North and South Seafood & Smokehouse — Restaurant in Madison

I love this place, I have never had a bad experience at any North and South restaurant. Usually go to this location with my family or friends and they have great drink specials, daily food specials, and lunch specials. The herb chicken is amazing and they usually sell out of it so you want to get there early if you want to try it. The crab legs are cooked correctly to the point where you're not struggling to get the meat out of the crab. My dad is gumbo snob and since getting dentures he's complained that it's hard to taste things because of the plastic in his mouth but he had the gumbo here and was able to taste it and said it was some of the best gumbo he's ever had in his life. It's also one of the few places since moving to Madison where service has been consistently amazing. They also have my favorite old fashioned in town made with brown sugar bourbon. So far it is one of my favorite spots in Madthing,

Update *03.02.25-- My kids and I tried to eat at Longhorn by West Towne Mall, after 12 minutes of being completely ignored by staff and not even receiving an acknowledgement from a server when it was obviously slow, we left and decided to go to North and South down the road because we never have had bad service there. Been there 20 times in 3 years, never once have I had bad service from North and South. We got there. They were busier than Longhorn with what looks like a similar amount of front of the house staff, And as usual, everything was amazing,! Such great service, such a good waitress, and great food. This is one of the only places in the Madison area where I have continually always had great service. I cannot say that about any other restaurant that I've been to since I moved up here. I don't know what they're doing, but they do a great job training their staff and being hospitable. Yeah, it's not going to be exceptionally healthy, but damn the food is good,and the service is consistently outstanding! I have recommended this place to other people and they say the same thing, they are never let down. Even though they're not a fancy hoity-toity restaurant, they're one of the best restaurants in Dane...

Consistency Consistency Consistency. I have had amazing food from North and South, and I have also had very mediocre food. I'm not really sure what the deal is, if it's different chefs or different hours of the day, but NaS can be a dream meal or a disappointing one depending on the day. The part that effects my 3/5 star review is that you pay the same price for excellent food as you do for so so food.

We're not drinkers so my review is food based, with focus on the ribs, and a lot on to-go ordering.

The Kansas City sweet sauce is tangy and flavorful, but it is often time slathered on the ribs far too thick. They range from super tender to rather tough, but the flavor is usually pretty good. (Even at their best, they always seem to need another hour in the smoker!) Fries range from soggy to super crispy, depending if they were boxed separately or with the entree which makes them super soggy. The Mac n Cheese needs the most attention...what is going on here? The first time I had NaS's Mac n cheese, I was blown away; It was fresh, flavorful and bold, it was creamy yet not overly heavy, with a solid portion size that filled the to go cup. Then the next time I ordered it, the portion size was halved, with the noodles under cooked and the cheese overly salty and clumpy. (Frozen?)

Bottom line, I want NaS to be around for a long time. It's close to where I live and they also offer to-go orders which is great for those nights you just don't feel like dealing with people. The West side of Madison needs them to succeed. But they need to hone their efforts on a consistent experience from day to day, and not skimp on the size of their to-go sides so you feel like you're always getting your...

I have a friend from England visiting this week, so my boyfriend and I wanted to try a Madison restaurant that we'd never been to before. We decided on North and South.

I was very surprised upon arrival. It wasn't quite what I expected, but it was fantastic. The waitress we had was fantastic. I missed her name, but she had purple hair and long black nails- she was awesomely fashionable.

I ordered the nachos with chicken, they were amazing. Smokey and flavorful with heaps to eat. Both of my guys got fish dishes and loved their meals. My visitor had never tried squash before and that was one of his sides- he ate everything on his plate!

We also got cheese curds- our visitor's first taste of them. I think he's hooked, we may start a trend in England!

It was my birthday yesterday, as well as my friends, and my boyfriend asked the server if they do anything special. They do! We had the BEST fried ice cream ice ever had (and my friends first try of it, ever) the chips served with the ice cream were scrumptious- super flaky and cinnamon/sugar coated. We also got the.. Muddy pie I think it was called. Both the boys loved it, it was too rich for me, but I was glad to sacrifice it for more icecream, haha.

I'm typing this as I snack on my leftover nachosin the back seat of my car- they're just as good cold! I wanted to thank our server for being so awesome, and the restaurant for their great atmosphere. We'll definitely be...