Tess — Restaurant in Milwaukee

We had an enjoyable evening on our first visit to Tess. The space is welcoming and pleasant, with a cozy and adorable patio that feels like it might be a friend’s backyard. The service was great, and the food was good. As craft beer lovers, we were impressed with the selection available – anything from the more accessible New Glarus Moon Man to a handful of delicious and harder to find barrel aged options.

For an appetizer, we chose the Steamed Mussels. The coconut milk and chipotle broth was fantastic; this was probably our favorite of the evening. The hint of spice was perfect, and the freshly baked bread was just the thing to soak up the extra broth.

As our entrees, I had the Crispy Frenched Chicken Breast while my significant other tried the San Francisco Cioppino. The chicken breast was good, although I was expecting more of a cheddar taste from the sharp cheddar spaetzle, and felt like it was almost a little mustard-y. He enjoyed the spaetzle sauce slightly more than I did. The vegetables that accompanied were done perfectly. The Cioppino was also tasty, and had a really nice serving of the seafood included. The scallops, salmon, and mussels were all cooked well, although we both agreed the shrimp was overdone and a little chewy; probably because it was sitting in the hot marinara sauce. It was a good dish, although the marinara almost took away from the seafood as it was a little overpowering.

The portion sizes for everything were solid, especially the steamed mussels starter. We used a Groupon for our visit, so that helped, however I would say this would be a good treat yourself/date night restaurant as it was somewhat pricey. I think when we return it will probably be for the patio, appetizers, and the excellent beer list, not a full dinner. It was an enjoyable experience and I would recommend checking Tess out, but be prepared to spend $100 for dinner and a couple of...

Wow, what a great experience! They have a very comfortable indoor seating area as well as outdoor seating in their patio area. The staff is incredibly friendly and efficient. Definitely a nice, hand picked team ... you can tell they have standards when hiring. Tess also has a large variety of whiskeys and bourbons to compliment their impressive drink menu. We even saw and tried an excellent organic white wine. We started our meals off with their Corned Beef Croquettes. I have to say that this is an excellent combination of the classic croquette and delicious corned beef. I think the sauces that come with the croquettes could use a little work, but the appetizer in its whole is just a great way to start an initial experience there. As for entrees, we ordered the San Francisco Cioppino along with the Puffed Rice Bowl - Chicken. Well, both entrees we're finished completely as they were so go. You can tell that a lot of care was put into everything including where they order their ingredients, how they designed each entree and how much care was placed into the cooking of each item. The seafood and tomato components of the Cioppino were all spot on. Generous portions of mussels, shrimp, scallops and a large piece of salmon are perfectly cooked and added to a light tomato based sauce. So perfectly good. The Puffed Rice Bowl was clever and delicious. The poblano pepper adds a nice, light spicy tone to the tomatillo flavors in the pesto. All together, the dish is just all around perfect. We have our favorite spots in Milwaukee and Tess will now be on that...

Tess, located in the Riverwest area of Milwaukee, boasts a seasonal menu and a fish fry that will definitely satisfy the Friday crowd.

Food: My wife started out with the steamed mussels, and I chose the Bison Tostada. Both were very flavorful, especially the bison tostada. Also, portion sizes were quite big for the cost. We both chose the Panko Breaded Lake Perch for our meals. Admittedly, I am no connoisseur of fish fries as I usually shy away from seafood from restaurants that don’t specialize in seafood. That said, we both really enjoyed it. The Asian slaw was a great contrast to the fish, and the homemade tartar sauce was really good. Overall, very pleased Atmosphere: Your account may vary, but we sat out on their back patio, on a nice day, so that was hard to beat. The actual restaurant is very cozy and quite. I’d liken it to Pasta Tree, or many other small local restaurants.

Service: Staff was great! Our bartender was very nice, and the hostess was able to sit us early which was very kind.

My score: 8/10. Would definitely recommend for a small party of people. Location and parking can be a bit of an issue, but overall a cute place...