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“Wonderful dining and atmosphere!”

Otto's Restaurant & Bar
Reserve a table
2
Tue, 3/19
8:00 PM
Ranked #101 of 1,030 Restaurants in Madison
Price range: $15 - $37
Cuisines: American, Seafood
More restaurant details
Restaurant details
Dining options: Reservations
Dining style: Casual Elegant
Cross street: Yellowstone Drive
Transit: Madison Metro Bus Route 67, Mineral Point Rd. and Yellowstone Dr. stop.
Description: Now open for lunch. Tuesday-Friday 12-2pm.In the 1870s, a German immigrant named Otto Toepfer built the old farmhouse, which is now home to Otto’s Restaurant & Bar, for his family. The architecture is in keeping with style of homes built during that time. It has a 2-foot-thick foundation and was built using bricks brought up from Louisiana by barges on the Mississippi River. The Toepfer property on which the house stands once extended from Whitney Way to Gammon Road and from the Beltline to Mineral Point Rd. There are still many relatives of Otto Toepfer living in the Madison area. Otto’s Restaurant & Bar opened in June of 1987, after almost a full year of renovation. Its original owner named the restaurant Otto’s as an homage to Otto Toepfer and subsequent owners have maintained the Otto’s tradition. Over the years, the restaurant has evolved into a casually elegant dining destination specializing in fresh, creative Mediterranean-inspired cuisine and warm Midwestern hospitality.
Reviewed May 28, 2014 via mobile

Great food, service, and ambience. They take wonderful care of you too. We have been regulars at Otto's for 15 years!

Date of visit: May 2014
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Thank VickiSS22
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviews (143)
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91 - 95 of 143 reviews

Reviewed May 21, 2014

The picture they show on their website gives you the impression that this restaurant is on a farm or at least in the country. It isn't. It's on the outskirts of Madison and surrounded by other businesses. That didn't deter us from trying the food out. It was just disappointing not to have the atmosphere that we thought we were going to have. Well, the food disappointed us too. For the price it wasn't very interesting food. We shared Moroccan crab cakes. The sauce was good and the flavor of curry made the crab cakes have an interesting flavor....but there wasn't much crab in them. My husband had the salmon salad. A. Ice piece of salmon on a bed of lettuce. Something we could have made at home. I had the seafood combo. Scallops, shrimp, salmon. Again. Nothing to rave about. All we can say is we won't go back

Date of visit: May 2014
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1  Thank PatriciaM417
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed April 28, 2014

I can't understand why this restaurant is #91 on Tripadvisor. The service and food was excellent. There was a party on the 3rd floor, which was a tad noisy but it didn't bother the service at all. Our food arrived in a timely manner and our family of 4 got to visit over some tasty plates. The owner was helping the servers, while visiting tables, made me feel valued.

Date of visit: April 2014
    • Value
    • Atmosphere
    • Service
    • Food
Thank travelteacher
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed April 27, 2014

You know you have become a regular when your pic is on the wall - mine is! Best upscale bar in the city and service is top notch. Food is great!

Date of visit: April 2014
1  Thank RknRon
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed April 9, 2014

I had a very poor experience speaking with the owner over the phone. I called to book my rehearsal dinner there and he was nothing but rude. He told me that we couldn't have it on the deck because it might rain. I am in the wedding industry, I work at a venue, and I understand the risks of bad weather. I continued on trying to understand why he wouldn't let me book, asking follow up questions and he refused to answer any of the actual questions. He had no interest in taking the time out to speak with me as a potential client nor did he care about my services. He was more concerned with answering calls from other clients. I would never go to this restaurant based off a very unpleasant phone conversation with the owner, who also refused to identify himself. I work in customer service and this was shocking to say the least.

Date of visit: April 2014
2  Thank Jennifer V
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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