Restaurant Review- Madison's, Ferndale, WA

Our camera is on the fritz so I have been to a few restaurants in the past month and I have not been able to get any photos. We're looking for a new digital camera for under $400, any good suggestions? (I'm looking at higher Megapixels as well, the one we have is a Canon Powershot A75 from 2004 that has only 3.2 mp, and it is on its last legs. Long story short, I dropped the camera back in August 2005 and we sent it back to Canon for fixing, and paid for it, but it hasn't been the same since then. Now it's either not taking pictures at all or it's just on its last legs.)

Anyhow, one night we were coming home from the border (Blaine, WA) and I had heard from some people that there was this restaurant just off of Portal Way in Ferndale off exit 263 that was pretty good, called Madison's. On our way home, we decided to go look for it, and found it pretty easily. If you are coming from the border, take exit 262 (Portal Way) and after you get off the freeway, take a left and just keep going down that road. That road is Portal Way. You'll see a big yellow sign that says Madison's. They have a lounge with a bar and an eating area that is separate. If you are coming from the south (Bellingham, Seattle), you will take the same exit but you'll take a right onto Portal and just go until you find it. It will be on your right side (for both directions).

It was pretty empty as it was about 8pm, so we went in and we were the only people in the eating area. The waitress was very friendly and gave us our menus. I ended up ordering the meatloaf with mashed potatoes and green beans, and my starter was a very hearty vegetable stew (meatless). The soup was full of chunky fresh veggies and had a lot of spice in it, it was delicious, but my mouth burned a little from the spices. Still, it was very soothing on a cold night. When my meatloaf plate came out, it reminded me of the meatloaf my mom used to make. Very comforting and very delicious. I had gravy on my mashed potatoes (which were soooo good, smooth but with a bit of potato lumps in it, I like it like that) and my meatloaf. The green beans I didn't care for very much, they were tasty (had some sort of garlic butter on them) but they were a bit soggy. It also came with garlic toast which was absolutely delicious.

For a quiet little diner out in Whatcom County, it sure hit the spot on a cold drive home. Very reasonable prices too, and they serve some hearty breakfast platters as well, and offer them to go if you desire. You can ask the waitress there for a menu.

Madison's Lounge & Restaurant is located at:

6104 Portal Way
Ferndale, WA 98248
(360) 312-8975