Kegel's Inn — Restaurant in West Allis

This has been our favorite restaurant for decades. We got engaged at the table by the stained glass window. Alas, has been is the important phrase. We ordered out usual meals, schnitzel (plain for me, a la Holstein for my husband). We were okay with being told that there would be a charge for a side unless we wanted broccoli [seriously? more people dislike broccoli than any other vegetable.] Anyway, while the restaurant was busy, it was no more crowded than it had been on many nights prior to the pandemic. It still took over an hour for our food - which was acceptable, as it was plain that they were busy. But our usual wait was 30 to 35 minutes. We were very disappointed with the schnitzels. First, my husband was not expecting anchovies along with his veal (yes, it did say anchovies - we checked the menu online when we came home, but he didn't see it at the time he ordered. ) He does not care for fish, so that was an unpleasant surprise. His poached egg was very over cooked, with a hard yolk; the idea of a Holstein schnitzel was that the yolk was left runny and could be broken to run over the meal. Then, there was the issue of the schnitzels themselves. Veal is very lean, and requires either a marinade or pre-seasoning with salt and pepper. This had neither, and was breaded with unseasoned Panko rather than a seasoned breadcrumb. The result was crisp, very dry, and tasteless. I grew up in Germany, and consider my self to be somewhat of a connoisseur of German cooking. We congratulate Julian and Stephanie in wanting to continue the family tradition, and in offering updated items like vegan options, appetizers, a beer garden and take out and delivery. However, one generally should not fix what isn't broken. The German specialties like schnitzel were the crowning glory - about half the diners tonight seemed to have ordered some version. And it was pretty awful. After many years of having enjoyed dining at Kegel's, we are sai to say we won't...

We are always excited to support local businesses and we’re so excited for the history of kegals inn German beer hall type place. We were researching for a good fish fry spot around the area, and saw rave reviews, and decided to make a reservation. As a historic establishment, the atmosphere visually was pretty great, but with it being such an old building it was quite cramped. We made a reservation online for 7:30, showed up on the dot and had to wait waffling around the front always feeling we were in someone’s way for 15 minutes. All of the staff was lovely and friendly, but when it came to the food we were pretty sad to end up quite disappointed.It was so unfortunate. We got the fried walleye, a pretzel and the potato pancake-wrapped sausage balls. To start- The pretzel was delicious! The potato pancake sausage balls sounded good, and were made well, but they weren’t either of our favorites and the mustard (we think it was mustard) was way too thin and flavorless with it. We ended up leaving 2.5 of them on the plates as they were not our favorites. It was at this point we both tried the fish that we were sharing. I want to be upfront, I truly feel awful sharing negative things, especially about local spots since they are so important, but I also feel it is equally important to be honest. Maybe we just got two of the worst cuts of fish, but they were skinny with no flavor and frankly it was lukewarm by the time it hit the table. We didn’t clear our plates with that either. Neither of us wanted more than 2 bites. And it came with fries, which I ate to fill myself up since most everything else disappointing. The fries weren’t great either-very little flavor lacking salt.

That being said, as mentioned it was very busy as to be expected on a Friday at a place that people rave about the fish fry.

We are going to come back one more time for the sausage platter, and hopefully our experience is better...

We stayed at the Inn. It was great. Old like the entire Inn and restaurant and charming.

We went to Milwaukee on a brief first time visit to see the city and attend a game at their great ballpark. Kegel’s is perfectly located for everything we wanted to do. Milwaukee is a great city! We will be back.

The restaurant was astounding. Sophia was our waitress and she was great, funny and very attentive. The hostess who greeted us acted like we were old friends.

My favorite dish out is roast duck and it’s Kegel’s highlight. Best roast duck I’ve ever had, large, perfectly done on a bed of homemade stuffing. Sides of liver dumpling soup, red cabbage, garlic mashed potatoes and a cheese curd and white sausage poutine for a starter. Fantastic. Both our meals were great. Large draft beers and a Ginger mule were (again !) great. We got two large soft pretzels for when we traveled home. Then, full and happy-we went to the ballgame where our Phillies won.

A perfect evening and end to three great days. Milwaukee is very welcoming and the people were great. The public market. The lakeshore (Kegel’s has a beer garden there! Thanks, Mike and Trevor!)

Cannot recommend highly enough. It’s not a state of the art place. It is a great, warm, welcoming, safe and perfectly located place to stay - and other than Sunday and Monday when it’s closed, a great dinner. We’d have eaten there every night but we arrived Sunday and left Wednesday. The menu...