The Wise

Terrible meal… where do I begin. Wine list consists of cheap wines, dinner salad was a bowl full of old greens with nothing. Meal was tasteless.. Server was very slow. I don’t mind spending $$ but let’s upscale this place a bit. I don’t think so.

dg. Probably one of the worst meals ever in Madison. They were out of a lot of the entrees. The food arrived sporadically. One of the diners waited 15 minutes after the others received their entrees. The server had to continue to apologize. Will never return.

I would Not recommend this place. It was nye 7:30pm. They had already ran OUT Korbel to make their cocktail drink old fashion (on their drink menu). They did Not offer to have a diff brandy and charge the same price! They were Also out of the chocolate stout (next thing I wanted) !!! Also they were OUT of 4 items on the menu (half of the stuff on the appetizer section). The server was nice but very inexperience. My new York strip served in a very poor presentation. It took forever to get the bill (they were not busy at all) ! I will see if I can include a picture. I will definitely not come back!!!#!now I think about it that wasn’t a New York strip I had. God, not sure what they served me (Ck out the photo).

Had drinks there twice this week! The bartender Matt makes the best Cosmo ever! Made with fresh lime juice! If you go there tell them you want the Carolina Cosmo! Tell Kim that Becky sent you!

Even the bar doesn’t open till 4, which is kind of ridiculous for hotel guests. I like the drinks and have had some really good apps here, too. But it is a little too laissez-​faire about the convenience of guests.

Really overpriced and the food is marginal. I had some ravioli but it was very under cooked. Mentioned it to the waitress and they gave me a free glass of wine. Nice, but get it right. Saw another customer send his hamburger back two pice because it was undercooked. For the prices they charge, they should have a seasoned chef.

Neat place but not quite on the mark. The service was poor. That’s always a tough one to overcome when you’re out trying to have nice night out or evaluate a place top to bottom. I ordered the wrong entrée for me. Their appetizers and desserts were very good.
I’d probably eat here again to give it another chance but I wasn’t over the moon.

Stopped there for a ESPN show. Great décor

Tried them for Brunch this morning after a long absence. Poor choice on my part. Bloody Mary ($ 10!) served without any garnish. Beer chase unavailable because taps were not working. The single server offered a bottle of beer instead, but couldn’t unlock the cooler. The mushroom scrambled eggs were adequate, nice fruit cup and salad but the dry toast was cold. Butter and jam apparently only available on request?
Not going to give them another chance.

A friend and I attended The Wise during Restaurant Week. It was my friend’s pick, and I admittedly had not heard of the restaurant before this. First, I was pleasantly surprised with how easy (and FREE) it was to park at the HotelRED on a weekday evening. The restaurant is located off the lobby and has a super modern feel to it. Everything is appropriately RED, black and white. It’s very sleek and modern — which, quite frankly is not my style. I felt a little out of place in my cardigan and Chucks. The table we sat at was bar height, which was fine but the chair style wasn’t one that would allow one to hang a purse over it, so both my friend and I were a bit stumped as to where to put our bags. The restaurant and bar were nearly empty at 7 pm on a weeknight.
Our server was very friendly and attentive. We ordered cheese curds as an appetizer in addition to our three course Restaurant Week meal. I have to say — I’ve had a lot of cheese curds in my day, and these were just not good The cheese tasted cheap — I can’t even explain it better than that. It wasn’t like I was just underwhelmed by them, I actually didn’t like them. I’ve always said I’ve never met a cheese curd I didn’t like. Now I have. I opted to try a mixed drink called «The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.» I mean — who can resist a name like that?! I know nearly nothing about mixed drinks, so in my totally uneducated opinion, it was pretty good. ;)
My first course was a carrot salad that included oranges, and some super good puffed rice (whose name I cannot remember). The salad was the best part of my entire dinner. I’m not historically a salad lover, but this was incredible. The mix of ingredients worked so well together. I assumed the carrots would be raw, but they were cooked to a perfect firmness. The dressing was light and complimented the salad. And, it was visually gorgeous. Sooo pretty.
My entrée was a beet and goat cheese ravioli. I was a bit unsure what to expect, but the actual pasta was made with beets (it was pink!) and filled with goat cheese. Red and golden beets were included in the meal. It had good flavor, well cooked beets, decent sauce. i definitely wasn’t wowed by the pasta, but I wasn’t unhappy either.
For dessert, I chose the lemon tart. It had a nice strong lemon flavor and good texture. It was a pretty tiny piece. ;) My friend and I discussed that the meal overall was fine, but it just didn’t quite seem like a $ 35 meal, especially when you consider that had I ordered the exact items (or similar) outside of Restaurant Week it actually would have cost less. It feels a little wrong — come during Restaurant Week and pay MORE than you usually would? Overall, my experience was fine. Not great. Not awful. I don’t know that I would ever choose to go back. The atmosphere just seems wrong in Madison — like they are trying a bit too hard. I really wish that Unilocal would allow half stars — because this is definitely a 3.5 for me… however I just can’t bring myself to round up this time.

