★ 3

The Rat/terrace is my favorite place in the world to hang out. I have literally spent thousands of hours here over my lifetime, enjoyed hundreds of musical acts, sunsets, and sunny afternoons. DEFINITELY visit here, that's 5 stars! But this is supposed to be a rating for a restaurant, specifically the one inside the Rat. To be blunt, the food is nothing to get excited about, and you usually have to wait in line a long time to order, and then another stretch before it's ready (they give you a pager). Also, it's rotating student cooks, quality is inconsistent. There had been a few consistently "pretty good" things on the menu before covid (the Rat salad, salmon burger, and the friday fish fry come to mind) but after they reopened post-pandemic they have a different menu that isn't even as good as pre-2021, and don't even have a friday fish fry anymore, you have to go next door to the Lakeview Lounge (although I've given up on that too after three tries). The pizza and pasta at Strada, also next door but not on google maps, is not too bad. But honestly if you're on the terrace just go to the brat/burger stands, at least you get them right away, and they have an extensive condiment bar to "deluxe" them.

This is based on many orders, focusing on the last 2-3 years. I now only get food here if I've come here for some other activity. An aggregate rating of 4 stars surprises me, but as I look at other reviews many aren't actually rating the food, but hanging out on the terrace (again, fully in agreement on that part, it's great). But it looks like pretty much EVERY food joint in Madison is above 4 stars?! Is this Lake Wobegon, everyone is above average?

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★ 3

Burger was soo mid. The meat was dry and buns a bit burned. The worst was the cheese curd, they were cold and chewy.

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★ 5

Good place if for going during the afternoon with friends. Sometimes they have live music!

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★ 5

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★ 5

Consider yourself fortunate if you are able to visit the Rathskeller at least once in your life. Have you ever been to another place like this anywhere, ever? In how many ways is the Rathskeller completely unique and in a class of its own? Should members of the general public be allowed to weigh in on Google Maps as if their uninformed experience was worth more than accumulated knowledge of deep intersectional histories? Who would you believe? I guess it's up to you.

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★ 5

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★ 4

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★ 5

Perfect hamburger and Spotted Cow

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★ 5

One of my favorite places to go in Madison. They have a variety of burgers, wraps, and chicken nuggets that are all delicious. Their cheeseboards and sauces also get an honorable mention. Since they are inside Memorial Union, it’s a perfect place to eat on terrace by the lake. Have loved coming here all of my undergraduate years

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★ 5

Oh my God the cheese curds

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★ 4

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★ 1

Really bad experience! I had to wait an extremely long time for just a basic combo. After waiting over 30 minutes, I asked for a refund because I was in a hurry—but they refused to give me my money back. Instead, they kept insisting that the food would be ready "soon" and wouldn’t process the refund. I clearly explained that I couldn’t wait any longer, but they still pushed me to keep waiting rather than just returning my money. Very disappointing service.

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★ 5

Great spot. Love the historic architecture. Perfect environment for drinks, watching a game or enjoying live bands.

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★ 2

Every single time I order a plain cheeseburger from here, there give me a burger patty between a bun with no cheese. How hard is it to make a plain cheeseburger? Also the service takes unnecessarily long and they often mess up orders.

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★ 4

It's a good place for students to go and use their dining dollars. The sauce is very good and makes the meal.

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★ 4

Fast, good service, great place to watch the game, casual nice atmosphere. Great tator tots, crispy salty, perfect.

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★ 5

Great experience!

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★ 5

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★ 1

Took 30 mins for simple wrap and tots to be served.

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★ 2

Took over 20 minutes for a burger when I was the only customer. Got the wrong order and food was undercooked. Staff was rude. This was ONE BAD EXPERIENCE, ate here 10 times beforehand and it was good.

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★ 1

takes FOREVER.

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★ 5

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★ 4

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★ 5

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★ 4

Great atmosphere with the variety of different places to get food and beverage from. It would be nice if healthier foods could be offered rather than so much grilled or deep-fried food. Or salads, more grains or vegetables more vegetarian items. Great service, very friendly people and the prices are extremely affordable. When you go,you go check out the ice cream shop! Outstanding ice cream and again, very reasonable prices. They’ve got me hooked.

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★ 2

Horrible! La comida no me gusto y pedimos unas cheese curds las cuales no eran queso, estaban solo como infladas y adentro no tenían queso solo era como una cáscara de queso. Jamás regresaría a comer en ese lugar.

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★ 5

What a wonderful evening at Rothskellers! “All that Jazz” played a live concert while we ate! The smoke turkey bacon grill cheese was amazing and the cheese curds and tots great. The hamburger was not very good- more like cafeteria style. But the evening was wonderful!

