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Budget
Budget
$
George Webb's
812 N Old World 3rd St.
under $10
most 24 hrs
a number of different places, including Old World 3rd St, and the East Side
A scuzzy, cheap local diner chain, known for the two clocks next to each other in each restaurant usually unsynchronized. The food isn't great, but its unbelieveably cheap and the mix of people is usually an experience in itself. The greenish chicken-flavored soup is strangely popular.
Budget
$
Zaffiro's
1724 N Farwell
under $10
Great old-fashioned pizza place that hasn't been changed in decades. Has a bar, too.
Budget
$
Conejito's Place
539 W Virginia St
under $10
on 6th St just N of National Ave
The best place to eat Mexican food on a budget in Milwaukee is here. Food and drinks are cheap and the atmosphere is one of the best in the city as far as Mexican restaurants go.
Budget
$
Apollo Cafe
1310 E Brady St
on Brady St
Serves authentic Greek food the whole family can enjoy. A variety of healthy yet tasty food, it'll make you wonder why these sorts of food aren't more popular.
Midrange
Midrange
$$
The Safe House
779 N Front St
+1 414 271-2007
just S of 150 E Wells St
An elaborate spy themed restaurant that is infamous for requiring a password to enter. You enter through an alley, and can gain access even without the password, but you will be required to act silly to convince them to allow entrance. Once inside you will find a great spy museum including numerous gadgets and displays. As you eat you will be able to watch video monitors of other patrons acting silly to gain entrance, just as you did.
Midrange
$$
Comet Cafe
1947 N Farwell Ave
N of Brady St on Farwell
Try the Cheesy Tomato Sandwich.
Midrange
$$
A bit farther up Oakland Ave near Locust Street near the UW-Milwaukee Campus, you'll find an exciting variety of restaurants including the Oakland Trattoria Mediterranean, Sharazad Middle Eastern, Lula's Cafe East African, Thai Kitchen, and Oakland Gyros Greek.
The Third Ward has a number of different places, some with river-side seating in the summer such as the Milwaukee Ale House on Water Street. Coquette Cafe on Milwaukee Street is the owned by the same chef as the critically acclaimed Sanford.
Kinnickinnic Avenue in Bay View is also lined with different places, including local favorite Lulu at Howell, and Honeypie Midwestern comfort food with locally sourced ingredients.
National Avenue around 6th Street has a number of different Mexican restaurants, although they can also be found throughout the entire south side.
Midrange
$$
The majority of mid-range, non-chain places within Downtown are located on Milwaukee Street or near Cathedral Square east of the river.
On the East Side, you can head over to the intersection of North and Farwell Avenues, where you'll find local favorites like Beans & Barley healthy/organic, Pizza Man burned to the ground in early 2010, Von Trier's German, the BBC bar & grill, and the Twisted Fork pasta. Louisa's is also a great Italian restaurant.
Top end
Top end
$$$
Mimma's Cafe
1307 E Brady St
+1 414 271-7337
mimma@mimmas.com
on Brady St
Serves a sometimes Americanized version of Italian cuisine alongside authentic recipes. The atmosphere is lovely - a bit formal, yet warm. In addition to every pasta you can imagine it comes with an excellent array of wines, albeit expensive.
Top end
$$$
Mader's Restaurant
1041 N Old World 3rd St
+1 414 271-3377
M-Th 11:30AM-9PM, F Sa 11:30AM-10PM, Su 11AM-9PM
on Old-World Third
Provides traditional German cuisine in a fancy, historic atmosphere.
Top end
$$$
Five O'Clock Steakhouse
2416 W State St
+1 414 342-3553
dine@fiveoclocksteakhouse.com
Considered to be one of the best steakhouses in America.
Top end
$$$
Mo's A Place for Steaks
720 N Plankinton Ave
+1 414 272-0720
M-F 5PM-11PM, Sa 5PM-midnight, Su special appt
One of three national locations, the others being in Houston and Indianapolis.
