Great Dane Pub & Brewing Co

Been coming here for years. Only a handful of things on the menu I’d rather not have again. The cheese curds and Nakoma nachos are great apps. The beers are always consistently good. Never the best I’ve ever had, but really good over the course of the night.
I keep coming back for a reason. Try the OldGlory APA, the Peck’s Pilsner and the Stone of Scone Scotch Ale.

We used to live on Richmond Hill ten years ago before moving out East. Stopped for a quick pint at the now Great Dane up on the hill. The «developers» have turned the whole park into an instant semi-​urban slum, and all the beautiful views are gone (including the one at the Dane apparently). Walked in looking for a brew and was almost knocked over by the racket from some of the totally boozed up customers virtually screaming at each other. Looked around and saw nothing but detritus and dirty windows. Tried to get at the hostesses, but they couldn’t be heard over the racket. This place is really a dump. I don’t know if any of their beer is any good, as we never got one.

The vegetarian options are present, but mediocre at best. I resent having to pay extra for a Boca burger — they are boring and just aren’t that good — and none of the other veg options are any more exciting. Twenty years ago their beer seemed like a revelation, but now there are much better brewers in the area, too.

This is my favorite of all of the Great Dane locations because of the view! It would be a great restaurant for prom goers. I had my graduation party hosted here in the upstairs room. The staff was friendly and clearly prepared to handle the massive UW-​Madison graduation crowd and special reservations that day. Everything was prepared well and everybody enjoyed their meal. The mac & cheese was the favorite of the day. There are separate bathrooms upstairs so our party didn’t have to worry about walking downstairs to use the loo.

My wife and I stopped here on the way home from a business trip on the recommendation of a friend. I am REALLY glad we did!
I had the Brat and Bacon Pretzel Burger. It was juicy and Delicious. …One of the best burgers I have ever had… and I have had a lot of burgers. As a side I had the plantains. They were a nice break from the norm and a sweet complement to the flavor of the burger.
My wife had the Smothered and Covered Fried Chicken. She only let me have one bite, but I must say it was phenomenal. She ate the rest before I could steal anymore.
My only complaint about our visit was that there isn’t a location closer to our home. We will be back!!!

Lunch visit.
Service was good and view of Downtown Madison is hard to beat from upstairs but food was lousy and overpriced.
Grilled cheese on bread so hard and crusty it didn’t chew, just kind of became shrapnel in mouth. Had hardly any cheese either. Equally bad tomato soup — watery thin broth with few veggies. Aunt enjoyed Reuben Sandwich but rest of table was equally unimpressed.

We stopped at this location of Great Dane on our way home from the Dells. My husband and I started by sharing the Brown Ale Onion soup. It was a good size for us to share. Next we both ordered burgers. I had the Dane Burger. The artichoke dip was outstanding. My husband enjoyed his burger (although I can’t remember which one he got). He also tried two beers: Old Glory American Pale Ale and the Imperial IPA. He enjoyed both. We stayed for a few rounds of pool and hit the road but we’ll be back next time we’re in town. I could see this being a regular hangout for us if we lived nearby.

Its not often that I sit down in a restaurant and am completely torn about what to order because so much sounds so good. But decide I did and I was not disappointed. My husband and the kids all loved their meals and the food was served in a reasonable amount of time. The restaurant also offered many different seating options from outdoor to tables and booths and was not cramped which is a really nice thing when you are dining with 4 kiddos! The next time we are in town we’ll visit again for sure.

A promising place in Madison to hangout and have fun … Enjoy a good game of pool or shuffleboard while chugging a good beer from their menu… Haven’t had many food items on their menu but the cheese curds are top notch.

It’s usually fairly busy because it’s the only place in that area. I went here during March Madness time and had a very poor experience, if you want to watch a game other than a Wisconsin game, plan on going somewhere else — even if your team’s game is just finishing up. I decided to give it a couple more tries. During those tries, it was just average. If I’m in the area and other people want to go, I’ll go. Otherwise it’s not somewhere I go out of the way for. If you really want to go to a Great Dane, go downtown.

I always come here when I am in town! I love love their Mac and cheese and pretzel! I tried their poutine burger. Honestly I would have just gotten the appetizer then the burger. Their root beer is awesome. I had to take a grower of it home. My husband enjoys their house made beer.

I’ve been to Great Dane three times now since moving to Madison in May. It’s conveniently close to my place so I can’t help myself. I think if Great Dane wasn’t so close to my apartment, I would very rarely visit it. Nothing there stands out as amazing. The whole experience feels very average to me. There are many amazing pubs and brewing companies in Madison. Great Dane just feels like it is sort of middle of the road.
The East Side location has indoor, floor, and upstairs seating with plenty of activities such as darts and pool to pass the time. The pub servers Great Dane beer, of course so there will be plenty to go around.
I am personally a dark, Scotch, and brown ale drinker. Sadly Great Dane delivers a mediocre stout and an above average Scottish ale. Nothing I have had so far on their beer list has wowed me. I am always trying new beers so if this ever changes I will post an update.
The food is stereotypical pub food and nothing innovative is going on here. The cheese curds are served VERY hot, have heavy breading, and the cheese doesn’t taste fresh. I love cheese curds, but I don’t think these are worth ordering unless you are desperate or want something better than Culver’s…
I’ve had multiple sandwiches and burgers at Great Dane. Nothing was wrong with them, but there was nothing outstanding about them. The ingredient quality just seems kind of meh. Nothing special really to eat here.

