| rev:text
| - Ah, Forequarter. The new-ish venture from the Brothers Hunter could have been the phoenix from the ashes of the late and lamented Underground Kitchen, which barely had time to spread its nascent wings before a kitchen fire took it down, and adjacent businesses and apartments along with it.
Sadly, this is not it. Forequarter feels like the vanity project of a clique of young friends, and while there's not anything wrong with that, per se, the fact is that most people ought not to get fooled into paying the premium prices for its admittedly good food marred by horrendous service and other major flaws.
My experiences at Forequarter (and they have been multiple) have been characterized by terrible serving staff, long waits and high prices. This would be fine if the restaurant could live up to the reputation via charm or exceptionally good food, but the gap is just too large for Forequarter to close, particularly when there are other Madison restaurants that can easily equal or even best it in the cuisine department - I'm looking at you, Nostrano.
Instead, Forequarter ends up feeling like a dilettantes' project; rather than truly feeling like a restaurant that you would, as one reviewer claimed, "find in Park Slope," it feels like one that wishes it were like that. Just like Park Slope? Sure, but only if you've never been there.
On my last, and final, visit, my 45-minute wait was met with a surly server who, wholly inattentive, had trouble recalling what the specials were, pronounced the name of the one cheese she _could_ remember as "Silton Bleu (bluh)," and spent the rest of the evening bringing free apps and other comped treats to her tableful of 20-something service industry personnel friends who came in after us, were seated before us, and got food and drink at rates of speed probably double ours.
The food was tasty and passable, I suppose, but who can be bothered to enjoy it in this environment. There's nothing wrong with hipper than thou, but tragically hip is another story entirely. I would welcome a Madison eatery that truly felt exclusive and underground based on experience, ambiance and food quality, but Madison, this ain't it. It's also not Park Slope, Chicago, or the Bay. It's a middling restaurant in a college town charging premium prices for an overall experience verging on mediocre on a good day. Don't drink the Kool-Aid, people. Try 43 North. Try Nostrono. Try cooking at home. But stop lining the pockets of people who are putting you on.
And, for God's sake, do something about that horrendous lettering on your mirrored signs. There are people you can hire who will fix that.
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