I've been here a few times. I cannot deny that the food (especially the crack fries) and the HUGE beer list are great. The service has always been lacking and I keep going back thinking that it will get better, but it hasn't.
My first time here the door man almost denied my entrance because he thought my ID was fake. I understand that in a college town they have to be on top of their game when it comes to carding everyone, but I'm 26 and my drivers license is a WI Real ID. This was shortly after their grand opening so I chalked it up to being a brand new restaurant and still working out the kinks.
On my second visit we sat at the bar for beer and crack fries. Everything we had was really good, but the bartenders seemed to care more about talking to each other than keeping our drinks full.
This past weekend I made another visit to HopCat. When my group arrived there were 3 employees standing at the hostess stand, none of whom greeted or acknowledged us so we went ahead and found an empty table. Then the hostess came over and said "You guys are just seating yourself? You can't do that." We proceeded back to the hostess stand, as did she, and waited to be seated while the hostess fiddled on a tablet for over 3 minutes before another employee came over and sat us. The way the hostess talked to us was rude and uncalled for. Her tone was beyond condescending. Had she said something like "I can seat you guys in couple minutes" or done her job by acknowledging us when we walked in, it would have been fine, but she acted like it was the biggest chore in the world. Working in the service industry and being a hostess in particular, requires one to be friendly and welcoming. Our server was very great though- very friendly.