The Great Dane (Hilldale Location) -- Madison, WI

On Sunday night the wife and I went out to eat with a group of friends at the Great Dane's new Hilldale location here in Madison. The Great Dane now has three Pubs and this one is the third, because of this they cannot serve there own beers in it, yet. Old legislation from the time shortly after prohibition prohibits micro breweries to have more than two taverns in Madison that serve their own micro beers. So currently they are only serving other people's beers, but the selection is pretty large. I'm not a beer drinker myself but thought I would share that bit of information.

For an appetizer I got their beer bread. It was a nice dark brown bread cut in big soft, light, fluffy slices. It hit the table warm with frozen honey butter. After shaving off think bits of honey butter and getting it spread around I was able to try it, the bread was fantastic and it gave me false hope for my meal that was about to show up.

For dinner I took a risk, I got non-pub food at a pub and I should have known better. I also feel like I should be using pub in quotes, but they call themselves a pub so I will to. My dinner was from their new rotisserie section, the Cuban style pork with a mango sauce served with black beans and rice. The pork loin was decent, a bit dry, and the sauce was alright. The black beans and rice were good enough, with the rice being rather bland and dry, but the beans had some flavor. "Good enough" would be my description for the entire plate of food. I ate it, but I would never order it again. My wife ordered their signature burger, which is a beef burger with spinach and artichoke dip on it and even that was not so great. The dip was flavorless and the burger had way to much "charred" flavor. Her fries were good though, not sure if they cut them there or pour them out of bags but they were spiced nicely.

In my opinion the problem with the food is that they are offering to many options instead of having some sort of focus. Soups, salads, sandwiches, burgers, pastas, pizza's and more! There are a lot of other restaurants around town that I would like to check out before I would ever head back to this location of the Great Dane again.

However the downtown location has all of their microbrews available and has a buffalo burger that I remember being pretty damn good last time I was there. If you are a beer person the downtown location would be the spot to visit in Madison.

The Great Dane (Hilldale)
357 Price Pl
Madison, WI 53705

I was at the Hilldale location Saturday night, on recommendation from our DD and SIL. I ordered the Nut Brown Ale and the brats, and I thought both were outstanding. I'd definitely return. The brats were cooked to a turn and served with a mashed potato "puff" that featured bacon bits. The sauerkraut was also "seasoned" with bacon, which I thought might be overkill since there was bacon in the potato puff, but there also was some sweetness that was a good counterpoint to the bacon and kraut. Included was homemade applesauce that featured chunks of apples, not pureed fruit; different and very good.

DH had lamb ribs, which he wasn't very excited about. Only ok, was his pronouncement. But DD and SIL liked their respective burger and fried fish platter (with the usual fries and huge serving of slaw). SIL also ordered Bitter Woman Ale, which is aptly named. Son ordered brats, too, loved them, and ate what I couldn't finish of mine. He had the Belgian ale, which tasted more like hard cider, not at all like beer; it was sweet, carbonated, and I would bet a paycheck that they gave him the wrong drink.

I would go back for the brats and potato puff. And the Nut Brown Ale.