Fitzgerald's of Middleton

Update: Fitzgerald's is closed.

In a word: A place for brunch.

The specs: #0179
Address, hours & details via Isthmus; reviews at Yelp, Madison Fish Fry, collected at del.icio.us; official web site;

JM and Nichole both ate at the brunch bar.
The bill was $27, or $13.50/person, plus tip.
JM gave Fitzgerald's an A; Nichole gave Fitzgerald's an A- (see our grading rubric).

Latest Fitzgerald's of Middleton news and reviews

Fitzgerald's call themselves the "place for steaks," but we found they laid on a nice brunch too. The kind of place your extended family would like you to take them after little Ellie's first communion.

Unlike most buffets, Fitzgerald's doesn't suck. It's homey rather than slick, but once you get past the drab exterior, it's pretty nice.

On this Sunday morning, the buffet  featured a made-to-order omelet bar (bonus points for the huge bowl of salsa), adorable tiny waffles (cuz who wants to fill up on a huge waffle when there are 20 feet of other treats?), salad bar, kids' bar (hot dogs, mac & cheese, etc.), and a fruit and dessert bar including soft serve and toppings...

...not to mention the buffet entrees: broasted chicken, lasagna, baked haddock, turkey and dressing, ham, crockpot ribs, and, of course, bacon, eggs, sausage and pancakes.

Needless to say, we only sampled a bit of this cornucopia, but what we had was of high quality. We overheard some folks, particularly seniors, grumbling about how  they nearly scalded their hands reaching for the items on the back of the hot line. Still, it didn't stop them.

A couple highlights were the delish carrot cake (Nichole's pick) and JM loved the mini corndogs & various gravies (three on his plate at one time!).

We didn't try their Bloody Marys - we'll have to leave that for next time.

Comments

[Adam Mico]

Unbelievable. Either quality went down after the review or the reviewer received some cash under the table. I went to have their buffet with my family on a Saturday. The selection looked appetizing, but tasted HORRIBLE. The food was riddled with salt and sloppily arranged. I was trying to trick my wife into thinking I liked it, but I could make it through a 2nd plate.

The waitress was poor. Her shrill manner and punch-drunk words almost equalled the poor taste of the food.

Sadly, Old Country Buffet's service and food far exceed that of this sh*thole at a 1/4 of the cost.

[Paula]

Oh, it was bad. We had a large group with a reservation and they were constantly out of things for long periods of time. I started in line by the salad bar stating that salads fill me up and I didn't want to do that. After making it thru the line with nothing on my plate, I went back to the salad bar and was even disappointed in that - how could a salad that I created with red onions and blue cheese dressing be bland??? The server never did ask if I wanted anything to drink besides water and the hostess made us wait 5 minutes or so to pay. It was sad really...not even the bacon was good.

[nichole]

Yeah. After this weekend, I hereby pull my endorsement. Nasty, off-the-shelf Wal-Mart futter. But the line was out the door for Father's Day.