Iron Skillet Restaurant

The only good thing about this place was our nice server. We had the buffet and it was awful. The selection on the buffet was minimal, the roasted potatoes were old and over seasoned, the chicken was dry, the prime rib was over done, and the dessert I tried was very dry and over done. I don’t recommend this place by any means.

Their Green Chile Smothered Burrito is incredible. I was really impressed. Good corn bread too. Their staff needs a little work but everyone was still genuinely nice and attentive. Will definitely come back. Maybe I’ll try something other than the green chile burrito but not likely. It was that damn good.

First of all they brought me the wrong meal. Then when they brought the correct one it was dried out chicken and the mashed potatoes actually had a skin of dried potatoes to cut through. Disgusting. They forgot my beer and my biscuit. The only reason they got a star was for a fairly decent salad. I will NEVER go here again. Plus the waitress was lousy as well

Great service but low flavor with the steak and bothered the whole time by flies buzzing around tables

So we stopped here after a long road trip. We were both starving but could not even finish our food! Yuck! The amount of grease in my breakfast skillet was unreal! Also my boyfriends medium rare steak came out well well done. Maybe we just had bad luck die to the fact it was the middle of the night. Either way our experience was bad.

I have eaten here a few times. There are few places in Albert Lea that I would take a visitor from out of town. The Iron Skillet and the attached bar, Skol, have been pretty consistent in their quality and service.
In the past I have enjoyed the buffet. Always with a variety of meats, seafood and salad. This visit I opted for the Steak and Shrimp off the menu. I always order my steak «medium rare». When it arrived I noticed that it was more like «medium/​medium well».
The server cheerfully offered to send it back to the kitchen so they could prepare another for me. By the time the new steak came out I was already full from the salad bar and the sides and asked that the steak be packaged to go.
When the server returned with the check she told us that she had taken my meal off of the bill and had comped us another 10% for the hassle.
I have never had such good service in Albert Lea. A welcome surprise. We’ll be back.
PS. My least favorite thing about the Iron Skillet is they insist on serving everything on a… iron skillet. That means that by the time you finish your food it is cold. On my most recent visit I asked the waitress to bring me my steak on a plate. She seemed confused so I explained that I like to enjoy a leisurely meal and that usually means a cold meal at the Irion Skillet. She was happy to oblige. The steak was excellent and warm to the last bite.

Best place to stop in the area. Great clean rest stop and restaurant with nice buffet and salad bar.

Probably in the top three best restaurants in Albert Lea. Great buffet, service and atmosphere. Very clean and accommodating.

What a find! Just off the freeway, lunch buffet for $ 10.50, very good food and something for every taste! We were in and out in no time. Their chicken was exceptionally good. There’s several dishes to choose from, salad bar and desserts too. Though we were too full for dessert. They offered to let us take our dessert to go. Very friendly courteous people. The sign reads «Petrol» so may be confusing to find at first. Highly recommend. May be back for the char-​broiled ribs sometime.

This is the Petro! I guess it used to be a TA. We didn’t try the Iron Skillet restaurant but the rest of the place is clean and well stocked, although a little pricey. I bought 2 types of flashlights and a 5^th wheel puller and it cost $ 53.00. Then I got some Cold Stone Ice Cream and Pizza Hut pasta for us. Yummy! Lots of gift items, too. :)

Ordered fried fish from menu. Excellent. Very nice salad bar. Service excellent. There’s also a buffet available.

The Skol Tavern/​Iron Skillet was actually not really what I was expecting. My fiancé has eaten there a few times with work clients so when I heard about the food that they had there it all sounded a bit… new American. Very fatty, very overdone, and overly complicated. I know that this is a «truck-​stop» so it is supposed to be a place where travelers can take a load off and enjoy a good meal, but the food here is so heavy you may want to take a rest before heading out again.
When we finally did eat here just us we each ordered off the menu for breakfast. It was absolutely delicious. Again, heavy as can be… but wonderful. I got the french toast platter and my fiancé the chicken fried steak.
The second time we picked up my fiances mother and we got their lunch buffet… I almost see no point to them even having a menu. The buffet is cheaper, well stocked, and the best value for the money. They replenish/​replace items on it fairly regularly and what is there is absolutely wonderful. Pork chops with chutney, several different veggies and potatoes, a pasta dish, seafood/​fish, a salad bar, and some really great bread/​dessert options. All for $ 9.
I must say… I was surprised when we came here. I expected the trucker diner motif with a surly middle aged female server that smoked too much and had a bad attitude… what we got was a great meal, a great price, and a stop off point for when we are hungry in the future.

Good food, great price. I had breakfast. Eggs were cooked perfectly. Wait staff friendly. Definitely return. A little hard to find as it’s in a Petroleum truck stop. Unilocal came to the rescue.

What to look for in a quality truck stop as applied to Trails. 1) Fast, check. 2) Clean, check. 3) Decent coffee, check. 4) Friendly service (not a deal breaker but a definite plus), check. 5) Moderate prices, check. 6) Large bin of steeply discounted tools and parts, check. 7) Greasy (mostly non-​toxic) food, check.
Seriously, I’ve stopped here numerous times for breakfast over the years while driving down to Iowa. It’s gone through some changes but remains an acceptable place to grab a quick bite. The buffet is OK if you’re selective and particularly if you happen to catch it when items are fresh out of the kitchen and haven’t been under the heat lamps for an extended period. For a truck stop, this is better than most.

Is a the PETRO Shopping Center. Place has gotten better. Service is a bit slow. Buffett is fair .But @ 9;00 pm still open…

Service was fast and friendly. Food arrived Pretty quick and was tasty. It was a bit noisy as they are remodeling but it didn’t bother us too much.

The food wasn’t bad. The server was very friendly, and service didn’t take too long. It is located at a gas station/​gift shop kinda place, but it worked out fine for a meal to break up some driving.

We stopped here on our way back from OK. Very clean, good food, nice servers. We were in and out quickly. Huge difference from the truck stop in MO, which was gross. Turns out that statewide smoking ban is a beautiful law.

We stopped there on a road trip down to Kansas City from MN. Our quick truck stop dinner took an hour and a half. We were greeted immediately and given our drinks… then 10 – 15 minutes later after being walked by about 20 times and never seeing the server who brought us our drinks had to flag someone down to take our order. We should have just left… our food took a good half hour and was luke warm when we got it. The food quality? Ehh… it was ok. We were lucky though… the table behind us had french toast that was lightly cooked on one side and raw on the other. That was just the first of their problems. It was the first time in my life I had thought about leaving without paying, that’s how long it took to get our bill. Needless to say, we will not be going back on our next trip south.

This is a the TA. Hands down the cleanest truck stop in recent memory. Showers are great. Shop is super clean and has nice waiting area. Stop here if you can.