This was my absolute favorite place to go for dinner (and one of my favorite lunch places) back when we lived in Madison. It's the perfect combination of not too fancy but not too casual, a great place to get an excellent meal but not spend too much money, it pays homage to Belgium while still staying true to Madison's focus on serving locally-grown food.
The V Burger is my favorite burger in Madison, and I always struggle trying to decide if I'm going to have that or one of their amazing regular items or specials. I'd say the V Burger won out more than three quarters of the time. It's hard to turn down grilled Madison Sourdough bread, local beef, onion straws, muenster cheese, and aioli. Paired with a salad and/or a side of pommes frites and whichever two dipping sauces they have for the day and that's an amazing, Euro-tastic meal!
Not in the mood for the burger like I was a quarter of the time I went there? They have great sandwiches (smoked turkey is great, so is their reuben if you're in for lunch) and moules frites. Their seasonal specials are also great. The one time we weren't happy with a meal was when my husband ordered a duck dish and the skin wasn't crispy enough. And I think one time I ordered a great polenta dish but was only disappointed because my husband didn't give me a bite of his V Burger =o(
Service is great. We've always been treated well. And we've brought our kids many times and the servers are very understanding and accommodating. And the Belgian beer collection was excellent.
I can't sing the praises for Brasserie V enough. It does a great job of balancing so many different things and by doing so it excels and shows that it belongs in the circle of great restaurants in Madison.