Eating in Madison A to Z: Northside Family Restaurant

In a word: When cost trumps everything.

The specs: #0421
Address, hours & details via Isthmus,

Latest Northside Family Restaurant news and reviews at del.icio.us

JM ate the chopped steak and eggs.
Nichole ate the Monte Cristo with a cup of vegetable beef soup.
The bill was $15, or $7.50/person, plus tip.
JM gave Northside Family Restaurant a C; Nichole gave Northside Family Restaurant a D+ (see our grading rubric).

Since changing name (and ownership from the Sofra nee Bavaria Family Restaurant/Copper Top/Prime Table group to the Parkway proprietor) from American Family Table, Northside Family Restaurant has suffered somewhat. When we visited they were in the midst of a remodeling project that could easily be in its third year. While our server and hostess were both friendly and fast, and kids eat free on Tuesdays and Saturdays, we found little else to recommend the place. The desserts in the spinning case (which wasn't spinning anymore) are all brought in from someplace corporate. Plus, they serve Pepsi.

JM's dinner had less nuance than a Burger King meal, the chopped steak being bland and the hashbrowns standard. The eggs were decent, neither too greasy nor too dry, and the toast was good (but who doesn't like toast, and how hard is it to make?)

When it rains it pours - for her second Monte Cristo in as many weeks, after years of drought, Nichole found several things about this one that could be used as examples of what not to do. Acceptable French toast was about the only passing part of the dish. Thick, gristly slabs of ham and turkey were doused in an Elmers-like liquid that might have supposed to attempt to pass for Swiss cheese. The syrup came in the usual plastic carafe with sliding metal spout, which was stuck open, and the syrup inside swirled with heavy particulates. The plate was garnished with a bruised, floppy pickle. Nichole wished she'd sprung for the $2 Bloody just so she wouldn't remember these details.

We really hate to slag on a place that serves affordable, no-frills food in this town, but we can't really recommend Northside Family Restaurant.