School Yard Bar & Grill

Went with s group of 5 other friends for s quick bite to eat and some drinks on a Wednesday night. The bartender/​server was new and by himself with 3 tables of customers. He had to call in for other employees to back him up. 2.5 hours later we got cold nachos, two orders of appetizer chicken strips, and a wrap incorrectly made with chicken (the person who ordered was vegan). In the middle of the very long night, the new bar tenders showed up and our server left without saying anything. The new one has been there for an hour and apologized for the delay in our food. She explained the cook burnt his hand and was trying to recover. Suddenly the other bar tender became our server and told us an hour after he got there he’d only been at the establishment for ten minutes. He also told us the cook cut his finger off or something of the like. The second server comped the wrap and cold/​disturbing looking nachos. Long night, weird service, and we were all convinced either the cook was high or the bar tenders were because every time one of them walked by with food we all got a solid whiff of pot. Not going back.

This is a decent place to watch a UFC fight since Milwaukee has very limited options for that. They didn’t charge a cover and we were able to reserve a table with no minimum charge. Lots of TVs so you can see from wherever you’re seated. Beyond that there aren’t many positives to this place. The crowd is young rowdy college aged folks, so if you’re over 30 you will feel out of place. Most of the drink specials feature fireball or bad beer. I wouldn’t suggest ordering a cocktail here. We ordered chicken wings which were SO DRY they were pretty much inedible. They were flavorless and had texture like they were left in an open plastic bag in the freezer for a few weeks. Absolutely horrible. We had some other appetizers that were average bar food quality.

The music was weak and so were the drinks! The kitchen is right next to the bathroom and while sippin’ on my juice I could see a man peeing… That place was empty on Friday at 11pm so I’d say don’t waste your time.

Started out Saturday night with my friend here around 10:45pm. There wasn’t many people at the bar at all. We were surprised. They had a DJ playing music, a little bit outdated stuff. We ordered a fishbowl John Daly. It was pretty good and HUGE, but not really strong at all! This is a good place to start out the night for a few minutes but I wouldn’t stay very long. The crowd also seemed a little bit older.

I’m getting too old to hit up the East Side bars on a Saturday night, so I have only been here in the afternoons. The burgers are really good and I’ve never had a poor experience with the food or service. There are lots of TVs and its a great place to go during Packers games if you want to be around others watching the game, but also not in a totally crowded clog of people. Once they double-​charged me on my credit card and it was a bit of a fiasco trying to get my money back. Other than that, I’ve had very positive experiences here at old-​people-​time-​of-​days.

Came in with some friends Wednesday, ignored by the bartender who obviously felt their phone was more important. We tried to make the most of it and order food. The product was underwhelming at best. Doubt I’ll ever be back again and I know I won’t recommend this place to friends in the future. It has NOT changed from cans at all.

First time in here since it was Cans. Nice décor. Nacho plate with chicken was pretty tasty and quite a bit of it for the price ($ 5 add $ 2 for the chicken). Also got to watch the UFC PPV fight for free so that made it worthwhile. I’d go back.

This is a fantastic spot on Saturday night especially when the badgers are playing. If you want a bar that’s filled almost to capacity with a great deal on a burger and beer for $ 8 on a Saturday night. This is for you. Don’t expect superb service especially with the number of people you’ll encounter.
For all you wallflowers, there’s a pool table and air hockey table to keep your attention.
Cheers

If only 0 stars could be given. I would not give my dog this carp. Slop, grease, way over priced. I had the nachos, the chips where soggy, no meat on them (I ordered chicken.) They were piled up WAYYY to high. The sauce tasted burnt and sour. Took over 45 min to get our food. And the place was empty. My wife ordered a burger. Well done, it came out still bloody. It didn’t have cheese on it. And she ordered cheddar. Man this place needs to get their act together. As I said in the beginning, I wouldn’t give this food to my dog. He eats everything. Even remotes.

This place has great food and really nice staff, but has a lot they need to work on. First of all, each time I’ve gone in there there is no hostess or waitress. Each time I’ve had to walk up to the bar and get the bartender to seat me. I understand this is because it’s a bar but it makes for a very awkward start. The most recent time I was there, my friends and I had three different servers take our order. A waitress, a chef, and a bartender. The waitress told us the drink specials for that night and when we asked what one consisted of, she literally said «a bucket of a bunch of vodka stuff» which actually ended up having very little Vodka in it. After we had to repeat our orders over and over again so they could actually get them right, we received our food which is always delicious and worth every cent. One of my friends’ order was wrong but he didn’t bother to correct the chef. Towards the end of the night the bartender was ending his shift so he rushed us to finish our food and took two of our plates away without asking if we were finished (we weren’t).
This place is pretty unprofessional but has everything for a good foundation for a bar and restaurant. Nice interior, great food, good drinks, nice staff, good music, very reasonable prices. Just needs to get their act together In order to keep me as a customers.

Ever miss Cans off North? If so, The Schoolyard Bar & Grill is located conveniently in the exact same spot, and is pretty much exactly the same inside as Cans was.
Pretty much the only thing different is a fresh coat of paint and a new sign. Which isn’t a bad thing.
I like to try new bars on weekdays, when they’re not packed, so I can really get a good feel of the foundation the bar has, and so far, The Schoolyard seems to have a steady framework. The bar is clean, has good lighting, and the staff was attentive and friendly.
The drinks came out fast, and were made correctly with the right ratio. I definitely get the vibe that on busy nights, it can turn into a crowded shit show of North Street college kids, but this is the right location and venue to not only cater to that crowd, but make a killing doing it.
The actual set up of The Schoolyard is very open, with lots of places to mingle, play pool, or find a corner or booth for a guys/​girls night, and the bartenders will definitely keep the shots coming.
I’d definitely stop in on a weekend if I was out on Brady, and if you’re looking for a place to bring a group of friends this is a great spot to start the night.

The bar was totally empty when we arrived at around 7 pm on a Monday. We got 2 beers and an appetizer. The beer was standard.
We ordered nachos with the chicken on the side. It took 35 minutes to get the nachos… when they arrived, the chicken was on the nachos.
Bartender asks if we are ok with chicken on the nachos?
When I said no, she left the chicken nachos in front of my boyfriend and returned to the kitchen. My boyfriend ate a few chips and then ten minutes later she returned and took away the chicken nachos.
15 minutes after that … when our beers were gone and we had been there for almost an hour, we got the nachos with chicken on the side. They were mediocre. When we asked for our bill it took her two prompts to get it.
Meanwhile… another male bartender/​server? was sitting on a laptop the whole time at the end of the bar, only getting up when the primary bartender asked him something.
Very poor service.