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Namio's Sports Pub

Namio's menuUpdate 9/5/13: Namio's is now Funk's Pub.

In a word: Seminole Highway's Great Dane (or maybe that's underselling it).

The specs: #0762  
Address, hours & details via Isthmus; reviews at Yelp, Madison Restaurant Reviews, Wisconsin State Journal, Channel 3000, The Food Hunt; Facebook, Namio's Sports Pub on Urbanspoon

Latest Namio's Sports Pub news and reviews

JM ate the Western burger with a lemonade.
Nichole ate the tomato soup and salad combo with a Batch 19.
We split some deep-fried baby dill pickles.
The bill was $25, or $12.50/person, plus tip.
JM and Nichole both gave Namio's Sports Pub a B+ (see our grading rubric).

Namio's Sports Pub is in Fitchburg amidst what looked like 15 different tiny health clubs out behind the abandoned hulk of Jimmy's/Kickshaw/Good Times/Fitch's. It was one of the few places in town to try Coors' "pre-Prohibition" recipe Batch 19, so Nichole did. It wasn't worth crossing the picket line for.

We splurged on one of the fancier appetizers, deep fried baby dill pickles. Pro: they were almost certainly made in-house (i.e., not from a freezer bag) and the breading was low on salt, a good match for the briny pickles. Cons: the sturdy crumb breading didn't adhere to the pickle, so we got that onion-slides-out-of-ring effect with every bite, and the garlic aioli was too thick.

Fried pickles and beer

Namio's signature fire roasted tomato soup is great bar soup. It was thick, not overly creamy, and though pureed it was chunky, with bits of blackened tomato skin. It was rustic and warming. The side salad had a surfeit of punch-you-in-the-throat balsamic vinaigrette. Both would have made "A" status with a couple croutons or just a pinch of grated Parmesan.

JM's a fan of Western burgers in general with their appealing bacon, BBQ and warm onion combination. This one came on toasted ciabatta slightly larger than a regular bun, and the beef patty went all the way to the edges. It was done to order medium rare and was very juicy. Here the cheddar, caramelized onions, bacon, and sweet-smoky BBQ sauce were a good combo that went down easy. The fries were standard.

Western burgerSoup and salad

Our meal took a long time, but we disagreed on whether this was due to slow service or a slow kitchen. Our server sure walked fast, and did get everything perfect.

It is loud in there but it's a pretty good value. There must be hundreds of people living a few blocks away; if they know where to find Namio's Sports Pub, they should go.

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