Elie's Family Restaurant

In a word: Depth takes a holiday.

The specs: #0753  
Address, hours & details via Isthmus and again; reviews at Yelp;

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JM ate the chicken fried steak with fries, corn, and a lemonade.
Nichole ate the beef macaroni soup and a Monte Cristo with a decaf.
The bill was $22, or $11/person, plus tip.
JM gave Elie's Family Restaurant a B-; Nichole gave Elie's Family Restaurant a B+ (see our grading rubric).

We never made it to Prime Table, Elie's predecessor in that one strip mall in Monona, but it's a totally different family restaurant now. They've got some of the same hallmarks - sturdy soups, a salad bar, an epic menu of sandwiches, burgers, broiled meats, menu sections marked "lighter side," "kids" and "seniors" - but the inside is new and shiny. Also huge.

Peering down the length of the dining room, we could see right to a vanishing point. The space was mostly empty but we got the feeling that we would have gotten the same graceful service even during a rush.

The salad bar was iceberg-standard and lots of mayonnaise-based salads (egg, tuna, potato etc.) The soup du jour was beefy mac. It was full of fat and salt, vegetables, and forgivably goopy noodles.

The chicken fried steak was just fine with snappy fresh mushrooms served under a gravy that was a little thicker that it ought've been mostly due to its time under a heat lamp. The fries did a good job soaking up the remnants.

Meanwhile, the Monte Cristo was egg-soaked Texas toast, proper (i.e. not pressed) ham and turkey cuts, and melted Swiss. Sweet pickles and maple-flavored syrup rounded it off. In our opinion, it's a decent addition to the Madison Monte Cristo scene.

We need to learn to quit when we're ahead or we're gonna keep ending up with pieces of monstrously bright green pie (see also: Cozee Inn). This "key lime pie" was not made in-house, so no one at Elie's is technically to blame for this gelatin and whipped topping mess. Sorry, it was bad.

When we go back we'll pass on the salad bar, double down on soup, check out the pork chops (3 for $10? What kind of crazy deal is that?), and skip dessert to get some Java Cat gelato.