Milwaukee Ale House — Restaurant in Milwaukee

Updated Review - 9/3/2019 What happened here? The Ale House used to be so good…good experience, delicious food…this visit was so disappointing. Even more disappointing was that we had out-of-town guests with us, so it was a wasted opportunity to show them all Milwaukee has to offer. Maybe we were just unlucky, but I don’t plan to go back any time soon.

The service was fine (minus needing to hunt down silverware), and the atmosphere pleasant as usual. They offer a great list of Milwaukee Brewing beers, and I tried the Lemon Meringue Milkshake IPA. It was underwhelming, definitely more hoppy, but not bad.

We had the cheese curds for an appetizer – easily the best food of the meal, these were delicious. But the mains…what happened to the BBQ Pork Sandwich??? This used to be my FAVORITE pulled pork sandwich I’ve ever tried; I always order this every time we visit the Ale House. The Louie’s Demise BBQ sauce, the SLAW was phenomenal…replaced by some bland and sad jalapeno-zucchini pickles (what?? Like soggy zucchini with a hint of flavor) and now that I’m reading the menu, no pepperjack which should have been on there. So, so disappointing. My significant other had wings which I had a couple of…the best thing about them was the Buffalo Sauce. The wings themselves were dry and mostly flavorless…and small. The fries that came with the BBQ pork sandwich were underwhelming and kind of cold. The cheese curds were really the only good thing.

Our guests seemed to enjoy the atmosphere and dining on the patio but were underwhelmed by the food. The food took so long to come out…and the restaurant wasn’t very busy. The Ale House used to be a go-to for a good dinner in the Third Ward/Riverwalk area, but no more.

Previous Review - 4/26/2018 Excellent beer, food, and riverside dining make the Ale House a reliably great choice. Their menu items are often made with Milwaukee Brewing Company beer. The pulled pork sandwich is my personal favorite; maybe the best pulled pork sandwich I’ve ever had. The service is good, and the space is open and pleasant with a great patio overlooking the river. Trivia on Wednesdays is a fun option. You really can’t go wrong with the Ale House, especially when there are numerous fantastic Milwaukee beers you’ll only find...

We had lunch reservations for four on Sunday, June 13th, at noon for my husband’s birthday. I specifically told the gal that took the reservation that we would be there celebrating a birthday. I was willing to pay for a surprise dessert but nothing was ever mentioned.

The view was beautiful, but the service and food were mediocre at best. Below are my complaints:

Our waiter took forever to take our drink order (one beer, one vodka lemonade, one Sprite and one water). Once the drinks arrived, he left again and we didn’t see him for awhile as he was flirting with the girls at the next table. I have never had such a tasteless vodka lemonade (very, very watered down).

We wanted to order an appetizer and our waiter was very displeased that we weren’t just going to order our food. Good thing we had the pretzel because from there on, the food went downhill.

Both of my daughters ordered mac and cheese (both with chicken and one ordered broccoli too). The chicken arrived rather scorched.

My husband ordered the Patron. The burger was O.K., but the fries were barely warm.

I ordered the chopped salad. And here’s where things got ugly. They brought me a salad the size of a dinner salad. The romaine lettuce almost looked like iceberg lettuce. There was one slice of cucumber cut in half, one grape tomato cut in half, a bit of cheddar cheese, a bit of hard boiled egg, some red onion, a bit of thin deli ham, no bacon and no chicken and barely any dressing. I left hungry.

When a different server brought us our food, he dropped a napkin wrapped utensil pack on the ground, picked it up and tried to hand it to my husband. I think the stunned look on my husband’s face said it all and he went to retrieve another pack. Our server never came back to ask us how our lunch was so I couldn’t even complain about my salad. When he did eventually come back, he never gave us a bill, but just told us what we owed and stood there until we paid like he was waiting to get off shift. I was absolutely shocked when the bill came up...

Ok where do I begin. It took 15 minutes for anybody to take our drink order. Our appetizer order was taken it took another 25 mins to get that and I had to remind our waitress to even take our food order. The chips in the artichoke dip were way too salty. My daughter was told they were out of regular pizza crust and only had gluten free but that it tastes exactly the same. Well let me just tell you it it tasted horrible she literally had a 1/2 of 1 piece amd didn't want anymore. There was was a long blonde hair in my food which could've been mine but idk so I didn't complain. They were also out of 2 out of 3 deserts. The menu online does not match the one in the restaurant, not even close. And the bathroom are like in the weirdest place ever down this hallway just really weird. All in all if I wasn't given the gift card for free I wouldn't have paid for anything besides my kids super small salad and our drinks. The waitress did mention that the cook was out having surgery is having surgery so I can understand them having some difficulties but if they can't find someone to replace that person they should shut their doors until that person comes back it was that bad maybe try them again in a few months but I would not suggest going there...