| rev:text
| - Arrived at 5:45, but the place was already packed. Since I was dining solo I decided to forego a wait and eat at the bar.
Arrival: It took a little longer than I would have expected with 3 people behind the bar to get someone's attention, but finall I I asked the bartender for a drink list and he handed me a beer list. No biggie. Asked a different bartender if there was a drink/whiskey list and got the right menu this time.
Drinks: There are a number of interesting cocktails using locally distilled liquors. Theres also a fantastic selection of Scotch whiskeys arranged by region of origin, including Oban 14, one of my favorites. At $9.50 it's just a smidge more than I would expect to pay at a place like this. Unfortunately the price wasn't the only issue. First, they served me a fine single malt scotch in a highball glass. Second, for $9.50 I would expect at least a 2 finger pour, this was barely more than 1 finger in a narrow highball glass. I'm thinking it was probably a 1 shot pour at best. I don't think I'll be ordering another straight whiskey here anytime soon. Stick with the cocktails.
Food: Food took about 15 minutes from order to service. Pretty impressive considering how busy they were. I ordered the Big Texan Burger which is local beef on a local bun with bbq sauce, fried onions, and cream cheese. The patty was tasty and well seasoned but I ordered medium and this was cooked past that closer to the well side of medium well. The patty itself was a little small and got lost under the rest of the toppings. Speaking of the toppings, the BBQ sauce is spicy..like. quite a bit hotter than I would have expected, that must be why they put the cream cheese on it. Still, everything together didn't quite work. The patty which clearly was tasty was overpowered by everything else, and by the time I was done I was still craving a BURGER. I ordered the Garlic Parmesan fries and unfortunately we ran into another problem with the bartender not listening to what I said. When my order came it had sweet potato fries. Had another bartender check the order, sure enough, he put in sweet potato fries. Considering I had a conversation with my fellow barmates on which fries I should order, we were certain it was not a mistake on my part. I kept the sweet potato fries since I want to eventually try both. The fries themselves were crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, and had just the right amount of sweet. Serving size was again a little small considering I paid a dollar extra for them. All in all, the food was high quality, but not quite what I asked for and may not have quite been to my taste, but I can't hold my preferences against them.
The thing that really turned the visit around for me was some time talking with Tim , the owner. He asked how everything was, and when I said there were a couple of issues he was totally responsive. Right down to coming by with the bottle of Oban later in my visit and pouring me another serving in apology for the previous short pour. I confirmed with the owner that they are doing a 1.5oz pour. So $9.50 gets you 1 shot. Tim also talked with me about some future plans for the place including a possible expansion out front that will be a whiskey and wine patio. According to him, he wants to be the preeminent whiskey/scotch bar in the Madison area. Considering the place is only 6 blocks from my house, I highly approve.
All in all I can't complain. They're busy, they just opened, and the food is clearly of a high quality. I'm excited to come back again a few times over the coming months and see if they're able to smooth out the bumps.
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