We love this place, except our baby was FINALLY sleeping and the waitress came buy and woke him up! What a shitty thing to do. Quite disappointed.
Trixie S.
I didn't want to read the reviews before making my own opinion about the food and service. That being said, I walked in at 12 pm on Saturday mid January and wondered why the place had no one but me. I've never been here so I thought I'd try to eat here before trekking back to Chicago. I ordered the BLT on Udi's gluten free bread with turkey sausage. I thought it was a pretty mean breakfast sandwich. I'm trying to fInd what the bad reviews are talking about but one thing I've noticed about them is many have only 1 review anD it's for this place which makes me wonder if it's an ex- lover and/or ex-employee or competitor posting these reviews. Even the pattern and use of language seems the same in all over them. Or worse, this is a college town so they could have been written by a privileged bruh. Anyway whatever I enjoyed my meal and plan to come back when in town.
Corinna Zennig
Come here for the bar not for breakfast. I really enjoyed the evening bar atmosphere. Staff is very friendly, drinks are great and all about $10. Breakfast / brunch was ordinary and compared to the many amazing brunch options in Madison underwhelming. All of that for an increased hotel food price tag. Better go to Mickey's next door or a bit further up Monroe across from Trader Joe's is Bloombake's. Both of them are better value for money. Here I had eggs, bacon, small cappuccino, and a very simple french toast for $25.5. Please experiment with better bread for the French toast. It was too bland.
crutt13
After multiple hikes and a lot of humidity my daughter and I settled in here for dinner. The restaurant was nice, clean and relatively quite. Staff were nice and send us quickly. We had the cheese curds which were good, and the brisket bacon burger and the chicken club. The burger was really good and my daughter enjoyed the club although she said it was pretty typical. Overall, it was a good meal.
Ricki Benton
Went for bingo. Had a nice burger and a drink. Very nice.
UDubAdvisor
Stopped in for supper and drinks before the Badger Volleyball game. Was the first time I had an actual meal there. The Wise Burger is fantastic. One of the best burgers I have ever had. Has just the right amount of toppings without drowning all the flavors out in sauces and other "stuff". Always our stop before the game for drinks. Will have to try the regular menu on a non game day.
Don Fondow
Had a very good Breakfast. The service was great.
Emery Paine
They were seriously understaffed on a Sunday for brunch. I felt it was overpriced for the portions. One order the eggs weren't done as requested & another had a moldy blueberry.
j916802
Four of us sat down, one other table was occupied. Starting looking at menu and discussing choices - waitress walked by and said "oh, you're going to order omelets, aren't you?" I said "yes, why, is there some reason we shouldn't?" Her reply??? "No, it's just that it means everyone will order something different and I'll have to write the order down." ARE YOU KIDDING ME????? I think we all ordered omelets just to spite her after that. Food was good, but the staff experience soured the morning. Not sure how she handles football weekend crowds. Not impressed enough with either the hotel or restaurant to return.
Gerard G.
Was the French toast airy and delightful? Were the eggs as fluffy as a cloud? Did the coffee have a nutty aroma? Unfortunately I don't have the answers to these questions. Armed with an 5-day advance OpenTable reservation and hefty college game day appetites, our party of six showed up promptly at 9am for our pre-kickoff breakfast (well we were really 5 minutes late but nobody is perfect). Our excitement grew in our uber on the way over, all of us reviewing the online menu, making plans for our future, trading croque madams war stories in anticipation. We arrive and things go downhill faster than the Michigan defense would later that day. The hostess, with he unnecessary apron and tight hair bun gave us uppity librarian vibes before she even opened her mouth to speak. H: "oh we don't do reservations on game day" Us: "uhh but we made a reservation... look here" H: "yeah so we are on OpenTable, but we don't use it" Us: "but... but why would you do that" H: "Listen. You can all go f*** yourselves. We aren't seating you" She didn't actually say the last part, but she may as well have. So there we are, in the center of UW vs. Michigan tailgate territory with six rumbling tummies. In spite of this place, we brought some Green Bush donuts to the Red Zone bar and did fireball shots at 9:30 in the morning. Later that day, a girl mooned us on the street too. Green Bush Bakery: 4 stars Red Zone: 3 stars Girl's Butt: 3 stars The Wise: Incomplete You'd be Wise to think twice before depending on this place.
