Burgers Blues Barbecue - Madison — Restaurant in Madison

I was looking forward to eating a great burger today. My wife set up a birthday gathering for a friend of hers and about 30 people showed up. The manager was informed 2 weeks in advance of our group so there was no surprise when a large group showed up to eat. I have had good food here before so we thought this would be a great place for the party. We had 2 servers for our group and they never told us their names and my wife and I were there an hour before the party started to set up. Our servers were nice and did help us get ready a little but when more people showed up the service started to fall way down the tubes. They would get several drink orders, go to the bar, and would come back to our table with ONE drink in their hand carrying it like they were going to drink it themselves. What happened to "full hands in, full hands out?" They put themselves in the weeds from the start. That made service horrible and 70% of our group felt the same way about the service. We had to go to the servers station to get our own silverware.

Now I was really looking forward to my meal cause I knew what I wanted before we got there. Three of my favorite things to eat are bacon and eggs, hamburgers, and grilled cheese sandwiches. And what do you know, the Big Jack Johnson has a large patty, bacon, a fried egg, and two grilled cheese sandwiches to serve as the bun with ranch dressing! Man my mouth is watering right now just thinking about THAT burger. After the food was served we had to go and get our own silverware and our servers never checked on us to make sure our food was right.

You would think that all of that greasy food making up one burger would be spectacular. Not this time. That was the driest burger I have ever had! There was no ranch dressing on the sandwich nor was it served on the side. The beef patty seemed to have been pressed while it was cooked removing all of the fat, juices, spices, and any flavor it once had. Bland, bland, bland. The fried egg was cooked over well and that made that part of the burger dry also. The egg is supposed to have a runny yolk unless the customer wants it over cooked. The bacon was also dry as a bone. And the last part of this beautifully described burger are the two grilled cheese sandwiches, they were dry as a bone also and you could barely see cheese between the slices of bread and of course no flavor there either. The food could have been made right if just one of our servers would have just asked "how is your food this evening." That never happened. Now I know what you're thinking, there were over 30 people at your table how do they ask if the food is good with a large group like that. Well, you go to the customer who put the function together and at least ask them, then they ask the group if the food is good so you don't have to interrupt all of the guests. But, the guests don't mind if you interrupt them to check on the food.

Tonight the restaurant was not very busy except for our table. So there was no excuse for the non existent service we received. I have had the Big Jack Johnson burger at this exact restaurant with every table inside and on the patio packed with customers and a line of customers at the door and it was fantastic. So there is no excuse for the cardboard that was served to me tonight.

Now to top it all off. The servers knew up front that we had separate checks to make it easier on them when it was time to present the bill. What do you know, we all had to tip 18% for service that was almost nonexistent because tables of a certain number of guests are supposed to have that added. Don't get me wrong, they should be tipped, and would be tipped, but they certainly didn't deserve 18%. What happened to going above and beyond serving the guest to get the 18% PLUS all of the extra gratuity that is paid for excellent service. All servers should do a great job for the gratuity. What I have seen in the restaurant business over the years are the servers thinking that they are entitled to a tip even for...

I went to eat at Burgers and Blues on a Saturday night with a few friends at about 6:30. The restaurant looked busy but also had at least half of their seats open.

I got there first. Fifteen minutes went by and not a single member of the waitstaff came by the table. I finally flagged someone down (which wasn't easy because she was obviously hoping that I wasn't trying to get her attention) and asked her if I could get a drink. She responded hesitantly and begrudgingly. Then my actual waitress shows up, and then my friends show up. All-in-all, it took over twenty minutes for me to get a drink. That is not okay.

So after everyone gets drinks she takes our food order. Time passes. Ten to fifteen minutes after we had ordered, one of my friends found our waitress (she did not come to us very often, and more than once we got up to find her) and asked her a question about changing his order (switching french fries to tater tots). She says it's no problem because she hasn't put the order in yet. You've just been sitting on an order for six people for over fifteen minutes? Are you kidding?

More time passes. I will say this: they have a pretty good beer selection. I must also say this: they serve you beer in Mason jars. No, this is not quaint. They are real Mason jars and have threads for the top to screw on. I don't know if you have ever drunk out of a threaded vessel before, but it isn't terribly comfortable. Also, the jar is only 12-14oz so you're paying $4-5 for substantially less than a pint. One friend got a glass of the house wine. He actually sent it back because he said it was undrinkable (I'm not sure what grape it was, but it was a red).

Eventually, the food does arrive. This is well beyond the 60 minute mark since I was seated, and at least 30 minutes since the order was placed. Receiving the food was a fiasco. She didn't know what food was what or who ordered what. At least two of the orders were incorrect (in a relatively small way, but incorrect nonetheless). My burger, personally, was cold. My friend's sweet potato tots were undercooked (my girlfriend described them unflatteringly as "sweet potato mush"). No one said their food was particularly good. One friend said his chili was extremely over-salted. The french fries were limp and pale, downright unappealing.

It took a while, but we got our checks. I had spent over two hours in that restaurant by the time I was able to leave. As the night went on, we had regrouped and were doing our Saturday night thing. Slowly but surely, people started to comment on feeling unwell after dinner. I thought to myself, "Well, that's a bummer. I feel okay." I was mistaken. By 11PM, I had a terrible pain in my stomach. It was one of those rare occasions where you actually want to vomit because you know it can only make you feel better. I didn't, though, and eventually got to sleep.

Overall, it was awful. From beginning to end it was an awful experience not only for me but for everyone at my table. No one liked their food, everyone waited forever, and most of us felt ill afterward. And the beer is served in jars.

Do not go to Burgers and Blues. Do not eat it on a train, do not eat it on a plane. Do not eat it in a box, do not eat it with a fox. Do not eat their burgers, friend, because you will not want...

The service started out okay, the waitress was too young to understand our drinks, understandable. My husband ordered a tangueray & tonic, they didn’t put a lime in it, I ordered a cosmo, tasted like pomegranate with no vodka. A second waitresss brought our cheese sticks out, the marinara looked like Day old chili, it was dark & clumpy. They forgot our ranch dressing. Finally got one small container. Then the pork nachos out, lathered in nacho cheese, chips were stale & limp. I asked for small plates. We got small paper boats like what sonic uses for tater tots etc. I asked again for plates being that the appetizers were being shared. We were told they didn’t have any, never had. I’ve been there with girlfriends that we all shared many appetizers and received individual plates. A third waiter cleared our table, asked if we wanted to go boxes, we declined. I asked if the place was under new management, smugly he said NO, there’s the GM right there. We waited for our check, finally I went to the GM, voiced my complaints & instead of apologies, which is expected, I received “ well your waitress had 75 people”, to which I replied “ well we are paying customers & deserve good service too”. She justified again with “ we’ve never had plates, we offered to remake everything, which they didn’t. The original waitress offered with attitude when I said my drink has a bug in it, no lime as I originally asked for and tastes like pomegranate instead of cranberry , she smugly said, “ you want another one?”, I said uh no- Upon paying our check, with more attitude from the GM who took our card, I assured her we wouldn’t be back, she then said “ ok, do y’all want to go drinks?”. Now being that I’ve been in retail for 34 years, I had no expectations of a comped meal etc., but the least they could’ve done was offered something to insure we’d come back as in maybe they just had an off night, we didn’t- Never again...