Nitty Gritty - Middleton

Today Vickie, the kids and I visited Nitty Gritty for the first time. There are two locations, one off campus and the one we visited in Middleton. The Middleton location is much larger than the outside would leave you to believe. There are two stories and lots of TVs. We went around 1:00pm on a Sunday and the place was almost empty. It's kind of Friday's-esque inside.

The service was good. Our server got our order, all particular in some fashion, mostly right. I was missing some bacon on my burger but that was fixed promptly. She did a really good job keeping up with drinks which were going quickly.

The Nitty Gritty always shows up on best burger lists in Madison. The burgers just aren't that good, which is part of my problem with Madison. The burgers aren't juicy, or flavorful, or memorable in any way. Vickie and I both got burgers. She got a roasted garlic burger, which was really, really garlicky. No complaints there. I got a burger with pepper jack, bacon and grilled onions. The burgers are six ounce. I always think eight ounce should at least be an option. They do offer a double, which I would never order, or would never admit to. Many of the burgers come with Gritty Sauce (a variant of thousand island). Our problem was mainly the buns, which were wheat, and were kind of sweet and a little soggy. Declan had a breaded chicken sandwich on a pretzel bun that he loved. Jane had chicken fingers that she also said were good. We all had fries which were well-cooked. We started with cheese curds that were marginal at best.

I should mention that the menu is is pretty diverse. There's a veggie burger, a black bean burger, a salmon burger, a cod fillet, and several different chicken options. They even had some interesting looking salads. The problem is that The Nitty Gritty represents itself as being a great place for burgers, and it's not. Maybe we'll go back sometime so Declan can get the chicken sandwich again. Maybe.