Louise's Catering & Events — Restaurant in Milwaukee

tl;dr It's got a nice atmosphere, ruined by the clientele. Mixed drinks are "meh". Food was not well prepared. Wait staff was accommodating but inept. It seemed like there some confusion, or our waitress was otherwise feeling harried to the point of neglecting our table with quality service.

First off, I hardly ever write reviews. Only when the service is either incredibly good, or incredibly bad. This'll be my first that is so borderline it almost hurts me to write.

Celebrating a belated Valentine's day, I showed up here with my wife on a Saturday night around 5pm. Typical dinner-rush kind of thing, but we'd made a reservation and there weren't any issues with it. Decided to have a few drinks at the bar (their mixed drinks were "acceptable" at best).

I really enjoyed the ambiance, but the kids in sweatpants out with their families for what must have been their weekly family dinner really brought the environment down a few pegs.

It took nearly 10 minutes after being seated for our waitress to come to our table. We ordered some beers and an appetizer, which came out fairly quickly. Appetizer was good, beers were good.

Then came the food order. I normally don't mind a waitress being cold and efficient (I'm a quick eater and I don't like to sit-around), but as we'd mentioned we were celebrating I had expected a little more flair and a little less "overworked and in a hurry". We ordered and she shot off to put it in.

She ordered a filet, and I ordered one of the chicken dishes. My wife said that the filet was "OK", but I had a bite and their charred the s* out of it the outside. I'm not talking a crispy searing...I'm talking "burnt". My chicken was overcooked and chewy.

Now, under normal circumstances, that would have been borderline acceptable. But even with all of this, they didn't offer a valentine's day special, or anything else to that effect. In fact, we ordered one final beer after and along with it came the check.

I understand the need for table turnover, but I won't be returning to Louise's, which is such a disappointing revelation for me. Usually I give any venue a second shot to redeem itself, but unfortunately that won't be the case here. I had high hopes and expectations, and have been wanting to go there for the better part of 2 years. Even when I first walked in, I commented on how good the food smelled.

The service was subpar, and most of the meal was acceptable only at best. And, worse than anything else, I spent nearly as much as I would have if I hadn't bought alcohol and gone to a quality steak house. This place is overpriced, by a long shot, and I regret spending the money.

I don't recommend eating here unless you're looking for a "family-friendly fancy place" for a family of 4+. The fanciness goes right out the window during the...

I live mainly in Southern Cal. However the last three years I've been traveling and sort of living in Milwaukee. Right outside my front door here on Cathedral square is Louise's. I've come here over the last three years about ten times. The first time I kind of wrote of the experience but my business keeps bringing me back here for business lunches and dinners. Two months ago I ordered a chopped salad. It came wilted with gross old lettuce and over dressed. I let it go. Then I came back. Trusting it would change. I ordered a chicken dish. It came bone dry. I sent it back. Then I brought all my business associates here several times. And guess what it was bad but I didn't want to make a big deal about it.

I have way too many " ok let's try them again maybe it's better today" experiences. So here I am now at lunch. Today. I ordered just some plain pasta. Fettuccine with butter sauce and parmigiano and I ordered lemons.

It's awful. It's like a block of blob. Sticking together. It's not really fettuccine. I don't even know what they call this pasta in the Louise's world.

And the mananger. Well when I told him about what my experience was... he walked away. He was too busy.

This restaurant is awful. Their bar is cool. The decor is nice. Their wait staff is completely uneducated and non trained for the job.

The food deserves a D at best.

They really need to up their level. This is terrible. I paid a lot of money for this pnc again awful experience. I am not sure why I came back. I wish I hadn't.

Some people don't care about quality. I do. I'm from Europe. And I very much want quality.

This restaurant needs to truly uplevel their COMMITMENT to excellence. When it comes to food as well as service. And it would be great if they trained their staff.

D at best maybe C-

So sorry to...

I've been to Louse's in the past and have always had great service and food. I went there Sunday evening and my opinions have completely changed. I have always loved the bread, so we asked for some. Not only did we have to ask for it twice, but it didn't come until the meal came. The salad I ordered (sun-dried tomato/pine nut/goat cheese) has always been my favorite--it came completely drowned in dressing. I almost couldn't eat it (but I was starving). I ordered the artichoke ravioli for my meal and it was inedible, it was so salty. I'm not one to send anything back, ever, but I just couldn't eat it. By the time we saw a waiter (anyone) to send it back, over 10 minutes had passed. The flatbread pizza (ordered by my boyfriend) tasted as though it had been sitting out...a long while. I opted to not order anything else to eat (by then we had already been there for over an hour and a half). They did take my meal off the bill and offered us free cookies, which we took (and turns out there were super mushy and cold and not tasty at all, like they were just unfrozen). Overall, I was not pleased and do not plan on going back to...