Redbar

To preface: I really, really like Redbar. Literally one block south of the Bayview line and a careful sprinkling of authentic dive-​décor makes Redbar seemingly invisible to much of the Bayview hipster/​hype. But while Bayview residents continue crowding into certain dive-​chic establishments to hand over money for overpriced Sysco-​distro grub, they’re really missing out. Redbar is a clean, comfortable bar offering some quality, affordable, well-​thought bar food. I’ll continue going back and I’ll always recommend Redbar to anyone looking for a new spot.
I’ve been to Redbar three times. The most recent time I went in, my date and I sat at the bar, ordered just drinks and appetizers, and the food and service was impeccable. It was like the payoff for having patience in the establishment.
But now for the mixed bag: The first two times I went to Redbar, I came in on weekends with small groups of (4 – 5) people and we sat in the game room. The place wasn’t busy, the service and pacing was far from the best, but the food was still good enough to give it another shot.
With all this said, I just read how Redbar is changing chefs.. . Sounds like lots of changes. Looking forward to my next visit.

Stopped in after work for the fish fry. I thought my server was a customer at first, because he was sitting at a table looking at his phone. He finally came over and very hurriedly took my order, then sat back down at a table. Completely unprofessional. If you’re a server, you don’t have a seat in the dining area in between tasks.
The fish was soggy and nasty, and the potato pancakes were the worst I’ve ever had. They were as hard as a rock. Not exaggerating, I couldn’t even get my fork through them.
Instead of coming back to the table to check on me, the server sat back down at a table and went back to playing with his phone.
To top it all off, I waited a good 20 minutes to get my bill so I could pay and leave. I had tickets to a 7:00 show. At 6:55 I finally put my coat on and pushed my plate of uneaten food to the edge of the table (hint hint, I’d like my check) and Skippy finally put his phone down and brought a touch screen to the table.
Awful food and absolutely horrendous service. If I could give zero stars, I would. Definitely won’t be back.

Liked the wings. And tators were pretty good too. Cool decorations of sports figurines and other stuff.

Redbar is off the beaten path (for me, anyways) but worth the trek to St. Francis. Good drinks and specials, great food and a friendly casual atmosphere. They also have an upstairs party room I hadn’t seen until recently. Redbar is a great spot to watch a Packers game (even though I loathe the Packers, but I’ll pretend to be neutral in the name of a free touchdown shot). Redbar has become a go-​to for me recently, and in the summer, it’s not thaaaaattttt far of a walk from Bay View. Just call it your workout for the day.

I will say this it probably a solid 3.5 but I rounded up. I love the building. It’s a fun place to see a band. Hello Whiskey Belles! They have a great variety of beers. I love places that have more than Miller and Bud products. Keep in mind that you have to go up to the bar to order food. That fact is noted on the menus that you have to go to the bar to read. You’re welcome for the tip people! Now you won’t look stupid like I did. Employees were too busy socializing with regulars to let us know that we had to order from the bar. I wasn’t happy but let that pass. I ordered a sriracha honey chicken sandwich. It was fantastic. I can’t wait to order that again. I will chalk up the less than stellar service and definitely go again.

Just an average bar with average food and a simple look. The place was crowded though compared to the others and they have some good drink specials. They must be doing something right, however I was not impressed with the place nor the slow steady stream of workers that were socializing more than serving.

Been here a few times & found the menu to be enticing. First stop was just drinks with friends. Great bartenders. Second time saw their menu & thought it had a lot of good options, tried the crab cakes & they were delicious. Third time decided to go there for the Friday fishfry. Complete disappointment. I ordered the beer battered cod w/​fries. My wife ordered the Door County Bluegill with fries. Both orders took a while but we excused that due to it being a busy. Orders finally came & had what looked like burnt hockey pucks which we found out were potato pancakes instead of the fries we ordered. Waitress apologized & put in our order of fries. The fries came out quickly but probably too quickly, they were very white & weren’t cooked long enough disappointing. My beer battered cod had great flavor on the batter but the fish wasn’t flaky it was actually rubbery. My wife’s Door County Bluegill looked like they came from a frozen box & were very fishy tasting. We most likely will go back because we like the bar but probably for cocktails only. Sorry the food was a flop it sure sounded good on the menu. Oh yeah, my wife tried the potato pancakes & spit it back into a napkin, she said they were pretty nasty.

