Explorium Distilled — Restaurant in Milwaukee

Tried to have a good time. Drastically failed. Family of 5 showed up on 03/24 before the Bucks game. We walked in and everything looked very welcoming and the hostess was awesome. She helped our kids with kids menus and the whole 9. We got a great table and were directed to use the QR codes for menus with food and beer lists. Pretty standard experience.

The kids wanted a sugar and cinnamon pretzel for a snack and the waitress politely mentioned that they can’t have that due to the limited pregame menu. No worries. We can find something else. We get it.

The food was good and timely. We enjoyed a few beverages and the atmosphere was great. So by now you are asking, why the 1 star review? Let’s get started.

The time comes to leave and I ask for the check. No check, just a tablet showing our total asking me to sign off. I had asked for an itemized check and the waitress said I can have one after I pay. What kind of policy is that? Are you trying to hide something? Sure enough they are.

I get my itemized receipt to find that all of the $6 drinks we ordered were increased to $8. Now we only had 4 of these and I am not hurting for $8 but, you lied to me. I showed the waitress the menu pricing at $6 per drink and she grabbed a manager. The manager came to the table to address the issue. She had explained to me that our drinks were on March Madness pricing because they had a few games in town last weekend. I had mentioned that I understand that but the menu price clearly says $6 each. She told me that the menus were wrong and we were given a March Madness menu at the door. We were not.

I told her that the only menu we received at the door was the kids menu which we could not order off of anyway. She told me that we could order anything off of the kids menu and I had told her about the sweet pretzel fiasco. She replied and said well the kids can have anything except that. Oh ok, makes sense.

After some more banter the manager agreed to refund me $8 for the price variance of the drinks. Please note that we already paid our bill as I could not get an itemized receipt until the bill was paid. About 10 minutes passed…. we all used the restroom and heard nothing of our refund. Gates for the game opened and I told the family that we should just leave.

The manager chased me down outside claiming that I did not pay my bill. Very rude and very public very loud very disrespectful. I had explained how I paid the bill etc. she insisted I did not and had to return to the restaurant.

When arriving back inside the manager did not even help me. My waitress met me by the hostess area and apologized for the pricing issues. They had corrected my bill and credited the original charge. That explanation would have been nice in front of 1,000 people. While we were settling the new tab I had asked the hostess for a copy of the March Madness menu and she had no idea what I was talking about. Wonderful.

I am leaving this review, not because of the $8. People need to be recognized for excellent and awful service. This manager could not have handled things worse. Thank you to the hostess and waitress for treating my family with respect.

On a side note. They also charge 5% for a COVID surcharge. Noticed this on the itemized bill after paying. The website states that is for the cost of employee masks, sanitation, and loss of tables as they keep 6 feet between tables. Just a point of clarification, the tables are all jammed in there as if COVID never existed, the staff was not wearing masks, and there was not a single sanitation station to be seen. Just another example of low integrity management.

I know this is long. I never leave reviews. I just hope that someone reads this and does something about it. OR someone reads this and decides to go somewhere else for a pregame experience. I know times have been tough in the service industry. You still do not have to accept bait and switch pricing and poor leadership...

I want to rate this place more stars, but I can't. They have a great selection of beer and it's cold and refreshing. However, most of the beer is served in plastic cups whether sitting outside or at the bar. They have plenty of different styles of glassware behind the bar; styles that were designed for certain types of beer. They even have a sign telling bartenders which style glass should be used for certain beers, yet the plastic prevails. The use of plastic cups creates unnecessary waste and diminishes the beer drinking experience. If you order one of their bottles/canned beers, it may also be poured into a cup.

The location is great. You can enjoy a drink and some food right across from Fiserv Forum. There is a large courtyard, outdoor dining, and overhead glass doors allow plenty of light and fresh air inside.

The food menu is limited, but includes your standard bar food such as pretzels, pizza, and burgers. They do have three kids meal options, so feel free to bring the little ones. The food was good, nothing extraordinary, but good nonetheless.

With the numerous options downtown, maybe...

Ate here before a concert with high hopes but those were quickly dashed. To start off the place was packed and people had to get up to allow others leave there tables which you have to do for basically everything. They need to remove a row or two of seats which could help other issues.

Decent beer selection if you like selzters or ipa's. The options were okay some smelled great but was kind of bland.

Food was another whole mess. We got there 2 hours before showtime. Ordered our food and was told 30 minutes but took more like 45 minutes. While we were ordering another beer was told the kitchen was closed due to being so far behind that orders were going to take 90+ minutes which at that point you would miss the opening act. Finally when the food did show up we had ask about the appetizer that didn't come. It was obvious it was forgotten so they rushed one out a few minutes later. The food itself was nothing special and light on any kind of sauce.

Unless you have a lot of time to kill, be...