Jack Pandl’s Whitefish Bay

Had a great lunch here. Really impressive variety for lunch at very reasonable prices. Lunch comes with a soup or salad starter and has a starch or veggie side. (I had the chicken liver, which was very tasty.) Service was outstanding. Nice outdoor seating area. Tap list could be a little more extensive /​adventurous, but that is a minor point. Would definitely check this place out if in the area.

I have been to Pandl’s a few times in the past, and had great service, and good food (the duck, the German Pancakes…) .The décor is dated and weathered, but, that is part of the charm. It best to sit in the Schwatzwald looking bar area for atmosphere. It is NOT trendy, not «gourmet», it is very old school, with «hearty servings» that your parents and/​or grandparents would have expected. Unfortunately, we went for a lunch, and were very disappointed this time. Service was friendly, but very slow… But, I expect that in a place like this… you order a glass of wine, and they treat it like your ‘cocktail”, let you drink it and THEN take your food order, very 1950’s! We ordered the chicken livers, which are listed on the menu as being cooked «medium»…well they were well past overcooked and tough as shoe leather, and the «rueben melt» didn’t seem to contain any cheese, and the meat was little cut up cubes! Ugh! So, I can see why there are some bad reviews, it seems they may have off days… BUT when they have their good days, it is fun and old fashioned! With old fashioned food (again the duck and the German pancakes are both good bets!) .Go to McDonald’s if you are in a hurry — yes it is a little slow, but that harkens back to another time, and is part of their 100 year old charm. Plus all of the staff is friendly. We will be back, probably for dinner.

The fish fry was good, I suggest the cod. Service is very good. The food is a bit over priced, but the kids menu is very affordable.

I have had brunch and fish fry at Pandl’s and both have been good. The batter on the fried cod is light and crispy and the potato pancakes are delicious. Make sure during Lent to make reservations if going on a Friday night, because they get busy pretty early.
Service has been attentive and friendly the couple of times I have been here. I am not sure why this place has gotten some lower reviews recently. Yes, the crowd is a bit older and maybe the food is not the most gourmet, but everything has been solid when I’ve visited.

If you’ve never been here before, don’t bother. It appears only the regulars get acceptable service. The server was so slow and inattentive to us, but fawned over tables with people she knew. She actually walked away after taking my order but before she took my husband’s — and didn’t return for 15min. When she came back to us, she displayed the personality of a female Lurch from The Adam’s Family. Interior is beautiful. The three onion soup was excellent. My perch was all breading and the potato pancake was mealy. This place has redeemable qualities — but I doubt I’ll be back.

The wiener schnitzel was quite good, and the service was definitely nice. Our waitress, Carmen, took away my plate with my fork still on it, and returned with a clean fork within moments. The wine we had was a bit pedestrian, as was the crab cake appetizer. Not bad per se, but not something I’d bother ordering again.
Now to the less satisfying elements. As mentioned in other reviews, my husband and I were easily the youngest guests by decades. The décor is quite dated, which probably made all the old folks feel right at home.
The host was honestly kinda weird. We walked into the restaurant from the parking lot entrance, and he was just loitering near the door to the dining room. Since he neglected to greet us at all, I thought perhaps he was another customer waiting to meet someone. It wasn’t until we were done hanging up our coats that he said hello and directed us to a table. Later, in the middle of our meal, he silently wandered over to our table and cleared some plates, saying nothing. It was sorta creepy. His body language whenever I saw him really seemed more like he was hanging out, bored, rather than doing a job.
Given the food (very good, but not amazing), atmosphere (dated as hell), and mixed service experience, I feel that this restaurant is a bit overpriced.

What a great charming place to eat. Hubby and I were headed up to hike at the Schlitz audubon nature center and stopped to get a bite to eat. The whitefish and walleye were awesome. For drinks we had the pandl brau. Yum. Finished up with the chocolate moose pie. Wonderful cute family owned business with great service. We will be back.

This place is really cute and once I heard they offer German dishes, I wanted to give it a try.
I ordered the sausage platter with a Pandl Brau and both were very good. Fiancé preferred the stuffed chicken, which he also enjoyed. Our waitress was very nice and attentive. As some other reviewers mentioned, the inside is a bit outdated, but I find that quaint and charming.
Reason I’m giving it 3 stars: prices and age of other patrons. Nothing against the elderly, but we were probably the only 2 people under 50, so we felt out of place. That being said, I would like to go back to try the German pancake.
Overall: If you like German food and don’t mind paying a little extra, I’d recommend it.

