Oh Graze, how you disappointed me. As a foodie traveling with other foodies, we scoped out the Madison food scene prior to our work trip and pegged Graze as THE place we had to try. Glowing reviews, amazing location, an intriguing-looking menu...what could go wrong?!\n\nOur party of 4 arrived around 6pm and the place was packed. We were given a 1-1.5 hour wait time. This place is tiny so waiting at the bar was not an option unless we wanted to stand over tables and hover on top of people trying to eat. We were given a pager so we went across the street to a dive bar called The Tipsy Cow (tip: go there instead! Great spot!) to wait. After an hour, we were paged so we returned.\n\nThe space here can generously be described as cramped. We squeezed into our small table and were consistently bumped repeatedly throughout the meal by servers passing through. The volume is loud here so expect to shout a bit while conversing. That being said, you cannot top the view: floor to ceiling glass windows overlooking the capitol building. Truly lovely and the best part of Graze for sure.\n\nWe started with a few small plates: cheese curds (of course), pork buns, truffle popcorn and soft pretzels. So, part of our quest was to try cheese curds everywhere we went on this trip and Graze is no exception. Where did they rank? Dead last. Our party unanimously agreed these curds were pretty nasty-- vodka batter served with house ranch and the flavors were horrific. We didn't finish the basket. First time!\n\nThe pork buns were paltry, basic and bland. I've had much better at a much cheaper price elsewhere. Not worth ordering as they are forgettable.\n\nThe truffle popcorn was a big miss. The basket remained full when the waitress took it away. We all took a single bite and found it to just be a misfire, plain and simple. While we appreciate the concept, the execution fails-- it's weird tasting ultimately and this feedback is coming from west coasters who hail from the land of putting \"nutritional yeast\" on popcorn at the movies voluntarily. We all felt its potential but it did not deliver. Do not order this.\n\nThe pretzels were very good. However, they are a very small portion so a party of 4 would need to order 2 of these. The pretzels were our group's favorite bite at Graze.\n\nAs for entrees, I ordered a fried chicken and waffles plate. I had big expectations, I cannot lie. Where I live in Oregon, we have a waffle food truck that makes this exact meal for $6 and it's out of this world, so going to a \"gourmet\" place to try their version smelled like nirvana. Sadly, 'twas not to be. First, the portions were RIDICULOUSLY HUGE. It was offensively big, honestly. WTF. Who needs that much food?! I wish I had taken a picture. I felt embarrassed having it front of me because I felt like a huge pig. So, despite the insane size, the chicken itself was black on the outside. Black. Beyond charred. Burned black. Ok, so it's going to be a carbon experience. Got it. Still, I plowed onward and cut into that black bird and found-- surprise!! Bone dry chicken! What a shock when it's burned black to have it be inedible and dry. The waffle was subpar. Too big, too soggy, zero flavor. It came with syrup which I attempted to douse the food with in an attempt to get some sort of flavor-- maybe the syrup was the secret ingredient that pulled it together and made it come alive? Nope. I took 2 bites and couldn't eat another. My group all tried it and they agreed with me that it was just bad food, period.\n\nOne person with me ordered the pub burger, served on an english muffin of all things. He found it to be very average, questioned the $11 price tag and missed a decent bun. English muffin, while it's obvious they are trying to be trendy and different, ultimately reads kind of cheap, sorry.\n\nFinally, one person got the trout and was very pleased, so that was a success at least. Drinks and service were also top-notch.\n\nAfter our huge expectations and our disastrous results, we bailed on dessert-- we lost interest and we all agreed we wished we had stayed at The Tipsy Cow and gotten a bar burger instead. Overall, our experience with Graze was sadly disappointing and a huge letdown after we went in with such high expectations and excitement. None of us would return.
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