Butterbird — Restaurant in Madison

My wife and I stopped by because we love checking out new restaurants in the area and trying to support locally as much as we can. When we heard the owners of the Harvey House (one of our favorite restaurants in Wisconsin!) opened up this joint we knew it was a must-try. Unfortunately, it was fairly disappointing when it came to the food.

My wife ordered the chicken strips with fries on the side. The chicken's batter was bland and you can tell it was fried at a low temperature because the batter was falling off and had held in a lot of oil. The chicken was high quality, though - very little fat - so that's good. I had the triple smash burger with fries on the side and it was good as a burger, just not good as a $16-or-so burger should be, in my personal opinion. It felt like they used maybe a 70/30 or 80/20 split of beef, which is perfect for smash burgers, so that's good. It was very greasy, though. Keep that in mind if you're sensitive to greasy foods. We shared the mac and cheese bites as an appetizer and the banana pudding sundae dessert. The mac and cheese bites fared similarly to the chicken batter-wise: fried at too low of a temperature so it was very oily. It would have been nice to have had a cheese sauce for the dip instead of a dill-pickle ranch in my opinion, but the dill-pickle ranch was good. The banana pudding was okay. They used Hershey's chocolate sauce rather than melting down some chocolate to throw in which was disappointing, the soft serve was good, and the banana combo was tasty. For $73 when a 20% tip was added, I just can't get behind the way the food was put together here. For slightly over half the price if I want this kind of food I will likely go to Portillo's or Five Guys. Chains, I know, but if the food was better prepared then I would be all for never visiting those places again.

The atmosphere was 10/10! The aesthetic was great, the way the restaurant was laid out was fantastic, and the enjoyment everyone was putting out was great to see. Similarly, the service was great! Friendly, efficient, knowledgeable, and kind. Couldn't ask for better people! It did feel like I was transported back 20 or so years ago, in a good way.

We may come back here to try the pretzel, salads, root beer float, and a drink or two as those sound pretty good. But we're feeling the effects/will probably continue to feel the effects of the heavily oiled and greasy food for a while; probably won't come back for the chicken/burgers. The atmosphere and service are really what elevated the experience, though;...

First time at Butterbird! After kayaking, we were on our way to have lunch at an old favorite & we spontaneously stopped because we've been meaning to eat there since they opened. First of all, it’s adorable in there…huge 50s diner style space divided nicely with a covered patio in back, a vintage photo booth, & games. We decided on 2 sandwiches to split, Butterbird Classic & Rotisserie Sandwich, both with fries. We also ordered sides of elotes & mac n cheese, as well as chicken tenders. The classic sandwich was the clear winner… crispy juicy dark meat with just the right amount of dill pickles, ranch, & lettuce. It was a great version of a classic, but there was no seasoning in the batter & nothing to surprise you. Their coleslaw was a nice mix of both mayo & vinegar base & I would have preferred that come on the chicken sandwich rather than plain lettuce. Everything else was fine, with the exception of the mac & cheese, which is my ultimate comfort food. The pasta was well overcooked & mushy & the cheese sauce was gloppy & lacked flavor…it could have used some mustard or garlic. The best part was the fantastic friendly service. The man taking our order was incredibly helpful. Our waitress brought us our chicken tenders (juicy & well brined) & asked if we wanted any sauce...when we told her it was our first time, she left & came back with all 8, which I noticed on the menu were supposed to be $1 each. She also checked back to see which were our favorites. I’d go back to sit on the patio & try their cocktails, but there are better chicken sandwiches in town, Hank’s & Merchant...

Overall: Butterbird is a nice addition to the regent street area, but lacks sufficient pros to come again with the main con being that butterbird is overpriced for good but not great food. Self serve style with there being a high pressure to tip (18% default, 25% highest). Pros: Good quality food, cooked well chicken sandwich was juicy and crunchy and had good flavor Mac and cheese bites were crunchy and tasted good and the ranch was good. Atmosphere was great with lots of little details such as the mascot on the paper Really clean (but we came in earlier without a lot of business) Cons: Way too expensive, at $47 my girlfriend and I got two sides (mac and cheese bites and french fries), one entree, and a rootbeer float. Pressured to tip, lowest auto tipping option was 18%, with the highest being 25% Lack of service for the tip (had to get own water and condiments, but the food was brought out (should be brought down to 10%) Fries were small (for $5) and mediocre (like shoestring, and only seasoned with salt). Rootbeer float was underwhelming for $8, came with some vanilla soft serve, and good quality root beer, but lacked the "wow" factor. sidenote: For the amount that was spent here, it would have been better to go to a decent local restaurant with table service and better quality (rather than...