Lakefront Brewery — Restaurant in Milwaukee

The place was packed full at 5pm on Friday, and we were barely able to find a table outside. Overlooking the river and under a bridge, on a beautiful Milwaukee spring day. Except for this boy from the table behind us who kept throwing rocks as baseball practice. Parents wouldn't do anything, so I told him to stop it, and it worked for about 10 minutes.

They got great speakers perched out. I know this because every time their tours were about to begin, someone would holler through the speakers to get people to come on down. Unfortunately, they didn't play any music from it. I mean, they did, but it was sporadic for some reason. We had music for 10 minutes, and no music for 10 minutes. Weird.

The guys went inside to order, and if you're sitting outside, they basically give your food as "to go". So everything was to go packaging. It was like having a picnic outside. Not sure that I liked it though. It wasn't what I had come looking for, and wish we had real plates. Even paper plates instead of these takeout boxes to eat out of.

Beer - it's Lakefront Brewery y'all! What else do I need to say! But no glasses... all in plastic cups. Again, if I had known...

cheese curds - continues to be my favorite in Milwaukee

Potato cakes - not sure who ordered this... lol. but it was pretty good!

potato chips - not sure who ordered this either... but they were chips.

sausage - good ol' sausage. Nutting special.

fish n chips - well now! bring it on!

Again, great place to hang out for beer and curds, but try to get indoor seating for live music. Unless you are going for the more "picnic" vibe outdoors.

Previous review: Great venue for beer and for hanging out! The place was packed Thursday night. We got there at 4 when they opened, and when we left, it was full with people waiting in line.

The beer - what do I need to say? Lakefront brewery drafts are the best!

The food:

Cheese curds - we just got the basic; none of this taste of the day mumbo jumbo. Hands down the best in Milwaukee!

Loaded fries - our group as a whole just didn't like this. We were all grabbing the regular fries from the fish basket instead. The sauce is described as: chimichurri sauce, garlic ranch, parmesan flakes, and red pepper flakes. I think the chimichurri sauce is pesto - and just not for our tastebuds. Oh, and the first time it came out, the potato was cold... contrasting with the fries we got with the fish and chips. We did ask for it to get warmed up, and they just brought us a new one instead.

Fish Fries - cod fries were ok, I've had better in milwaukee.

Sausage - we had the Frankfurter, Polish, and Sweet Italian. Yum.

This is where you go to get beer and cheese curds. And fries. Not necessarily for dining. Great, fun atmosphere. Oh and we skipped the tour this time, but that was super fun the last time...

Go for the tour, stay for the food. And the beer is acceptable. Actually, on this particular visit, my second in three years, the beer was better. Autumn visits offer us Octoberfest (acceptable) and a cozier beer hall experience. My favorite beer wasn't even a Lakefront brew but a scrumptious brown ale from Black Husky Brewing, another local brewery. However it is just that kind of thing that I like about Lakefront...a lot. They have a great history in their partnership with the city/county of Milwaukee and have played a pivotal role influencing the development of the River West neighborhood.. All of this is outlined heavily in the tour. And what a tour! Voted #4 nationally for best brewery tour? Well, for those of us who have been on several brewery tours over the years and understand the basic mechanics of brewing beer, it is perfect. Our guide was entertaining, albeit playing into the stereotype of a hipster drunk. The humor appealed to most, especially the teens in our group...who came up with the names for this stuff?! The highlight of the tour was probably discussing the kegging process - not to mention the bottling line, made famous by the 1970s sitcom "Laverne and Shirley", a spinoff of "Happy Days". Also the tour goodies! A pint glass OR 2 stickers OR basic bottle opener/key ring + 4 tokens for 6 oz brews before, during & after the tour. Well worth the price of admission. The food, I forgot about the food! TRY IT - and the fish fry looks amazing but others in my party had different needs so I'll have to check that out on my next visit. Hopefully I don't have to...

visiting from out of state with my boyfriend and, considering previous reviews, definitely wanted to make it a point to stop here. however, our experience was disappointing for a few reasons.

out of cheese curds on a tuesday?? so we got the city dawg and the pretzel instead. both were okay - nothing to write home about. the beer cheese sauce that comes with the pretzel had no flavor which was odd. the best thing out of everything was the obatzda dip - quite delicious and we both would have done away with everything else to get more of that dip.

lots of beer options, but no seltzers or ciders. i’ve never been to a brewery that didn’t feature at least one or two ciders. they do have 3 wines (one white, one red, and one rosé) but they’re under strange names on the menu so it’s hard to tell which is which.

went up to the bar to order the white wine but wasn’t sure which one on the menu it was. the bartender was kind of condescending and told me that she “doesn’t drink wine” so she couldn’t tell me anything about it - a bit strange and rude. i wasn’t asking for the flavor profile, just which one was the white wine LOL.

i don’t live in the area so i probably won’t be back, but even if i did i’d visit another brewery nearby. there are so many with great reviews that i don’t think i’d be...