Madison Lighthouse Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Madison

Celebrating my nephew’s 16th birthday we loaded up our family (and his girlfriend) and headed south to Madison, Indiana— the historic small town nestled on the banks of the Ohio River.

Our first stop was Madison Lighthouse Restaurant & Bar for lunch. This was our first time there and we sat in the covered section with a great view of the river.

We ordered:

🧀 Cheese Curds 🤫 Hushpuppies 🥒 Fried Pickles 🐖 🥔 Tenderloin and Tots 🥓🥔 BLT and Chips 🐓 Boneless Wings in Thai Sweet Chili 🥗 Small House Salad 🧀🧅 Grilled Cheese and Onion Rings 🍔🍟 Cheeseburger and Fries 🐓 Chicken Tender Basket

The food was pretty basic. Nothing particularly stood out as being above average. The fried items were on the darker side, indicating fry oil that was past its prime. The tenderloin was a fritter and unfortunately oil-logged.

My boneless wings appeared to be tenders cut into thirds and sauced. I liked the Thai Sweet Chili Sauce. Aside from the tenderloin everything was edible, but didn’t quite meet the standard we’d come to expect from other Madison restaurants.

I admittedly did experience some sticker shock from the bill. At $150 + tip I didn’t feel the price matched the food. Not only were entree prices already high, but substituting hot sides for chips came with a full $4 up-charge, making some meals over $20. Extra sauces were $1 a cup. Add to that a 4% surcharge for not using cash and we ended up paying quite a premium for what equated to snack bar food.

Service was attentive and we had multiple servers taking great care of us. They were even kind enough to give my nephew a (non-alcoholic) ‘birthday shot’! 😁

The weather was fantastic and we all enjoyed eating right on the water. But in the future I think we’ll trade the water view for the quality of the food we’ve experienced on...

Final edit: After 5 days, my hold was released. Folks, if you decide to come here, be sure to use cash since these people can't figure out a simple POS system that literally every other bar uses.

Edit 3: the hold is back on the card! Bank can't even stop it! If your business is hurting you don't withhold money to keep afloat!!

Edit 2: They finally figured out how to remove a complete hold, but it does not excuse the fact I didn't have access to my own money for 2 days and this should not have even happened. My hold should have been wiped out as soon as I settled up like every other bar does. Can't wait to see how many Regatta goers you people anger next week because of this.

Edit 1: Hold has been released, and now I've been double charged!

There's a reason I've been avoiding this place and last night I found that reason out. First of all it's a hike to get in and out of there so hope you have your bearings about you. Once inside you will find a very dingy dirty looking establishment that is counter service only. The only thing this place has going for it is that it's on the water. But, the kicker, the reason ... I opened a tab (they put a $25 hold on my card for this like every bar in town does) and bought only 1 seltzer water and with tip was $7. Every other bar in town releases their tab holds when the customer settles up. Except this place. I even went to First Street afterwards and their hold was gone before I even walked out their doors. My money is still being held, even though they already got theirs, so this is THEFT plain and simple. Businesses ran like this have zero place...

We drove almost an hour to try this place. I wish we had driven another few miles and gone to Harry's Stone Bar and Grill in Clifty Falls.

Upon getting a seat at the bar, we watched the bartender pass us twice to wait on people she knew, strike 1.

When she finally acknowledged us, I told her it was our 1st time there and ordered 2 Miller Lites. She replied, "I need a credit card". Whoa what, "Im paying with cash" I say. She asked if we were "getting food" and I said yes. She said, "what do you want to order?". I say, "well, like I said, this is our 1st time here so we'll need to see the menu." I had already told her this when I sat down, strike 2.

"How many beers are you going to drink" What?? We just sat down, you demanded a credit card, didn't bring us menus, we still havent gotten the FIRST beer we ordered and now you want to know how much we plan on drinking. We should have gotten up and walked away, strike 3.

We finally get our beers and the total was $8.40. I give her a ten dollar bill and I get $1 back. Already down .60cents and we havent even ordered yet, strike 4.

We had to prepay for beer and food before she even put our order in. Seriously, what a ridiculous way to do business.

The view was nice, the food was OK, the service was unfriendly, didn't smile, didn't engage with the clients.

Harry's Stone Bar and Grill is where you'll find us the next time we drive an...