Big fan of 1847 at the Stamm Haus. Great food, excellent drink selection... happy hour makes even the more expensive items very reasonable, family friendly and welcoming. Great place for dinner, check the menu as it does change seasonally - which in my opinion is nice. The chief does have a great sense of flavor and it tends to be a bit more modern than is usually found in Madison. I remember some excellent lamb meatballs from last fall that were seasoned beautifully with all sorts of spices (yum! I often find food in the mid-west bland).
the servers and bartenders are great - they definitely measure out your drinks, but then often they'll add a tiny bit extra so you don't feel like they are too stingy.
In short, a great place to hang out, the only improvement I could make would be to reverse the parking and the patio (move parking to the front and patio to the back), but overall, a great place, worth the money (yes it is on the upper end of the Middleton dining scale), and a generally enjoyable experience.