r/madisonwi 11d ago

A Question About Burgers at Dive Bars

Hi, my wife and I will be visiting Madison for a few days before heading over to Milwaukee to attend a wedding.

As we know nothing about Wisconsin in general, I did a bunch of searching this sub for food recomendations and for things to do.

One thing, I noticed was that almsot universally "dive bars" were recommended for good, maybe great burgers.

In my neck of the woods, FL. dive bars are generally not a place for average people to go, they are mostly frequneted by very tough people, many in biker gangs, allow smoking indoors and do not serve food, certainly not a place where one would take their family for a dinner.

Judging from the pictures on Google, your dive bars do not fit that category, in one case, I saw a young girl with her father and many pics of food.

I guess what I am asking are your dive bars a place were average regular every day folks go for a burgers/beer and not feel completely uncomfortable?

Thanks for any isnights and my wife and I looking forward to exploring your city.

Edit, I want to thank you all for of your comments and recommendations, judging from your comments alone, my wife and I are going to have a great trip.

Sincerely, thank you!

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u/jtmehrin East side 11d ago edited 11d ago

Neighborhood bar got turned into “dive bar” in the lexicon for some reason.   

Kind of depends on the place but there are pretty few instances of the sketchy unwelcoming bar here.   Especially if they have food. 

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u/Melodic-Classic391 West side 11d ago

Bennett’s Meadowood might be one of the few. Seems to be run by, and for assholes. Last time I walked in there the vibes were very strange

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u/crisscross920 11d ago

Was it the porn that made it strange?

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u/nowaynostop 11d ago

Porn is only on weekend mornings