The Madison102 Pine Ave
Long Beach
562-628-8866
The Madison is housed in an old bank on Pine Ave in Long Beach. I sat down and when I got the special menu, I noticed it was half price food if you sat on their front patio. So I quickly asked to sit in the patio.
I had thought about ordering the filet but I ordered the rib eye, $31 with a bleu cheese red wine sauce. The steaks are served al carte, no potato or veggies. The rib eye was a huge piece of steak and cooked just as I ordered it, medium rare. The lean parts of this rib eye were great, very tender and juicy. But there were a lot of grizzle which I wasn't happy about. Even though the steak was half priced, there was just too much fat and grizzle. Not what I expect from a place known for their steaks.
Service was below average. The server was very nice and friendly when he was around. But he wasn't around much. After we sat down outside he said he would come back and take our drink orders. About ten minutes later he came back to take our order. He then came back with our drinks and then came back another 10 minutes later to take our dinner orders. When he came back with our dinners, he forgot the potatoes au gratin somebody else at our table ordered. We asked again and about half way through our meal, he finally got his potatoes, terrible service. There weren't that many people inside the restaurant so I don't know why he was taking so long.
The good news was the busboy was very friendly and helpful. We saw him much more than the server. The busboy refilled our drinks and always made sure we had everything we needed. He even placed a rush order on the potatoes au gratin after the server forgot. The busboy should have gotten 90% of the tip.
Sitting on the patio is a great people watching place but it's very windy and cold there. I didn't think it was too cold but if you're going to sit outside, bring a sweater or windbreaker.
I'm glad I only paid half price for the food at Madison. The food was just OK in my book. Nothing overwhelming and not worth the regular prices. I would go back to The Madison if the food was half priced. I would not pay the full price.
