The Ironbark Smoked Barbecue at the Mill

(3.5 stars)On Friday night we were the only people at The Ironbark Smoked Barbecue at the Mill, an 1861 former steam-powered mill. Tonight it’s dead silent but the Cowra lamb loin, chips and salad with pepper sauce ($30) is a heaving board of well-handled food. All the salad vegetables are excellent, including the full-flavoured tomatoes. The kitchen was out of brisket, so the two-meat plate ($30) with coleslaw and chips was chicken & slightly-too-sweet pulled pork. We teamed them with a Pioneer Brewing Co pale ale and cheese bread ($8.50) for a satisfying Friday night tea in Cowra.

Definitely worth coming to. First off, the food is highly impressive, and awesome value, and I say this as someone who is well versed in what great BBQ tastes like.Came on a Sunday for lunch, and ordered two different Pioneer Brewery beers (local brewery) the Ironbark pulled pork, bacon and brisket patty burger (yes all three meats in one burger) $20 and BBQ pork chops with appleslaw $16, both came with chips. Both were enormous and had fantastic meaty and smoky flavours, perfectly seasoned and cooked, couldn't believe the prices we were paying!! We were happily groaning and full of food, we didn't even bother with dinner that night, initially we were a bit apprehensive with the poor Google reviews but were blown away. Meals came within 20 minutes.A few things that take off a star is that the lack of vibe and atmosphere was strange. It is a lovely space but with the lack of people, it felt jarring when it should be a great place to have a drink on a Sunday. No table water, only one staff member to take orders and serve which we could see he was run off his feet. Ladies bathroom was in keeping with the rest of the place, nicely done up, but obviously not looked after, as there was no toilet paper, bins not empty, tap running constantly. The hours were 12 to 2pm on a Sunday, so it's only a short window of time for lunch when it could be a destination to have boozy Sunday lunch. Just a few things to consider. Overall, it's a good establishment, worth supporting in Cowra, so I've left it at five stars, as you won't be disappointed with the food, or prices.

Slow service - cold food - warm beer - dirty venue and staff - don’t do it! Keep driving and save your money. Such a shame as a beautiful building with no atmosphere at all, cheap poor quality set up inside. When you have to pay for your food before you eat, it let’s you know that they are certain no one would pay after trying their food.

Wonderful, I was once advised that you can judge the attention to detail by the bathroom facilities. Needing to freshen up before lunch I shot in there first and was very impressed.The food and drinks were also top notch and the staff polite and friendly.Will definitely visit again.

We took the parents out for Saturday lunch for MIL’s birthday- so glad we thought we would try somewhere new in Cowra rather than the bowlo..! Food was delicious, massive servings, chips were crunchy, salad fresh- recommended to try the Monster Sanga or the southern chicken. We met chef Jowed, who was lovely and friendly- Can’t wait to go back to Cowra again- we will definitely eat there again! ❤️

Food is good if willing to wait a ridiculous amount of time. There were only three tables of patrons for the entire night! We pre ordered ribs before arriving so that they would be served to the table at 6.30. We had to ask three times where they were. They were finally brought out at 7.30..Half of the things on the menu wernt available. The girl taking the order barely spoke let alone explained anything. It was close to 5 mins each just to place an order an pay as she didn't seem to want to be at work and struggled to answer a single question.We waited over an hour and a half for the first meals which were just burgers and chips, with a close to dead restaurant. Some people waited 2 hrs on our table then had to send their meal back as it was wrong! A side of gravy came out 20 mins after one of the meals was served and eaten.Customer service skills are seriously lacking. If it wasn't a birthday celebration dinner we would have asked for a refund and left after the first hour of waiting!!. There was no update on why it took so long, no apologies or anything! A number of people from the table asked numerous times where our food was to just get it's coming!"Our table wasn't even cleared of empty bottles

The meals were lovely, once they arrived, that is.The venue is lovely but starting to become run down, case in point, the front door handle appears to have fallen off and there is no way for customers to enter unless assisted by staff.The staff appear to be a family who are stretched thin in regards to managing the restaurant. We attended with a largish group for a family function (which was pre booked) , there were two other tables, a couple and another family group.There were waits to order drinks and receive drinks, which everyone took in thier stride with good humour.The menu was quite limited with a number of meal crossed off the menu, but still some nice choices.Our table ordered our meals first, these were served to us in a gradual fashion, over about an hour and a half, with the meals arriving roughly two at a time so that our group was not able to dine as a group. Very disappointingingly, the meals ordered for the two youngest of our group, a kids menu item and garlic bread with a bowl of chips, were served dead last and after all but one other person had finished thier meal.No meals, except for one of ours accidentally given to the wrong table, were served to the other tables until after we recieved all of our meals so thier wait times would have been more like 2 hours from ordering.Having said this, every meal was lovely and could not be faulted.I would say avoid this restaurant with party larger than two and be prepared to wait for your food if you do attend.

Had to change our choices of meal as kitchen was out of BBQ pork belly and prawns for the garic prawn sauce. Music was inappropriate for an evening meal.Such a beautiful building being let down by the menu and staff.When we arrived we thought it was closed the lightning is so bad.Over priced pub food.great great

This is a stunning venue. So much history and such a wonderful setting. However. Food was good, local wine was fabulous. But the food took over an hour to get out in an almost empty restaurant... staff under trained, demeanour did not suit decor. There's a lot that needs to be improved here if they want to be taken seriously as a tourist attraction in Cowra.