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.
Latest Paradise Lounge news and reviews
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.
That sounds fantastic. I'm going ASAP. Mmmm... cheese curds.
Posted by: Amanda | October 22, 2009 at 10:10 AM
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.
Posted by: The Sconz | October 23, 2009 at 10:15 AM
That sounds like a challenge.
Posted by: Kyle | October 24, 2009 at 01:22 AM
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.
Posted by: che soglin | October 27, 2009 at 12:48 PM
The cheese on a Dise Burger is American. Just in the interest of accuracy ;)
Posted by: Frankie | March 17, 2017 at 11:36 PM