Smyth, Milwaukee

We had a night in downtown Milwaukee, and because of the interesting menu reasonable prices, and proximity (well, not really, about a mile-and-half away, and not comfortably walkable on a winter night), we chose Smyth in The Iron Horse Hotel:
http://www.theironhorsehotel.com/food-drink/smyth.html

The Iron Horse itself is of interest, sort of a local Hard Rock of recent vintage, and the fact that they were serving $ 0.05 beers to celebrate an anniversary of the Repeal of Prohibition certainly did not detract from its appeal.

In summary, the meal was good, but there were issues. Here's a brief rundown:

Appetizers: My wife had the fois gras and we commented on its value relative to Chicago pricing, until we saw the size of the serving, which turned out to be about four small bites. Damn good bites, though, beautifully caramelized and accompanied by an excellent apple confiture. I chose the day's special, a vegetable broth with meatball (yes, singular), which wasn't very special, the meatball reminiscent of a naked wonton.

Entrees: One lamb, nicely rare with a well-done garlicky crust , but a little tough; and a savory fish stew with cod and some crustaceans floating on a mix of beans, dried corn, artichokes, sweet peppers, and olives. The cod was a bit overwhelmed by this wonderful intermingling of flavors and I'm not too sure about the freshness of all the shellfish, but, in general, this was an enjoyable dish.

To end, we had a couple of solid Wisconsin cheeses and a bleu which turned out to be French, its only raison d'être for being on the menu, we conjectured, as an advertisement for the superiority of Wisconsin cheeses.

Service was superb, and we would have no qualms about returning (especially to celebrate another anniversary of Prohibition's repeal), although if we again had only one dinner to eat in Milwaukee I think we would probably venture elsewhere.

I've had dinner there (both inside and on the patio which has a separate menu) but likely won't return. Never been all that impressed with the food. They make a big deal out of their cocktail list but everything I've had has been unbalanced (too sweet or too sour or badly conceived).

We stayed at the hotel once made brunch plans for the next morning before going to the airport. It took a very, very long time for our food to arrive. The dishes we ordered were fairly straight forward -- omelets, pancakes, etc. The restaurant was about about half full.

We asked our server what was taking so long, he apologized, and asked if we needed to catch a flight or something (uh, YES...you're a hotel restaurant, remember?). They comped a good amount of the bill but we still felt stressed.

Interesting, it appears that they have completely changed the menu at Smythe, it seems far more casual than what you've described. I'll be staying at the Iron Horse this weekend and will likely grab at least one meal there, I'll report back.

They have had all kinds of issues keeping chefs. They were able to lure the talented Jason Gorman from Dream Dance but I think that lasted less than a year. They hired another higher profile Chef and that didn't last long either (he's heading up a revamp of George Webb restaurants now). Gorman is now working for Tony Mantuano at Mckinlock Court Restaurant at the Art Institute of Chicago.

They hired another new chef this month.

We wound up having brunch here on Sunday as we were feeling lazy. It's a well designed space (consistent with the rest of the hotel, vaguely industrial/steam-punk), and you have the option of sitting outside on their vast terrace as well. Brunch, it turns out, is buffet only, with additional items you can order on the side. The Scotch Egg I ordered was pretty good (runny center, nicely seasoned sausage), but the rest was pretty standard/uninspiring buffet fare with an omelette and carving station. We thought it odd that on such a busy weekend they did not replenish items as they ran out. Brunch comes with a mimosa or a glass of champagne, we opted for a second round. Pre-tip, our bill was over $90, we felt it wasn't a good value at all and would not return for the brunch. The tapas style items we saw people ordering on the terrace Saturday night looked attractive, we'll give those a shot the next time we stay here.