Essen Haus - Madison, WI Brewery/BrewPub/Beer Bar Reviews
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Type: Beer Bar
Essen Haus
Overall: Great    Score: 75.3 / 100
514 East Wilson Street
Madison, WI 53703
United States
(608) 255-4674
website
Last Updated: June 2004
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Overall Average User Rating
Beer Quality Beer Selection Food Service Overall
Great Great Good Good Great
Individual User Reviews
Beer Quality Beer Selection Food Service Overall
N/A N/A Good Great Lousy
We dined there last night and were having a pleasant dinner until the band began playing at 8:30. The sound level was painfully loud and ruined our evening. We will not be back.

Write Your Review Reply to this Review Report Review Anywhere, WA
(05/27/2007)
Beer Quality Beer Selection Food Service Overall
N/A Good N/A N/A So So
Drank here in my younger days and was a fun place, however, being older and (slightly) more worldly I was not impressed when stopping by there for a bite to eat. The place was musty and dirty, and did not remind me a good German Beer Hall in the least (which are actually very well kept). No opinion on the food (as we walked out as soon as we sat down) just a heads up on the conditions.

Write Your Review Reply to this Review Report Review See more reviews from Bill Bill, Milwaukee, WI
(01/16/2007)
Beer Quality Beer Selection Food Service Overall
Awesome! Great Good Good Great
The Essen Haus is my favorite place to drink genuine german draft beer in all of Wisconsin. On weekends, especially college football weekends, the place is a wild madhouse -- which can be an aweful lot of fun, but the food is terrible. During the week, it's peaceful and calm -- and the food is great. The beer, however, is always so delicious that I have to ask my wife to drive us home afterwards.

Write Your Review Reply to this Review Report Review black earth, WI
(05/05/2006)
Beer Quality Beer Selection Food Service Overall
Great Great So So Lousy So So
I was so disappointed in the food, especially since I was trying to convince my business colleagues to give German food a try. It just didn't taste good. The beer was great but the 'German' potatoes were not cooked German style at all. The spaetzle was mediocre at best. All in all I was embarrassed by the food. The only thing that made it good was the beer.

Write Your Review Reply to this Review Report Review Denver, CO
(10/28/2005)
Beer Quality Beer Selection Food Service Overall
Awesome! Great Great Awesome! Awesome!
Nobody puked on us, no fruit flies in our beers, and we didn't get sick from the food, despite what the last 2 posts would have you believe. Instead, we had a fabulous time celebrating Wisconsin's German heritage over a couple of Optimators and Franziskaner Dunkel Weisses, and some solid German food - not haute cuisine, but serious comfort food for a wistful Badger who sees this type of cooking disappearing more and more every year. Throw in a fine oom-pah band and an attentive, friendly waiter and it made for an evening we won't soon forget.

Write Your Review Reply to this Review Report Review See more reviews from Rick Bie Rick Bie, stevens point, WI
(04/18/2005)
Beer Quality Beer Selection Food Service Overall
So So Good Lousy So So Lousy
As an ex-employee. No I am not pissed off at the place. I would have to warn against ever eating here and take you chances with the beer. I worked there for several years and they just changed the lines in the beer taps for the first time in 13 years! The food is just disgusting! If you saw the kitchen and how they took food safety you would never step foot in this place again. (I mean leaving uncooked turkeys in the basement unrefridgerated for a week is nasty as hell!) JUST BE WARNED ABOUT THIS PLACE, I PERSONALLY DO NOT THINK THAT IT SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO STILL OPERATE. ALWAYS CHECK YOUR BEERS FOR FRUIT FLIES!

Write Your Review Reply to this Review Report Review mad, WI
(06/24/2004)
Beer Quality Beer Selection Food Service Overall
Good Great So So So So Good
Great place to get blottoed, act like an idiot and throw up. Gotta love the low-cut blouses and miracle bras on the waitresses. Beer selection is very good, but they are really bad about keeping their taps clean and turning over stock. German food is never great, but here it is often bad. Still can be a lot of fun though.

Write Your Review Reply to this Review Report Review See more reviews from Mr. Weekend Mr. Weekend, Middleton, WI
(12/19/2003)
Beer Quality Beer Selection Food Service Overall
Good Good Lousy Lousy So So
This used to be a nice restaurant, with good food, good service, good German beer, and a great atmosphere. In the last few years it's really gone downhill-- excruciatingly bad service, TV_dinner quality food, run-down appearance, etc. The beer is still good and it's worth having a couple in the bar section, but that's all.

Write Your Review Reply to this Review Report Review See more reviews from Beer Titan Beer Titan, Champaign, IL
(07/30/2003)
Beer Quality Beer Selection Food Service Overall
Great Great Great Great Awesome!
This is really a fun place you can take your whole family to. It has an authentic German Rathskeller atmosphere, and a decent variety of German beers on tap. Also has lots and lots of bottles, but I prefer the tap stuff myself. The food is usually excellent...I go there fairly regularly and it is possible to have a less-than-stellar meal, but it rarely happens. Essen Haus is part of a complex of 3 bars...you can go to all three without ever having to venture outside, which is quite a nice feature with our winters. They have an outdoor deck one can dine on in the summer, as do the other two establishments. The other two have different types of atmospheres and different sorts of beers, so you can get an awful lot of variety here.

Write Your Review Reply to this Review Report Review See more reviews from Gargantua Gargantua, Madison, WI
(03/15/2003)
Beer Quality Beer Selection Food Service Overall
Awesome! Lousy Lousy Great So So
The Essen Haus is nothing but hype. The food that I had there was Horrible, I mean get real $20 for some dried out gravy over some over cooked veal! Whatever, watch out for the beer, sometimes it has alot of fruit flies in it! I got a mouth full the last time I was there. I wouldnt recommend this place to anyone unless you like dining with Roachs and drunk old germans. This place stinks, I would never visit it again. You shouldnt either!

Write Your Review Reply to this Review Report Review New York, NY
(02/25/2003)
Beer Quality Beer Selection Food Service Overall
Great Great Great Great Great
A five-minute walk southeast of the Wisconsin State Capitol, the Essen Haus is one of the most authentic German restaurants/bierstubes in the US. It can be crowded and noisy at times, but this is a great venue for group dining or solo drinking at the bar. As you might expect, the food and beer are with a German accent. More than 15 real German beers are available on tap, served in large steins as well as huge "boots." This is as close to München as you are likely to find on this side of the Atlantic. If you tire of the gemütlichkeit, you can always go next door to the Come Back In, which features American microbrews.

Write Your Review Reply to this Review Report Review See more reviews from Bill Pierce Bill Pierce, Highwood, IL
(07/30/2002)
Beer Quality Beer Selection Food Service Overall
Great Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!
The best beer bar I have been to. The libations are many and a Taxi is the best tip I can give you all. Cheers!

Write Your Review Reply to this Review Report Review See more reviews from BD BD, Trout Run, PA
(06/07/2002)
Beer Quality Beer Selection Food Service Overall
Great Great Great Good Great
If you are looking for a great time drinking "boots" and singing German beer-drinking songs, this is it. If you have a big group of friends and want to show them a good time, eat dinner on the floor on Saturday night so you have great seats for the band. If you are looking for something a bit more relaxed (with more micros), walk through the back door to the Come Back Inn.

Write Your Review Reply to this Review Report Review See more reviews from Matthew L. Buteyn Matthew L. Buteyn, New Berlin, WI
(01/14/2002)