The Stem and Stein — Restaurant in Madison

I was given a very bad depiction of this place. I have been told it's too expensive, it's too small, it's too pretentious, so I never really sought it out. It took a friend suggesting to meet there. I'll say it's not amazing, but certainly not as bad as I had been told.

There's a good, varied, selection of beer. Sure it could be better, and with a name like Stem and Stein you'd expect more, but you should be able to find a few beers worth trying. The package alcohol is more diverse, too.

The cost is fine, for what you get. I think they may have reduced prices to address previous complaints, so who knows if that will stay. For now, though, it's a good point.

Service was just OK. The bartender had a friend there. She spent a lot of her time talking to him, which is fine, but it took almost ten minutes for her to take my order in a near-empty bar, and that's not great.

It's not a bad place and leagues better than the...

3 strikes and you are out. First time, the service was so slow but we chalked it up to them just being really busy. 2nd time, they brought us the wrong order several times and then just telling us to keep it. One hour later our table was full of food and none of which we ordered or wanted. Tonight we went in and it was empty. Lady got menus as if she was going to come to our table but then starting talking to another waitress. Then she came from behind the bar as if she was coming to us, but then she turned and continued talking to the other worker behind the bar. After close to 10 mins and no recognizition, we got up and left. We saw in the window she turned and watched us leave, but she sure didn’t stop us. We had been told if you don’t know the workers, they just don’t care. That was proven tonight. We will not go back. We will just go to Cork and Crust where the wine and the SERVICE are so...

This place has been on my list of places to go and have a drink for awhile. I've bought to-go beer here before but I never got something to eat and drink. Due to a change in plans, we stopped by and got something to eat. I'm so glad we did!

This is a nice casual place to get a drink and a bite to eat. Great craft beer on draft selection. Also a really long list of bottled/ canned beer and also a pretty large selection of wine. The food was really good too.

I got the soft pretzel trio starter. Very good. The homemade hummus was amazing. The cheese dip was also really great. I then got the jalapeno popper and bacon panini and also got chicken added for an upcharge. Let me tell you, that sandwich was so good! Definitely quality food.

Then after a few beers they have a great selection of craft beer yo take home. All hard to find stuff and...