We were going to go before the football game. We were ID'd at the door of the hotel. Not the bar. We were given bracelets. We then went into the restaurant and was told they are not taking reservations. That they would not honor the one we had made. They were only serving a Buffet which did not sounds like anything special and we would have to eat in a back room. We took one look and said no thank you. The gal at the hostess stand was rude and disrespectful. We later heard from locals their service is extremely slow and the food not that great. If you aren't taking reservations then don't allow them to be made. Too bad because it is a great location. Instead we went to the game with eggs Benedict and ate a hot dog two hours later. ????
Kimberly Z.
I went to the wise with some friends for their Wednesday special - Tunes, Taps & Tacos. It was just fine. We all got 3+ tacos and they were pretty average. I got the chicken, pork, and beef and they were all about the same, just with a different type of meat. The duck taco was unique with Brie and apples, but the others did lack creativity. For dessert, we had the flourless chocolate cake, which sounded very basic but was very delicious, and the berry cake. The latter has a lot of potential. The cake was light and airy, but I wasn't feeling the frozen berries. It seemed like they just weren't prepared for anyone to order it. I think The Wise has recently gotten a new chef (within the last year), and he just has a few links to work out before I can give that fourth star.
Kimberly
Love Wednesday nights!
MRae
Well, I don't think the bartender knew what an old fashioned was, and good thing we had drink tickets. There wasn't a place to check in for a reservation and not like we needed one, now it's kind of obvious as to why we were the only two eating. The cheese curds were good, which made me hopeful for the main course. It was like whoever made the ravioli dish was paid by the amount of salt used. The burger we had was pretty good which is why the review didn't get only one star. The waitress gave us our check before I had eaten half of my food, but it's not like she had any other tables to wait on. Overall, if the theme was literary, nothing but the decor gave it away, and it was obvious that everything was rushed or not thought through.
Robbie Adams
The sweet potato pancakes and the hash browns are awesome. Service is a little slow but everyone there was super friendly so I can't knock em.
We love this place, except our baby was FINALLY sleeping and the waitress came buy and woke him up! What a shitty thing to do. Quite disappointed.
I didn't want to read the reviews before making my own opinion about the food and service. That being said, I walked in at 12 pm on Saturday mid January and wondered why the place had no one but me. I've never been here so I thought I'd try to eat here before trekking back to Chicago. I ordered the BLT on Udi's gluten free bread with turkey sausage. I thought it was a pretty mean breakfast sandwich. I'm trying to fInd what the bad reviews are talking about but one thing I've noticed about them is many have only 1 review anD it's for this place which makes me wonder if it's an ex- lover and/or ex-employee or competitor posting these reviews. Even the pattern and use of language seems the same in all over them. Or worse, this is a college town so they could have been written by a privileged bruh. Anyway whatever I enjoyed my meal and plan to come back when in town.
Come here for the bar not for breakfast. I really enjoyed the evening bar atmosphere. Staff is very friendly, drinks are great and all about $10. Breakfast / brunch was ordinary and compared to the many amazing brunch options in Madison underwhelming. All of that for an increased hotel food price tag. Better go to Mickey's next door or a bit further up Monroe across from Trader Joe's is Bloombake's. Both of them are better value for money. Here I had eggs, bacon, small cappuccino, and a very simple french toast for $25.5. Please experiment with better bread for the French toast. It was too bland.
After multiple hikes and a lot of humidity my daughter and I settled in here for dinner. The restaurant was nice, clean and relatively quite. Staff were nice and send us quickly. We had the cheese curds which were good, and the brisket bacon burger and the chicken club. The burger was really good and my daughter enjoyed the club although she said it was pretty typical. Overall, it was a good meal.
Went for bingo. Had a nice burger and a drink. Very nice.
Stopped in for supper and drinks before the Badger Volleyball game. Was the first time I had an actual meal there. The Wise Burger is fantastic. One of the best burgers I have ever had. Has just the right amount of toppings without drowning all the flavors out in sauces and other "stuff". Always our stop before the game for drinks. Will have to try the regular menu on a non game day.