My wife and I returned to Jacks last night for diner while vacationing with our granddaughters. Once again they did not disappoint us and exceeded our culinary expectations. We had Duck and Lamb Shanks. Both were excellent and done to perfection. The kids menu is very good. Strawberry Schaum torte is excellent. We look forward to returning again.
The service was excellent as well. I would suggest salad dressing served on the side for those that don’t like too much dressing.

Last Friday, I went as a guest of locals because I mentioned that I was looking for a Fish Fry. I really don’t want to bad mouth the hospitality of my hosts, but this place is living off the memories of another time which are depicted in the pictures on the wall & interior table decorations.
Maybe it’s the age of the clientele that allows it to survive on the memories of past meals, but that does not bode well for the future. I chose the lake perch ($ 15.95) for my fish selection along with a baked potato & cole slaw and whiskey sour for my pre-​meal cocktail.
My critique … the garlic toast chips in the bread basket was the best part of the meal although the cole slaw was a close second. The fish & potato; not so much. Fish was dry & not that flavorful with micro-​sized serving of tarter sauce quickly exhausted on the first piece of fish.
I enjoyed the company of my friend, but otherwise the experience was forgettable … I hope. :(

My wife and I were visiting from California for a week. On our 1^st day we happened upon Pandl’s and stopped for lunch. Service excellent, food delicious. We enjoyed so much that we came back the next evening for dinner. Had the chef’s duck soup (just so darn good) and ordered the duck dinner (read on). Continued on our trip through the Dells and into northern Wisconsin eating and enjoying so many places along the way. Returned for a last night in Milwaukee and without hesitation we headed to Jack’s for the duck, the warm and friendly service and wonderful memories. Thank you to all the staff for making us so welcome and comfortable. Please stay as you are — we are planning another trip back and look forward to dining at Pandl’s.

The chef must really know what he is doing! Scallops and scampi were cooked to perfection.

Pros: The chef happily made me a vegetarian plate since there aren’t any vegetarian entrées on the dinner menu. The service was friendly and helpful, and the restaurant had some charm to it.
Cons: The food was not great. The caramel sauce atop the roasted acorn squash had not actually been caramelized yet, so it was just sweet goop (not good). I also had a mix of roasted peppers on my plate, but they were all completely burnt. The garlic potatoes were lacking garlic, and seemed just to have been boiled. As a person who loves to cook (and does it arguably well), I hate going to a place whose cooking is worse than my own at home — especially when the prices are as high as they are here.

Weinerschnitzel is amazing. Fresh meat, breaded perfectly. The gravy was delicious. I will comeback. I don’t understand why the negative reviews.

It took almost a year but the truth finally has surfaced. The waiter who won my award for «Worst server we’ve ever had in America,» turns out to be the Pandl’s oldest son Ryan. Please read my original review, too bad I can’t give zero stars!
No wonder when I complained about our disastrous dining experience to the female manager on duty, she didn’t want to hear anything about HER son’s latest
folly. We’ve told dozens of people about that night, after all we had been coming to Pandl’s more than 60 times over the years…$ 50, $ 50, $ 50, $ 50, BUT NO MORE!
I work too hard for my money to patronize businesses that don’t give a dam. Think of the thousands of potential dollars they have probably lost. «I’m sorry to hear that,» she told me when I said I would never comeback and would tell others about the experience. I DID!
Thank you «Bay Leaves,» for your Pandl’s article. Now I know what reading
Pravda was like!

I am from out of state, but have driven by here a few times while traveling on business over the past couple years. Always wanted to try it so I went here for lunch on Sunday with a few friends while staying the weekend. Turns out Sunday is brunch so the menu may be a bit different — there were breakfast choices (i.e. omelettes, eggs benedict, champagne) as well as lunch (lamb, liver, shnitzel, etc.).
We opted to sit outside as it was about 70 degrees and perfect. The server was quick and friendly and kept us at a good pace for our meal. I had the chicken livers, friends had the beef tips and shnitzel so I got to try a mix. All the food was ok — nothing fantastic. My guess is that the menu/​food probably hasn’t changed in 30 years. Nothing wrong with that — in fact, it was the perfect meal for a warm fall afternoon. This probably explains why the crowd is a bit on the older side — like Bingo older side.