Top end
Top end
$$$
Sanford
1547 N Jackson St
+1 414 276-9608
M-Th 5:30PM-9PM, F Sa 5PM-10PM, closed Su
on Jackson St
Zagat-rated in the top 11 restaurants in the U.S. with a near perfect score of 29. It is the only restaurant in the state to achieve that honor and is widely considered to be the top restaurant in Milwaukee.
Top end
$$$
The Capital Grille Milwaukee
310 W Wisconsin Ave
+1 414 223-0600
M-F 11:30AM-3PM, M-Th 5PM-10PM, F Sa 5PM-11PM, Su 5PM-9PM
Bakeries
bakeries
Canfora
1100 E Oklahoma Ave
+1 414 486-7747
A relic of one of Milwaukee’s original Italian neighborhoods. This was the sort of place the Italian communists and anarchists probably fought over, back in the day.
bakeries
Peter Sciortino's Bakery
1101 E Brady
+1 414 272-4623
Brady at Humboldt, bus 10 or 15
A Milwaukee classic for Italian bread and macaroons. Also check out the Italian grocery Glorioso’s, kitty-corner.
bakeries
Part of Milwaukee’s food culture is high expectations and hard-set habits when it comes to bread and sweets. Eat your way through Milwaukee immigrant history, without even having a meal.
bakeries
Mekato’s
3500 W National Ave
+1 414 383-2233
Columbian Bakery? Of course, this is Milwaukee. It’s also a café-restaurant.
bakeries
Bella Bakery
960 W Oklahoma Ave
The best Polish place, seems closed for now. There are a couple Polish delis in the neighborhood with stuff from Chicago, though.
bakeries
Lopez
1601 W Lincoln Ave, 1100 W Mitchell St, 624 W National Ave
There are three South Side locations of this popular local Mexican chain. Good stuff.
Custard
custard
Northpoint
2272 N Lincoln Memorial Dr
Right at Bradford Beach. It’s a relative newcomer, but has made a name for itself.
custard
Gilles
7515 W Bluemound Rd
+1 414 453-4875
Sun: 11:00a-11:30p, Mon-Sat: 10:30a-11:30p
Milwaukee's oldest custard stand.
custard
Leon’s
3131 S 27th St
+1 414 383-1784
A great neon-covered drive-up. Its not chain, they keep things focused on the custard, shakes and malts. A cone is only $1.25!
custard
There are a handful of other places to get custard in and around the city. Most people have a favorite but will settle for anything, its hard to go wrong.
custard
Of course the largest city in America’s Dairyland has perfected its own style of turning milk into frozen enjoyment. Custard is not-your-daddy’s soft-serve. Its thick- made fresh with egg yolks and lots of cream so there are only a few flavor choices: vanilla, flavor of the day, and maybe chocolate. Oh, and don’t call it ice cream.
custard
Kitt’s
7000 W Capitol Dr
+1 414 461-1400
A nice retro drive-in on the Westside.
With its immigrant heritage, Milwaukee is a major restaurant city. Good local restaurants serve almost every kind of food imaginable, usually quite cheaply. Different neighborhoods have different specialities when it comes to food. List of locations that Milwaukeans selected as their favorites viewed here (http://www.milwaukeesbest.org).
Old World Third St along and just west of the Milwaukee River provides a richer variety of restaurants and also many of the more upscale restaurants and clubs in town. Traditional Germanic and Mediterranean foods are the highlights.
Milwaukee St, between Wisconsin and Wells Sts., offers many trendy and top rated restaurants in the city as well as an upscale nightlife for the after dinner drink.
The east side also has many nice restaurants, bakeries, and cafes. Most places are clustered on Farwell, North, or Brady Streets.
The Fifth Ward and South Side contain many different authentic and cheap Mexican and Latin American restaurants.
Bay View has a variety of different kinds of places, especially with regards to "hip" comfort food.