Café Hollander Hilldale — Restaurant in Madison

Visited today much famed Cafe to experience the craze. Location, menu, ambience and food is of high quality and no doubly about it. However, something very important that one would like to pay attention to which usually doesn't get noticed under the gaze is cleanliness, housekeeping which are as important as food. Tables are getting cleaned and readied for the next customer, and why would they not do it. Floor is so dirty, sticky and filthy that you would like to strip Cafe 4 out of 5 stars. Pay to sit with filthy floors? Pl wear your best shoes but shoes.

Secondly, what I noticed and experienced today is about Reservation process and how cleverly it's being managed. You will not find a table if tried booking it by pressing a tab 'Book the table' -will show no availability!, one would then tried phoning them and they won't take reservation -wow- a hypocrisy?. You will get a table after getting waited for 30-40 minutes, wow. Order will easily take 30-40 minutes to arrive at your table after placing the order. Suggestion; bring food /snack with you if you don't want to die before the food arrives. Food portion is good as far as Farmers Omlette is concerned whereas Potato Frites portion served with Burger could have been better for the price they charge. Service is not upto the mark as Sauces, ketchup will take another 15 mnts or won't arrive at all. It happened with us today. Pathetic. No remorse on faces and no apologies.

Overall. Entire scene is managed so nicely to give you an impression that's it's busy, crowded, famous, popular, most sought after .....you add whatever you want to. A very generic and not an impressive menu.

3-4 members of the staff you will find busy managing front desk and billing, 4-5 waiters, 1-2 bar tenders and a very few kitchen staff who struggles to keep up the delivery. Out of approx, 10 -12 tables, 2-3 were empty, only 1-2 were enjoying food and the rest were waiting to get their orders. Is it reasonable or acceptable. Add kitchen staff, withdraw front desk staff and train waiters. Importantly, pay much attention to cleanliness both floor and tables. Check floor of the last row of tables near a wall if you don't believe me.

Overall, a basic and average food joint and am sure there are many to find if you drill down a bit. Am sharing with you my personal and genuine experience I had today. As a good Cook, Foodie, Tasting expert and an experienced world traveller, this did not go well...

Cafe Hollander has long been our preferred dining destination when spending time with family and friends. However, a recent experience has left a sour taste in our mouths.

For my birthday dinner, my friends treated me to a lovely evening at Cafe Hollander. The initial part of the evening was delightful, with a sweet and attentive young server ensuring our dining experience was enjoyable. After dinner, we went shopping. Later at around 10 pm we decided to return to the restaurant for a relaxed coffee. Unfortunately, our encounter with the new server was anything but pleasant.

Upon informing the new server that we only intended to order hot drinks, her response was unexpectedly rude. Despite our polite and kind request, she led us to a table without a word and with a visibly hostile expression. To our surprise, she then proceeded to ignore our table completely, making no effort to take our order or even acknowledge our presence.

As we sat waiting for service, the new server continued to serve other tables, making eye contact with us but deliberately avoiding our table. After enduring 30 minutes of neglect, we made the regretful decision to leave.

This experience left us feeling unwelcome and disappointed. The abrupt change in service and the apparent animosity from the new server created a distressing and uncomfortable atmosphere. It's disheartening to encounter such a stark contrast in treatment, especially given our previous positive experiences at Cafe Hollander.

While this experience was undoubtedly disappointing, I hope that the management takes this feedback seriously and addresses the issue. Despite this isolated incident, my past experiences at Cafe Hollander have been enjoyable, and I remain optimistic that the outstanding service that we have come to expect will be upheld...

Dome for 8

Food - 4/5. It is what it says and its good. Price - food: fish fry - 2 small pieces of haddock in wet batter. 4/5 flavor, 3.5/ 5 price Salad - $15 for a third portion of a regular size bag of arugula and maybe one small beet, cubed. (Without cheese, cuz dairy issues.) Dressing was good. Flavor - 3.75/5. Price 2/5. Fries-standard. Their sauces are great.

Dome experience - warm enough for 8 ladies in -5 F, but we were double layered. Our feet were the most cold. There is a "garage" style heater inside and a small JBL speaker to play music. 5/5 The reservation fee is just for the Dome and one "free" drink per person. Last year the free drinks were in a carafe (more?), but this year it was ONE individual drink/ person/ choice (2 alcoholic choices NOT on main menu, no substitute). Nice if you have DD in the group, but it'd be nice if they just let us pick a regular drink off the menu since its not in a carafe anymore. What happens if you only have 2 or 4 in your party? 3/5 Everything else was pay-as-you-go on top of the reservation fee. 2/5

Service -not great. Our dome was a Friday night, but only 2 of 3 domes in use. We waited 30 min for 8 fizzy/sprite drinks (champagne flute). It was so long, they let us stay longer (Also, no one had booked after us). I was sad at the service and limited alcohol choices. It dampened our liveliment. Maybe the barkeep went MIA? 2/5

The check can be paid by one or split how ever many ways via QR code. Ex., one person only got drinks so we split the bill 7 ways, instead of 8. 5/5

Overall, it was as fun as the company you keep. Food and drinks were fine. The Dome IS magical, but for $100 reservation fee, I was hoping the service would be on point or a drink of my choosing from any menu ($10 ish). Hope its...