An Ox Cafe — Restaurant in Milwaukee

My families of 13 people came to Milwaukee for an event Friday we heard An OX Cafe has good foods and services. Saturday for lunch we decide to visit this place since peoples rave about it. The places look and atmosphere look nice when you walk-in. We all sat looking at menus to order for foods. I asked for waters for everyone at the tables, 20-25 minutes goes by we didn’t get water or anything but I notice two separate couples just came in and sat down already got their waters. I thought hmm why our tables hasn’t got water I flagged down the waitress requesting waters for the tables again. 10-15 minutes laters we finally got waters and beverages.

We order our foods, about 30 minutes later our foods came to the tables but none of use got any utensils to eat and I ask the same waitress about getting us some utensils. She look at me with blank stared looks in her face and I told her we sat down hours ago but we never got utensils or anything how are we going to eat, and with what.She left and came back with our utensils.

The foods have a decent taste like every other Asian restaurant. The restaurant menu lack of order items than other Asian restaurants I’ve been too.

Overall, would I go there again if I visited Milwaukee again in the future, probably not due to lack of customer services I got the first time the next time visit will not be any different or better. Food wise depends on what you order, my families did like some food they order some didn’t like the texture of food, especially the Pho noodles. The noodle taste like left overnight being...

Food was not good. Small portion size and over priced for what it was. Okay service, the workers are super friendly. Great atmosphere and vibe though. I give it 2.5⭐️

Update response to owner:

Beef Laab, which included beef, tripes, and various herbs we ordered, didn't taste fresh. Flavor was a tab bit too salty/sour and missing some other flavor elements that make up this laab comfort food. I'm not sure if we just happened to order the end of the day batch or if it wasn't mixed well, but I recommend working on improving the flavors. It's not bad. It just wasn't good.

Potatoes Wedges was simple and delicious. However, the portion isn't shareable size. In other words, I felt like ya lowkey stingy with them fries. Even the side ketchup cup was only 1/3 filled. I wanted to ask the waiter for more ketchup. I wish I should've said something, but I was preoccupied chatting with my friends that evening.

Papaya salad. Again, it wasn't bad. It's just a tab bit salty and sour. Everyone has different preferences in how they like their papaya salad. But nailing down the basic flavors will leave guests with a more favorable impression and will likely increase a returning customer. It had the right crunch, and I even loved the added shredded carrots. Umami flavors were lacking. Papaya salad needs a good balance of sweet, spicy, salty, sour, and savory. With the exception of spicy levels, it was just plain salty and sour.

Other than the food, everything else...

The food is good, but not as consistent, one time I had pho that was a little sweet, and another I had it not sweet, sure a few weeks apart but still something I noticed.

The food is pricier but I’m fine with it, it’s South East Asian food, and the place is clean(usually south East Asian restaurants I’ve been to across America are not as clean.) the cups are clean with little to no water spots, the dishes look like they get scrubbed, and I don’t feel like I’m going to get sick from eating there.

They got lots of TVs up and during sports seasons usually they’ll have games up, even ones you can’t get from local channels, but they are muted I believe all the times I’ve been. On Sundays they got RedZone up in the corners.

The bar is good, they got good choices for domestic and imports.

The staff are awesome, they greet you, always are polite, and they do get an automatic 20% gratuity on top of the bill, but it’s never really a problem because the service I feel is great, the food is great, and I’ve never had any problem with any of the staff ever.

Portion sizes are good for sharing, for a table of 4 we shared 1 order of pork roast, 1 order of fried squid, 2 bowls of pho and we had plenty...