Impromptu Wine Bar Cafe

I too was saddened by the demise of this little gem of a neighborhood wine bar and restaurant.

This is a tiny place in the heart of Madison Park. I decided to bring my mom to treat her to a nice dinner because of the wonderful and amazing Urban Eats deal (3 for $ 30) going on right now. We were there on a Sunday night and though the place is very small, it didn’t feel crowded — but nicely busy. The service was very good. We had a view of the water (just a tad, but nice), and it looks like on warm days you can seat outside. Otherwise, the whole place is basically a giant window onto the beautiful parks and views outside. The food was great. I had stuffed chicken with potatoes and celery, and my mom had pork tamales. The chicken was melt in your mouth soft, and absolutely addictive, and I’d never eaten celery cooked like this — sweet and tart, like candy. The pork tamales were the best I’d ever tried in my life. They were able to advise on the wine — I only like sweet white wines and they didn’t mind letting me try a couple to decide which I preferred. The dessert was mouth-​wateringly excellent: I had citrus panna cotta which was lighter and less over-​the-​top sweet than anywhere else I tried it. My only gripe was the salad, as the dressing was practically non-​existent… maybe the bread also left something to be desired, as it seemed like just volume without substance. But overall, we enjoyed the meal a great deal — and for the price it seemed like excellent value. I will certainly be back.

The food just wasn’t good — very disappointing.
While the dining room is very nice and homey, the food just wasn’t up to par. We started with a crab salad with a cucumber gelatin and ‘naked’ tomatoes. This was decent, especially the fist-​size portion of crab, however the flavor had been overwhelmed with lemon to the point that you could not taste it.
For my entrée, I had the Mahi Mahi with bok choy and rice. The Mahi was definitely previously frozen. It was tough/​overcooked, and over-​seasoned to cover for this. The combination of the fish, rice, bok choy and sauce just didn’t work — it felt like I was eating in a cheap thai restaurant. My girlfriend had the daily fish special, which was scallops. I swear these were the worst scallops I have ever eaten. Not only were they chewey and tough, they were way too fishy. Is all their seafood frozen? Considering the dining room is almost always empty when I walk by this restaurant, probably.
There are just so many better options in this city if you want to spend this kind of money. Two entrees, 1 salad and 3 glasses of wine came to $ 77. Even with the prime card, the $ 57 total left me wanting much more.

I was really excited to try Impromptu after discovering it in Madison, but, all in all it was a rather average experience.
I almost gave it 3 stars (because the food is at least that good), but the price is just way too high for what you get. Our bill was almost $ 90 (pre-​tip) for the two of us. Once you get into that range, you can get a serious food quality upgrade.
I’m probably being a bit harsh b/​c we just went to huiyona, paid same per person price and got a MUCH better meal. Too bad, because I wanted to like Impromptu.
A recap:
First, corn soup w/​roasted red pepper sauce and cumin-​spiced popcorn. This was actually really good. If the whole meal had been like this it would have been 4 stars all the way.
We also had the heirloom tomato caprese salad. Good, but we both thought the tomato we got ourselves from farmer’s market the day before was so much better.
For entrees, we had two dishes. We had the prawns over cous cous tabbouleh, cilantro garlic sauce, and sunburst squash. The prawns, while numerous, were not noteworthy, merely up to par. The tabbouleh was pretty good, but the dish didn’t really come together.
We also had the green curry rubbed lamb loin w/​saffron rice pilaf, and cucumber mint yogurt. While pretty tasty, this dish is what I would count as a good make-​at-​home dish. You couldn’t taste the green curry and the lamb was not all that flavorful.
Alongside the meal, we had a sidecar and a glass of tempranillo. Decent, but also pricey.
They do take the MS Prime Card, which defrays things a bit, but still not really worth the price in my opinion.

Microsoft Prime 2009 – 2010
Ambience: 4
Food: 5
Value: 5
Try this place before it goes out of business.
On a lovely summer evening, we drove out to Madison beach to try Impromptu Win Bar Café.
Across the street from lively sports bars, Irish pubs, and Mexican cantinas, this quality restaurant seems doomed to fade into obscurity, which would be a shame.
The interior room with stone walls highlighted with paintings and the cozy outdoor seating with peek-​a-​boo view of the water are lovely.
The food is simply excellent. We had the pasta of the day, freshly made fettuccini with crab, and fish of the day, grilled king salmon with truffle oil. Both were superb. They provided a seasonal pallet prep (it was boiled beat with goat cheese and honey today) and the bread came with olive oil and vinegar for dipping. We didn’t get any wine because the prices were too high. The menu was small, but as this and rest of the reviews will attest to, it’s quality not quantity.
All in all this is an affordable high class dining experience, one that I highly recommend.

