Graze

Came in here for lunch and was not at all disappointed. They tick all the «locally sourced, farm to table» boxes which makes this bay area food snob happy. ;)
Very nice space with a walls of windows overlooking the capitol. I had the Bibimbap with pork — it was quite tasty; good balance of flavors and nicely spicy. Washed it down with a pint of Fat Squirrel and it all adds up to a worthwhile excursion!

Two words: Pub.Burger. And truffle popcorn. Okay… five words. These are my favorites — and the things I’ve had most often at Graze. But I’ve also been there with friends who’ve raved about the chicken and waffles and the bibimbop and the mussels. It’s one of those places where you always have entrée envy — even though what’s on your own plate is perfectly wonderful.
I also love the ambience at Graze — led by that breathtaking view of the capitol. It’s gorgeous in winter, when it gets dark early and the leaves are off the trees — so you see it in all its lit-​up glory. And just as pretty in the golden twilight of summer, sipping a craft cocktail and dining al fresco.
It’s one of my favorite late-​night spots, too. Many’s the time I’ve had a cocktail and curds after a show at the Bartell. They always taste sssooooooo good.
What else? Oh, yes — the service is always great. I’ve never encountered a server who wasn’t totally on his or her game. They’re attentive and friendly — and they know the menu. You can’t ask for more than that.
Graze is always a place I enjoy returning to.

Good food, great location. The prices are reasonable for what you are getting, and a nice variety of menu options. Awesome view.

We love Graze. Excellent atmosphere, perfect view of the Capitol, and nice outdoor seating in the summer/​fall.
Must haves:
Pretzel appetizer, White Truffle Popcorn, Hooks Aged Cheddar Mac&Cheese, Pub Burger
Pros:
Great food, fresh ingredients, locally sourced
Excellent ambiance/​cool décor
Easy to fit large parties (as long as you’re willing to wait!)
Friendly Waitstaff
Great Vegetarian Options!
Cons:
No reservations, so if you go at a busy time, plan to wait for at least an hour

Really nice place downtown probably Tori Millers best place in Madison based on being a really well rounded restaurant. The prices are really fair for what you are getting, its really high quality food and a nice variety of menu options. And the view is really nice. Prepare to wait for a table if come on a busy night. But you can have dinner at the bar which we have done once and is not a bad option. There isn’t a lot of standing room at the bar so hopefully you’ll be able to grab a seat.
The bimbimbop is really good, I love the rice cakes they used instead of traditional rice. I’ve gotten the graze burger twice now. It is probably one of the best burgers in Madison. It does come with a $ 21 price tag but I think it’s worth it.
They have a nice drink menu which is always changing. Will keep coming back here for yummy food and nice atmosphere.

I have never had a bad experience at Graze. The food and drink is outstanding and varied and painstakingly locally sourced for the most part. The bibimbap with the crispy rice is fantastic and different than traditional in a good funky way. The Graze Burger is possibly the best burger in Madison (and that is a big claim!).
It is always worth the wait!

As soon as you walk in you’ll notice that jeans and a t shirt won’t suffice at this upscale casual restaurant. The service is always great and accommodating. The food is another deal. The menu is seasonal or code for limited. Don’t plan on getting full because this is the place where you get tasty food, not huge portions, not even medium portions We must call them what they are, SMALL. A place for foodies to go catch up with their elitist yuppie friends.
Also, plan on spending $ 35 a person if you want to get near full. No joke, I went there and got a pickle board appetizer and a steak and I left HUNGRY. Had to go get another bite to eat.
I give it only two stars because a restaurant, no matter how nice and friendly, should fill you up if you spend $ 35 per person.

Still dreamin about that Graze burger. Dan scoffed at the price, but pffft it was worth it and I hogged it all. My precious. I love this place for the view, too. Can’t go wrong with those cheesecurds and pork buns either.

Two words: CHEESE CURDS. My goodness, Graze has some of the best cheese curds I’ve had. Be sure to come early enough to not miss out– I stopped by at 9 pm for a late dinner to learn that they were all out Their menu is constructed around locally sourced foods, which is awesome. Thus, be prepared for a different entrees at each visit! The pork chops were absolutely delicious and so were the sea mussels from our last visit. A cozy atmosphere with great service! I would definitely recommend it.

