I was very excited to see the east side was getting a Barriques. Despite having a few cafes nearby (Zoma, Victory) there just seemed to be something missing; namely a good place to grab a drink and a breakfast sandwich, and sit down to read or do some work.
The newest Barriques will be pretty familiar to anyone who has been to one of their other locations. Same menu, similar look and feel. In addition to food you can shop a small selection of coffee & wine themed gift items and their wall of wines. If you're new to Barriques, sign up with Belly, their rewards program (also good at a number of other Madison businesses).
Where things are hit and miss right now is the staff/customer service. Despite always having a number of people behind the counter, service is SLOW, and if they're working on another order good luck getting the staff to even acknowledge you. I walked out a couple of days ago after waiting a few minutes with a steadily growing line behind me without having a single employee look up from their tasks or greet us. I'm hoping this is just growing pains and the customer experience will improve.