Mill City Public House — Restaurant in Appleton

1st time visit. Went for lunch and enjoyed the cleanliness of the restaurant. I was pleasantly surprised by how much space is available inside. Even though the restaurant is lined by trees on the front side, the blinds were kept closed during a beautiful sunny day, which is a detail I felt made it less appealing. Upon being seated, our server had a definite vibe of self-imposed coolness. The non chalant manner of speaking was a turnoff. Perhaps my disinterest in her too cool for school demeaner prevented her from being more professional. At 11:30 a.m., not many patrons were present yet. And as we left at 1pm, it was still just a few handful of patrons. Therefore, it does disappoint me that our server barely made any pit stops to refill our drinks. In fact, another server was kind enough to refill our water as well as offer another cocktail. Which was what had me decide to give only 20% tip of 100 plus bill. My only guess is she is somehow related to an owner and therefore can get away with not smiling or saying thank you. Entitled. Oh, well. And as for the food. It was basically well done enough to stand apart from the rest of the burger joints simply by being prepared by professionally trained chefs. The quality of ingredients you can taste immediately. The pomme frites were outstanding and made just the way they are meant to be made. Perfect. If you want a perfect French fry. Go to Mill City. My friend had the OK burger and really enjoyed it. I had the brisket, and the meat was tender and generously portioned. But only had a deep smoky flavor. I had a hard time tasting beef over the smoke. As a transplant from North Carolina and raised both in California and Texas. I know a little bit about good tasting smoked meats. And as much as I like the whole craft beer aficionado trend, I feel there is something missing with this cute spot for hip folks. And I think it should start with servers who can be personable. And I just got the word from my friend who joined me for lunch that she has been burbing smoke since. I'm thinking maybe cherry wood or pecan wood would be great. But I believe the mesquite is just too basic and intense for wonderful cuts of meat. If one is to charge those prices, it would be appropriate to use...

When I stopped in, they were pretty much full, and I had to sit and eat at the bar while I was there. It seem that quite a few tables were clearing out, but they were definitely busy. It was quite difficult to find parking. The overall outside impression of the building is very misleading to the high-end, and in my opinion, luxurious interior it was a really nice environment to be dining in. I had cheese curds as an appetizer. They were absolutely phenomenal. Actually, the best cheese curds I’ve ever had I would go there just for those my entrée was the Wagyu mushroom and swiss burger absolutely phenomenal again. I would highly recommend the Wego burgers there and for dessert I had chocolate and powdered sugar beignets. For drinks, I started out with a whiskey, old-fashioned before the appetizer. It was kind of bland I would probably not get one there again I feel for the price they could step up their game on something as common as a whiskey, old fashion at the price point they’re charging the second mink string I had was quite nice, and about what I expected for what I paid. And I finish the whiskey old fashion pretty quick and he didn’t even ask if I wanted a second drink for quite a while. I’m not sure why he wasn’t overly busy at the time and I was definitely ready to get a second one of some kind right away, overall I will definitely be going back the food and atmosphere are amazing and make up for any shortcomings even though the place is pricey, I feel outside of the drinks you’re definitely getting what you’re paying for and look forward to going there again if you’ve never been there, I would definitely...

AMAZING atmosphere and branding, great service, and the food came out quick! Food was 4 stars.

We LOVED the cheese curds and the chicken sandwich! Moist chicken, great flavor, and a fun take with the spicy honey! (Not pictured)

The Mushroom Swiss Double Smash Wagyu burger is where they lost us… The menu seems to be built upon these burgers.

We’re not scared of a $19 burger and fries, but for that price, it better be incredible. Good bun… And that’s about it. It was lacking in flavor and composition. The meat tasted like nothing and was dry, which made the other delicious toppings taste like nothing. When tasted on their own (mushrooms, haystack onions, special sauce), they have lots of flavor! But the boring double patty burger zeroed out everything else. (Culver’s can make a thin smashed burger patty with more juice and a little pink… 😬 and I hate comparing a restaurant with this much potential to a chain)

The fries were “meh”, so combined with the burger, definitely NOT WORTH $19. I’d even suggest not using Wagyu so they can charge a little less, because we couldn’t taste a significant difference.

Expensive lunch… one appetizer, two sandwiches, and one beer for $63 after tip. 😳 there are other places in town with better food and competitive service/atmospheres for less than that for lunch.

We’ll be back for the chicken sandwich though! Much better value than the burger and executed exceptionally! We’re also curious to see how the menu expands in the coming months, as noted...