oh no. no no no no no. uh uh. run.\n\nwe felt a little obligated to check out the avenue after hearing so many rave reviews about this place being a madisonian institution. we went for the friday night fish fry and got there right before it got slammed. pretty sure we were the only non-octogenarians in there which elicited a lot of stares... which is really uncomfortable when you're seated at a round table in front of a booth. awkward. and the waiter was slow and weird and another waitress was snappish with one of her customers and just, egh.\n\nwe both ordered the fish fry - one perch, one cod. the perch was disgusting; chewy and fishy and tough. it didn't taste like fresh perch. we took a bite and left the rest on the plate. the cod was much better and the coating was better on the cod, too. a really decent piece of fish but i wouldn't be surprised if it was frozen and imported from the pacific and on the non-sustainable list. not that our waiter could answer that question...\n\nfries were boring. coleslaw was too vinegary. sourdough roll was too frozen. tartar sauce was all mayonnaise.\n\ni couldn't get over how expensive our meal was and it's always so upsetting to pay $20 a head for a dinner i feel i could make thirty times better in my own kitchen. the tacky decor was just weird - not like a supper club, but more like your grandmother's bizarro clock collection and knick-knack hell. (smoky's in madison is the superlative supper club - the avenue is just grody in the same way ella's diner is grody). dinge o rama. which i can totally handle if the food is amazing... but it wasn't. and i'll never go back. \n\nbut it's ok. because half of madison is there every friday night. they won't be hurting for business any time soon.
places reviews