Toby's Supper Club - Madison

The first Supper Club visit of 2018 was a local Madison joint. Several people have told me about this hole in the wall, so of course we had to try it out.

Having a large group at this restaurant was a bit difficult. They don't take reservations and don't open until 5pm. We walked in at 5:30pm to a packed room. The club is one (small) open room with a bar in the middle and dining tables around it. It was a standing room, you could barely move around. And you were always moving out of the way for waitresses and trays of food.

The club operates a little differently than typical restaurants. You need to check-in with the bartenders (if you can get their attention). Then the waitress comes to you and takes your order. Once your food is ready, then they seat you. Like I said, with a big group, this becomes difficult. We waited two and half hours from when we walked in until we sat down with our food.

But once our waitress came around, I was thoroughly entertained. She was a short sassy girl with rainbow-colored hair. We had a group of 12, and she gave everyone a nickname to remember who ordered what. She called me Ponytail, my sister was Leather & Lace, my Dad was Santa, and it went on and on. She said after tonight we would all be "Toby-ized". She was an absolute hoot!!

When we got to our table it was already set with our salads/soups, bread baskets, and relish trays. They didn't want to waste any time. Unfortunately, we were split between two tables.

Group #1

Group #2

Table setting - bread, relishes, salads, and soups already served

Relish Trays

Tortilla Soup

Bread Basket & Breadsticks. During the week,
they serve Cinnamon Rolls

Veggies

A tray of just Pickles

Shortly after our entrees were served. We didn't have to wait long for any of our food once we were seated. A lot of steak, shrimp, and hash browns were ordered from our group.

Shrimp & Scallops

Steak

Steak & Shrimp

Burger

Shrimp

Steak

Fried Chicken

Steak

Steak

Steak

Hash Browns!

Steak & Shrimp

Overall, the food was good, even if there wasn't much variety within the group, haha! I was impressed with how quickly the food was prepared and served after we placed our order. I would be interested in visiting this joint during the week, when hopefully it would be less busy.

Time for the grading scale:

1. Prime Rib specials are served every Saturday night.

Nope - and frankly, this is a big one for me, if you haven't learned yet. Their Saturday night special is New York Strip.

2. A relish tray is served.

Yes - they get an extra point for having a tray of just pickles. I was in heaven.

3. Manhattans and Old-Fashioned cocktails are served with Brandy.

Yes.

4. Jell-O is served as a salad option.

No.

5. Walleye is a regular menu item.

It is not. They have Lake Perch as their regular fish item.

6. All-you-can-eat fried fish on Friday nights.

No, it is priced as pieces.

7. Grasshopper and Pink Cadillac cocktails are large enough to share.

I don't know, we didn't order any after dinner drinks.

8. Christmas lights are strung along structures year-round.

No. They had big screen TVs and bar lights.

9. The Waitresses call you "Hon"

Yes, plus a bunch of other names! But it was all in good fun.

10. The club has a scenic view of our beautiful state.

The Madison beltline is not a scenic view.

Wow, that's a 4 out 10. Pretty disappointing. My overall opinion was just "ordinary". The wait time and crowd on a Saturday night was not enjoyable. But honestly, they must be doing something right if people are packing this place every week.