Welcome to Milwaukee
Foreward to Recommendations
Here are our Milwaukee recommendations. We tried to run the full gamut of bars, restaurants, and others, but please feel free to reach out if there’s anything else you’re looking for.
Now, we have a small caveat, some of the places on this list we haven’t been to in over a decade—not gonna tell ya which ones. Nothing that was added to this list is a flash in the plan; they are vetted, beloved places, for the most part. Additionally, there are surely more modern places that would likely be on this list if we had more time in Milwaukee.
Also, some of these places are more than one thing. Some of the brunch places can also be dinner places, some of the bars have food. We organized them as succinctly as possible. Take a look at the list.
Milwaukee is known for a lot of things. The unions. The beautiful parks. The excellent comforting food. The friendly-ish people. The civic pride.
Those are all things you’ll have to experience on your own, but there are a few big things we want you to go out of your way to experience:
The Milwaukee Old Fashioned:
It’s not what you expect if you’ve ever lived anywhere other than Milwaukee. You’ll be given an option of: Whiskey or Brandy. Then; Sweet, Sour, Seltzer, or Press. It is an interesting sweet slurry of muddled fruit, strong alcohol, and soda. Daniel's personal favorite is Brandy Sour, or Whiskey Press and Brittany's is a Whiskey Seltzer. We’re not saying get two, but definitely get one.
Fish Fry:
Milwaukee is absolutely full of Catholics. Italian, Polish, Mexican, and German. That means that the city’s lenten game is strong. Every Friday, all year long, you can find a Fish Fry. We’re hoping to treat ya to one on Friday. But if you can’t make it that night, do yourself a favor and go check one out.
Bloody Marys:
The city is known for it’s drinkers, but that union energy and drive also leads to early risers. Brunch is important. Part of brunch here is the Bloody Mary, generally served with a sidecar of beer, and an immense array of garnish.
Miller High Life:
This is probably our favorite beer. If you haven’t had one in a while, please have one in Milwaukee. If you have had one recently, but not in Milwaukee, have one in Milwaukee.
Link to our embedded Google Map
Grocery
and Coffee
This is a chain of Coffee shops all over Milwaukee. They are pretty good, it might not blow your mind, but it’s reliable and does the job. Biggest thing is that they have Sport Tea on draft. Sport Tea is a decaf herbal iced tea you can find around Milwaukee that cleanses mind, body, spirit.
Peter Scoritino’s Bakery: $, Eastside
A classic Italian bakery on the Eastside. It’s been around since the 40’s, and it is great. It’s got a ton of old school treats. Great Italian bread! A classic!
Glorioso’s Italian Market: $, Eastside
A really neat old world grocer that’s a fantastic place to grab a little deli sandwich or some killer Italian sausages.
This place looks the same as it does when it first opened in 1942. A simple hamburger joint with delicious frozen custard. If you’ve never had Milwaukee frozen custard, it’s a must. Culver’s doesn’t count.
Kopp’s Custard: $, Multiple Locations
A bit more modern layouts, great food, more options with custard, daily flavors. Great simple hamburgers.
My favorite market in town, always something delicious and fun.
Smaller interesting little market in Bay View. Very neat place. Great to find fun beers if you’re into that sort of thing.
Frozen Custard
and Sweets
This place looks the same as it does when it first opened in 1942. A simple hamburger joint with delicious frozen custard. If you’ve never had Milwaukee frozen custard, it’s a must. Culver’s doesn’t count.
Kopp’s Custard: $, Multiple Locations
A bit more modern layouts, great food, more options with custard, daily flavors. Great simple hamburgers and a Brittany favorite.
I have to admit we haven’t been here yet, but it’s the newest in our dear friend Val’s series of restaurants so you can trust it’s good. Pies and simple sandwiches, beautiful location.
Breakfast
and
Brunch
Benji’s Deli: $, Shorewood (North Eastside)
To Daniel, the finest Jewish deli in the world. I know there are better but this is just our favorite. The Hoppel Poppel is one of the few breakfast dishes that I love.
The old stomping grounds! Owned by our friend Val. Daniel worked here for like 5 years? Daniel's start in the restaurant industry washing dishes here. Great diner food, killer breakfast, great lunch. Menu inspiration is “a place a college weirdo could take their rural parents.” Vegan Meatloaf that’s actually good. Normal Meatloaf that’s really good too.
Uncle Wolfie’s Breakfast Tavern: $$, two locations
Gotta be honest, we haven’t been here, but it comes highly highly recommended by people who we know who live here. Menu looks good, a bit more of a ‘modern’ breakfast place.
