Babes Grill & Bar

I’ve been here countless times since my last review, and I’m downgrading to 3-​stars (again). It’s not a bad place, but a few key items are too lackluster and/​or inconsistent to warrant a higher rating.
+ Love the bar area. Go. Sit there. Enjoy.
+ Bartenders are efficient; most are friendly. A few are «all business»
+ Excellent whiskey, bourbon, and tequila options
+ Pricing is more than fair for the booze
+ Rotating taps with some quality staples
+ Good happy hour prices
+ Great background music — a nice mix of classics and catchy newer stuff
+ Tons of televisions
+ Great bathrooms
+ Big meeting room adjacent to dining room; available for parties/​use at a reasonable rate
+ Love the patio during the summer months
+ Entrée salads are *massive* — big enough for 2 people to easily share
+ Entrée salads are the highlight of the menu, lately — always good, always consistent
— The chili leaves much to be desired
— Starter salads could use better attention (dried-​out veggies most of the time)
— Ribeye steak… eeek. $ 19 nets you a 12oz ribeye that’s about 5/​8″ thick, and it’s accompanied by a side. Unfortunately, the last two I’ve ordered have been gristly and riddled with hard fat throughout.
— Fish fry has been inconsistent. Sometimes, it’s outstanding… other times, not so much
Pro-​tip: they have half-​priced burgers on Mondays during happy hour

The service here has always been great. The food has been fantastic too. But somethings changed, the new uniforms have made it 100% better. Also I like the new napkins.

Our group of 6 came here on a busy Friday night and were able to secure a corner booth by the door. The manager came and greeted us and seemed genuinely grateful to have our patronage.
Our group got a mix of the Friday night fried cod special, the cod tacos, and seafood enchiladas. They also had Long Islands specials for $ 4, which is a good deal considering their beers are $ 4.5+.
The dish our group was most impressed with were the cod fish tacos. Little nuggets of succulent cod were lightly fried, gently rucked in flour tortilla shells, arrived with a hidden delightful jalapeño mayo surprise within. It comes with a side of rice and refried beans. The fish was also raved, since it came with your choice of soup or salad, a side, and coleslaw. Take them up on the clam chowder, rivals all the other clam chowders in the area!

I’ve been to plenty of happy hours at Babe’s. My brother does trivia there. Heck, they sponsored my softball team years back. We go way back. But this week they really stepped up for my family. We needed a place to host us after my father’s funeral. With only 24 hours notice, they were able to get us some space (the banquet room was occupied) and hook us up with food. Sure, that’s what they do, but Lynn was so compassionate and ready to help us out.
While we were making the arrangements, we had a late lunch there. The philly was amazing. The food has changed since I was last there. I really enjoyed the cheese curds too. The onion hoop I swiped from my Mom’s plate was pretty great too.
When we got the gang there today, the food was ready and it was tasty. From sweedish meatballs, to honey BBQ boneless wings, to the veggie tray. All done with quality and class. The staff were friendly and helpful. The pricing was reasonable, too. Considering we didn’t give Babe’s much time, they stepped up and took care of us.
Everyone commented on how perfect it was. I agree. Thank you, Babe’s — you made a difficult day a little easier.

I was a first time visitor to Babe’s on a Friday afternoon. It was not busy, but still buzzing with people and I had a great waitress. My entrée (the tortellini dish) was okay. There were the ends of the tomatoes mixed in, which is prefer to not eat. I was also expecting the dish to be more plentiful for the price. My mother ordered the fried cod lunch portion. Great fish with an excellent batter, but no coldslaw, which was odd. We both had the clam chowder, which was very good. Hearty cup too.
For dessert, I had the homemade peanut butter cup. It. Was. Delicious. Super great price and a delicious end to the meal.
Suggestion to the restaurant: if there was some graham cracker crust on the bottom, it’d be even better.

I go there for trivia, but have experienced both the bar and food. The bartenders are always friendly, as are the bar-​area waitstaff. The food I have had has been great! The nachos are a great choice for bar hang-​out food.

Unfortunately our experience wasn’t the greatest and I don’t usually write a bad review but I just couldn’t let this go. We got seated right away and the waiter came over shortly after to ask for our drink order but our service after that went downhill. The restaurant wasn’t full inside by any means but I assume they had a lot of people on the patio because we were seated near the door and the wait staff went in & out often. It took our waiter forever to take our order & then to bring out our food. There was a huge lag between getting our salads and entrees but I do have to say both of our dinners were good. The waiter never asked if everything turned out ok or if we needed anything else. In fact by the time he came back we were done with our dinner & pushed our plates to the side. I guess it’s lucky I didn’t need anymore tater sauce or another drink cuz we would’ve been out of luck.

The food is good. And definitely go with the curly fries as the side! But what I like the best is that they have so many TVs on the wall, with a good atmosphere, and huge space. So even if there are too many people, you still don’t feel too crowded by bumping into others.
Heard that their cheese curds and nachos are the best. But my stomach did not have much room left after my meal. Need to try that next time then get this updated :)

If I could give this place negative stars I would! I’ve never been to a bar that is so unwelcoming. From the moment we sat down at the bar the bartender was completely neglectful. We had to ask for a beer and a menu. He ignored our request to place a food order and continued to socialize with other patrons who I’m assuming are regulars. A packer preseason game was on and he was completely glued to the TV. In my opinion if he can’t handle his job during packer game he should request off. I wouldn’t be able to tell you about the food because we got up and left after his complete neglect. I’m pretty sure the bartenders name was Adam. Steer clear if you’re not a regular!!!

Pros: Great prices, best BBQ burger I have had since I came to Wisconsin, curly fries are to die for, service is quick — even on a Saturday night, phenomenal live music, generous with the alcohol in the cocktails, patio is perfect for any date
Cons: May have to wait to be seated when packed, out of the way
Overall: Would happily make this a go-​to Saturday night spot!

