Dayton Street Cafe

Update: Now Dayton Street Grille.

In a word: The upscale downtown salad bar.

The specs: #0122
Address, hours & details via Isthmus; reviews at Isthmus, 77 Square once and twice, Onion AV Club, Taste Test Madison; official web site,

Latest Dayton Street Grille news and reviews at del.icio.us

JM ate the The Mushroom Swiss Burger.
Kayla, Marco, and Nichole ate at the salad bar.
The bill was about $32, or $8/person, plus tip.
JM gave Dayton Street Cafe an A; Nichole and Kayla gave Dayton Street Cafe an A-; Marco gave Dayton Street Cafe a B+ (see our grading rubric).

We were pleasantly surprised by the Dayton Street Cafe inside the Concourse Hotel. It turned out to be the Platonic ideal of a salad bar, and JM's burger was near perfect, too.

Kayla had this to say: "It's the best salad bar I've ever had." She praised its freshness, variety, and bean sprouts. Marco especially appreciated the vegtarian chili, which was tasty even to non-vegetarians. At $7 for 6 kinds of soup, croissants and deli cuts, and a myriad of salad toppings, the salad bar was very affordable for the quality.

JM: Raves! Great service, great cake, great burger; decent fries, just filling enough; good price.

We all noticed the background music, which refused to fade into the background. "California Girls" just didn't fit the feel of the room. We also noticed - in a good way - the waitstaff. Our waiter was very attentive and helpful, and had a very subtle sense of humor.

So, yeah, not a bad destination for an inexpensive lunch downtown.