"1"^^ . "1"^^ . "I haven't had such a troubled meal in Madison in a while. The service was painfully slow the entire evening. We were a sizable group, but we had a reservation, and the restaurant was only half full (on a Saturday night around 7:30pm).\n\nIt took about 1 hour and 45 minutes for any food but bread to arrive from the moment we sat down. We were told about 3 minutes prior to the food's eventual arrival that the head chef was out with an emergency that evening. Things happen, I suppose, but some warning at an earlier point on the meal, or some additional comped bread or ANYTHING might have helped us along. \n\nAlso, that explanation doesn't really explain why it took 15 minutes for the wait staff to speak with us after we sat down, or why it took about 20 minutes for our drinks to arrive after we ordered them. It doesn't explain why, after our bill was placed on the table, our waitress disappeared for about 10 minutes, leaving us stranded. And believe me, we were plenty ready to leave. \n\nThe food was underwhelming. The problems in the kitchen were obvious. My tablemate's burger arrived cold, and the accompanying ceasar salad was reported to be quite unpleasant. My pork dish, in terms of flavor, was fine, but the presentation was a nightmare, with a huge swipe of brown goo (fig preserves) around the edge of the dish, and everything else strewn about. The field bowls were small and flavorless, which was hard on my dinner companions who had waited almost two hours for them. I had ordered a \"small plate\" to split for the table (which seemed to genuinely confuse the waitress), and it arrived at the exact same time as everything else. Which is to say, very late."^^ . "0"^^ . . . . "0"^^ . "2017-09-10T00:00:00"^^ .