Heartland Grill

In a word:  Nice and slow.

The specs: #0234
Address, hours & details via Isthmus; review at 77 Square; Madison Sheraton web site.

JM ate the Two Rivers trout with a Blumer's root beer.
John ate the fruit plate.
Nichole ate the salmon fettucine with a coffee.
Rose ate the seared ribeye with a coffee.
The bill was about $50, or $12.50/person, plus tip (thanks, Bucky Book!).
JM, John, Nichole, and Rose all gave Heartland Grill a B (see our grading rubric).

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The Heartland Grill in the Madison Sheraton is a cozy, smallish dining room in the northeast corner of the hotel. It turned out to be one of the better hotel restaurants we've been to for this adventure, and certainly one of the most reasonably priced. It also has some local character, featuring Blumer's soft drinks from Monroe and Prairie-style decorating.

Today we were one of about four parties eating a late lunch. The mood was relaxed and welcoming, and the restaurant itself clean and tidy.

Lunch started with small garlic sourdough rolls. The texture of the crust and crumb were great, but the garlic didn't quite work. It seemed as though the raw cloves had been chopped and added to the dough, which, when baked as hot as it needed to be, burned the garlic.

JM tried a cup of cheese broccoli soup, which was heavy on the cheese, just the way he likes it. He found it filling and rich without being too heavy as a starter.

We had a bit of a wait for our entrees, but this was understandable since it looked like there was only one server for the whole room, and we arrived at the tail end of lunch. Even so, our water glasses were never empty and we had our own carafe of (average) coffee, so it was all (or nearly all) good.

John chose the fruit plate, a beautifully colorful and light meal. He doesn't usually like yogurt, but this mandarin orange variety was good. The blueberry bread was very good as well and needed no extra butter. The plate was mostly melons, of which the canteloupe was the best. The other melons were just OK, but it being February, this was understandable. The grapefruit was probably the ripest of the fruit, while the grapes, pineapple and strawberries were nice.

Nichole's salmon over fettucine was a decent choice. The fettucine itself was a tad crusty in a couple spots, but the fish was tender and moist. The zucchini and tomatoes tossed in with the noodles were fresh, and the feta nicely sharp.

The T'rivers Trout JM chose was a bit tough, the rice subpar, but even he found the veggies surprisingly good.  The rice was not very distinct and the overall quality of the food was good, but not quite great.

Rose's ribeye steak was just OK, and looks small because of the huge steakknife. The skin-on mashed potatoes were yummy. The veggies were very good, and their color really made the presentation shine.

The last, nice touch was that they accepted a Bucky Book coupon that was technically for a 2-for-1 dinner entree, and even deducted one of the more expensive meals instead of the (bargain) fruit plate. We don't know if that's a usual thing or just a function of the relative slowness of the day, but topping off a filling, pretty meal like this, it was a nice perk.