Milwaukee Help

My GF and I are headed up to Milwaukee on Saturday for a concert The Rave. We are far from acquainted with Milwaukee and are not sure where to stay/eat. I have been to the Rave and I remember the neighborhood surrounding it not being the best. There is the Ambassador Hotel down the street, which looks nice, but we want to stay somewhere where we can go out for beers and maybe grab some good food near the hotel. Do you guys have any suggestions on where to stay and where we can find a good meal and a good drink?

As far as bars, we are beer-and-shot, corner tavern-type people so we're not looking for anything fancy or trendy. Quite the opposite, really.

Any help would be appreciated!

JJ

We stayed at the Ambassador Hotel a few years ago for my birthday--- it's next to the Marquette campus, so you shouldn't have any issues finding a bar. Remember, Milwaukee is a total beer town

This might sound a little weird, but we actually ate at the Dream Dance steakhouse at Potawatami casino.. we took the complimentary shuttle from the Ambassador and they took us right to the door. It's expensive but the food was absolutely fantastic!

Sounds good...thanks for the help.

Hoping to hear some suggestions from a few other people but Ambassador looks like it could be where we end up.

There are a lot of good hotels downtown. A nice choice might be the Comfort Inn Lakeshore because it is close to a couple of cool bars, County Claire (Irish) and Monica's on Astor, a great low-key, no frills neighborhood bar. There are some good restaurants in the area too including the Knick (upscale pub food), Osteria del Mondo (Italian, kinda fancy), and Cafe at the Plaza, which has a new-ish chef. I haven't been there since the changeover but I have heard some good things. http://www.onmilwaukee.com/dining/artic ... wmenu.html

Depending on what you want to spend, the Iron Horse (http://www.theironhorsehotel.com) and Hotel Metro are really cool botique hotels. There are a couple of restaurants at the Iron Horse a bar and a more upscale place. They just hired one of the best chefs in Milwaukee (Jason Gorman) who worked at Dream Dance for years. Problem is that he starts this week so I wouldn't expect he would have any influence over the menu by Saturday. Only problem is that there isn't a ton of stuff in the neighborhood surrouding the place, aside from some decent Mexican restaurants.

As for the Hotel Metro, the restaurant used to be really good but I haven't been there in probably 6 years so I cannot tell you if its good anymore. There are a lot of nice places to eat near it (and the Pfister Hotel) including Cubanitas (Cuban), Carnevor (steak), Mason Street Grill, Zarletti (Italian), and Indulge (cheese, wine, charcuterie), and Distil, which recently opened and seems like a cool concept (http://www.distilmilwaukee.com/). There is a dive bar called My Office (763 North Milwaukee Street
) that I really like in the neighborhood.

The Ambassador is really nice but there isn't a lot to do around it and while I have never had any issues walking around the neighborhood, you are right its not really the best.

There is a cluster of hotels near Water Street including The Intercontenental and Hyatt Regency that are near all kinds of stuff, including tons of bars. The Safehouse is 1 block from the InterC and is a fun stop if you haven't been there.

If you are dirving to the concert and want a shot and a beer bar near the Rave (rave is a few blocks northwest of it) and some decent burgers, Sobleman's is your place. http://www.milwaukeesbestburgers.com/

Other cool, low key, downtown area bars that I really like:
Points East Pub, 1501 N Jackson St (awesome wings too)
Y Not II, 706 E Lyon St
Buck Bradleys, 1019 N Old World 3rd St
Calderone Pub, 322 West State Street Milwaukee

Also I like these bars, but wouldn't call them shot and beer places
Ale House, 233 North Water Street (3rd Ward)
Old German Beer Hall, 1009 North Old World 3rd Street
Club Charlies, 320 E Menomonee St (3rd Ward)

What kind of food are you looking for?








If you want a deal on a hotel, Hotwire usually has awesome prices on Milwaukee hotels. I use http://www.betterbidding.com to narrow down what I am likely to get. Rooms at nice hotels can be got for as low as 50 bucks.

Great suggestions!

Gonna go through this thoroughly tonight after work but this is exactly what I was looking for. Cuisine type doesn't matter; just something worth eating at while in town. Thanks again for the help.

I'm assuming if we stay somewhere a good distance from The Rave, cabs aren't a problem to and fro?

