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| - Excellent food, very expensive, subpar service for the price range.
The brodetto is literally teeming with seafood in a slightly acidic tomato broth. Buckwheat noodles with pesto are extremely al dente, and almost remind us of a thicker buckwheat soba one would find in Japan but with local Madison ingredients.
Pasta shells with fennel sausage, parsnips, and brussels sprouts are out of site good. I think this is my favorite dish in Madison.
They recently had an heirloom tomato cocktail special. I thought it'd taste like a bloody mary but instead it was almost an herby grapefruit flavor. It was amazing and closer to a work of art than what usually passes as alcohol.
Their homemade bread and olives is both elegant and casual, though it's a whopping $6 for a small serving and they don't otherwise bring bread to the table. Basket refills also cost. Bad business.
Desserts are also great and I'd classify them as nearly avant-garde when one combines their different textures and flavors.
Service is about as good as the square's burger joints. Expect to pay $80-100 for two drinks, one appetizer, two dishes, and one dessert. This place is sometimes empty on the weekend -- I worry that they may be pricing themselves well out of range for the 45,000-person pool of UW students right up the street.
They need a happy hour with some sandwich or small-but-filling plate options. Nostrano is nearly the best restaurant in town, and with a few pricing and serving tweaks the food quality will shine even brighter.
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