Not worth it. Went for Sunday brunch. Wait/​bar staff mostly pre-​occupied with each other. No table silverware, My husband had the WORST bloody mary he’s ever had… tasted like the mix was bad, or they dumped something sour in it. He had to take it back (and he never does that… it did taste bad.) Everything was half-​ass: online menu is not the same as what they actually have, most of us didn’t get drink menus, food was lackluster and took FOREVER, our server forgot to bring us requested water, any spoons for oatmeal, salt and pepper, anything (butter? jam?) to put on our dry toast. Really disappointing, especially for the prices charged. Next time, Mickies Dairy Bar. Maybe it’s okay for sitting at the bar, but would not pay to eat there. Ever again.

I’ve stopped in a few times for drinks (but never dinner). If in the area, it works. Bartenders are attentive and there are a few different areas to sit once drinks are in hand. It wouldn’t be a destination location however as I don’t really think it has a particular identity.

Dear Hotel Red guests,
Welcome to Madison! We’re glad to have you here. We entreat you to visit and enjoy our vast multitude of bars and restaurants, where you can usually find local brews, meats, and cheeses. Really, go anywhere. Anywhere other than The Wise.
If you must go there, do not order the «popped ravioli». I’m almost positive it’s actually just lasagna noodles stirred in Chef Boyardi sauce. And don’t order the bland red spread. And don’t get a drink off the cocktail menu without first making sure they actually have all the ingredients to make it.
Enjoy your stay! I hear the hotel is really nice.
Sincerely,
Adam

Not too impressed. Had the beef toreadors. One good the other very chewy, not as tasty. Serving size small for cost. While the hotel furniture was interesting, it was not very comfortable… tables too high, seats too low. Disappointed.

Whelp.
That didn’t go well.
I’ve been to the Wise several times before and I know folks will give me a hard time for not writing about the more positive experiences I’ve had there. But in truth, the service, cocktails and food have never really blown me away, and now tonight (after probably the worst experience I’ve had there) I feel like it’s time I come clean Madison.
I’ve never understood the greeting/​seating situation. I understand it’s a hotel lobby restaurant, informal in nature, but we stood for about 5 minutes tonight watching staffers pass us by before a bartender finally greeted us and told us to take a seat anywhere. In my opinion 5 minutes is 5 minutes too long to wait to acknowledge people who are about to spend money at your establishment.
It got worse.
Apparently they ran out of grapefruit juice and instead of asking the person I was dining with whether or not he wanted something else to drink as they couldn’t make the cocktail he requested, they simply substituted cranberry juice. I don’t feel like I need to expand but DO feel like anytime I run out of anything while cooking or preparing a libation, I will forever just add cranberry juice.
The red spread which I’ve had multiple times lacked flavor. Like… any flavor. It tasted like cold red paste. Not salty paste that you ate when you were a kid. Flavorless paste.
The meatloaf slider was ok, probably the highlight of our night, but the evening was so dismal that this highlight was more of a fading flicker.
The «popped ravioli» is where we lost it and felt cheated out of any sort of decent experience, cheated out of $ 14. I didn’t really understand the dish as written on the menu. What arrived was a weird cross between a lasagna noodle and papardelle. Apparently «popped» ravioli means ravioli that hasn’t been cut, squared, filled, folded… anything really. It’s pasta with the insides that act more like a sauce than a filling. This dish would be better called «lazy man’s ravioli,» or just «pasta and sauce» than popped ravioli which sounds mildly interesting. Do I sound crabby? I am. Am I being fair? I am. Because this like the red spread lacked any sort of flavor. The dish was supposed to have fire roasted eggplant and garlic and I only know that because I just looked at the menu online. You’d have no idea otherwise. The pasta dough needs to be rolled out flatter before it’s cut, the noodles need more salt in the water, the sauce slash filling slash stuff that popped out needs anything… like vegetables, spice, cream, chicken broth… something, and the entire dish needs an anchor. It was disappointing and insanely priced given the fact that it doesn’t have a protein.
The most redeeming part of the evening was our server who admittedly wasn’t great at his job, but he was trying. More than I can say about the rest of the experience.