Plaza Hotel Cafe at the Plaza: $, Downtown
A simple little diner/cafe in a neat old hotel. A great place for a simple breakfast. The kind of place you want to open a broadsheet newspaper, drink a cup of coffee, and sit for a minute.
Delicious homey food, amazing brunch. One of the best bloody mary’s we’ve ever had. Another Val Lucks restaurant. Cute room! Great pies, the start of Val’s pie dream. Wonderful pies! Same pies we’ll have at our reception so don’t ruin your appetite!
Landmark Family Restaurant: $, SouthSide
A very simple diner that Daniel likes to go to with his dad, Ohly! It’s absolutely no frills, but when Ohly’s taken us to the airport we like to stop here.
Centraal / Hollander: $-$$, all over
Ok look, this place may not be the best, and they are kinda a local chain. However, the food is decent, there’s a lot of fun European beers on the menu, the rooms are well decorated, the service is good, and they can sit a large party with ease. Is it gonna knock your socks off? Probably not! But we can’t deny it as a recommendation. We went here two days in a row for brunch completely out of convenience and we weren’t mad about it. That’s saying something.
Quick
Food
A college kid staple. Fantastic gyros, AMAZING Athenian chicken. Most people eat here drunk, but you don’t have to be.
You may skip over this place, but they got a lot of hot dog options that are always great. If you are hankering for a Chicago dog and it’s late, this place is there for ya.
An Allison family staple. As soon as Daniel's mom came to town over summers, she would order a Lisa’s Pizza. It’s about a block from my dad’s house on the Eastside. Thin crispy crust. Very cool tavern feel. Simple and delicious.
Jake’s Delicatessen: $, Westside
The preeminent place for pastrami and corned beef. A treat of a place. Old school, simple. Nuff said.
Great Mexican food in Milwaukee! Also a ton of vegan options. We don’t think any of our Texan friends would really want more Mexican food in Milwaukee, but hey if you got a hankering this place rips.
Great burritos. We love this place. Real as hell. Great salsa.
One of Brittany and I’s favorite places. This wasn’t open when Daniel left Milwaukee, but the guys who opened it are beloved. A wrestling themed simple bar that has a ton of different sausage options. They’re all fantastic. It’s one of the few MUST go places every time Brittany and I are in town.
Great by the slice pizza that is owned by rad people. Not much else to say about it!
They generally close in October, but if they're open and you get the chance it's a really GREAT Milwaukee staple. Fish baskets and the like. Cold beers. Right on the water.
Formal Dinners
An amazing old school German restaurant. Not so much a beer hall, but like a real deal German restaurant. Get a Milwaukee old fashioned here. Exquisite balanced service, tons of photos of the celebrities who’ve eaten here. Everyone from JFK to the Ninja Turtles.
Harbor House: $$-$$$, Eastside
A beautiful seafood restaurant right along the lake. Bougie but feels worth it ya know? From the Barlotta restaurant group who does a lot of the old school fine dining in town. Daniel's had a lot of wonderful meals here, and it’s where he developed his love for oysters as a young man.
La Merenda: $$, Walker’s Point
An amazing world-tapas place. Well thought out, considerate dishes. A huge span of small dishes from varying regions. We love it.
A more modern-american gastro spot. For my recollection one of the first restaurants in town that was doing inventive and interesting things with proteins and the like. Very diverse menu, great service.
A homey, charming, classic Italian place. It’s been on the same corner forever, and is a classic date spot.
Three Brothers: $$-$$$, Bay View
CASH ONLY! Teeny tiny, very romantic and fun Serbian restaurant. Share dishes! Get the burek! Try and get a reservation before you go if possible.
One of my favorite places, run by great people! Very fun and inventive cocktail program. Homey and modern, not tweezer-y though.
Bars
Our favorite bar on the planet. Our after-party situation starts here. Great craft beer selection, excellent cocktails. Pool table. Great music. Amazing owners. Stewards of the community.
Boone and Crockett: $-$$, Third Ward
A fun big space, sometimes there’s dancing. Right on the water.
A really wonderful little bar. As of writing this they are currently out of commission due to flooding, but I’m writing this up hoping that they’re open by the time we’re out there. The epitome of highbrow lowbrow, amazing drinks and also Hamm’s served in a non pretentious friendly room. Cool people. Cool mission.
Another quintessential “Milwaukee” bar. Great room. Daniel worked here for like 4 years and got his love for pinball machines.
Big open room, quintessential ‘beer bar.’ Great place for beer dorks.
Cocktails
A classic tiki cocktail bar, one of the older ones in the country. Bit divey, but cool.
