The beer is made right on the premises in these huge beer tanks at Iron Hill, so you know it’s fresh. (Photo by Len Lear)

I can’t tell you how many restaurants we’ve been in over the past year that are so empty because of the economy, you’d think they were declared off limits to humans by some communicable disease authorities. But apparently patrons of Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant haven’t heard about the recession/depression.

Last Tuesday we visited the five-year-old, 200-plus seat restaurant that brews its own beer at 1460 Bethlehem Pike in a shopping center in North Wales, just past the end of the Route 309 Expressway, 10 minutes from Chestnut Hill. Tuesday is usually an off-night for restaurants, especially in this economy, but at Iron Hill every night looks like Saturday night.

There is a reason why the crowds never stop coming. The food is terrific, although there have been times in the past when certain dishes were not up to par; the homemade beer is amazing (their beers have won 30 medals over the past 13 years at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, including a gold and a silver medal  just last month); the service has always been very friendly and efficient, and the prices are quite reasonable. In fact, Iron Hill may  just have the area’s single best dining bargain.

On Sunday nights only, you can get a 14-ounce prime rib steak with a tossed salad, baked potato, cooked vegetable and glass of wine or beer for $19.95! And the food is great. (You can also order salmon instead of prime rib.) If there is a better deal around, I’d love to know about it.

Currently through Oct. 31, in honor of the annual Oktoberfest celebration in Munich, Germany, Iron Hill is featuring an Oktoberfest menu of Bavarian dishes in addition to its usual a la carte menu. Some of the dishes on this new menu are: salmon gravlax, cured in-house and served with pumpernickel, cream cheese, cucumber-onion salad, deviled egg and sweet mustard-dill sauce;  jaeger schnitzel, veal cutlets with buttered egg noodles, green beans and hunter’s sauce;  sauteed rainbow trout with horseradish smashed potatoes, spinach, leeks, tomatoes, garlic and ale sauce;  and black walnut-chocolate torte. Menu items range in price from $4.25 for a cup of Bavarian white bean and sausage soup to $21.50 for sirloin steak.

A Black Forest salad ($8.95) was literally a meal in itself. A huge melange of portabella mushroom slivers, ham, Gruyere cheese, a few different kinds of lettuce, red onion, hard-boiled egg, pumpernickel croutons and a sensual creamy garlic dressing.

A grilled sausage sampler appetizer ($9.95) contained bratwurst, knockwurst and garlic sausage with braised lentils and two types of mustard, stone ground and creamy/spicy. This food is made to be paired with freshly made beer. I personally found the sausages to be overly salty, but everyone else at the table    disagreed with me (a misdemeanor in a court of law).

A simple but satisfying pan-seared salmon ($19.95) found intrigue in a great combination of sauerkraut-potato croquettes, buttery green beans and sweet mustard-dill sauce; and the rustic  sauerbraten top sirloin steak ($21.50) was pitch-perfect and velvety tender, marinated in red wine and served with ale-braised cabbage, spatzle and gingersnap gravy.

I kneel at the feet of whoever made the cappaccino cheesecake with a chocolate cookie crust and caramel topping, outrageously creamy and sensual and rich as Bill Gates. (It was made by High Point Dairy in Wilmington, Delaware.)

Kyle Landis, a graduate of Harding University in Tennessee, which we had never heard of before, is one of the most charming servers in the Delaware Valley. A thoroughly delightful, effervescent and efficient young man who definitely enhances the dining experience.

Opened in March of 2004, Iron Hill in North Wales features a huge dining area that can seat more than 200 as well as an open kitchen with a wood-burning oven, an exposed microbrewery, rich mahogany paneling, corrugated copper walls, gray slate floors, black wrought iron accents and a large, almost-always busy mahogany bar.

Beer enthusiasts are able to watch the fascinating hand-crafted brewing process through large glass windows that enclose the brewery. My own favorites are the Pig Iron Porter, a fabulous, robust, medium-bodied dark ale with a roasted flavor; Raspberry Wheat, a sweet Belgian-style beer with a touch of raspberry aroma and flavor; Wee Heavy, a rich, dark brown Scotch ale with a distinctly malty aroma and caramel flavor that goes perfectly with spicy food; and Hefeweizen, a spectacular medium-bodied, unfiltered Bavarian wheat beer with flavors of banana and clove.

But my new favorite of all time is the Dopplebock ($5.50 for 16 ounces), a traditional German lager with a seductive, malty flavor that I swear has a little chocolate in it. It is very similar to Iron Hill’s newest gold medal winner (which is not currently available). It is stronger than most beers — about nine percent alcohol instead of the usual four to six — but still much less than most wines. It’s more like a cocktail or even dessert wine, and you definitely want to have more than one. My hat is off to brewmaster Vincent DesRosiers. (I don’t even wear a hat, but for Vincent’s Dopplebock, I’ll put a hat on and then take it off and bow.)

The Iron Hill restaurants, named after a Revolutionary War landmark in Delaware, have been recognized by many area publications for their outstanding beers and food. For example, BrewPub Magazine named Iron Hill “Best Brewpub in the Mid-Atlantic Region.”

Another popular feature at Iron Hill is its “Curbside Carry-Out Dining in Four Easy Steps.” A customer can place an order by phone after checking the menus on the company’s web site. The customer is then told what time to arrive for the order, and he/she can then pick it up without leaving the car at the designated curbside carry-out parking spaces in front of the restaurant.

Iron Hill will have a “Pumpkin Ale Release Costume Party” (you can dress up as a pumpkin — or a bunch of broccoli) on Oct. 30 that should be a blast. Iron Hill is open seven days a week for lunch and dinner. For more information, call 267-708-2000 or visit www.ironhillbrewery.com