Blue Moon

In a word: In the bar burger world, it’s not the Nitty, but it’s close.

The specs: #0039
Address, hours & details via Isthmus; reviews by Dennis Getto, Ultimate Madison Bar Tour, Yelp, B^2, Madison Fish Fry, collected at del.icio.us; conversation with the owners at Isthmus; Blue Moon web site;

Latest Blue Moon news and reviews

Emily ate the Blue Moon Burger and a margarita.
JM ate the Best Cheeseburger with pepperjack cheese and a lemonade.
John ate the Pile Driver and a Pepsi.
Kayla ate the veggie burger with pepperjack and a Pepsi.
Monica ate the grilled cheese with pepperjack.
Nichole ate the Best Cheeseburger with cheddar, lettuce, tomato and relish.
We shared some cheese curds while we waited for a table.
The bill was about $60, or $10/person, plus tip.
JM, John, Kayla, Monica and Nichole gave Blue Moon an A-; Emily gave Blue Moon a B (see our grading rubric).

We’d heard from our friend Emily that Blue Moon had great burgers, so we made sure she was along on this meal; oddly enough, she gave Blue Moon a lower grade than the rest of us (even Monica, who was recovering from having all four of her wisdom teeth pulled). Comments follow.

Emily: Out of soup, out of bacon. Encouragement of use of blue cheese. Great burger, great margaritas.

JM: Good sizeable burger. Descent [sic - decent?  (ed.)] service. Loud bar atmosphere. All in all a good burger at an OK location.

John Sams: Great burger, okay ambience if it’s your thing: half-bar/half-balcony with food. Friendly staff, good prices, great every once in a while.

Kayla: Seasoned gardenburger seemed like a slightly lighter choice and seeing Nichole’s massive burger made me feel like I made a good choice. Actually like that fries are a separate order so it’s easier not to eat them. Though I’m not usually into fried cheese curds, these were good with the ranch sauce. The open kitchen/grill was kind of neat. Frattish looking crowd, kind of like a toned-down “Le Metro” [a defunct (?) club in Eau Claire] - subtle, swanky.

Monica: Enough cheese on the grilled cheese. Good as usual.

Nichole: There are more menu choices to be had on Friday, including grilled salmon (sounds yum). HUGE burgers. Brown mustard a plus.

Comments

[amy]

The grilled salmon sandwich on Friday is amazing! It's become my end of week treat.

[Crystal]

I love the Blue Moon Burger, but I don't like how their burgers are so juicy (greasy?) that the bun gets soggy and falls apart.

[bob]

there was a review somewhere about a group requiring ids for not ordering alcohol. so does this mean a group of 20 year olds is going to get kicked out?

[nichole]

You might be thinking of the discussion on the Greenbush Bar post.

[Donna boucher]

I love the Blue Moon burger! BUT, when we went there last Sat., it was sooooo cold and they would not turn on the heat. Burr....we had to eat with our coats on and that's pretty hard to do with those juicy burgers.

[Steve]

Hi like BM's burgers, Reuben, Salmon sandwich and chili. But last Friday I decided to try something different--a bowl of the Seafood Bouquet (Manhattan style).

It was pretty mediocre, I give it a C-. It was salty and the shrimp were over cooked. It had only one clam and the small, flavorless, pencil-eraser-sized scallops.

I wouldn't order it again.

[steve]

Avoid the chili!!! They changed their recipe. It used to be pretty good, but now it is a thin, bitter, tomato soup with beans and chunks of ground beef. The taste was awful--too sour, too tomatoey, not enough chili, and other spices.

What gives???