August 25, 2009
Food is not as good as the downtown location...but they always have their imperial ipa on tap. Don’t seem to have the crazy one offs as often.

February 9, 2009
Not as big or as nice as the Fitchburg location but still a nice place nonetheless. I love that pretzel burger, made the trip up for that and to check out more of their beer. Had a decent selection of annuals, plus five specialty beers, two of which were on the cask. Friendly waitstaff and clean smoke-free environment. The mirrors on the booth kept messing with me though.

October 18, 2008
A very new building in a trendy shopping area. We were here for a Bell’s event at the GTMW. We received a tour of the facilty, including the brewing area. Very nice brewing area. The beer list was great, with great knowledgable service. A damn shame that they could not sell their own beer here, but they were serving it at the private event we were at.

January 8, 2008
I have to say that the lack of being able to serve Great Dane beers was a kick in the teeth even through they have a solid beer list. This was a very nice looking modern new building with plenty of seating and a pleasant atmosphere. Service is usually very good, and the food was just what I expected and hoped for (I love eating at the Dane!) after frequenting the downtown location. As mentioned the beer list was good (they had stuff such as Belgian Red and some Victory stuff), but Great Dane beers are not available there, and the Leinie’s Big Eddy IIPA that was on the menu was not available ( Overall a nice place that would be great with a change in state laws.

August 12, 2007
As the third Great Dane brewpub in Wisconsin, the Hilldale location suffers from an outdated law that prevents places like Great Dane from serving their own beers at more than 2 of their own establishments. Apparently, this law is in place to protect the "little guys" from Miller dominating the market even more, but I don’t understand the details. Back to the brewpub: Very nice modern wooden themed interior with high ceilings and large windows to give the place an open concept feel. The selection of beer on tap was phenomenal, with a good blend of harder-to-find WI micros (such as Lake Louie, some Tyranena, and Capital offerings) and great surprises such as NG Belgian Red and Strongbow Cider. I didn’t try the food, but it looked excellent. The waitstaff was also very attentive, friendly, and attractive. If this Great Dane were my local haunt, I’d be a happy man.

June 11, 2007
I finally made it to the third Great Dane for the purpose of trying Big Eddy. The food was on par with the others, although the pizza wasn’t as good as I remember it. The beer selection was well chosen, with an emphasis on WI micros including Lake Louie, Capital, and others of note. Worth the stop if they have something special on, but otherwise not.

March 31, 2007

Until the state laws get resolved they are not able to carry their own beers. However, they do a great job of making up for it with the selection of other Wisconsin beers. Expect to see treats like New Glarus Belgian Red (unbelievable on tap), Lake Louie, Capital and Gouden Carolus. In some ways it is better than the selection at the other two.

As usual the food is good - be sure to make it for the Sunday brunch if you can. As with all places in Madison it is smoke free. Parking may or may not be hard to find as they build up the Hilldale area.

February 16, 2007 [ Updated May 13, 2008 ]
Updated 5/13/08. Apparently the Wisconsin laws restricting brewers to only two retail locations has changed, as this location now serves Great Dane beers. They also had a few visitor taps (New Glarus Raspberry Tart was one of them). The place is pretty typical of the other two Great Dane locations fairly upscale for a brewpub, spacious, and open. Conveniently located a few blocks from Steve’s on University. They serve the Imperial IPA here as one of their staples, which is nice.