Eating in Madison A to Z

Olive Garden Italian Restaurant

In a word: When you're here, you're famished.

The specs: #0444  
Address, hours & details via Isthmus; reviews at Yelp; official web site.

Chuck ate the all-you-can-eat soup and salad lunch combo.
JM ate the cheese ravioli with a lemonade.
John Se. ate the eggplant Parmesan.
Kim ate the lasagna classico with a diet Coke.
Nichole ate the chicken Caesar salad with a diet Coke.
SM ate the capellini pomodoro.
Steve ate the lasagna classico.
The bill was ? - thanks, birthday treaters!
John Se. gave Olive Garden a B; JM, Steve S. and SM gave Olive Garden a B-; Kim gave Olive Garden a B-/C+; Nichole gave Olive Garden a C-.

Another year older, another work lunch for JM. This time in the foodie hell that is the OG. We set aside our preconceived notions and tucked into our meal.

A couple of our party really noticed the slow service. Especially Chuck, who ordered the multi-course soup sampler meal, the value of which is predicated on the ability to try different kinds of soup in small bowls before your companions finish their pasta. In this case he barely got to eat a bowl of the admittedly good chili and sausage soup. Perhaps this makes the OG the best place for an office lunch - if everyone's enduring the same wait, at least the anxiety of being late back to work is mitigated.

The family-style bowl of salad was presented with a flourish and served very cold, and almost overdressed in oil. Despite that, it was the best part of JM's meal, even better than the forgettable cheese ravioli, which were neither as flavorful nor as good at sopping up the marinara as he'd hoped. Nichole's Caesar salad was not noteworthy.

The lasagna could have used more sauce and less ricotta. On the other hand, the capellini pomodoro was well-sauced, even more so than a "good" local Italian restaurant SM declined to name. The eggplant Parmesan was soggy and greasy, though the pasta was al dente. Nobody really yummed up the breadsticks, which seemed to be of the frozen dough variety.

Bottom line: The OG is filling and mostly inoffensive. That said, we don't know who really clamors to go there, outside of cash strapped college-agers who think of it as a "nice" "date" 'straunt.

Oliva

In a word: The Near East on the Far West side.

The specs: #0443 
Address, hours & details via Isthmus; reviews at 77 Square 1/16/09 and 1/14/09, Decider, Yelp, official web site.

Doug ate the stuffed eggplant.
JM ate the lamb kabob.
John F. ate the lasagna and a couple beers.
John Sams ate the shrimp and artichoke dish.
Nichole ate the shepherd salad.
Ross ate the manicotti with a beer.
Samantha ate the felafel's with soup.
We split the baklava, rice pudding, and tiramisu.
The bill was $130 plus tip.
JM and Doug gave Oliva an A-; John Sams, Nichole, and Samantha gave Oliva a B+.

Oliva occupies the spot where Grape and Company used to be, and it seems to cater to the slightly upscale Mediterranean food loving public. With Asia Express and Swagat just down the strip mall, this corner of the west side is a bit of a gem.

Dinner for our large group started with baskets of pita (not the flatbread variety, this kind fluffy and toasty outside). It was accompanied by a great housemade garlic and olive tapenade. A decent selection of beers and wine, as well as traditional tea, were available.

Many of us opted for the lentil soup as a starter. Heavily spiced with cumin, and a dollop of spearmint oil on top.the soup had a thick, rich texture. The house salad dressing had a great lemony bite to it.

The biggest hit of the table was probably JM's lamb kabob. The tenderness of the meat really made an impression on JM, as did the sweet and creamy yogurt and fresh grilled vegetables. John's shrimp and artichokes in cream sauce was also memorable and used good ingredients.

Samantha's felafel's was excellent, though she appreciates a less homogeneous texture than this one had. Of the Italian-style dishes, Ross's manicotti was standard but used good cheese; likewise the lasagna John F. ordered was stuffed with cheese and melted in the mouth. Doug's stuffed eggplant didn't manage to overcome the vegetable's inherent blandness, but the sauce was still delicious.

The shepherd's salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, and feta cheese was cool and fresh, but suffered from a veritable lake of water at the bottom. The tomatoes were not quite ripe, but the dry feta was tangy and there was plenty of it, and having pitted olives made chewing easier.

The desserts were mostly serviceable treats. The tiramisu disappeared in a flash; the rice pudding was nicely cinnamon-ed. The baklava, sadly, seemed to have gotten soggy from sitting too long.

Oliva's decor reminds one most of a high school cafeteria, but don't let that fool you.  Oliva offers things ranging from decent to downright tasty and a very reasonable price. 

Old Town Pub

In a word: Not stellar, but better than it looks.

The specs: #0442  
Address, hours & details via Isthmus; reviews at Yelp, Decider, .

JM ate the burger with a lemonade.
Nichole ate the Reuben.
The bill was $13 plus tip.
JM and Nichole both gave Old Town Pub a B+.

Old Town Pub doesn't overserve vowels - we were so pleased it's not Olde Towne anything. Likewise, the sandwiches we got were not huge or overstuffed. We can't speak to the drinks, however.

Swivel factor was at a minimum, and the bartender/cook was fast and friendly. The menu included bar favorites (fried everything) as well as surprises like prime rib, chili dogs, and salads. Some items had a twist, such as the beany chili nachos, which offended JM's anti-bean sensibilities. So we settled on a couple sandwiches.

The marble rye of the Reuben was very light, the corned beef cut medium thick and not especially "corny," as it were. The Swiss cheese had melted completely, and the sum of the parts had the effect of a cloud - truly, a light, fluffy Reuben cloud, and very good. (Some regulars call it the best Reuben in Madison, according to the cook.) That said, had it been a carryout sandwich, it might not have fared as well.

JM's burger:

• Bun: decent and not too bready
• Meat: good on the Sysco quality scale
• Bun/meat ratio: average
• Cheese: not noteworthy
• Misc.: crispy veg, clean finish, not greasy, good snap in each bite. About a 6.5 of 10 overall.

We'd add Old Town Pub to our short list of "places to snack cheap before grocery shopping at Woodmans West," where they're in good company with La Bamba.