I really want to love Graze – the location is great, I love the atmosphere and the big glass windows, the view of the capitol, I even like their name.
But…each time I go the food is just average. It’s good enough, but I’ve never been blown away. I also think it’s a little overpriced.
They have a good drink menu, and if you are going to go for any meal, I think brunch is the best they have to offer.
Also be advised that they do not accept reservations.

Loved the noodle bowl! The pork flavor was awesome and the soup seemed like it had been cooking well overnight. It was a large portion, and I ended up taking over half to-​go.
Our waitress was very attentive and left the water pitcher on the table for us to help ourselves in between her check-​ins.

I was in Madison for work and a friend suggested Graze for dinner. After a long day of travel and nonstop work, I headed to Graze tired and a little spacey. I sat at the bar, which was a great idea. The bartenders were friendly and I ended up sitting next to a very nice guy – a meal that I thought would be fast and impersonal ended up being super pleasant.
I had a few glasses of wine and ordered the more expensive graze burger. Holy sh*t. That was a tasty burger. Juicy, perfectly cooked, oniony, amazing. GO NOW AND EAT THAT BURGER. I want one right now.
The view from the bar also can’t be beat. What a lovely little place. I hope to go back someday!

Their cheese curds are my favorite in Madison. Ive come here a few times for brunch and tried a lot of their offerings, but the only thing that really has any wow factor to me are those cheese curds.
*update*
I just finished eating non brunch here for the first time. Im not a big burger fan, so i cant say much about it, but the mac and cheese was a masterpiece. Medium, al dente shells in a rich, thick, garlicky cheese sauce. It tastes like some seriously aged cheese!

It seems that there is a constellation of very, very good restaurants surrounding the Capitol. One in that constellation is Graze.
We visited early evening, nearly opening the place. The setting is open, airy, convivial, relaxed, effervescent.
The service was attentive, our server very knowledgeable about preparations and willing to step up and make actual recommendations.
Our meal included Roasted Fall Squash, Artesian (a local farm) Trout, a burger and an apple crisp.
The Roasted Fall Squash came with goat cheese. It almost seemed designed by some ‘foodologist’, offering and exploring subtle complimentary tastes. Fresh, seasonal.
The Roasted Artesian Trout came with celery root purée, delicata squash, lemon browned butter, and rye croutons. Generous and a wonderful medley of tastes.
The burger was good, it being hard to stretch limits on that, but the accompanying fries got my partner’s comment of ‘best fries ever!‘
The menu offers choices for diners with a view of their diet. For us, that meant seeing gluten free choices.
The apple crisp was made gluten-​free at our request. Very tasty, our waitress explaining for the gluten free it just different components to the crumble, recommending it. Ice cream was on the side per our request – delicious!
So, out of this world good! Actually, out of this world great!

Short story: Eat at Graze, and you will NOT be disappointed.
Long story: We ate at Graze because it was unfortunately on our list of restaurants we have not yet tried in Madison. (Not sure why it was on that list for so long?!) I love the fact that a restaurant is so committed and concerned to working with local farmers to cook with local, quality ingredients.
We ate the deviled eggs and pork buns for appetizers and the graze burger and cauliflower rigatoni for entrees. Everything was incredible: very fresh-​tasting, cooked perfectly and completely delicious. If you’re an egg fiend like me, the deviled egg appetizer might make you scream because it’s so tasty.
My only complaint is that the house white wine was very bubbly and almost champagne-​y, and I didn’t know that when I ordered it. The bartender and the menu did not mention anything about that. I can’t complain too much because my wine glass was empty at the end of dinner! :-)
Graze is now on my «take out-​of-​town guests here so they can be impressed with Madison» list along with The Old Fashioned, Eldorado Grill, and a few other Madison favorites. :-)
Great location with big windows. It’s a classy and contemporary (but not stuffy) place to go for incredible food downtown!
We’ll definitely go back.

PROS: Interesting local-​fusion concept, cute interior, decent prices and portions
CONS: ?
Funny walking in, ordering the vegetarian bibimbap, and observing that all the fancily-​dressed women from different tables ordered exactly the same thing! BBB IS IN! This spot is hip, cute, packed with a lot of young urbanites and… slightly yuppy?
I thoroughly enjoyed the chef’s choice cheese platter appetizer that we ordered, as well as my non-​classic Graze-​ian bibimbap, which had little crispy cubes of rice — rather interesting and innovative take on achieving the clay-​pot crispy rice feel of traditional Korean bibimbap. I look forward to coming back!

