stumbled upon this place and ended up having a story to tell all of my friends. very unique decor, steins hanging from the ceiling, bartenders wearing lederhosen, and a bunch of college students drinking beer from a boot. the night i wandered into this place i was greeted with the best polka music i've ever heard. a great time just waiting for you at the essen haus. read more

I dined here in a group before the Billy Joel/Elton John concert. What can I say? It is what it is. A fun atmosphere with a stellar selection of German beer and hearty Alpine food. I especially liked the attention to detail--salty, fresh Dutch pretzels in a basket accompanied by a trio of mustards (sweet and hot) and horseradish. In summation, their 'wurst is the best'! read more

German food. Giant frikken beers (very good!!), giant food with saurkraut and fried shit, and german everything. German german german and very good!! I don't even remember what I ate but it was delicious! read more

Went here on a trip for my friend's bachelor party and it was what a beer hall should be. Frauleins, polka and great beer. Didn't try much food as it was later in the evening, but being able to get a burger for $3.00 while your group is polishing off 8 boots of beer is always a winner. read more

The food is not very good, but that's not what this place is about. It's about drinking a lot of German beer out of a giant boot in a rowdy, crowded place while listening to a live polka band. If that sounds fun to you, then you'll like the Essen Haus. read more

I absolutely love the Essen Haus. I can say, with certainty, it is one of my favorite bars in madison. They have live polka music, a huge spread for seating, and a variety of great beer. Since they rely so heavily on the beer aspect of things, their other drinks aren't outstanding, but they do have a quieter, more "bar-like" side and a louder, more boisterous side. By getting into the German spirit, Essen Haus succeeds in making me smile. read more

You MUST visit here if you are in Madison!! The beer selection is wonderful. The German food is delicious. The staff couldn't be nicer. And the polka bands are so much fun. And don't forget to order a boot!! read more

A little slice of Germany. The wait staff was friendly, the Schitzel delicious, and the large boot of beer is a must. Sharing the boot is recommended, but you should try at least once to finish it on your own. The pretzels and horeseradish are excellent as well. read more

Our waiter was amazing. Helped us pick an amazing prime rib, great salad, choose a better beer and which pretzel dip to eat. After dinner we joined a few friends inside the bar area and danced to polka music for hours. Would definitely come back. read more

Excellent Thanksgiving dinner! The food was great and there was so much of it! The pie was amazing! They had every side imaginable. Arjay was a great server, very attentive even though he had parties of 10 or more next to us. Thank you for a great meal. read more

Some drunk guy came up and broke our boot. In the process, he ended up cutting my friend's finger with the broken glass. Essen Haus ended up charging us $75 for it even though we didn't do anything. Really disappointed in the service. read more

The best place to drink German beer...hell, its a good place to drink any kind of beer! The glass boots are a hoot and lots of fun and a great way to get your friends...friendly. The foods pretty good too...albeit pretty heavy German-kind of stuff. And make sure you catch the regular Polka bands!! read more

Very good German beer selection on tap. Franziskaner Hefeweizen on tap is elixir of the gods if you ask me. It has banana and clove esters, is cloudy, uses a magnificent yeast, etc. The Franziskaner Dunkelweizen dark wheat is interesting but no where near as good as the regular cloudy wheat Hefe. The flavor balance of the Hefe is far more favorable, though some nice, medium-dark malt flavors grace the dark wheat. Food at Essen Haus is good, but not as good as I remember it being 5 or 10 years ago. The best dish may be the Wurst platter, but the Sauerbraten and Jaegerschnitzel were good. The red cabbage salad was very nice, as others have mentioned. Had vinegar and sugar seasoning, and I think I tasted coriander as the spice which seemed to elude other reviewers. The warm pretzels served with different mustards are excellent if salty. Why is it that breweries and beer houses serve really salty food? I'll leave that as an exercise to the reader... read more

Great time took a group of friends there and we all enjoyed it. Many glasses of Paulander Weiss and some good German food. Loved the kraut the schnitzles and the pretzels with the horseradish dip mmmmmm read more

Had dinner at the Essen Haus a few weeks ago with a bunch of friends. I've been going to the Essen Haus since they opened. (Usually in the fall or winter. Cold weather makes me want German food) Great selection of German Bier. Good food. Nice atmosphere. Our waiter was named Yazem (I think I have that right) and he was very efficient in his service and had an OUTSTANDING knowledge of the bier selection, and brought samples for a few members of my group who had a hard time making a decision. (I like the DAB dark and the Spaten Optimator and Fransizkaner Dunkle or Weiss myself)(And in season, any variety of Oktoberfest) Dinner was excellent. I particularly like the Jagerschnitzel. Other meals I've had that I really liked were the Schweinelendchen in a Pfefferam Sauce, and any of the other varieties of schnitzel. One of the soup options is liver dumpling soup. I don't like liver, but I like the liver dumping soup and I always order it. I also always get a side order of red cabbage. As an after dinner drink, I recommend the Apfelkorn liqueur. read more

