Ihlenfeld Dining Room

I appreciate all the updates made to this establishment. However, our experience was a bit underwhelming. Free chips and salsa come to the table first. The chips were unsalted and the salsa didn't have much flavor going on. We ordered the wing splitters as an app and it came after our food which wasn't a big deal but worth mentioning. Also they are a dangerous food to order as there are bone shards all throughout the dish because they are simply just normal wings that are broken in half. The garlic butter truffle oil sauce was AMAZING though and the only reason we risked it. I ordered their Philly with fries. The fries were of the seasoned variety and were perfectly fried and came out hot and crispy. The Philly was, in my opinion, under filled and mostly peppers and onions. Even my spouse commented that he didn't see much meat. The bread was great and the flavor was spot on but just needed more meat! I also must add that our seat placement definitely took away from our experience.. seated right by the bathroom/kitchen door/register and constantly surrounded by people the entire time we are eating, we didn't enjoy that at all. I know its a busy place but I would never sit a customer there, ever. Overall I think we would give it another try in the future and order something else.

The new version of The Alpha has both some improvements and downgrades. The new menu has a very nice variety of things, and the smoker adds a number of unique possibilities. The decor update is very sleek in the bar, not so sleek in the main dining room. My biggest complaint is the how firmly they hold you to the menu. I asked for a medium rare burger, I was told the lowest they would go is medium well. I got a large order of wings and was told I couldn't have half of them a different flavor. There's no swapping side dishes that come with a meal, even for a small upcharge. This is a big deal for myself and for a number of people I've spoken with, and will definitely make me think twice about being a regular.