Olive Lounge
In a word: I don't care! Olive it!
The specs: #00994
9 E Wilson St., Madison 53703
Details at Yelp, official web site
Latest Olive Lounge news and reviews
JM and Nichole ate the cheese plate and truffle fries.
The bill was $27, or $14/person, plus tip.
JM gave Olive Lounge a B; Nichole gave Olive Lounge a C+ (see our grading rubric).
Of all the meal types that we most frequently skip, after-work drinks is right up there with fifthmeal, dunch and Christmas Chinese. So, Olive Lounge in the Hilton, which leans so heavily on the after-work drinks motif that it is mostly otherwise invisible, is not really for us. If you want to meet someone somewheres posh, sure.
Olive Lounge is fancy. Plush chairs and tall ceilings make the room feel even more affected than it probably really is. The good news is that the place still felt friendly. The bad news is that plush chairs don't come cheap.
We got a cheese plate that was flipping huge but cost double digits, so it all balances out. Ample hunks of Swiss, cheddar and pepper jack were served with traditional crackers and olives of two kinds. There were big green ones, and kalamatas with some orange zest, which was a nice touch. The cheese plate was served with a horseradish Dijon mustard, which was good but not novel. We were hoping maybe for a nice fruit mustard or something herb-y. We took enough cheese cubes home to pack in our lunches for the next three days.
JM liked the truffle fries with Sarvecchio, which didn't come with quite enough ketchup, but he used some of the mustard too so it was OK. The preparation here was golden and crispy with fries that were on the thinner side while still being short of frites. The flavor combos were very pleasant across both dishes.
So, basically, if you are looking for a nice upscale place for drinks after work with some goodies to nibble on, sure, Olive Lounge.
Seems like it should be fancier cheeses than "pepper jack".
Posted by: Marissa M. | April 08, 2016 at 12:37 PM