The Klassik Tavern

4.75 stars
While Klassik might not make the «Madison Best of: Fish Fry» … it has many features that should raise eyebrows:
Location: proximity to my house is… 10 min away. ⁵⁄₅
Wait time: «come right in; sit right down» less than a 5 min wait (on a March Madness night with Wisco playing!) Crazy! This is worth 3 stars alone! ⁶⁄₅
Parking: right there! Lot + easy street ⁵⁄₅
Friday specials: easy to read… multiple choices ⁵⁄₅
Old Fashioned: their «own mix»? We weren’t at the bar, so I didn’t get to watch. I had to stir up something from the bottom, but unsure if this was muddled or a pre-​mix. Who cares? My Whiskey OF sour tasted great! ⁵⁄₅
Supper Club: One review mentioned this. Not really. At least not traditional. Bar on one full side, with a dining area on the other and some tables on the upper level. In the main dining area, a basic tan paint job with nice comfy seats and one modest TV. Based on my other supper club experiences, this was NOT a club, but a very nice tavern. (I know the name of the place!) No rating.
Atlantic Fried Cod: SO GOOD! 2 good size pieces, medium type crunchy breading, with perfect salt/​pepper, remained moist without an oily bottom, that still allowed the cod flavor to shine through. ⁵⁄₅
Almond Crusted baked Walleye: SO MOIST! 1 extra large (half the fish) piece on a hot plate. There was juice under this fish, from all it’s own moisture (plus a BUNCH of butter — take a Lactaid). The Almonds gave it a light crunch and faint hint of almond (not too nutty). Comes with a lemon to add a different dimension. This was a little bland compared to the cod, but still very good. ⁴⁄₅
Slaw: WET!!! It’s more of a soup than slaw, which would be fine IF I’d gotten a ROLL with the meal. Chopped. Seasoning was good mayo-​vinegar + onion!!! (I LOVE onions) I was sad this was such a small portion. I need more! ⁴⁄₅
Hashbrowns: the BEST! I thought the cheesy hashbrowns casserole from Quivey’s was the best, but for a simple hashbrown, this canNOT be beat! They somehow keep them grilled AND moist, with a sour cream taste WITHOUT sour cream (I asked)! These are just so good. No cheese needed. ⁵⁄₅
Tartar sauce: I do not like tartar, but I tried this «homemade“one. It’s heavy on the sweet pickle side. I will not rate.
Cons: no free pre-​meal dinner rolls, no relish type appetizer, no bread WITH our meal, tartar sauce was in a squeeze bottle on the table (unsure of temp control), and not enough slaw.
Bonus: This place has an infectious «happiness» to it. I mean everyone is so nice. PLUS the Badgers won the basketball game AS WE WERE THERE! The whole place was whoopin’ and hollerin’. Everyone was sportscasting to the next table who’d asked «what happened?!» It was a fun time. And THEN… we were out by 8:30 pm to move on to the next big thing that night!!! Well, I’ve never got out of fish fry that early! The night is young and off we go!

I have no idea why people give this place such high praise. First, the décor is early ugly 1970s, and not in a good way. There’s nothing kitch about ugly… it’s just ugly. I ordered a Guinness before my meal. No glass was offered. Guinness needs to be enjoyed from a glass, thus with no glass, it was not. I ordered the French Dip and requested no onions. Unfortunately, the menu made no mention of the green peppers. It’s not a Philly Steak and Cheese, it’s a French Dip, which does not include green peppers. I ordered the cheesy potatoes, which also came with onions. Again, a big dislike. The soup of the day was, can you guess? French onion. What is it with onions at this place? The waitress seemed hurried and inattentive. She drop our plates on the table and left without asking if we needed anything else. When she came back 5 minutes later to check on us, we did in fact need something else. My companion’s chicken sandwich was just okay, in her words… and even though she does not mind onions, she also felt the cheesy hash browns were very heavy on the onions. The beef on the French dip was thick cut, which I do not care for. Thinly sliced is better. The sandwich roll was rather weak and was not able to handle the fatty, thick cut beef. So nothing good to say about this place; and of course when we cashed out, the hostess short-​changed me $ 10. Nice. Needless to say, it’s one and done for this «klassic».

Some things in life aren’t what they seem. The Klassik is not one of them, though. What you see is what you get. Better like the Badgers and the Packers, otherwise you will take some guff. My son the Damn FIB is a regular here, so we got treated well. We came for a Sunday brunch before a Badgers/​Illini basketball game, wearing orange, so we took grief. Which was great. I confess I don’t remember particulars about the meal, probably due to the strength of the bloody marys. It was some sort of omelet sandwich on English muffins. I’m not sure this is a place to take little kids, but if you and your friends wanted to let loose a little, come to the Klassik. They’ll let ya.

