I was very pleasantly surprised with my visit to Mariners Inn during Madison Restaurant Week! Some less-than-stellar reviews on Yelp made me walk into Mariners Inn with low expectations. And those expectations turned out to be wrong.
Pros:
1. Customer service A+: All of the staff people -- the host, the bartender and our server -- were all very cordial and accommodating.
2. Food was excellent: I had the strawberry salad, salmon florentine and chocolate mousse, and they were all prepared and seasoned wonderfully. The dill cream sauce with the salmon was probably the best dill cream sauce I've ever had. If I wasn't in public, I would have licked my plate to enjoy all the sauce. Can Mariners Inn just give me a glass full of the dill cream sauce with a straw?!
Cons:
1. The place could use a few touch-ups -- maybe some new light fixtures that don't look scratched, and maybe some new chairs. I don't mean a full-out renovation because the nautical theme is fun and unique. But some of the pieces inside the restaurant look old and worn.
I will indeed return.