Had a very good Breakfast. The service was great.
They were seriously understaffed on a Sunday for brunch. I felt it was overpriced for the portions. One order the eggs weren't done as requested & another had a moldy blueberry.
Four of us sat down, one other table was occupied. Starting looking at menu and discussing choices - waitress walked by and said "oh, you're going to order omelets, aren't you?" I said "yes, why, is there some reason we shouldn't?" Her reply??? "No, it's just that it means everyone will order something different and I'll have to write the order down." ARE YOU KIDDING ME????? I think we all ordered omelets just to spite her after that. Food was good, but the staff experience soured the morning. Not sure how she handles football weekend crowds. Not impressed enough with either the hotel or restaurant to return.
Was the French toast airy and delightful? Were the eggs as fluffy as a cloud? Did the coffee have a nutty aroma? Unfortunately I don't have the answers to these questions. Armed with an 5-day advance OpenTable reservation and hefty college game day appetites, our party of six showed up promptly at 9am for our pre-kickoff breakfast (well we were really 5 minutes late but nobody is perfect). Our excitement grew in our uber on the way over, all of us reviewing the online menu, making plans for our future, trading croque madams war stories in anticipation. We arrive and things go downhill faster than the Michigan defense would later that day. The hostess, with he unnecessary apron and tight hair bun gave us uppity librarian vibes before she even opened her mouth to speak. H: "oh we don't do reservations on game day" Us: "uhh but we made a reservation... look here" H: "yeah so we are on OpenTable, but we don't use it" Us: "but... but why would you do that" H: "Listen. You can all go f*** yourselves. We aren't seating you" She didn't actually say the last part, but she may as well have. So there we are, in the center of UW vs. Michigan tailgate territory with six rumbling tummies. In spite of this place, we brought some Green Bush donuts to the Red Zone bar and did fireball shots at 9:30 in the morning. Later that day, a girl mooned us on the street too. Green Bush Bakery: 4 stars Red Zone: 3 stars Girl's Butt: 3 stars The Wise: Incomplete You'd be Wise to think twice before depending on this place.
Restaurantji Recommends
We were going to go before the football game. We were ID'd at the door of the hotel. Not the bar. We were given bracelets. We then went into the restaurant and was told they are not taking reservations. That they would not honor the one we had made. They were only serving a Buffet which did not sounds like anything special and we would have to eat in a back room. We took one look and said no thank you. The gal at the hostess stand was rude and disrespectful. We later heard from locals their service is extremely slow and the food not that great. If you aren't taking reservations then don't allow them to be made. Too bad because it is a great location. Instead we went to the game with eggs Benedict and ate a hot dog two hours later. ????
I went to the wise with some friends for their Wednesday special - Tunes, Taps & Tacos. It was just fine. We all got 3+ tacos and they were pretty average. I got the chicken, pork, and beef and they were all about the same, just with a different type of meat. The duck taco was unique with Brie and apples, but the others did lack creativity. For dessert, we had the flourless chocolate cake, which sounded very basic but was very delicious, and the berry cake. The latter has a lot of potential. The cake was light and airy, but I wasn't feeling the frozen berries. It seemed like they just weren't prepared for anyone to order it. I think The Wise has recently gotten a new chef (within the last year), and he just has a few links to work out before I can give that fourth star.
Love Wednesday nights!
Well, I don't think the bartender knew what an old fashioned was, and good thing we had drink tickets. There wasn't a place to check in for a reservation and not like we needed one, now it's kind of obvious as to why we were the only two eating. The cheese curds were good, which made me hopeful for the main course. It was like whoever made the ravioli dish was paid by the amount of salt used. The burger we had was pretty good which is why the review didn't get only one star. The waitress gave us our check before I had eaten half of my food, but it's not like she had any other tables to wait on. Overall, if the theme was literary, nothing but the decor gave it away, and it was obvious that everything was rushed or not thought through.
The sweet potato pancakes and the hash browns are awesome. Service is a little slow but everyone there was super friendly so I can't knock em.