L'Etoile Restaurant - Fine dining restaurant in Madison - 1 S Pinckney St, USA

Update 11-30-2023: Simply the best in Madison! It was our 4th time here in the past 7 months and, as always, everything was perfect: the drinks, the food, the "surprises," the desserts, the atmosphere. Our server Paige was an absolute delight and added tot he wonderful experience. I love how this is one of the best restaurants in the world but the vibe is so relaxed, like you are visiting friends, yet still refined. It is perfect! >>> We’ve eaten at some of the best restaurants in the world and are delighted to say that L’Etoile is among them. We celebrated a perfect evening at L’Etoile due to the fantastically talented staff and chefs. From the preservation process and personal communications with the staff that led to us getting a special booth and our pescatarian preferences acknowledged with a special tasting menu - to complimentary sparkling wine and anniversary wishes from all of the staff - to the spectacular meal, cocktails, and desserts -to a take home pastry present – L’Etoile was outstanding in every aspect. Some details: a gorgeous setting at sundown in a private booth, knowledgeable, friendly, and attentive (but not intrusive) hospitality and waitstaff, the best boulevardier I’ve ever had (made with Whistle Pig rye, Zucco Rabararo, and Sfumato), and amazingly delicious and beautiful entrees. Our favorites were the Soy Glazed Hamachi, Chèvre Gnudi, Sweet Onion Potatoes Perogies, and … fresh Croissant Doughnuts with brûlée bananas. I can’t imagine a better dining experience. Best of all – my beautiful wife of 2 years <3 Thank you from both of us.

I dined here as part of a group that reserved a tasting menu. I was pleasantly surprised at how approachable all of the dishes were. They were very accommodating to our groups various dietary restrictions. Overall a very special experience, I would highly recommend for any group special occasion.

Repeat customer who had a brilliant dinner a while ago, returned this week for another experience. The Tasting menu and wine pairing is a must…expensive no doubt but these people pull off the most magical dish creations with masterfully paired wines. Truly amazing experience. Even the vegetarian tasting dishes were imaginative, beautifully plated, and an explosion of flavors. Allow 2 hours to enjoy the experience.

A gem.World class dining in our wonderful, cosmopolitan college town. Chef Tory is every bit as good as you have heard. And if you haven’t heard, you haven’t been paying attention. I could write a lengthy review but I will save you time by just saying you owe it to yourself to go at least once. And if you are a wine lover, get the pairing. Michael, the sommelier is excellent. Enjoy!

Destination dining! My friend grew up in Madison and described this as the prom dream date. Now we travel together a lot and will frequently do what we did tonight. We ordered everything on the starter menu and one dessert item. Starters/appetizers are always so much more creative than entrées. Let’s face it, there’s only so many ways you can cook a steak or chicken or fish. It is the starters/appetizers and the desserts where chef’s truly shine.

Really enjoyed my experience here. Tasting menu was great. Good for someone who wishes to try something new with unique and peculiar tastes in a good way. People were very friendly. Your pupils will definitely get dilated widely while you are dining thanks to great foods and very dimly lit atmosphere.

