I had eaten at this restaurant before and I remember having an ok, but not great experience. It seems to be a favorite of many people so I figured the Groupon offer would be a good reason to give it another shot. This will be my last visit to this restaurant.
I had a similar experience as another reviewer when trying to make the reservation to use the Groupon. I called on a Sunday at several different times hoping to get a reservation, but I got no answer. I also left a message on the answering machine, but still never got a call back. I did call on a different day and got an answer right away and was able to make the reservation.
I went on a Sunday in the early afternoon. We were seated almost immediately. I was disappointed that there was no kids activities. I have started to take for granted that there will at least be crayons and coloring page for my kids. Fortunately, my kids are a little older now and pretty well behaved so they could amuse themselves. One of the coffee mugs was dirty. It took a while for the waitress to come back and get us a replacement.
All six of us ordered pancakes, but when our food arrived, the waitress only had a small amount of butter for all of us to share. We had to request more. The spinach omelette was ok, but the mushroom sauce looked like someone opened a can of condensed cream of mushroom soup and put it in a bowl. By the time the butter arrived, my pancakes were barely warm enough to melt butter. They did not taste very good either.
My only consolation is that I was using the Groupon so I did not pay full price for the food. I felt bad for the people I had invited to join us for breakfast because they ended up paying for food they did not enjoy. I still do not understand how this place is voted a Madison favorite. I will stick to the Original House of Pancakes from now on.