As to hotels in Milwaukee, I have had exceedingly good luck using Priceline, and nearly always can end up in the $50-60 range* (or less) for a hotel in downtown Milwaukee. It will most likely be either the Hyatt or the Hilton*. The Hilton has a certain old school (emphasis on the old) appeal, but it also houses a water park and otherwise seems to solicit business from families with small kids, so it can be very noisy. (The waterpark, btw is pretty sucky as waterparks go.) The Hyatt is classic Hyatt, with vertigo inducing atrium and such. On Saturday nights, because Milwaukee still has no meters on Sunday, it is easier to get free parking near the Hyatt. Neither hotel is especially far from where you want to go.

lk, thanks for the input on Dream Dancer. It actually has been on my short list, especially as I can combine it easily with a trip to the poker room there.

*NB with Priceline or Hotwire you will not know which hotel you get until after you pay, but based on experience, if you choose downtown Milwaukee you will pretty much always get the Hyatt or the Hilton--I've never got another hotel, but I cannot rule out that you will always get one of those two.

**Edit: fixed the typos and added the note bene about Priceline/Hotwire.

I second Priceline and Hotwire. I usually stay at the downtown Hilton via Hotwire for like $50.

jeffrola wrote:Great suggestions!
I'm assuming if we stay somewhere a good distance from The Rave, cabs aren't a problem to and fro?

There are usually cabs outside of the major hotels, especially the Hilton and Hyatt. As for going from the Rave to downtown, I'd store the cab company phone numbers in your phone because they appear sporadically in that part of town. They should be able to send one over within 5-10 mins. You could also walk across the street to the Ambassador hotel and maybe find one there.

If you want a good shot and a beer place go to Sobleman's Pub. It is just off the beaten path and one of the best burger's around. We visited last time we stayed at the Hilton and was not even a 5 minute drive. Spotted Cow on tap and a great meal. Don't miss it!

1900 w. St. Paul Ave. Soblemans Pub

Just a few data points on our recent stay in downtown Milwaukee. Had a free hotel stay at the Intercontinental, which I actually found nicer than the Chicago location on all accounts. They also have a small, a la carte chocolate bar that sets up from 8pm - 12am on the weekends.

The St. Patrick's Day Parade and other festivities made the streets a little livelier than a regular Saturday would be downtown. One thing we noticed were the blocks and blocks of empty storefronts as we drove around.

Buck Bradley's
"Home to the longest bar east of the Mississippi"
This was a nice place to grab a beer and lunch before the parade started, as it made its way down 3rd Street. Friendly bartenders and a very nice, lightly fried fish and chips.

1019 N Old World 3rd St
Milwaukee, WI 53203
(414) 224-8500
buckbradleys.com

Mo's Irish Pub
Didn't get to try any food here but the buffalo wings coming out looked and smelled fantastic. This place was absolutely packed, it felt like the unofficial headquarters for the St. Paddy's Day festivities. Lively atmosphere and live entertainment all day.

142 West Wisconsin Avenue
Milwaukee, WI 53203
(414) 272-0721
mosirishpub.com‎

AJ Bombers
A highlight of the trip for us. All patties are 1/4 pounders and cooked medium, which I know is not always the preference. Here it worked. Had the special burger of the day, the ABC - avocado, bacon and bleu cheese - and it rocked. Their peanut delivery system to the tables was also a treat. We arrived at about 5pm and there was a sufficient crowd waiting as we left. Also kudos to the wait list system which is a self-serve chalkboard sign up. We could easily keep tabs on how many parties were ahead of us without pestering the hostess. There's a lot of kitsch here, from the peanuts to the writing on the walls to the fill out your own order cards, but it all sort of worked. Would definitely visit again to try other burger combinations.

1241 N Water Street
Milwaukee, WI 53202
(414) 221-9999
ajbombers.com

Brocach Irish Pub
The whole city of Milwaukee seemed to have an Irish hangover on Sunday morning as we headed to this pub/restaurant for brunch. Our service was painfully slow and it was quite difficult to get a refill on their (amazing) coffee, but the food made up for it for the most part. I tried the Corned Beef Hash, which was rich and well prepared. The beef wasn't dry at all, and the 2 poached eggs were perfectly cooked. They added two pieces of roasted asparagus, which seemed like a bit of an afterthought with all that meat and potatoes, but I happily ate them anyway. The highlight of the meal was the unexpected bread service- the most buttery and sweet version of Irish soda bread I've ever had. It was more like pound cake- authentic, hardly - delicious, definitely! Especially with the coffee. I could have made a meal just from that. The other disappointment was my husband's Irish Breakfast, which failed to come with the described black pudding- only white appeared.

850 North Water Street
Milwaukee, WI 53202
(414) 431-9009
brocach.com/Milwaukee

We also hit up the Sprecher Brewery for some soda and beer (my husband is fond of their Dopple Bock) and the Milwaukee Art Museum for the temporary Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit.

Sprecher Brewery
701 West Glendale Avenue
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53209
(414) 964-7837
sprecherbrewery.com