We both got the Atlantic cod fish fry special. For $ 10.95 out comes with two giant lumps of cod, a multigrain dinner roll, choice of potato (fries, sweet potato fries, hashbrowns, or naked), and a generous container of lightly dressed, finely shredded coleslaw.
The fish is phenomena! Great seasoning, crisp batter, and moist. The hashbrowns were exquisitely seasoned, with diced fried onions. So good and flavorful. The sweet potato fries could have stood to stay in the fryer a little longer.
There is attention to every detail, and you can definitely taste it.
The pick up service could use a little fine tuning. The waitress that was working the register didn’t say a word the entire time we were paying and checking out.
Definitely would recommend a stop here if your in the area.

I wasn’t sure what a supper club was when I decided to walk up the road from the Holiday Inn, but I’m glad I did. This unassuming, unpresumptuous establishment was quiet, relaxed, and comfortable, yet classy. I enjoyed an excellent medium rare filet and glass of Cabernet, served in a proper glass. More recently, I tried the French Dip, which they make with prime rib. It melted in my mouth and was without question the best French Dip I’ve ever had. Fair prices and excellent, attentive service. If you’re here for Epic training and are tired of trendy, busy brew pubs, this is the place for you. They still serve craft beer! Just minus the loud, business traveler crowd.

It’s a supper club with great service and decent food. I sat at the bar first. I met the owner, Dok (aka Bruce), who was more than happy to sit and talk with you, swap funny stories, even bought me a drink. All the bartenders were great. Then I got a table in the dining room, to sit for dinner. It was a Saturday, so they had prime rib on special. Prime rib dinner with potato and a salad for $ 18.95. We ordered one prime rib dinner, and I got the 10oz tenderloin, which came with one side, either a salad, soup, vegetable, or potato, for $ 22.95. Both dinners were ok. I ordered my tenderloin Medium Rare, and it was Medium in the middle and Medium Well at the ends. The prime rib was cooked to order, but it was a little on the tough side. Neither of our steaks melted in our mouths, like we had hoped. Overall, I might go back because we got great service at the bar.

Wow, if this is the best Verona has to offer, I feel for the people who live there. I could have had a better meal at one of the coffee shops nearby. We sat outside for the music which was as sad as the meal. Service was super slow with only 3 occupied tables on the patio. It’s hard to actually describe how mediocre the food was, like rancid butter, stale buns, limp cold vegetables, etc.

Staff was extremely friendly. Definitely made us feel like home even though it was our first time there. The bartender made it a point to call me by my first name through our conversations which I’ve never experienced before. Would have probably stayed longer but I think I’m use to Columbia county prices because they seemed a little high here.

Came early on a Friday night and there were lots of open tables in the main dining room but for some odd reason we were taken up to a small room that had maybe 3 tables. And there we sat all alone for maybe 5 minutes before the waitress arrived to get our drink orders and then left us alone again in this little room. I felt like I had been punished for some reason and been sent to my room. I mean, why can’t we be done there with all those other people who are having fun and laughing, while here I am stuck in this little room all by ourselves. Just weird.
The atmosphere of the place is like going back to the 60’s. I think Disney Land has a restaurant like that in their MGM park. Well by golly you can have that same feel right here in Verona at much less cost than Disney.
Now to the food. I was the only one in the family to get the fish dish (fried cod). It was plenty of food (2 nice sized pieces) but they were battered too much and slightly over cooked. Definitely a «3» for Unilocal.The fries were from a frozen bag and were below average. My wife got a burger which was average, but she praised the hash browns that came with it. Daughter 1 got a BLT wrap which she said was quite good. Daughter 2 got an appetizer of chicken wings with a side of cheesy potatoes. The wings were pronounced superb but the potatoes just OK.
Oh, and then just as we were finishing another group was seated in our little room so it finally felt like a real restaurant.
Bottom line, their are other places that do better Friday night fish. I’ll be going to those places in the future.

Went to The Klassik to watch a packers playoff game… that they ended up losing… and met up with some friends here who lived out in Verona. The outside doesn’t look like anything special, but when you walk in, it’s actually quite big. To the right is a banquette room, as well as if you go straight downstairs. To the Left was the bar. Filled with TVs, love the almost horseshoe bar, and not positive if they sell food or not cause when we were there they were doing a potluck. But the drinks there were fantastic, I ended up getting two Mimosas that were so good, and huge for $ 4 which I thought was at a pretty awesome price. Our bartender was the sweetest, super attentive to everyone in the bar, and was just awesome.
I’d definitely give Klassik another go on another game day :)

The kind of place where you can mind your own business and have a drink or leave with everyone knowing your name. Supper Club experience or old school bar where owner stops in and buys you a drink (he did!). Sally, Jimmy, and Phil will entertain as needed and are solid. No fancy drinks but good beer and company. And you can request a pink squirrel or grasshopper if Dok is in. We left with a gift of bread and a smile.

I was hoping they would turn out to be a good old school supper club with good steaks and fish fry but I’m disappointed. I’ve been to the restaurant about 4 times in the last couple of years and never come away feeling like I had a quality meal.
You can go to the local Culvers and get a better fish fry for less money. I had a steak and the salad as the starter was something my kids would make, tiny and iceberg with little else and the steak was thin and overcooked.
It gets two stars because the bar is nice and they make very good cocktails. This is a good place to meet for a few drinks, but eat elsewhere.

