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| - Very dark. And kind of close awkward seating. Which is less of an issue than the price and quality. With the exception of the cocktails which are amazing and only moderately overpriced... everything else is pretty meh. If the food was 20-40% less this would be an easy 4 Star place. But it's not. 21$ for corned beef and cabbage on St Pats day better be amazing. It was not. It was about 2" thick and very tough. Perhaps that's "authentic" but I was expecting something much different. Like the other 20 dishes of corned beef and cabbage I've had in my life... And one of my biggest pet peeves - one person brought water, one person took our order, a different 3rd person brought the food over, a forth person took my card and brought a box... soooo, who exactly am I tipping? And for what?! Certainly not the engaging discussion or personality. To top it off, the hostess mentioned we were still in on happy hour. Which equates to 2$ off a drink or 8$ for our stay. Hardly complaint worthy, but didn't get it, and by that time we just wanted to leave. So my 8$ worth of advice? Maybe try some of the nearly infinite other dining options Madison has to offer. Or maybe sit at the not-as-awkward bar and have a cocktail. Which range from 9-13$ ish for the most part. Unless of course you manage to find someone that knows it's Happy Hour. But again, 2$ X 4 isn't what let me down... it's the food and the service, and the incredibly awkward seating.
Parting thought: when squeezing my average 6' 200lb mass out of a space that hardly accepts my 36" waist, do I drag my "front" or my "rear" across the top of the table next to ours? Well I guess, I we interacted with our dining partners considerably more than the staff, perhaps that makes us close enough for a "front" side table drag...
Update: so it's nice the management cares enough to comment on these reviews. But that can't change my previous experience, or anyone else's. And I'd be a fool to ask for a dish to be replaced in this or any other restaurant. There is no way that can end good in any way, for anyone. "Sorry dining friends of the evening, our stay will be extended however long it takes to get my second dish that I sure hope doesn't have 'extra' things in it. No no, please continue eating while I sit here awkwardly waiting." The better thing to do would be assess the seating situation. Sit at your tables and wonder if people would feel comfortable dining there. Compare your prices to what is offered very near your business. I don't need special treatment. I want what you offer to be something I want to go to, that everyone wants to go to because it's awesome. Not a dark, expensive, mishmash of tables where the servers are as elusive as the comfort. That just can't work and I'll never be able to recommend it. The four cocktails that weren't priced right, were the main attraction and that's really it. No amount of talking about it will change that. So that's what it is. A review of an experience that was less than optimal. You only get one shot at a first impression and what not.
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