The food here is just wonderful. They have a small menu but everything on it is great! We had the duck leg confit and the double cut grilled pork chop. Both were excellent! The duck confit were braised for 12 or 24 hours (I can’t remember how long) so essentially all the duck fat melted into the meat to create a rich and delicious flavor. It was just really good.
We also ordered the pork chops which was also excellent. The wine pairing that came with the meals were well matched. The complimentary appetizer, melon with cheese were also yummy.
I think this place change menu seasonally to go with their wine selection. Their wines by the glass are a little pricey but worth it. The place doesn’t offer wine tasting, which would be nice. Really cute, small restaurant in Madison Park area… highly recommended for a romantic date.

The food here is top notch! Everything I have ordered here I would gladly order again. The waiters are all very nice, very knowledgeable about the menu and the wine.
And most of the items on the menu are gluten free — you’ll have to ask them to swap out the pasta, and the bread/​crackers are glutinous.
It’s a tiny dining room, but most of the clientele are the genteel Madison Park residents, meaning even a crowded house is quiet enough to enjoy a chat over dinner.

A cute place in Madison Park that has the basics for a wine bar, plus a more complete dinner menu than most. The space is cozy, but windows on all sides allows you to take in the views of Madison Park. And there is a patio as well on warmer days, which is nice.
While the wine bar does not have many choices of wines by the glass or of cheese and chaucuterie, the selection we sampled were all good. The fried polenta with sage was a little underdone, but loved the prosciutto with it. The two cheese plate had a nice drunken goat and taleggio served with a fig compote and almonds. We didn’t have a chance to move on to entrees, but there a dozen selections, which looked good.
Overall, while Impromptu does not have the cheese and chaucuterie selection of Bricco or the wine by the glass selection of the Local Vine, it does have a more extensive menu plus a great little space.

Food here is fabulous and the wine was delightful. We came here because we wanted to try a new place (for us) and enjoy food that is healthy and delicious.
It is a small place, but for some reason our server seemed overwhelmed with five tables of two. We did have to wait a while for service, but it didn’t ruin our experience.
Lighting and music also needed some tweaking–
But overall we enjoyed it and will definitely go back!

This is a small resto with a great wine list and a large gluten-​free menu. The chef’s wife has a great gluten-​free cookbook/​website
I had a wonderful pasta dish. My date had a delicious fried pork dish which was sinfully fattening and yummy. It was cold in there, hence the 4 stars. The service was very friendly and the wine list was great.

This place is fantastic! I actually am not a big wine person, but am very into great food and so I was both educated and made ridiculously happy by my visit to Impromptu. The sommelier was very patient with helping us pick our wine (something sweet please, does it come with an umbrella or cherry on a stick?) and then the food came out. I’m not sure people should make the kind of orgasmic faces that we made in public, but I think the servers see it all the time, the other patrons are making them too and the giant plate glass windows give every person walking by quite a show, I’m certain.
The fish of the day was better than I knew fish could be (and I’ve lived in Maine and near San Francisco, where the fish spends about twenty minutes between the ocean and your plate) and the roast chicken was so amazing that if the waitress hadn’t shown up my boyfriend would have gnawed the bones clean.
One of the most wonderful things is the fact that the menu is almost completely gluten-​free and the staff truly understands what it means to not be able to eat gluten: everything on the menu is very clearly marked and they have an impeccably clean kitchen– Celiacs needn’t worry!

I’m always on the lookout for a good wine bar and I found another one in this place. It’s cozy, with a fireplace and loveseats, as well as tables and a small bar and in the spring the patio outside opens up with nice views. As for the wine, they feature wines from a specific region every couple of months and focus on the food that goes with it. Right now it’s Chile and Argentina and I just went with what the server recommended (and was happy). There’s a reasonable (read not too cheap but won’t kill you) prix fixe menu for $ 25 and the roasted chicken with oranges, black beans and plantains was mouth wateringly amazing. Local artwork rotates on the walls every month and they do serve beverages other than wine. A little more upscale than some other places in town, but some of their wines by the glass are cheaper than say, Portalis in Ballard.