Waypoint Public House — Restaurant in Monona

Good afternoon, Team Waypoint!

Just wanted to follow up via reviews as I felt this would be the best way to address the experience me and my girlfriend had at your establishment.

My girlfriend is 28 and I am 29. My girlfriend came to waypoint to meet her friends, her friends and her have been regulars on Wednesdays for a while now. There is a group of about 8-10 of them that all spend about 50-100 dollars each while we dine. So, in theory that's about 3,000-4,000 dollars a month gross revenue per month from this group of people. My girlfriend called me and asked that I come join her and her friends, so I did. We had a good time and drank for about 2-3 hours and ate some food. My girlfriends' friends ended up leaving around 9pm. Me and my girlfriend stayed for a bit to finish our drinks and chat just the two of us. Soon after her friends left, my girlfriend and I had a disagreement and started to argue amongst ourselves at the corner of the bar.

At this point the dining area is closed, and there is only 4-5 people at the bar entirely. Most of the people at the bar being solo patrons which we could obviously tell were kind of ease dropping occasionally, which is expected, I would do the same, as humans are curious beings especially due to no-one else really being present besides for maybe 5-8 others total. After about 30min of discussing amongst ourselves without being warned or told to please quite down, and at this point neither my girlfriend or I believed we were and issue to anyone or the establishment at all. We had just spent about 150 dollars between me and my girlfriend and were definitely slightly under the influence, we probably had 3 doubles over 3 hours. So, we weren't at all drunk, but probably being louder than expected, but what is the issue? it's a bar at 10pm.

Anyways, at this point, a bartender who told me his name was "GUY" came up to us and said, "he was sorry, and he didn't want to put himself in this conversation, but that we needed to leave because we had been Bickering for too long." I responded "Wait, what? Sorry sir, but what do you mean we have to leave because we have been Bickering for too long, that doesn't really sound fair sir" My girlfriend immediately tried to deescalate the situation and explained that she and her friends are regulars, and we weren't trying to be an issue to anyone at the establishment or make a scene, at this point we definitely thought we would be asked to quiet down, but not asked to be removed as we haven't been warned or ever talked to once by anyone at this point... When my girlfriend tried to explain herself, "he responded back to her saying that he drew the line at domestic abuse". At this point, we both believe he's insinuating that i beat my girlfriend or said something along those lines.... WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE. My girlfriend immediately defended me, saying, "whoa... my boyfriend would never touch me? We love each other... What are you even talking about"? "He responded back, no I wasn't referring to him beating you, but my girlfriend beating me". Once we heard this, she was shocked, i thought it was kind of funny to be honest, but why is the bartender ease dropping on our conversation? Why is he not warning us to be quiet if we are being louder? and how can you make an accusation that drastic without even speaking to us prior... At this point, the bartender has crossed the line, these are extremely serious accusations to be bringing up to customers, especially when my girlfriend is 115 lbs. and 5'2" and I am 190 at 6'2"... Just seems kind of a reach for a bartender to be removing someone from the bar over this, especially when we haven't been warned or spoken to and have been there for 3 hours with a party who comes regularly weekly and spends about $3,000 a month at this establishment.

To be clear, my girlfriend and I have never laid hands on each other once, never intend to and are in love with each other. I understand as bartenders or owners you have the right to remove people, but...

I've been to Waypoint Public House (WPH) several times now and while I have some minor gripes, I have no problem recommending the place for a drink and a meal. I'm a fan of the well-prepared food, the cordial service and I appreciate a new local option for waterfront dining.

While WPH is easy to spot from the Beltline, it is rather inconspicuous when attempting to access the restaurant from West Broadway. It also is a long walk from the parking lot to the back of the building complex that houses WPH. It's not bad when the weather is pleasant, but less enjoyable during inclement weather.

When you enter the restaurant, the ginormous three sided bar immediately catches your eye. In addition to the 30 craft beers on tap, the bar also features an extensive selection of Scotch, bourbon, rum, rye and scotch. The interior features a mix of rustic looking woods and more modern looking stainless steel. The interior can get extremely loud when the place fills up due to the concrete floor that does little to absorb the sound. There also is an outdoor seating area along the edge of the Yahara River, though that view is somewhat dominated by the bridge spanning Mud Lake.

I've encountered efficient and generally friendly service during my various visits to WPH. Orders are taken in a timely manner, wait times for the food are minimal and the check is always delivered as the meal is winding down. My only service gripe is the host stand, which rarely seems to be occupied. I've encountered times where I waited over five minutes for the host to come and escort me to a table.

The menu offers a variety of appetizer, burgers, sandwiches and a handful of entrees. The hand breaded cheese curds tasted fresh, but were a tad greasy. The poutine was just OK, I enjoyed the robust gravy, but I was less enthused with the generic yellow mustard added to the beef tenderloin. The tenderloin was well prepared, but to portions were too large to comfortably chew.

I've had better success with the sandwich menu. WPH gets a big thumbs up for using bread from Batch Bakehouse, so the bread component is always spot on. For those that need gluten free sandwich options, WPH offers Silly Yak gluten free bread for a $2 upcharge. All sandwiches come with a choice of French fries, house kettle chips, coleslaw, or tossed greens.

The Hot Italian Sandwich (pancetta, prosciutto, pepperoni, salami, Swiss, tomato, pickled onion, pepperoncini, Italian dressing, Batch baguette) was a treat to eat. The kitchen up a wonderful sear on the meat and the added pepper provided a delightful crunch. My kitchen also deserves props for obtaining that perfect balance between the bread and the contents.

During another visit, I ordered the grilled cheese with sautéed mushrooms and spinach. The deeply browned bread offered a pleasing crunch with every bite. With a plethora of cheeses available in the heart of America's Dairyland, I thought the use of a plain Jane American and Pepper jack cheese were an odd choice. Fortunately, the sautéed mushrooms saved the day, providing a mouthful of flavor in every bite. The sandwich also benefited from the rustic roasted vegetable soup that accompanied my meal and served as a fantastic dipping sauce. The chunky soup featured a dash of heat and balanced flavors.

Despite some minor flaws, WPH is another fine addition to the Madison dining scene. While I don't get there as often as I would like, I have always come away from my visits satisfied with the pub food and the...

I used to love waypoint but unfortunately I don’t think I will be back after poor service 3 times in a row. The first time our food orders were wrong in several ways including gluten in a gluten free order. The second time our waitress was less than attentive. We ordered additional drinks and asked for ketchup & ranch (we also asked for ranch on our initial order) - they never arrived and when we asked again the waitress clearly had no recollection of our original request. The drinks eventually came, but we had to ask a different server who brought our drinks for ranch and ketchup again. We eventually did receive them after our 3rd request and by that time our food was no longer warm. Then on our check we were charged for additional drinks that we never got. It took at least 30 minutes to get that straightened out. Today we went again to give it another chance and were told to seat ourselves. We found a spot and watched a table seat themselves a few minutes later and then another table seated themselves next to us about 10 minutes after we sat down. The table next to us had a waitress greet their table and take their drink order within a moment of sitting down. The waitress then went on to get both of the tables who sat down after us drink orders and make their drinks for them. Eventually she went back to take the food order of the table who sat down 10 minutes after us and that is when we decided we were not going to receive any service and had to leave. Super disappointed because we love the...