The experience itself was positive: friendly staff, complimentary champagne for our anniversary, and an overall clean, simplistic atmosphere. If I had feedback to give about the venue, it would be to set the shades to either cover more of the front windows as the evening begins, or not seat the tables nearest the front windows, as the sunlight there is a bit overpowering. We chose to have the Chef's tasting experience, which we've done before at such places as The French Room in Dallas,TX and Different Pointe of View in Phoenix, AZ, which were both extraordinary experiences, so we had high hopes for L'Etoile given the $145/person cost (which was more than we'd paid for our prior experiences). Unfortunately, we can only say we left saying "meh". It was a very expensive, mediocre 6-course meal, with a few highlights and some delicious cocktails. It started with a surprisingly good 1-bite, tasty bacon aioli salad that was both flavorful and refreshing. We moved on to a sushi and cucumber dish that, while beautiful, seemed to be a collection of vegetables that didn't compliment well, with an overly salty sauce. It did have some theatrics with a nitrogen-infused sauce that I couldn't taste because, nitrogen freezes things. To follow was a lobster bisque and corn mixture that was tasty, if only for the lobster and ravioli. After this was a "surprise" course of a Cajun style rice with caviar and a chicken pate that was spicy and delicious (if not a bit overpowering with the cayenne). After this point, I'd have expected the Chef to wow us. Instead, we found that we'd already had the best they had to offer. The halibut dish was salty and bland, and the sauce was both not enough and not flavorful. I barely touched mine, as it was unappealing. I will say that the beets in the dish were better than I expected and probably the best part of it. To follow was a cut of NY strip steak that was very overcooked and dry, with a clumpy tomato-based sauce that was a bit bland and overcooked, all sitting atop bland potatoes and cooked tomatoes. For dessert, we received a small wedge of cheese with a cherry sauce that was just fine, and finished with a blueberry souffle that was quite tasty. The french-pressed coffee was good as a finisher to the dessert. While the food was beautiful and a nice experience overall, I wouldn't say it was $400+ good. More like something I'd expect from Olive Garden or Red Lobster, except at those places they'd know how to cook a steak.

27 Sep 2019 - Former Chef de Cuisine Itaru Nagano has moved on, but L'Etoile delivered another spectacular dinner tonight, with the octopus a special standout! Monkfish also was great, and I was very pleased to see a cheese tray that let me select which I wanted after my meal. Keep up the great work! - - - - - - - - - 17 July 2019 - L'Etoile NEVER fails to deliver magnificence in dining. Spurred on by the online menu, which featured veal sweetbreads and other delicacies I found too irresistible to put off enjoying, I determined to have another splendid meal at L'Etoile. I wasn't disappointed! Dinner began with a special treat from the kitchen when Chef Itaru sent me a gift of a delicious course featuring goat cheese, something which I delight in. The photo is among those I'm posting to show the delights of tonight's meal. I had hoped for, and wanted, a bottle of Arneis di Roero, an unusual white Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG) wine from the Piemonte in the northwest of Italy. Alas, L'Etoile could not offer me that, and after some discussion with my waiter, I agreed to try an unfamiliar grape, in a "Vermentino" varietal from the region of Liguria, in the northwest of Italy, where the city of Genoa is found. It proved to be an amazing wine, and I'm thankful to Frank for his recommendation! I was well-cared for by Frank and his assistant, Thomas, along with other waitstaff who lent a hand to ensure my dinner was up to the standards of the typical marvelous L'Etoile dinner. My special meal began with the above-mentioned and unexpected treat from the chef, and thereafter, continued with my plans, with the exception of the dessert, which I had intended should be recommended from the "normal" desserts on the menu, but was instead an item from the tasting menu which had QUITE got me attention as an entrée item. SWEETBREADS Chicharrón, gorgeous green fava beans, queso fresco These nuggets of delicious veal thymus were so amazing I felt compelled to ask for a special wine to accompany them, and ended up with a glass of Bual Madeira, most of which I enjoyed with the sweetbreads, but a small portion of which I saved for further on in the menu . . . SCALLOPS Eggplant purée was amazingly delicious!, duck confit demanded a bit of the Madeira, blueberry - this was marvelous! It reminded me of the perfection of toasted/toasted marshmallows I used to strive to make for a neighbor lady who I quite liked as a boy, for the spectacular lasagna she made and shared with us as children. AU BON CANARD FOIE GRAS Burnt Strawberry While there was not a lot of duck liver here, and I knew that in advance, it was chosen to be my dessert instead of the conventional options from the menu. It was a marvelous choice! While the custom selected wine for this course was a lesser version of the first grown Sauternes, the remnants of my Madeira, and the Italian white wine also went nicely with it, and I ended my meal in heaven. THANK YOU EVERYONE AT L'ETOILE FOR CONTINUING TO LIVE UP TO THE EXPECTATIONS DINERS LIKE ME HAVE COME TO HAVE FOR DROPPING IN UNEXPECTEDLY FOR A SPECIAL MEAL!