The Social American Tavern — Restaurant in Milwaukee

We bought the dinner and Deceptions show together but I am only reviewing the dinner here. We paid $25 for each of our pre-fixe meals on top of the show ticket cost. (See my Deceptions show review separately.) The atmosphere is really comfortable here but the banquette seating is so deep for the table height. A chair worked fine for me. The noise level is low enough for good conversation. When I ordered a moscato (mind you there is a bar here, and the cost is not part of the meal price) I was told they didn't carry it. OK, how about a sweet riesling? Only one glass which my sister ordered and got but that was all they had of that. When I asked for anything sweet they offered a dry red. The server offered a taste of another wine but after about 7-8 minutes of waiting he never came back with it so I approached the host and asked for help. He escorted me back to my table and I finally found something to drink; a Baileys. This came and I appreciated that they finally had something I liked. The pre fixe menu did have a few options and the squash soup was tasty. Two of us ordered the shaved steak sandwich which came with chips and what appeared to be processed meat and lots of gristle. The meat was only slightly warm and the cheese not quite melted. We both left most of the food on the plate as unappetizing. The salmon dish was good though. Cheesecake dessert was wonderful. When our dishes were being cleared we were asked how the meal was and we said it was not satisfying. I assured the waiter it was not his fault and we were not angry with him. The host approached and asked if I was mad at him. I said no, I was disappointed in the food and lack of bar options. He told me everyone else was happy with their food, which was a poor comment and not true as the table next to us was also unsatisfied, although never asked. He also said they had a wedding the night before which wiped them out. Again, that is a problem if you offer a bar and they should know they have a show audience to support. Someone did not plan well. When he asked what would make the meal better for me I asked him to just pay for our drinks (one glass each) which he agreed to. We learned we could take drinks to the magic show but we realized the same bar selection was our option and the attitude of the host was disturbing so we just left the table and went downstairs. They lost a lot of revenue tonight. We love to go to shows and dinner events but this one really missed the mark. The show was great but the meal will not be repeated. We will go elsewhere. The Deceptions Magic Show was great so the evening was not a total loss. I reviewed...

I seriously regret taking my family here for Mother's Day brunch. This was absolutely the worst brunch buffet that I have ever experienced, but was unfortunately also the most expensive. The only acceptable elements of the experience were the omelet station, which was average, but was at least fresh and made to order, and the desserts which were pretty good (when they were available). Service throughout the entire experience was virtually non-existent due to a lack of wait staff; and every table around us was experiencing the same thing. My wife eventually got up and went to the bar to get silverware, since none was brought to us, and it took the waitress more than 10 minutes to bring water and non-alcoholic drinks. Saying the buffet was disappointing would generous. The only meat on the carving station was ham, and appeared to be a shaped ham rather than a natural one. Additionally, NO other breakfast meats (e.g. bacon or sausage) were offered on the buffet. There were no pancakes or french toast available, only soggy waffles (appeared to be pre-made Eggo type waffles) presented with fried chicken tenders (that I'm told were also not good); there was also no syrup on the buffet for the "chicken and waffles." The biscuits were on the buffet with a watery looking gravy poured over them, rather than being placed on the buffet separately, so the biscuits were soggy. There was also no ability to order any fried eggs, even at the omelet station, and there was also no way to order any sort of toast. Despite the very limited offerings, the staff was completely incapable of keeping the buffet filled, so many items were out for long periods of time. Additionally, many of the cold items were placed out on platters with no serving utensils, so guests were using their hands or utensils from other trays to serve multiple things (e.g. using tongs from cheesecake to serve fruit; can you say cross contamination of allergens - dairy, gluten, etc). While I'm usually tolerant of short staffed restaurants these days, creating this poor an experience on a holiday like Mother's Day, is completly unacceptable. If you are that short staffed, then reduce your bookings or just don't open. Charge $40 a person for this attrocity was criminal. If I could rate this experience 0...

Rated 2 stars due to the manager being understanding and apologetic. The appetizer took over 50 minutes to arrive, while the main course was about 20 minutes after. The local drafts were warm, clearly not refrigerated whatsoever. The chips for the nachos were horribly stale which was not edible at all. The appetizer was fried for much longer than it should have been and defenitely not worth the money. The Mac and cheese was sub par at the best and had old dry ground beef instead of sausage. The chef came out and recognized that the meat on the Mac and cheese was ground beef and not sausage as it should haven been. Their phone number goes straight to the Hilton's front desk as well. It is absolutely worth the wait elsewhere and the staff should receive additional training. I understand the lack of staff these days, but better communication is necessary. I believe Hilton should reconsider their choices of room service and should look elsewhere until these issues are resolved. FYI, the tables weren't wiped down with a sanitizer, I watched other guests be seated and they hardly wiped the table down while they were...