The Old Fashioned

In the midst of Madison, Wisconsin lies the town favorite restaurant named The Old Fashioned. I’d never been to Wisconsin before and Unilocal said to go here, so I went.
The place is buzzing and its evident that everyone comes here to eat. All food orders have to be placed at the register, so once you know what want, you walk on up to order your food and drink, which the waiter will then being to your table.
I ordered the pumpkin apple soup for an appetizer and the wood smoked chicken breast sandwich for my meal. The soup was delicious and exactly what I needed as it was friggin freezing outside. It was sweet, savory, piping hot and delicious. The chicken sandwich was just ok. I felt the chicken was over cooked, but the bacon and swiss cheese gave the sandwich a good taste that I can tell would have been delicious if the chicken wasn’t overdone.
This is a cool place that’s definitely worth coming to. It’s located in the heart of downtown Madison and is walking distance to other sites and restaurants in the area. I can definitely see there being a wait at peak times, so plan accordingly.

This place has been on my bookmarks forever. I got a tip from a friend saying they had brunch so I came here with my wife on Valentine’s day.
First of all, it’s a great location in Madison, right on Capitol Square with a great view of the Capitol Building. Parking is limited but there are plenty of garages near by. It also be crazy if there’s an event going on (like the Farmer’s market during the summer).
We had mimosa’s which as a tip, you can order by the PITCHER. Jackpot! As a side, I order the Apple Fritter Puff… holy moly. This is only ¼ of an Apple Fritter from Greenbush bakery, sliced in half, and sandwiched between is free whip cream. Seriously delicious.
For the main meal, I had the Country Fried Steak and my wife had a scrambler. Lemme tell you, come hungry because the portion sizes are massive! This was probably the best country fried steak I’ve ever had.
Overall, I would highly recommend the brunch. I’ll have to come back for their regular food. I enjoyed the brunch, the atmosphere and the service!

Do yourself a favor and get the cheese curds. You won’t regret it!
Great selection of beers, too. Solid place to grab a few beers and some snacks to share.

Met up with an old friend from HS at The Old Fashioned on a Tuesday evening. We didn’t have to wait for a table even though the place seemed pretty packed. We ordered Cheese Curds (my first time having them) and they were pretty decent. I also had the spicy burger without the bun, of course, it was great! The burger patty was cooked to perfection and the balsamic vinaigrette side salad was delicious as well.
I would definitely return.

Excellent bang for you buck! Good pub style food. Great beer selection. Loved the atmosphere. Perfect place to meet up with a few friends on a weeknight and eat good food and have drinks on a cold wintery evening. The food was great and definitely comforting on a snowy day. Loved it. There are gluten free options as well!

Great place to have dinner if you’re in the neighborhood. This place doesn’t take ressies which is a bummer but they were able to accommodate us fairly quickly. I had a great time here. Food and drinks were good and service was great. I had their old fashioned (of course), bloody mary and their cherry ale. As for food, we got the bacon mac & cheese, fish fry, beef jerky, sausage platter and fried cheese curds. Everything was great. I especially liked the curds! A must!

I really don’t know why it took me so long to finally come to The Old Fashioned. I owe my friends an apology for not coming sooner!
I had the No.30 with cheese curds and an old fashioned. I still love Curd Girl’s cheese curds more, but these are a very close second. The burger though, wow. They definitely know how to do an egg burger well. It’s on par with the Mountie Burger at the Dane, if not better. I’m thrilled to have found it since the Dane just changed their menu and got rid of the Mountie. The Old Fashioned is definitely going to become my new late night burger place. I could go on a rant about the sweet brandy old fashioned I had, but I’m sure there’s a long list of other reviewers who have done the same. Save us both the time and just order it! You won’t regret it.

What an interesting experience at The Old Fashioned! This was one of my must do places and although we had fun, there were some strange service things going on here. The wait for a table when we arrived was 1 hour and it was accurately about an hour until we got our table. We sat at the bar while we waited and ordered different drinks. I went for beers while the guys went for Old Fashioneds. My guy friends are whiskey drinkers so they were surprised when the drink had no whiskey at all but instead Korbel champagne. One male friend loved this… one did not. He asked our bartender who scoffed and said, «You’re not from around here, are you?» …um…okay…
I *now* get the Old Fashioned is different in Madison than the rest of the country but my friends and I had no idea of this going in. It wasn’t great having our bartender handle the situation in a judgmental type of way. Would have boded much better had he taken another approach and helped enlighten our ignorant Chicagoan minds.
Cheese curds here were just okay — not as good as some of the other places in the area.
I had to order a cool $ 15 drink that was on the menu — The Birdcage — Whistle Pig Bourbon, muddled brown sugar cube & house bitters enclosed in an ice block. Crack it open and proceed to get white girl wasted. This was a fun drink and tasty, was very happy with this one.
We also had this awesome brownie dessert which was so rich, served with a strawberry, ice cream and a shot of milk! The milk was such a cute touch and I loved this dish to end our night.
The view from the Old Fashioned? Gorgeous looking out on a lit up capital building.
Overall, the food was hit or miss, the drinks were hit or miss, service was hit or miss, but that view was all hit!

The Old Fashioned a été le lieu de notre premier repas au US. La barre a tout de suite été placée très haut pour les hamburgers.
Le restaurant est fréquenté par un clientèle d’habituée, des étudiants (à Madison c’est le moisns) et autres. C’est grand et plutôt chaleureux. Le service est gentil et prévenant.
Et les hamburgers sont très bons ainsi que les cheese curds (cheddar frit) et le choix de bières parfait.
Bien sûr tout est très copieux !
Execellente adresse

The Wisconsin Bloody is to die for, and the food is always fantastic.
A bit crowded around dinner time on weekends, so go early to avoid a long wait.