was the "chef". That was about where the good ended. The baked potato was cold. The salad bar was absolutely awful and stuck back in a tiny corner which looked very unclean. This was not a place I would return to. read more

Great Service Great Value. Small town good.

If you love your steak made just the way you like it then Open Flame is the best place for you. The quality of steak was the best I have ever had. The wait staff was personable but not overly and the pricing was great. They had a salad bar that was small, but had everything you could really want and the bar made great drinks. If you have never tried their onion rings then be sure to get an order of those they are to die for and their ranch is delicious. Highly recommend Open Flame to anyone coming into the area you won't regret going. read more

If you are staying near the city, like Ames, this can be place to go once a while. You get to choose your own steak and grill it with your own style! You get to decide who your meat cooked. If you think you meed protein, check this place. read more

This Open Flame Steak & Lounge was truly a surprise. I was a little leery about going in, but don't let the outside fool you because the inside is actually pretty nice. The steak was phenomenal. You have the choice to cook it yourself or have the restaurant cook it for you. Keep in mind though that having them cook it cost $3 a steak. The choice of meat cut was superior as well. Would highly recommend to anyone wanting a good meal with friendly service. read more

One of the best places to go in Ames/Gilbert. We are from seattle, and we make it a point to go here whenever we are back in Iowa. Love the staff as well. read more

We were in town from Texas and we were curious how the steaks compare to back home. Not what I'm use to back home but definitely tasty in its own right. Well worth the stop. Highly recommend stopping for a meal. Very friendly staff. Try the root beer made right there in Iowa. read more

Slow, terrible service, the food is average quality. Even if my family eats here, I eat before we go, I refuse to support this establishment. If you have 3 hours to kill and don't mind terrible, slow service, this place is for you. read more

the only exciting thing i did while i was in iowa was to check out great restaurants. because to be honest there is really nothing to do in iowa. but I visited this place and loved the idea that i was able to grill my own steak. and since i arrived around 11am the grill wasn't open but asked the waitress if we can use the grill and to my surprise the waitress asked the manager and let us use the grill. loved the idea of picking my own mean out of the refrigerator, seasoning my own meat, and cooking my meat. wish i could have gone there at night to see how the night life was like. but we were just passing through. but i would highly recommend it if you are in iowa check this place out. read more

I drove with my boyfriend from Ames for a nice Valentine's day dinner and he was very excited for cooking his steak in the grill. We get there and order an appetizer, which never arrived and were not given an explanation as to why. The salad bar had hairs in the food - which is a health hazard. We get back to the table and the food is there (no sign of the appetizer). My shrimp plate had no seasoning at all, it was clearly just thrown in the grill for 5 minutes. Not to mention that the plate was around $15 for 5 shrimps, a little baked potato and a slice of a pickle. While we were still eating the waitress was extremely rude as to giving us the check. We continued eating and she came back in like 2 minutes to grab the check. She was clearly pushing us to leave. There was a couple in the table next to us that she offered desert options, which she never did for us. She did not refill our drinks, which were served in plastic cups. The food was bad, but the service was wors read more