Quite possibly one of the worst Cesar salads I’ve ever had… and at almost $ 15 a total rip. Wet soggy lettuce in huge chunks, not cut up at all with a small piece of salmon. I asked for a roll with butter, which it cleared stated on the menu that salads come with and the waitress came me total attitude saying she «Couldn’t do that». Not cool, Pandl’s…not cool. When I pointed out that it clearly says on the menu it comes with a roll, she stormed off and brought me a roll.
I was quite PO’d when leaving this place actually. Feeling as if someone had just stole all the money from my wallet. I just don’t get it, what is the big deal with the place? I’ll give them that they have a great patio but that is about it. The food is very overpriced and the service quite snooty. It’s really a shame actually because the North Shore really doesn’t have much by way of great restaurants and I wanted to love this place but we will never return.
We sat outside but the inside was dark and dingy, not very inviting if you ask me. The outside looks as if it’s falling apart and needs a face lift. There are plenty of place within a 5 minute drive that I would much rather spend my money and get decent food and service.

We are new to Whitefish Bay and had to try Jack Pandl’s. What a treat. The atmosphere is old time supper club. The food was good and our waitress was very friendly. An elderly gentleman sat in a corner of the bar entertaining everyone with stories of yesteryear. He was a hoot and we enjoyed listening to him. What a great old establishment in Whitefish Bay!

We LOVE Wisconsin supper clubs, and we LOVE German restaurants– that being said, we really, REALLY, wanted to enjoy this place. We pass it when we travel on 32 North, and have always said «We should try this!» We’ve heard the history, and when we got an online deal, we jumped at the chance to have an early Sunday supper on our next trip to Milwaukee.
We pulled in an empty (a sign?) parking lot this last Sunday, around 3:30– until we saw the neon «open» sign, I was sure that it wasn’t open. As we entered the building, the hostess was seated at a table reading a book. She looked up and was almost shocked at the presence of customers. We were seated at a clean table, and it was painfully obvious we were the ONLY customers, in a 100 year old German restaurant, just a short drive north of a city of 1 million people. (another sign?)
I ordered the Hickory Smoked BBQ ribs, my wife ordered the celebrated «German Pancake» adding «Smoky bacon» for a mere 2.00 more! Being a BBQ nut, it was quite obvious that the only hickory these pork ribs have ever seen was on the floor of the semi trailer that hauled them to slaughter. My wife’s «Smoky Bacon» was obviously dried up leftovers from the Sunday brunch that ended 1 ½ hours earlier. Dried up slices, of greasy bacon, with no smoke whatsoever. So sad considering the offerings by local Usinger and Nueskes.
Not being a total ass, I’ll give the kudos on the Pandl Brau– good beer, served in a decent .5l mug.
Here’s the deal, surely this 100 year old place is on the way out, and this just breaks my heart. Every time we lose another old German restaurant, we lose part of our German past– but cutting corners in the restaurant business only cuts your throat.
Owners at Jack Pandl– PLEASE pride yourself in the quality that you have been known for, or just close, and be a memory like Bavarian Wursthaus, or Bavarian Inn.

My fiancé and I went to Pandl’s on a Friday evening. We are in our 20’s and were some of the youngest there by about 3 decades. There was no host and we had to wander around to find someone to seat us. Our waitress was not very attentive, especially considering the prices and atmosphere of the restaurant.
They brought out some yummy toasted garlic chips and also bread and crackers. My fiancé ordered a steak which he said was «not the best or the worst he’s ever had.» I had something out of the ordinary for me, lamb shanks, and thought they were cooked well and tasted good. My fiancé enjoyed their signature beer. I’d say the garlic chips and beer were the best part of the meal.
We had a window seat but didn’t have much of a view since it was dark and rainy. The décor was definitely old school but reminded me of a Door County-​like inn or restaurant. All in all the food and atmosphere was not worth the bill ($ 80 with tip for 2 dinners and 2 drinks). Maybe I’ll come back when I’m in my 60’s…