Paradise Lounge

In a word: Low-rent in an awesome way.

The specs: #0472  
Address, hours & details via Isthmus; reviews at Yelp, , Eat Drink Madison; MySpace page.

JM ate the grilled ham and cheese and a lemonade.
Nichole ate the Paradise burger with a PBR.
We split some cheese balls.
The bill was $18, or $9/person, plus tip.
JM and Nichole gave Paradise Lounge an A- (see our grading rubric).

This was our first visit to the 'Dise, and it was nigh empty of a Thursday night at 8. There were a few regulars at the bar telling stories loudly and doing wifi tech support ("There shouldn't be a password. Just get on the Frequency's. Or try Shamrock's.") We slid into a wooden 2-person booth just across from the bar and JM made Nichole order up.

We shared a basket of cheese balls, basically tater-tot shaped curds served with ranch dressing which, if anything, were a little less fun than average. JM broke his ham and cheese fast with this impossibly salty and greasy and incredibly warm and delicious sandwich. It was good to have a comfort meal after two days of travel in the land of the gagga. Each sandwich basket was stocked with ample dill pickle chips.

Nichole's Paradise Burger stacked up on Kate's burger rating guide:

• Bun: very buttery and toasted; round, soft on top.
• Meat: large yet thick patty.
• Bun/meat ratio: perfect.
• Cheese: supposedly pepper jack but conspicuously absent.
• Misc.: Bacon ample; tomato and lettuce there just for superfluous crunch. 6.5 of 10 overall.

While missing cheese on a cheeseburger might normally be cause for docked points, Nichole's not docking anything from the bartender who made our food. JM noticed that he seemed to have injured his hand (in the bloody sense) while cooking and took a second to bandage it up. Nichole had missed the action (checking out the very divey restroom) and when she returned JM reported the incident, capping it off with, "Well, it's not like he's crying like a [chick]."

Yeah. Good bar grub.

Comments

[Amanda]

That sounds fantastic. I'm going ASAP. Mmmm... cheese curds.

[The Sconz]

Ha! I've been waiting for you guys to review this one. I think the cheese balls depend on how long they keep them in the fryer. The cheese needs to be melted in the middle. That being said, nobody in their right mind can eat an entire serving.

[Kyle]

That sounds like a challenge.

[che soglin]

My first friday lunch with the co-workers when I moved back to Madison - it is just about perfect for those of us raised on grimy wisconsin bar/restaurants.

Glad to hear is the same.

Low-rent in an awesome way is a perfect description.