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★ 5

Get a rat sauce or 4 - 10 depending on the day

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★ 5

Really awesome place to grab a bite to eat especially in the summer when the patio chairs are out and the students have gone home for break. It always feel so lively and happening. One of my favorite places to stop after spending the morning at the farmers market.

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★ 5

Good hearty American food options and in house lemonade. Plus Wisconsin beer. Wraps and sandwiches all come with sides that taste great.

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★ 5

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★ 4

Beer, with smort people.

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★ 2

Great place to hang out and study! I really like the food but last time I went here I had to wait about 2 hours for my order. I know there are probably staffing issues but the wait really takes out of my day. I did receive a refund.

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★ 4

Good place to watch sports on a big screen. The Rathskeller sauce is good on so many things!

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★ 2

Love the Union, used to be a big fan of Union food as well.

Service is excruciatingly slow - 10-minute wait for a burger on a dead Sat afternoon with 4 employees visibly standing around just chatting while I’m clearly waiting for food.

Try to be very clear when ordering food. I asked what comes on the burger and the employee said just cheese. I asked if I could get pickles and was charged an extra 50 cents. When I finally got my food, there were no pickles on the burger. I returned and asked if I could get some , at which point the employees convened and collectively realized they don’t even carry pickles to put on burgers.

Sans pickles, burger was good except the bun - dry, stale, possibly worst I’ve had.

General seating area not clean and disheveled - probably something one of the socializing employees could work on.

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★ 5

Es un lugar maravilloso, Lleno de ciencia e intelecto apoyado por lo natural. Me encanta!!!

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★ 4

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★ 1

It looked good, but the western burger was awful. The bun was dense and rubbery, the meat tasted like bad frozen meatballs, the bacon was hard and chewy. I took one bite and trashed it, and I normally finish food that is at least edible. The fries were the best part and even they were just ok.

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★ 4

Who doesn't like the Rathskeller and the Terrace? On the other hand, $8.25 for a beer is just taking advantage of people. If there's one place that should charge as little as they can, it should be a public university. Food prices are similarly high.

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★ 3

Ran out of beer!

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★ 4

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★ 4

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★ 5

Game day drinking, the place to be....great selection of beers

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★ 5

A cozy eatery/brew pub deep in the bowels of the University of Wisconsin Madison Student Union on the shores of Lake Mendota.

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★ 5

There is a Rathskeller on the UW Madison campus! How cool is that? Beer on tap!

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★ 1

It took 30 mins to get my order, and I got a cold stacked burger and tater tots. It was terrible—very inefficient service. Never coming back.

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★ 5

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★ 5

Great atmosphere, food and drinks.

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★ 5

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★ 4

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★ 1

don’t order here unless you want to wait 40 minutes for cold tater tot’s and a mid wrap

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★ 4

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★ 4

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★ 5

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★ 5

Fantastic place to eat. The tots are incredible and make sure to check out their sauces. Everything that we had was delicious!

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★ 5

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★ 2

It's too expensive, even for a bar.

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★ 5

Really tasty cheese curds and a good selection of beers

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★ 4

The food was good, but a bit pricey for the portions. It was tasty though and cooked well. The service was wonderful and you can't beat the atmosphere! 😉

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★ 4

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★ 5

Delicious and reasonably priced college eatery with a nice inside ambiance and a beautiful view of the lake outside.

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★ 4

Loved it, but too loud, so didn't get what I ordered. Long line, so didn't even try to go back. Ordered gourmet grilled cheese, got a lot of bread, with 2 unmelted thin slices of "cheese" that appeared to be Kraft singles. Took out the "cheese", left most of bread. Pepsi came out yellow and wasn't sweet. Refused refund. Yes,it's a student hangout, and it's still awesome, just maybe picked the wrong day to go.

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★ 5

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★ 5

Feels/looks like it did in 92!!

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★ 5

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★ 5

There is nothing like having lunch at The Union and watching a Badger game. Makes a 71 year old feel young again.

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★ 1

No parking. Stay home, they don't need you there.

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★ 4

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★ 5

RATHSKELLER LOVE FOREVER 💜

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★ 4

definitely takes the longest out of the food places at memorial Union, similar wait time to the pizza line at Strada

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★ 1

Get better music.

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★ 5

Very tasty buffalo chicken wrap! Minus 1/2 star because it started to rain when I went to sit by the lake. Lol.

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★ 5

Not like it used to be, but what a historic place. Not sure why staffing is so difficult, but soon the rathskeller and the terrace will be back to the good old days.

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★ 3

Sett pub but a little bit worse.

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 2

Great food but sloppy service. Terrace crew take their sweet time no matter how long the line is. Only one person taking order even during peak hours. Expect 45 min wait between joining end of line and getting your food.