Six words: Ambiance Abound and Close to Downtown
In addition to their fantastic space, they have very tasty, vegetarian friendly dishes. A menu of deviled eggs, grilled cheeses and beat burgers sounds like the recipe for a direct passage to Hell. Yet their wine and beer selection will make you feel like you are still in Heaven. At least for a little while.

Mixed emotions for this review. Awesome cheese plates. Great Korean bowl. Undercooked graze burger. Beautiful setting. How could some things be so awesome and others fall flat. Sad that my experience was jaded because waitress in training didn’t ask how I wanted my burger cooked and then delivered a tartar on a bun. When did any burger come out rare? Except in 1 star restaurants.
Wish I could give you another chance but bright red isn’t my favorite color. I’ve eaten at your sister restaurant L’Etoile and always been amazed. Not so on this visit right next door. My heart just fell on the floor.

Overall: Quality food and service for a great experience. Definitely worth it!
The good: Food is great, from the cheese curds to the salad to the main course. The service was friendly and attentive. Clean atmosphere and nice ambiance.
The bad: I wasn’t a fan of the bipimbop having fried rice cubes. Otherwise it was great. Kind of expensive for the entire meal. The food took awhile to come out. Restaurant was cold.
Atmosphere: ⁸⁄₁₀
Service: ⁸⁄₁₀
Food: ⁸⁄₁₀

Enter into a giant glass building. Everywhere you turn you see the outside world and your night of food and people watching begin. 7:30 at night in downtown Madison is rush hour for any establishment. Thankfully we only waited 15 minutes. While my date and I waited we were promptly greeted by a bartender. A chocolate cherry beer for me and a sour for her. Both moderately priced at $ 5.00
Once we were alerted that our table was ready, via phone call, we were sat at a beautiful table looking out at the capitol building. I really don’t think there was a bad seat in the house. We were greeted by our server, Alyson, and right away she threw us into the wonderful menu that is Graze.
First up were our appetizers. We settled on the Pickle Board and the Soft Pretzel.
~ Pickle Board $ 7: Bread & butter, daikon, beets, escabeche, kimchee, seasonal selection. As much as I love food and prize myself on the knowledge of said subject I did not know what half these were. However as soon as I saw kimchee I was sold. Let me tell you it did not disappoint. The beets had a sweetness to them. The pickled radishes were a little crunchier than kimchee with great flavor.
~ Soft Pretzel $ 4: Sea salt, house mustards, Widmer’s cheese. The mustards were fantastic. One had a horseradish flavor to it. A nice bite that goes straight to your nose. Another was a cognac grain mustard. A beautiful flavor with what I thought to be a sweet hint. The third was gone before I realized what happed. So it must have been good.
So we had our appetizers and I was already blown away. The tough part came with the entrée selection. Be aware the menu is not that large but it is fresh and everything looked so good. I asked my server if she would partake in my favorite game, pick my meal. She happily obliged.
My lovely date decided on the graze burger and my server, well, I was not disappointed with her choice at all.
~ Graze Burger $ 21: Fresh ground bacon, sirloin, ribeye & short ribs, caramelized onions, Worcestershire-​cabernet jus, Swiss Emmental compound butter, SarVecchio sesame brioche, with fries & aioli. Now I know, I thought the same thing too. A $ 21 burger!!! But please, treat yourself. Four different meats in one perfectly cooked pink patty. A magic melted carpet ride of cheese and flavor. I rarely have life changing moments from burgers but there is always one that I will occasionally find that will blow my mind. This is a force to be reckoned with and definitely worth every penny.
~ Lamb Crépinette, with ratatouille, herb salad, & aged balsamic: Have you ever taken a bite of something and just had to stop and sit there. Take a journey with me. You take your first bite of this crepinette, a lamb sausage patty essentially. As the first part hits your mouth your taste buds got into a trance. The balsamic glaze slowly starts to spread over your tongue causing an increased sense of pleasure. The tenderness of the meat makes you feel like you are at one with the world. You start to appreciate every part of your life and the complex flavors work together to bring you into pure Nirvana. That was this dish.
Graze is your Madison take on a gastropub. It values and puts forth the farm to table movement. Looking at the reverse side of the menu, or their website, you will see the extensive list of local farms that source their ingredient list. Graze is a spot to do just that, graze. Come alone, on a date or with a group. Fill up the table with dishes and pass around the plates. This is one stop that will have me coming back time and time again.