I could write an ode to the cocktail menu at the Wise.
All of their drinks are very creative & every single one I’ve tried has been amazing! Go soon & try the Cool Mule off of their summer menu (or the original Moscow Mule if you’re not into cucumber in your drinks). They have amazing flavor!
Also, the frittes are hard to beat. Our favorite dipping sauce is the basil mayo.
They have happy hour on week days with some decent drink & appetizer specials. HIGHLY recommended!

Stayed at the hotel red for 2 nights for a meeting. This was not a great experience for food.
1. Tables and chairs made me feel like I needed a booster seat. It made eating very uncomfortable. Next times I sat at the bar height tables. Was better, but I would rather eat with my feet on the ground.
2. Breakfast was good. However, in the book in the room it said they open at 630. They don’t, they open at 7. I did get free coffee while I waited. First day I had this awesome ginger-​apple french toast. Second best french toast I have ever had. It was definitely worth having. Second day, I had this oatmeal with cherry purée. It was good. Not something I would go out of my way to have again. Had some plain breakfast fare on the menu.
3. I would seek out somewhere else for dinner. I’m not a huge fan of the ‘small plate’ type of cuisine. First night I tried some short ribs. They were okay, not awesome and way over priced, even for this sort of establishment. I got about 2 bites of meat that wasn’t fat laden. The tiny potatoes were not even 2 mouthfuls. Second night, had this duck comfit sliders. Better. They were worth ordering but not worth going out of my way for. Sometimes, you just want something simple. There was nothing simple on the menu, except for kids. Add a burger or a simple sandwich for the guests who just want simple.
4. I don’t drink so cannot review anything related to that.
5. They have deserts but don’t have them on the menu. No clue why.

Had lunch there today — it was delicious. The spinach, arugula, and goat cheese salad was a little light on arugula and a little heavy on candied walnuts — but really good — almost a dessert. The fries were salt and peppered to perfection. The grilled cheese was probably the best I’ve ever had. Decadent.
A-​frame Amber on tap is great. I’d like to see a few more micro taps — everything else was pretty typical: spotted cow, hopalicious, and some others. My wife had the pulled pork and gave it a thumbs-​down — she said it might be a style thing though — she was expecting bbq’ed pork…
A bit pricey at $ 40 + tip for lunch for 2, but impressively good. I’ll be back.

This place has great ambiance. If you are looking for a date place, check out the interior of the Wise. It is well lit but cozy. This is a restaurant in a hotel but no need to be a guest at the hotel to try out this place. The outdoor patio of the wise is covered from the fun and makes a nice time for a Badgers game. On a regular day, I would not recommend it because the noise from the street is annoying while you eat.
The food is great. I have only tried a few things on the menu but I appreciate their take on food. I like to have a cocktail and a few small appetizers when I am there. The Wise can be an early cocktail place, a late cocktail place or a dinner place.
The service staff is great and very friendly.

Went here for restaurant week. Right away the host was very welcoming and talkative. The bartender was helpful in picking a drink. The food was so good. Loved the olive oil cake and the spread that came with the bread. At the end the chef even came out to talk with us about the food and the hotel. Never again I’m I going to think that eating at a hotel restaurant is weird.