Skip their AWFUL thanksgiving meal- they are serving dry turkey cut in chunks- too lazy to slice the meat. Canned yams, box stuffing, frozen mixed vegetables, overly watery mashed potatoes and fake gravy- totally ruined our thanksgiving. My college kids couldn't done this meal in their dorm room - yuk read more

Went on a Saturday morning and was seated right away. Had a boot of beer, delicious fing food and our waitress was awesome. Loved it.

Our dinner at Essen Haus was disappointing if not stressful. People were packed in the hall and entry uncomfortably. They need to spread their reservations out or just not accept so many. When we finally got to the table, we waited a long time for the food. When it finally came, it was pretty bad, seemed like canned beans, mushy potatoes, cold turkey and clumpy gravy. Your worst nursing home nightmare. I'll never go back to Essen Haus again. read more

This place, ESPECIALLY THE SERVICE, is terrible. I had gone here on a Friday night for their fish fry which was FROZEN fish. Not only that, the waiter we had was inattentive, and rude. I had finished my first helping of fish, asked for a second, ate part of it and asked for a box. He looked at me (I forget his name, I wish I remembered it so I could put it on this review) and loudly said to the entire dining room "This is an all you can eat fish dinner, not all you can take home". The restaurant gawked at me and whispered, I had no idea I couldn't do that, and no where did it say I couldn't take it home. My friends and I have never returned. I wish nothing but awful things for this restaurant, and it's sad excuse for customer service. read more

Our first time there was not pleasant. We both had clam chowder, the fried cod, and parmesan fries. The clam chowder was chewy... The fish was soggy and cold... The fries were decent. The service was poor... Tried a beer and did not like it, told the waitress and she did not care nor take it off our bill. The atmosphere is not for us. Will not be going back. read more

Recently visited again and tried their patty melt. For some reason they put lettuce and tomato by default. Come on ... a patty melt with lettuce and tomato? It was quite a mess and not very good. Their soup was excellent though. read more

We sampled a lot of sausages - which I thought were excellent and seemed pretty authentically German. The sauerkraut was my favorite part - so delicious. My fiancé ordered the Munich combo and it was meh. We didn't really like any part of it. The sausages are definitely the way to go- but not the one that comes in the Munich combo. Overall a good experience. read more

Had Jägerschnitzel and Schweine medallions in Rahmsoße. The sauces tastes like cream without any developed flavor. Spaetzle has cheese and some sort of breading in it which is not Original. Diced Onions in everything which is also not original. Not authentic tasting. Being From Germany, unfortunately I am not coming back. Too much money for the wrong taste and texture. Our waitress was quite friendly. Atmosphere is nice. Many people seem to come here and like it but not knowing this is not original German food. Erwartet als Deutsche hier evtl besser nicht zu viel. Es ist ein ganz gutes Restaurant aber geschmacksmässig eben nicht deutsch. Anscheinend kein deutscher Koch in der Küche. Die Bar ist aber schön. read more

Well, Not much to be thankful for at Thanksgiving at the Essen Haus. Way overbooked. Packed in like sardines. Checked in my party of 13 four times only to be waiting even after being called. The guy at the desk was checking in people, running around the restaurant checking on tables and yelling at staff & customers. No gemutlikich here today. Sat down and the waitress brought our side dishes with no spoons ten minutes before the turkey that we still had to carve. Had to ask for rolls. The food was ok, but not for $21.95 a person. Could have gone to Denny's for the same meal. Never again. read more

Went for Fri fish fry but I suggest sticking with the German menu. One of Madison's older restaurants and buildings.

I've heard a lot about Essen Haus during my time in Madison and I was excited to give it a try. Admittedly, we ate on the patio toward the end of the night. The service was incredibly sporadic because the waitress was overwhelmed with tables, she was doing the best she could. It took quite some time for us to get drinks much less have our questions answered about the MANY specials they were offering. We ended up taking advantage of a free bottle of wine with the purchase of two dinner entrées. Each entrée was about $18. When the starter soup arrived it was delicious but there was a giant wishbone-type chicken bone in our soup...not ideal. They were very apologetic and offered us a free dessert because of it. Our entrées arrived eventually, after quite a wait, and it was less than delicious. Everything seemed like it was poor quality. Nothing on the plate was appetizing. It didn't even come close to mimicking the amazing authentic schnitzel I experienced on my trip to Europe last summer. The sides were somewhat better but so greasy and mushy that I couldn't eat any of it. I ended up abstaining from dinner because it was so bad. The free dessert we received at the end was a dry chocolate cake. Less than satisfying. I have heard the appetizers are tasty and it's clearly a popular place to drink. If you're looking for the boot full of beer, this is your place. If you're considering dinner, try somewhere else. Madison has to many good restaurants to eat a bad meal. read more