I came for lunch and the food was great (good thing I wasn’t in a rush, though. Service was very slow.) my husband and I went for dinner and the service was still slow, despite the restaurant being nearly empty. My pasta dish was not good. The pasta was over cooked, the sausage was cold, and the save had absolutely no seasoning. It’s like they opened a can of diced tomatoes and dumped it on top. To top it off, the women’s bathroom was disgusting! We won’t be going back.

Food: 4
Service: 3
Uniqueness: 3
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Babe’s has seriously upped their game. Their menu has gone through quite a few adjustments over the past few years but they’ve really settled on some pretty solid offerings! The avocado steak quesadilla is awesome and the nachos are definitely great game day fare. Word to the wise, the flatbreads are definitely meant for 2 or more as they are HUGE.
The ambiance is also incredible to catch a Badger or Packers game with some of their staff being former UW band members.
The one black mark against them is that for some reason (even on non-​game days) the service can go non-​existent for long stretches.
I highly recommend Babe’s for a Saturday or Sunday football game as the crowd makes the entire place feel like you’re at the game.

Underwhelming, the food was just not good. It was flavorless and lacked passion. The quality was lacking, last time I was there the food was awesome, this time it left a lot to be desired.

Great cheese curds, fabulous fish tacos (I had the cod). Patio was nice, mosquitoes galore, not the restaurants fault, just June in Wisconsin. Our server, Brandon, was great: funny; helpful; attentive. Certainty worth a try.

Babes is an excellent place to watch sports or just relax on their patio during the summer months. We’ve been here twice already despite living in Madison for years, and were very happy sitting out in Babes lovely patio area that has nice shade trees and umbrellas. They have a terrific bar menu with an extensive whiskey menu, and great mix drinks. The food menu is pretty good too. Next time we will be stopping by for their Happy Hour. I will admit my knowledge of sports bars is limited but Babes has NONE of the earmarks of the typical bar hangout, like wet t-​shirt contests, bands every single night, plastic cups outside and motorcycles doing donut holes in the parking lot. Just a fun and relaxing place to have a meal, watch a game and converse.

We had a wonderful time at Babes. The patio was perfect for a evening in late May. Awesome beer selection and a friendly server who had a great time flirting with my mom.
My fish tacos were really really good, with fresh and colorful garnishes. The rice and beans were nothing to write home about, but I didn’t have any room after the tacos anyway. Huge portions rule here.
Everyone else at the table seemed very pleased with their big sandwiches. They disappeared entirety, and no one offered me a bite! Great fries, we all agreed.
I would probably never come here to eat inside unless I was watching a game. There are SO many TVs.
Really, if someone said «Great Dane or Babes?» on a nice summer night, I would definitely go with Babes.

New in town and needed a place to watch the NFL playoffs and came here quite by accident. Passed it while running errands, ran in and checked out the menu and thought it looked pretty good. Perfect place for a foodie to go to watch some football! Nice beer selection and a I absolutely loved the Baked Buffalo Chicken Roll appetizer. It may be my new favorite – great combination of flavors with the buffalo chicken, crispy cabbage and tasty blue cheese. They give you four, which is plenty for a group and means taking some home if you’re on your own. Went back a week later for the NFC and AFC Championship games with a buddy visiting from Chicago and he enjoyed it as well. On that visit, tried their seared ahi as well and really enjoyed it.
I ate at the bar both times, the service was attentive, even when things got crowded. With all the TVs, it’s my new go to place for catching a game and some good food.

Bring your smart friends If you come for trivia Tues or Wed nights. It was packed, barely finished in the top ten.. many taps and curly fries made it great night with friends in this friendly environment.

Babes famous nachos, should not be famous. The cheese was not melty at all and were like clumps of cheese that could not even stick on the chips or would come off easily. The only good thing about the nachos were that there was a lot of it, if you plan on ordering an entrée make sure you get a half order and share it.
We had the mushroom burger, and the Cajun Alfredo pasta. Both came with a side dish; I got the soup, and she got the salad. The burger was cooked like I asked, and was good, nothing special or anything; a burger. The soup was good and hearty, it had cut up sausages in them and came with a few saltine crackers. The pasta was good, and the sauce was rich and came with a huge salad which could be a small entrée in itself.
We also had an order of curly fries which were amazing.
The service was alright, we waited kind of long before anyone greeted us and gave us a table, but there was a lot of cars in the parking lot so I assumed the outside seating was really busy, because the inside was kind of empty and we rarely saw our server, but surprisingly we didn’t wait too long for our water to be filled when they were empty.
There is a parking lot outside the restaurant, but it’s kinda dark. Babes is pretty good just avoid their «famous nachos», if you’re expecting good nachos.

This is a really tough review for me to write. I love the ambiance of this restaurant. Aside from one server, I usually get great service.
However, the food and prices could be improved. What stands out are the cheese curds. It is rolling the dice as to whether they will be delicious or just piles of grease balls. The oil pools in the bottom making the lower layer even more oily. I think at $ 7.50, they could do something to make them a little crisper.
I like their assortment of beer but the pitcher prices can really spike. What is on special for $ 8.50 one week will double the next week. Their prices are a bit steep.
Tonight I ordered carrot cake. And I saw that it said pineapple in the description. However, I was not expecting that it would alter the whole flavor profile. It was a tropical, pineapple cake. The frosting was not thick and creamy. It was like a thin layer of fondant. It had no real flavor. Honestly, I can not express how disappointed I was in the cake. I consider myself an aficionado of carrot cake and this was not carrot cake. There was no strong punch of flavor. It was kind of a sad little scare of cake.