After a long hot bike ride, we found this place nearby and decided our legs could use a little post-​ride walking to stretch out. So we walked over and headed on inside to… a very empty restaurant. It was only like 4 in the afternoon and the kitchen wasn’t supposed to open for almost another hour, but we were hungry!
Thankfully, the owner and the cook were very accommodating and let us put our order in then. We would have been really disappointed if we had to leave with empty stomachs. I ordered a big juicy burger with fries and it was awesome. I was so hungry that I demolished the whole thing.

Bar and bartenders are first rate!
Their beef is simply awful. They need to find a new vendor. Either that or their fridge needs replacement.
Wait staff in the bar is excellent. Wait staff in the dining room is beyond rude. We’ve tried it at least 6 or 7 times. We will not return

I’m not sure why this place averages 4.5 stars. The food here is okay. I’ve had worse, but there is nothing special about the food. It is one step up from bar food. They are noted for ribs and while they were good, there are better places to have ribs. The cheesy hash browns were terrible. A mound of undercooked potatoes and onions (which weren’t noted in the description) with a slab of cheese on top. The décor is old but charming. It’s like walking into my grandmothers house with a bar. I would not recommend if your looking to have a fabulous meal, but if you just need something to eat, this place will work.

I heard a lot of good reviews from Verona locals. My boyfriend and I decided to visit The Klassik for dinner. Best decision of the week!
As soon as we walked in, we noticed the bar on the right side and the restaurant to the left. Very clean and decorated with appealing modern décor. We ordered the cheese curds as an appetizer, Doktor Burgers — See uploaded photo, and the house made Snickers cheesecake. All were delicious! The service was wonderful and attentive. Will definitely return.

The Klassik is a great bar and supper club down in Verona. Walking inside, the bar is down to the right hand side. It’s a long room with an interesting layout.
The bar itself is the length or the room. It juts out a little ¼ of the way down before tucking back in another ¼ of the way down, then takes a shallow angle inboard to the end of the room, where it doglegs back in on itself at almost 180 degrees. This forms a commanding table out at the very end of the bar. It’s pretty cool, but it mans you’ll need a minute to figure out where to sit! There are a few hi-​top tables on the perimeter and a big picture window with a good view outside. The bar stools themselves have low back with wings that wrap around into armrests — super-​comfortable and great to sit in for a long while.
The food is excellent and I have yet to have a bad anything. Dinner plates come with fresh baked rolls, choice of potato, a wedge salad and main dish. The grouper sandwich was delicious. Their ribs were shockingly good with a pleasantly sweet yet spicy sauce; they’re easily the best ribs I’ve had in Wisconsin — drop in on Wednesdays where you can get a full-​rack for the half-​rack price. The wedge salad on offer is a ¹⁄₅ wedge of super-​crisp iceberg with carrot, cucumber and fresh baby spinach served with dressing — the ranch dressing and blue cheese dressing are both homemade and good options.
I’ve also sampled the cod fish fry a friend had as well as the fried shrimp special. Both are available on Fridays. I noted very high quality fish and shrimp here. The cod had a delicate sweetness I don’t find at other places and the battering was light and crisp. The shrimp are jumbo size and obviously from the Gulf of Mexico; they had that tender richness I’ve only had before in New Orleans. Cocktail sauce is homemade and how I would make it if I were to do it myself — just the right amount of horseradish to be spicy but shrimp and crispy batter flavors still come through. This is a great treat and I plan to return just for these alone. The loaded baked potato was ok and could have been baked a bit more, but despite being wall-​to-​wall packed nothing else was under– or over– cooked.
Johanna and Jimmy down at the bar are the nicest bartenders in the area and treat you like a regular from your first visit on. The waitstaff is just as nice.
I can’t recommend this place strongly enough. I’ve never been in the dining room, but I imagine its at least as good as the bar area. Enjoy it!

This was a very old fashion type restaurant. I didn’t go to the bar but it was hopping for a weekday evening.
The food was good, though I didn’t try the fish. I ordered meat loaf. It was nice.

Friday fish fry is good and at a fair price, lake perch also very good. Service was excellent and drinks from the bar came quickly and priced right. One person in our party had the ribeye and enjoyed it.
Overall a good place to go with great service and fair pricing. One last comment, we had the banana cream pie and it was very good, it looked and tasted like it was homemade.

We keep trying other places and then return to The Klassik for fish! Both the baked and deep fried cod are awesome. The perch is also excellent. Lots of potato choices and for a small additional charge you can get a wedge salad. Outdoor seating in the summer is really nice, and the inside also has a nice feel… updated from the Cozy Inn that previously occupied the space. Bruce and his staff are very friendly and attentive, stopping by to make sure everything is OK. Drinks are good, beer is cold. No complaints, just a nice relaxing Friday evening with a good fish dinner.