The Great Dane has to be one of my all time favorite Madison restaurants. The food is good, the beer is better and the service and decor just really make you feel like home.
First lets talk beer. The scotch ale is phenomenal, I can't rave about it enough. It's a smooth, full caramel flavor that would go with any of their amazing burgers. Another that I tried for the first time last night was their fruity beer called serendipity. It was like a cranapple citrus cocktail. It was so fruity that if someone had blind taste tested me with it I would have never guessed it was beer and not a mix drink of sorts, honestly. This would be a perfect option for converting any girl you know who doesn't drink beer because it didn't taste good or that beer is for men over to the good side.
The food is also awesome, classic pub food but much higher quality. The cheese curds are good to start, but I love their artichoke dip. It's served warm in a bread bowl so you can eat apart the soft doughy serving dish after. Next you simply must try their French onion soup. There is so much caramelized chese on that bad boy you could probably not eat anything else and be stuffed. Next the burger, seven ounces of meat smothered in cheese and sauce. I would suggest you upgrade to the pretzel bun, its worth it and you are already not counting any of the calories in this meal so you might as well do this right. I tried the sweet potato tots with this last night and it was just ok, I'll stick with fries in the future.
To be given this smorgasbord of deliciousness you should expect to wait. There's always a wait on weekends and certainly your food doesn't fly out of the kitchen either. But if tasty food and drink is something you are willing to put some time in for, you definitely should do it here.