Monday dinner with dad. No wait for a table.
I needed a beer for a rough day at work. Waitress asked about our likes a brought some samples to choose from.
Food came out fast and hot. I had the french dip and dad had the cuban. We split an order of their specialty fries? Pautine? — YUM!

The fourth star is just for the variety. The food is decidedly 3 stars – average and overly salty.
The number one thing anyone thinking of eating at any Great Dane should know is that the cheese curds are fake. I mean, the cheese is real, but it’s the wrong kind of cheese. Wrong breading, and (grasping chest) wrong dipping sauce!!! True Wisconsin cheese curds are served with ranch dressing. These had some kind of horseradish dip. Now don’t get me wrong, they were tasty – they just aren’t the real deal. You’ll need to go downtown for the true experience (Paradise and Caribou are the first to come to mind).
Rest of the meal, as with the other locations I’ve visited, was just ok. Not so bad to make you wish you hadn’t ordered it, but wonder if you should have chosen the other dish you were deciding between.

This branch of the Great Dane is in a weird location in the middle of housing developments and fake community areas. But, whatever. Those people need to eat and drink too! Clearly they are not encouraged to drive, however, as the parking lot probably could only handle about 15 — 20% of the building’s seating capacity.
At this point, I also feel calling this location «pub» is hilarious. It’s a massive restaurant. Very banquet-​hall feeling in both look and in service. I came for Easter brunch with my family and the food was good, but the atmosphere was quite lacking. When we arrived for our reservation we had to wait quite a while as «our» table was still occupied by the previous reservation. When we were finally led to our seats, there were lots of open tables that would’ve seated 4 adults and a child, so I’m really unsure why we had to wait 15 – 20 minutes.
Overall, it was a nice time, but I wasn’t particularly feeling it one way or the other. Nice food, pleasant service.

The best part about the Dane is the beer garden in summer. There’s often a wait during peak hours, but it’s worth it.
Since this is a brewpub, I’ll say that their beer is decent but not really that exciting. I like their Scotch ale a lot. The barleywine is good. But in a town where we’re so spoiled with beer options, there’s better out there.
TIp: Most of their beer comes in imperial pints, which are larger than standard pints. That is why you feel tipsy faster here, isn’t it?
Menu is big and diverse, with a lot of veg-​friendly fare. It’s a bit overpriced though.

Let me start by saying I was torn between 3 and 4 stars — for one main reason. The Parking. It’s horrible. Whoever planned this building area should find a new job. I’ve been to this location close to a dozen times, and I think I got a spot in their tiny lot once and I was just lucky to be pulling in when someone left. Be prepared to park far away. Not a huge deal when the weather is nice — but a huge pain with a baby in single digits and snow.
That said — the staff here has always been very nice and provide great service. Selection of food and beer is great and I’ve always enjoyed their food. Upstairs has a nice dining area, 2^nd bar area and group room. Very nice place overall — just plan on parking no where near the building whatsoever.

Returned to the Dane after their kitchen fire and was disappointed. Fruit flies everywhere. Seriously, we were swatting them away from our food. Service was ok. Not overly attentive, not overly friendly. We ordered an appetizer and food and everything came out at once. There was food splattered on the sides of the booths and a general lack of care displayed.
Between the fruit flies, dirty booths, and the kitchen fire… We won’t be back. They need to clean!

Generally speaking, I’m not a huge fan of the Dane; this one wasn’t bad. Not sure what it is — they just don’t do it for me…
— Tiny parking lot; cars parked all along side streets
+ Outdoor seating that overlooks the small parking lot
+ Huge interior; multiple seating options — bar, main floor dining, upstairs dining, upstairs bar
+ Looks like there are some banquet rooms available?
— Upstairs bartender (in back area) was initially quite slow & not terribly helpful
+ Same bartender got much better as time went on; I think there were too many patrons upstairs for one bartender
+ Starters/​appetizers — decent. Boneless wings with 3-​alarm sauce were good, but not worth $ 10. Giant pretzel was quite tasty, but with cheese sauce (an unknown upsold item), not really worth $ 7.
+ Decent Dane tap selection, full English pint pours
— Limited booze selection (no Meyers Rum?)
+ Great view of Madison from the upstairs rooms
I won’t ever turn down a visit to the Great Dane, it’s just not a destination venue for me. We met a group of friends there last night for a farewell happy hour, and it was a good time in a good environment. 3-​stars feels about right.

I went for trivia the other night. I put my name in for a table and noticed an open booth. I asked the hostesses if I could be seated there. They said yes but then did nothing. It took them nearly ten minutes to seat us and then we never even received menus. The hostesses were not busy. In fact, the hostesses at this location tend to just social with each other most of the time.
When we finally sat down, the service was slow. Yeah, it was trivia night. But come on. Check on us occasionally. Maybe it was a busy night and things fell through the cracks. Maybe not.
I dropped them a star because I tried their Apple Crumble. It was pretty awful. It was REALLY cold. They took it right out of the fridge and served it. The crumble was described as a granola topping. It more like streusel or coffee cake. For $ 5.50 and I expected a burst of flavor in my mouth. The only thing I got was a sad, cold whimper.
I would skip the pie and try another dessert.