Even better than the last time I was here.
The kitchen has since opened and although we didn’t eat here this time, we’ll definitely give the food a shot next time as it looked so yummy. One third of the menu is dedicated to tater tots! You had me at tot!!!
Lots of room in the place and very nicely decorated. A little stage for live music in the front. In the back room there are dart boards, pool tables, and even board games.
The men grumbled a little about the men’s bathroom. They say there are only 2 urinals in it and if you need a stall, there’s a unisex bathroom in the back past the pool tables. Wasn’t that crowded when we were there so the one woman’s toilet wasn’t an issue.
Great prices! Specials every night of the week. Who else has a tall call/​Bacardi drink on a Saturday night for $ 5???
Don’t forget to «check in» here. Free apple pie shot :)
Love this place!

Fantastic, friendly place. Food on Saturday is out of this world, better BBQ than The Smoke Shack!

I came here for a baby shower on Saturday. I was a little surprised that the location really was a bar, but it worked really well.
There is a party room upstairs. It wasn’t very large, but it was nice to have a space all to ourselves. They allowed the party to bring in food and decorations, and people bought drinks at the bar.
The staff is super nice here! Drinks are not too expensive, the whole place is clean and comfortable.
This was a really great place to attend a party!

For a corner/​dive bar this place is really nice. The interior is done nicely & there is plenty of space to move around. In back there are pool tables & dart boards.
Prices are excellent! Seems like there are daily specials & decent variety of beers.

By far my favorite neighborhood bar. The bartenders are awesome some of the best I’ve encountered. Great atmosphere, good specials, just a really enjoyable bar all around. redbar has yet to disappoint.

I can’t believe it took us so long to get to this stinkin’ place! We’d been mourning the death of the former inhabitant — Cool Water? — because just as we discovered the place, it shut down without warning and remained full of chairs and such for the longest time. Every time we drove past I said a silent prayer for the little bar that couldn’t. And finally, they started painting it red and getting ready to reopen… and suddenly we didn’t want to go there anymore???
Anyway, we finally took the plunge last weekend, when we were in need of a beer before bedtime (duh, Wisconsin), cursing the silly Tavern League legislation. We happened to wander in during their reverse happy hour, 9 – 12 on Sunday night (2-​for-​1 tap beers and $ 2 rail mixers, yowza!) so I enjoyed not one but TWO Serendipity’s on the cheaps. They were also playing the Oscars on silent, which turned out to be a better way to watch them than the alternative [side note: Seth McFarlane is getting away with a little too much by using Peter Griffin’s voice on a teddy bear and calling that a new movie, but I digress].
Our bartender seemed not to be the usual guy, but he was indeed working the next day when we returned, this time with my parents, who’d made a surprise visit to MKE just for me! We took them there because redbar is the first bar in the area that I’ve seen with Palm Amber by the bottle — they are ardent fans of the stuff since they visited Belgium, and although the brand is nearly equivalent to Heineken in Belgium, the distribution rights were only just released this year in Wisco.
Our bartender remembered us from the night before — always a nice touch — and managed to put up with my dad’s belligerent jokes, which is more than I can say for most of the hipster bartenders we’ve encountered north of St. Francis. This is definitely the type of bar that my parents will enjoy returning to (read: $ 4 bottles of import beer, versus $ 6 taps of the same elsewhere…), and it’s a low-​maintenance, surprisingly diversely stocked bar that’s literally minutes from our apartment. The people are nice too, and they have a TV! Win-​win-​win-​win-​win! Ergo, five stars.

Good solid selection of ales. Nice people behind the bar and quick friendly service. Looks to get a bit lary on weekends and during American football games, but the upstairs provides a nice getaway.
Enjoy the live acoustic music.

This is a new bar in Milwaukee! We drove up for the soft opening of this spot — and I’ll qualify this by noting that the owner is a friend of my friend — hence the drive from Chicago to check this place out.
We had a lot of fun! I was psyched to see the selection of New Glarus beer varieties, which are unavailable in Illinois — particularly their version of a cherry lambic for sipping.
There are two levels — both with large screens for games. And there is a shuffleboard table which I love! The crowd was fun and drinking in Milwaukee was amazingly lower than drinking in Chicago — which is always cool. Stop by the Red Bar!