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★ 5

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★ 3

Personally, I just had a very rude worker. It was very uncomfortable when that worker just expected me to know what they were handing me. It was my first time there, and I will not be returning. The food there is alright, but the customer service was unbelievably awful.

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 1

Train your people with a sense of urgency. This place really needs to employ a manager.

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★ 5

The union is beautiful. Stop by with the boat and sat in the terrace! Had chicken tenders. Very good!

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★ 5

Great food for a Student union.

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★ 2

Haven’t been here in a few months, recently changed their chicken tender and fries. Chicken tenders used to be amazing, not they are okay at best. Will not be finishing them. The fries quality is still good but used to be a bit better. Will not be coming back for chicken tenders.

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★ 5

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★ 2

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★ 4

The staff seamed a little bit lost but they were nice and the food was good. I would go back.

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★ 4

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★ 5

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★ 5

A+ setting for a nice evening and A++ if there's live music...I had both on my Wednesday evening visit. The views of the Lake make it special. I had the Smokehouse turkey gourmet grilled cheese. This is truly not a grilled cheese, but it is a very tasty sandwich. It is better described as a grilled turkey sandwich with bacon, avocado and cheese. It was 10.95 with the upgrade to onion rings.

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★ 4

Decent food at the Terrace. Great outdoor atmosphere and place to people watch.

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★ 4

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★ 5

Cozy and chill food and study place, lots of great performances as well from all types of bands

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★ 3

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★ 5

Had visited this place after almost 8 years and it brings back amazing memories .. the place has improved quite a lot ever since the renovation happened and the menu is just BOMB! I had the cheese curds with spotted cow and nothing like that anywhere else ! Simply put.. “Best vibe ever”

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★ 5

I had black bean burger and cheese curds here. Cheese curds paired with Rathskeller sauce were excellent and mouthwatering. For someone like me who does not like cheese, Having cheese curds here is a huge eye opener to me! Ambience is pretty good as well.

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★ 5

Lovely place, can be a bit crowded tho during school hours. Nice place to catch the game

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★ 5

Food

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★ 5

A nostalgic collegiate experience. Great lake views. Beer!!! Hang, study, catch a game, practice German, or crowd watch.

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★ 5

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★ 4

A great place to grab a quick sandwich and maybe a beer on campus. Super views of the Terrace. After your sandwich and beer, you can have an amazing Ice Cream at the Scoop. Fun times!

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★ 5

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★ 4

Nice campus dining spot - their caesar wrap and tots are okay

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★ 3

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★ 4

It’s pretty average. It’s definitely not bad, and the sauce is cool. But the burgers aren’t something you’ll remember

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★ 4

Wrap fell apart quickly, but not too bad overall. It certainly tasted good, and the fact that the to-go boxes were easy to find was nice. .

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★ 5

Great place to hang, great place to study. Love the atmosphere!

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★ 4

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★ 4

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★ 3

Typical food court quality. Not bad, not great.

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★ 3

Okayish food- Cheesecurds and chicken wings.

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★ 5

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★ 2

Food is kind of bland and price is somewhat high for the quality.

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★ 3

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★ 5

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★ 1

I usually order the chicken caesar wrap & it's good, on 12/18 I had one and it was awful. No dressing or cheese on it just fell apart because it was so dry, it was gross & I threw it in the trash.

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★ 4

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 4

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 5

History, tradition, beauty, and fun.. Just an amazing place

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★ 4

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★ 5

Fun spot just off the Terrace

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★ 5

Amazing. Tasty. Fantastic.

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★ 5

Great atmosphere, and it was easy to go here with a large group. The mediterranean wrap was delicious!

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★ 5

Nice place to watch the Raptors crush Golden State.

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★ 5

Historic! Iconic University establishment.

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★ 5

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★ 1

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★ 4

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★ 5

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★ 1

Good food but seriously dont tell me my food that usually takes 10 minutes is gonna be 45 minuets after I pay and get the buzzer.

Don't have time to wait 45 minuets):

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★ 5

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★ 2

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★ 4

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★ 5

Very yummy onion rings.

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★ 4

Fun place to chill and grab a beer, even if you're not a student!

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★ 1

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★ 5

Great food and drink, highly recommended.

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★ 4

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★ 5

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★ 4

버거보다는 샌드위치가 맛있는 듯? 그냥 무난하게 먹을만하다

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★ 5

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★ 5

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★ 4

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★ 3

ranch is thin. definitely a sauce, not a dip ://

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★ 3

High prices for so so food, loud.

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★ 2

A nice place tragically marred by the aggressively insipid pop-music that they blast through the sound system all day - no doubt designed to encourage the rapid turnover of customers.

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★ 1

Had to wait 28 minutes before order is ready. And by then, the burger has already been cold...

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★ 4

I love the burgers but it's very expensive for what you get.

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★ 2

very high price for very average food.

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