Milwaukee Waterfront Deli — Restaurant in Milwaukee

This is THE LAST STRAW! I regularly visit the Waterfront Deli during lunch. It's a convenient, quick place to eat while working downtown. Their pasta salad is fine...nothing to write home about. I am a vegetarian. So, in the past, I've gotten their soup. I've asked the people working what the ingredients were, they assured me the soup was vegetarian. I have brought the soup back to work, open it up only to find small pieces of chicken in the soup. Maybe they should try being more informed about the ingredients. So I stopped getting the soup...whatever, not a big deal. It never tasted that great anyways. So instead, I started to order the vegetarian croissant. The ingredients are listed...all veggies. It was delicious the first couple of times. As the name states, it's VEGETARIAN. However, a couple months ago, I was eating my vegetarian croissant and bit down into a piece of chicken stuck to the bottom of the sandwich. Grossed out of course, I spit it out. Didn't make a big fuss about it...mistakes happen. Next time I went in to order the vegetarian croissant, I politely asked them to please wipe off the counter to make sure meat isn't stuck to the bottom again. For the second time, there was meat on it. There was a little bit chicken salad stuck to the bottom in the corner. I cut that part off. Again, didn't make a big deal. TODAY, I go in and order the vegetarian croissant. They looked busy and the work station where they were making sandwiches looked like a complete mess, so I asked to make sure there wasn't meat on it. Get the sandwich back to my office, and there is a chunk of BACON sticking out. This is the final straw. I've asked politely to make sure this doesn't happen. If it happens once, it's a mistake, but this has happened THREE times now. WATERFRONT DELI is NOT VEGETARIAN friendly. I will not be eating there any more unless they redeem themselves somehow. I gave them enough chances. I do not trust them, and they don't care about their food preparation or their customers' requests. They should change the name of the sandwich since half of time, there is meat stuck to it...definitely...

This place was a fun random find! Was in from out of town for a matinee at the Pabst and needed a place to grab lunch with my son between hitting the museums and the show. Had planned on taking him to the Dogg Haus next door for hot dogs but they were closed, so this was the easiest option. They did have a jumbo hot dog option, which kept my son happy, though it was served on some nice crusty Italian bread rather than a usual hot dog bun. (My kiddo liked it and I thought the bread was great, but might be a no-go for a kid who’s a pickier eater!) For myself, I got a lox sandwich, the usual on a bagel with cream cheese, red onion, and capers. It was good but nothing out of the ordinary. The selection and food overall was above average in my opinion, and price was maybe a little high (a bit over $20 for the 2 sandwiches, a bottle of juice, and a bottled beer) but not unreasonable.

The atmosphere, particularly in the main eating area on the upper level, made it a unique experience. My son LOVED the pully/belt system that delivered the meals to the second level. The theater-themed murals on the walls added a nice touch, and the single-user bathrooms were clean, well-maintained, and nicely updated. Overall, a fun and unique place to grab some lunch...

This place has been here for ages and this was the first time I had actually gone in to get lunch. I ordered the entree of the day which was two chicken chimichangas with rice and beans. (Photo shows my meal half eaten, but at least I remembered to get a picture this time.)

The chimichangas were flavorful, I love the added cilantro on the rice and beans. The beans oddly reminded me of chocolate pudding cups but that was probably my taste buds.

I have ordered catering from Milwaukee Waterfront Deli in the past, and should have reviewed them for that, but I didn't. So here I will say the Continental Breakfast spread they put together for me a year ago was well received by my work group. Delivery and set up was included which made my morning event go even smoother.

All in all a great local establishment that is well loved and admired by so many. Next time I will need to eat in, instead of rushing...