You sound as though you may have some vested interest in this establishment, I am skeptical of your post as well. I have personally had three very different friends try this place on three different occasions, and let’s just say their reviews are consistent with the majority of these reviews. Perhaps a little less defensiveness on the part of those in charge of putting out the food, and a little more desire to please the public they are hoping to continue serving; I suppose only time will tell.

I have sent back mashed potatoes once with the only request of craving some fresh garlic and the staff and kitchen were more than accomodating to my request– even sending out a couple of cheeses while I waited. My waitress told me that if there is ever anything they could do to make my experience more enjoyable, simply ask and they would alway do their best to make me happy. *That* is cool and what has kept me coming back.

If you are reading these reviews, I would question that some are suspect of people who used to work there and are holding a grudge because I love the food there AND the service…..this is amazing to see so many snide and “noses up in the air” postings… am I crazy that I like what everyone here dislikes?!? No, I don’t think I am.

I have nothing good to say about this place. The kid waiter had his nose in the air when addressing us. He failed to mention that the pork chop dinner ($17)is intentionally served rare to med rare. Had to send it back.

The fish special($25)had no flavor. The chicken-rice soup lacked flavor also.

Our dinner cost $65 and was one of the worst meals I ever had.

Kickshaw = High Price / bad food

Ribeye should be medium-rare or less, otherwise it’s not worth eating. I guess I would also take issue with it being “completely pink” inside and send it back for being OVERCOOKED. How exactly could you say it was “grilled fine” if it wasn’t the temperature you like? If you ordered it well and it came under temp, fine, but at least acknowledge that you had already asked them to completely brutalize an otherwise good piece of meat.

Scallops should be barely cooked, being exceptionally good even in their raw state. Generally overcooked, it is rare that a complaint of undercooked scallops is heard.

I’m guessing you had SOME idea of what to expect in terms of price before you went. I mean, do people really go to a new restaurant without at least skimming a menu first?

The house salad was old,warm and wilted.

The Eggplant lasagna was dry and tasteless as well. The scallops were attractivly plated but lacked flavor even with the addition of horseradish sauce. Dessert of flourless chocolate cake with vanilla icecream had been nuked. My advice would be save you money. The wait staff was friendly and efficent aside from the frozen wasabi. Meal was $100.00 for 2 people with shared starter and shared dessert and 1 martini(which was quite good) tip included. We won’t be going back anytime soon.

Our server was a little shakey but very friendly and accomodated one of our friend’s diet restriction- even telling us that the chef is diabetic as well!

I had the chicken pasta with pesto, blue cheese, crunchy walnuts and juicy chicken. My girlfriend had a really cool eggplant lasagna where they used eggplant instead of pasta (which I had seen before, but the flavor was a 10! A real knockout.

My girlfriend’s dad had the ribeye with cheesey scalloped potatoes and it was a perfect medium. The sauce was awesome too and the vegetables (asparagus and little carrots with the leaves still on them) were great.

Her mom had a salmon with a curry cornmeal thing– kind of like polenta but the salmon was placed on top– it went great with the salmon- not too spicy and soft, but not -uber-creamy like polenta (which I don’t like too much)- it was like a square and with the basil and orange sauce, it went perfectly with the salmon, which was held together with a green onion.

Our desserts were very tasty- I had a chocolate tart which was warm and had a liquid center- the ice cream was vanilla. My girlfriend had their crem brulee and it was awesome!!! They put some strawberries on top and it was simple, but perfect- creamy and sold with the top nice and crunchy.
My GF’s dad had a carrot cake that was amazingly good too: a shot of carrot juice, carrot flavored frosting with carrot crunchy strips on top– and the cake was soft and moist-I wish I could have taken a picture because it looked really cool…

My girlfrien’s mom had a neat thing that was essentially tiramisu with cherries in it: Cherry-misu (Har, har har ) This was so close to us thinking it was bought that the saving grace was seing the cherries all throughout– I am not a fan of cherries, but had it been just regular tiramisu, I would have eaten all of it!

We finished with a 6 piece cheese board with some WI cheeses and some from France and one from Italy- it was a great end to a really great meal!

The only thing I think is that the wine list could be a little bit more varied- there is a pretty good wine list, but I would love to see it more European and Australian- but wow, what a great time!

The Owner was very nice and stopped by to say “Thank You” and was very friendly too-Thank YOU!

I think the service was good, but again, a little shakey, but overall fanastic food and a great addition to Madison!