Bryant’s: $$-$$$, Third Ward-ish
The preeminent cocktail bar in all of Milwaukee, maybe in the world. No place is as vibey as this, with cocktails this good, in this comfortable atmosphere. We are not kidding when we say that this is the high water mark for all cocktail bars we’ve ever been to, and nothing has quite come as close as this.
A charming room that’s kept the same decor for the most part since the 60’s. A very decadent ice-cream cocktail bar. Very fun stuff.
Dives
Bowling Alley! In the basement! Nothing is more Milwaukee! This place has the ghosts of 1 billion cigarettes, and it’s better for it. Little arcade too. Great bar to sit at.
Killer old school bar, was once a tied house. We love it. Had Teresa's 70th birthday here! Good food too!
It’s really just another bar, but they came up with a great gimmick which is the “I closed Wolski’s” bumpersticker. Once you have one/know it, you’ll start seeing them all over the world. No joke, Daniel has seen one in Koln, Florida, here in Austin. But it’s really just a simple bar.
Swinging Door Exchange: $, Downtown
The birthplace of bike messenging! Not much to it otherwise. But if you like bikes and bike history, this bar is very very important and cool.
As far as we are concerned, it's one of the most quintessential “Milwaukee” bars. Round bar at the center of the room, simple simple.
Others
Very charming old school Irish bar and Bed and Breakfast. Fun time.
Jazz bar with great cocktails. Has been there forever. Got new ownership recently, which normally would be kinda spooky, but the new owner is great!
Spy themed bar you have to know the password to get into. It’s corny as all get out but amazing. Think TGIFridays if it was themed around spies in the cold war. We won’t tell you the password. Look for the door marked “International Exports, Ltd.”
The Wiggle Room: $-$$, Bay View
A bar made by one of the best dj’s Daniel's ever met, Chris Schulist (who does opening sets for Jack White (was also in a killer punk band called the Mistreaters back in the day.)) This bar was made with the intention of being a place to show off great vinyl. Can be dancey sometimes, but sometimes just a vibe. Very cool room, sonorous. Great music. We’ll likely be going there after the after’s on our wedding day.
Parks and Recreation
A beautiful park that’s great to walk around. Spans a good amount of the Eastside. Cool lighthouse, nice benches. Just a great time.
Large lakeside park on the Eastside. Great place for a stroll. Sometimes the swan boats are available for rent in the lagoon.
Milwaukee has great parks! This is another one of them! Sit under a tree, read a book!
A beautiful park along the lake! The beer hall there might be open in October, not sure! A nice long walk all the same. Brittany and Daniel took an impromptu dip in the lake here after a particularly tough Healium class. More on that below
TRULY sometimes after a Milwaukee weekend you need to sweat out some of the beer and sausage, this is the way. Brittany and Daniel nearly died trying to do this workout, but were grateful for it in the way that doing hard things is good for us. It’s hot as hell. The owner/coach is one of our dear friends Robyn. If this is your vibe, DO IT.
Things to Do
Shops in Bay View
Bay View’s main artery is a street called Kinnickinick, it’s fun to say, try it. You can walk the length of it in an early afternoon, go check out some shops along it. Vintage, boutique, book stores, comic shops, restaurants. It’s a LOVELY time. Stop in for a beer, go for a stroll.
The best music venue in the world. Owned by one of the coolest people on the planet and it’s only gotten cooler over the years. Since Daniel left Milwaukee, they’ve made huge leaps in inclusiveness for differently abled folks, and representation for all, still punk as hell. As of writing this, there isn’t a schedule for our wedding weekend, but try and stop in if you can. It’s directly next to Palomino, where we’re going for our reception.
Milwaukee Art Museum, Eastside
A fantastic place to be. World class art museum. If you go near it early in the morning or at dusk you’ll be able to see the ‘wings’ of the building open or close. Great collection, great rotating pieces. If you go here please tell us so we can talk about our favorite pieces.
Milwaukee Public Museum, Downtown
A weird old museum. Great dioramas. A Milwaukee institution. See a dinosaur, walk down the streets of Old Milwaukee. It's really really really cool.
The Oriental Theatre, Eastside
A beautiful classic movie theater. A stunning sight. Wonderful programming. Also their sibling theater, The Downer Theatre, is nearby. Just as fabulous.
Take a tour of the brewery where High Life was born! It’s really really worth it! Going to see where the most ubiquitous beers were made, and at that scale, is really awe inspiring.
The home of the best summer sausage on the planet. We will argue with anyone who disagrees, and we've had a lot of summer sausage. Check their hours; they're kinda weird!
Boswell Book Company, Eastside
Great local bookstore on Downer Ave! Buy a book! Go read it in a park!