This restaurant has great authentic German food. The waiter was very friendly and attentive. He was also very knowledgeable about the history of the building and had great stories to tell. The restaurant its self had great character and filled with antiques. I highly recommend this restaurant to anyone who would like to have a great time and filling food that is filled with German culture. read more

Okay, I didn't eat anything but hot pretzels and I was there with a huge group after a wedding and all we did was drink beer from enormous glass boots. But that was great fun, so it wins four stars. It's a perfect stop on a pub crawl. It has personality. I could totally imagine it sucking if you were stone cold sober or hungry or in a different place than I was. read more

Great beer Lousy food Do what I do - get your beer at the Essen Haus and walk next door to the Come Back Inn for some atmosphere, and to get away from the polka music. read more

The building is old and historical. Our server was friendly and pleasant. Atmosphere was great when there was performance on stage. Unfortunately, I cannot say I'm happy about the food. I cannot believe how gross the liver dumpling soup was. The spicy chicken veggie soup was very tasty though. The free pretzels came with mustard and sauerkraut -- all pretty bad. The battered fried fish was pretty dry. I understand that cod is naturally firmer and dryer than haddock. But how does their fried cod fall THIS short of Avenue Bar's fried cod? The veal wiener schnitzel was done well. Overall I still liked Essen Haus. I will go there again for beer and the atmosphere, but probably not just for food. read more

I really like the place and the live music is lively. The only downside and it' s a major one for me is that I didn't get anything to eat ! I am a Vegan and even after requesting to not put cheese and cream in anything, my food had both. The entree I ordered had no salt in it which was extremely surprising. I had only finger fries. I really liked the ambience and the music but in terms of food, this place was a huge let down. read more

My fella and I stumbled upon this place while walking around the capitol area. Loved the beer, the mugs are perfectly huge. Clam chowder was delicious Their meat and cheese plate was delicious. The only thing I had a problem with is my fish fry was soggy. But it was also busy. Got it replace quickly. read more

Came here for Sunday brunch and sat outside. Great outdoor seating. Waitress was friendly and attentive. The food was pretty good, but they didn't make the eggs the way I ordered them. (Asked for over medium, were made as runny as barely cooked eggs could come.) Bloody Mary's were excellent. Overall would come back again. read more

my first time at the essen haus. It was great fun, good food with a awesome soft german pretzel basket. We had a ftishfry,because we happen to be there on a friday. Like to try a german dish next time. All the beer was great, lot's of bierboots and huge ceramic biersteins passing by. the german ompa band added to gemeutlichkeit. We will be back. The Bathrooms could use a facelift, other than that it's a great german style beer hall. read more

Good food, great beer. My family has been going here since 83. It's a Madison lamdmark

Very disappointed with the food. The owner should order the Hühnerschnitzel himself. I do think they need a quality check on their food. I found a tiny piece of unbreaded chicken in some sauce, the food was very tasteless. I stopped by at Mc Donald's after this and had better food for $3. I don't know why they would have 4 stars. read more

I've got one word -- schieße. The food was horrible and the Wiener schnitzel (one of the most common German foods) was awful and tasted like it was old. Out of six meals only one was tolerable. They didn't even get the grilled cheese right -- it tasted like freezer burn. Go at your own risk. read more

You need to understand what this is. German style beer garden. Lederhosen, boots of beer, great selection, and peanuts you can throw on the floor. I am not a huge fan of the white buns (theme here), but it is traditional and almost as good as Munich. If you want to have a good German beer in traditional style this is your place. If you want a hipster experience, head elsewhere. read more

If you're going for the food, turn around and walk out. We used to frequent this German restaurant when the food was still true German. We have been stung by mediocre meals twice and won't be back. My pork cutlet in the jagerschnitzel was not breaded, as the menu description stated, and it was very thin and tasteless. It seemed instead of the mushroom cream sauce there was a prepackaged gravy on top, and I counted 3 mushrooms in it on my plate. The spatzle was really good though. The food could have been served hot. Management, thanks for your response. Indeed the menu description was no doubt correct. The meal still fell short, however. read more

Came to Essen Haus with my fiance and my sister and her friends. We went through 6 boots and had a fantastic night. The prices were moderate, and the waiter kept refilling our water, popcorn and peanuts. A must visit for anyone in Madison. read more