« Maharani | Main | Manna Cafe »

Main Depot

Main DepotIn a word: Its motives are far from loco.

The specs: #0364
Address, hours & details via Isthmus; reviews at Badger Herald and again; Main Depot on Urbanspoon

JM ate the chicken strips and fries with a lemonade.
Nichole ate the bleu cheese burger with chips and a Leinie's Red.
The bill was $15, or $7.50/person, plus tip.
JM gave Main Depot a B; Nichole gave Main Depot an A- (see our grading rubric).

Latest Main Depot news and reviews

Main Depot is a gem of a friendly, local, downtown bar, just off the bike path on Main Street. There were several ways in which Main Depot and their bartenders did stuff perfectly:

  1. Hosted an office party but didn't crank the tunes too loud to talk.
  2. Recommended a specific menu item (the burgers) instead of saying "Everything is good!"
  3. Answered the phone on the first ring.

Chicken fingersThe chicken finger basket was fine for what it was, having been simply dumped from a freezer bag into the fry medium. The fries were a titch freezer-burned but came with a very creamy honey mustard (ranch and BBQ being the other offerings) and retained their heat well.

Bleu cheese burgerOn the other hand, the bartender's burger recommendation was well-taken. The Main Depot's burger, according to Kate's burger rating guide:

  • Bun: too soft, but buttered and lightly toasted.
  • Meat: handmade patty from Jenifer St. Market meat, very tasty and cooked to order, medium rare.
  • Bun/meat ratio: just right.
  • Cheese: perfect amount of nice, salty bleu cheese.
  • Misc.: The bartender brought out a bottle of bleu cheese dressing, which Nichole didn't use but thought was a nice touch. Was also offered a pickle, which turned up sadly missing. Kettle chips were average. An 8.5 of 10 overall.

We also appreciated that they offered Pepsi on tap, but also Coke in cans. Plus there was a certain solidarity we felt when we saw the Blugolds pennant. So while the food is mostly just an afterthought to the drinks, we'd trust a guy whose local was the Main Depot.

Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

I used to work right around the corner from Main Depotabout nine years ago. It sounds like the burgers there haven't changed at all.

The comments to this entry are closed.

NEWS

Listen to The Corner Table podcast "Remembering Restaurants," aired December 24, 2020, where Chris and Lindsay talk with us "about the menus and memories left behind when restaurants go away."

Madison Food coverInfo about our book Madison Food: A History of Capital Cuisine is here, or read it for free thanks to the library - print & ebook.


SEARCH EATING IN MADISON A TO Z

BROWSE EATING IN MADISON A TO Z
OUR FAVORITES


About Follow madisonatoz on Twitter Contact
Blogroll Ad 
Free Blog
Read our book and food tour
Dish du jour Creative Commons License subscribe to RSS Subscribe
Memo to restaurants Bloggers' Rights at EFF Quizzes
Reflections BlogWithIntegrity.com Tip jar
Banner image by Kayla Morelli, Red Wheelbarrow Design