Brothers Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Milwaukee

Came here for my cousin's 28th birthday on a Saturday night for drinks and dancing. I'm 32 and hadn't been to Water Street in a long time. Buffalo Wild Wings isn't there anymore. Rosie's isn't Rosie's anymore and plays fun indie emo punk songs. And Brothers underwent a layout change.

Please keep in mind that I'm a generally grumpy over 30 year old, so take this review with a grain of salt cuz I KNOW Water Street is not for someone wishing they had ducked out of barhopping by 10pm, but for college children who are just getting started at 11pm.

Pros: Despite there only being one bar now to get drinks, the bartenders fielded it well and we waited a reasonable time to order and receive our drinks. They have a fun little garage area with games like giant jenga and cornhole. This area also has nice ventilation if you're feeling stuffy, as well as picnic tables for lounging casually. The music selection was a good range of 80s to current pop and a surprisingly delightful amount of edm drops and transitions that satisfied even my wibbily wobbily dubstep heart.

There was truly only one con for me and that was the actual dance floor. Idk if it's just a current trend I'm unaware of but the length of the far wall was tiered up like risers so ppl standing there awkwardly faced the whole room like a bizarre graduation ceremony. And the dance floor is smaaaaaall with narrow room for escape when it's jam-packed. We ended up abandoning that room to take over one of the tables by the bar and dancing there to avoid the awkward stare down of the riser ppl.

And this isn't a criticism of Brothers, but the current bar scene culture, I guess, because no one seemed to really dance. We came to Brothers to dance and waited in a long line for it. Once inside, it seems like kids these days just like to stand with drink in hand and sway, trying to be "seen" rather than go for wild abandon. 🙄 annoying when you're trying to find a crowd of likeminded bodies to get lost in.

Overall, Brothers was clean and efficient. I myself may enjoy it better as a...

DO NOT GO HERE UNLESS YOU ARE A PREPPY WHITE(no offense) COLLEGE KID. Racist bouncers and owners will prevent anyone from going in for bogus reasons. I was told to tuck my 8mm 24in(not very big at all) figaro style chain in my shirt for whatever reason, but I had no problem with this and complied.

Now here's the kicker: The bouncer told me to pull my jeans up, but when I showed him that the jeans were at my waist line and physically but respectfully showed him that the crotch of the jeans were hugging my nuts he just told me I had to leave and I could not come back.

I am fairly slim(5'8" 170lbs) and I was wearing 34W Rocawear Jeans. If anyone has ever worn that brand of jeans they would know that the jeans are very slim-fitting. The only thing that gave the jeans an appearance of being slightly baggy was the fact that they were a couple inches longer than my legs. I guess I better come back with high-waters next time because this is the 4th time I've been denied.

If you think you will get in with what you are wearing, think about your friends. The bouncers have no problem telling one person out of a group to leave. They only have a problem with your skin color and how nice you are dressed. I was accidentally let in to the bar one time for about 30 seconds before an employee grabbed me and told me to leave immediately. I am a very respectful person, but I think this place has horrible management and needs to be shut down for discrimination because their "Dress* Code"...

In 2011 Milwaukee was deemed America's most segregated and racist metropolitan city and places like Brother's is the reason why. Why do we all get dressed up and go out on the weekends...to have fun just like everyone else of every type of demographic. However Brother's bar and grill has made it clear that certain minorities, especially African Americans are not welcomed. A group of my friends attempted to patronize Brother's Bar and Grill 5/12/13 however was turned away because we "looked like we may start a fight and that my earrings were too big" How earrings and fighting correlate I have no idea, and even when I attempted to take them out I was still told that I was not allowed allowed in the bar because I made the choice to put them on in the first place. Let me be clear, I am an educated person, soft spoken, and gave no indication whatsoever that I would be inappropriate in any type of manner. When stating to the manager that this could be considered discrimination (especially when I could clearly see women of other races in the bar with large earrings)...the response was "call it what you want but you are still not getting in." It is sad that still in 2013, that there is no cross cultural acceptance here. Very disappointed in this...