Whiskey Bar

Eh. not really my scene. I ended up here on a Saturday night with some friends, after we’d been to a couple other bars. When you walk up, you’re greeted by a couple angry-​looking bouncers. They demand your I.D. and hassle the gentleman about their wardrobes. I watched them give this one guy a hard time because he was wearing a T-​shirt and tennis shoes. Once I got inside, it was clear that the place was not overly crowded. It seems there would be no need to deny the gentleman entry. Then again, scanning the crowd, it looks like they cater to a young, female clientele.
Upon entrance, you’re in a large lounge type of bar. The bar is square and quite big. There were probably a half dozen bartenders working behind this one bar. Surprisingly, with so many bartenders working, it was not easy to get a drink. We waited… flashed money… said, «excuse me?!» Two female bartenders walked right by us, ignoring us. Finally, a male bartender came over and served us. And while he was making our drinks, a second male bartender came over and offered to serve us. One of my male friends, walked right up and received immediate service from a female bartender. It seems that the female bartenders only serve the male guests, and the male bartenders serve the female guests. I suppose, if they’re splitting tips, it’s not a bad way to maximize their money. But as a guest, it just looks rude.
From the lounge bar, you can pass through a garage door into a dance club. This room is very large, with a dance floor in the middle and another bar toward the back. The music is loud, and the dance floor is filled with young girls wearing skimpy dresses and hipster guys trying to hit on them. It looks like a great meat market, if you’re looking for a hook-​up. If you just wanna grab a drink and chit chat with your friends, stay in the front lounge.

Nice selection of high-​end whiskies, heavy on the scotch and bourbon. Rick makes the best Sazerac I’ve ever had, and they seem to have an endless knowledge of craft cocktails they will make on a whim. Go before 9:00 pm and enjoy a few drinks before it gets crowded.

Went here last night for my birthday and had VIP.
Angela, our host was GREAT! She did a great job and everything was perfect of what she provided for us.
The bartenders though, they were not the best. The guy name Vien or something, I reached for a lime and he grabbed my arm, saying don’t do that but just let him know. I don’t know about strangers grabbing my arm but that was disrespectful and if you didn’t want people to grab condiments, I suggest not leaving them on the table in front of everyone to possibly, help themselves since Vien couldn’t be attentive enough to do it.
The bartenders were terrible. Their service needs to get better or probably hire people with better skills and customer services.
The 3 stars were for Angela.

Super nice bar tender, fun whiskey cocktails, and salty popcorn that hits the spot! Right off of Cathedral Square so it’s usually busier in the summer, but in the winter, get here during the week. It’s cozy and fun!

Good bar, great whiskey. They were not a fan of my Nikes, but great experience otherwise

Recently, my husband, some friends, and I stopped in here after attending a holiday party a block away. With a name like Whiskey Bar, I thought that this would be a smaller, quiet bar full of people in their 30’s and older. Not so. There were a wide variety of age groups here.
What really stood out to me were the three different themes going on in here. In the front of the establishment, you have a huge, rounded bar. Just off of that, you have a nice lounge area, with comfortable chairs and tables. Then, separated by a garage door, is the club area, complete with a second bar. It was fun to hit the dance floor with our friends, but the noise level made it very difficult to carry on a conversation.
They do have a full bar here, and can make just about anything you want. The drinks are a bit on the pricey side, though, so keep that in mind.
Be aware: they do have a dress code here. We had a gentleman in front of us get refused entry for wearing tennis shoes. You don’t have to dress formal. But I would suggest wearing nicer shirts and slacks (no jeans) and dressier, non casual shoes.
I would like to come back to the Whiskey Bar and check it out when it’s not quite as busy, and when the club atmosphere isn’t happening.

I’ve been contacted by the management of this place who, to their credit, took the time to look into this and respond. One valuable function of review sites like Unilocal,is to help keep business owners abreast of what is going wrong at their business. Hopefully, they made the effort to do some course correction with the employee involved.
I have been invited back and when I am in town again, I will give this place another try when they do not know I’m coming. If I have a better experience, I’ll revise my review here.
Thanks to the ownership for contacting me.

I have long struggled with writing this review. Whiskey Bar is one of those places where you tell someone you went there and they either respond, «I love Whiskey Bar!» or «Seriously? Why???» So I’m going to chalk my experiences up as different due to the fact that I’ve only been there on Tuesdays for Quizmaster Trivia — probably a little different than the weekend scene. On trivia nights, happy hour specials run through close, meaning discounts on cocktails and beers. There is no draught beer here — just bottles — but they have a good selection of standard domestics and specialty brews. They also order in Papa John’s and serve up free pizza to the whole bar. So if you’re good at trivia… this means you win a bar tab to cover your discounted drinks AND you get free pizza. How could I *not* like Whiskey Bar? Plus the bartenders are almost always super friendly and provide great service in crafting drinks and building rapport with customers.
All that aside, I will admit there’s a pretty common perception that this is a college bar. On Tuesdays, this hasn’t been the case, with patrons ranging from early 20s up through the 60s. There’s a lot of space here, making this a good option for a private event — just choose your day of the week and cause for celebration accordingly, and I’m sure it’ll be great.

Whiskey Bar is always a lot of fun and is one of my favorite bars in Milwaukee. There’s a bar area, some small lounge sections, and a dance floor. The music selection is a good mix of mostly pop and some catchy throw backs.
Sometimes the dance floor becomes way too crowded and hot. Some drinks are more reasonably priced than others, but most beers are $ 5 or $ 6.
There is a dress code that is posted by the entrance.

The Whiskey Bar has become our favorite after work party hangout. I never went here because I don’t drink Whiskey, but they actually have a good beer selection as well. The bartender is great. We have had several parties where we have brought in snacks and cake and they are a-​ok with that which makes it really nice. They also have an ok patio when the weather is nice.

Full bar, attentive bartender and good music from my yout’. The folks dancing were too stand-​offish for my taste, but I’d be willing to give it another try for all the good things there. BIG dance floor with plenty of room at the bar and an attendant in the ladies’. Nice downtown spot.

This is my go-​to spot for parties! They always accommodate my group near the area we love (near the dance floor). Angela is likely THE BEST server in Milwaukee, and the manager Ben was super helpful in getting us set up with spirits and mixers, AND for a good price. The patio is lovely and the music is good! Check these guys out for your next girls night out! You won’t be disappointed.

This place is great for downtown Milwaukee…
Craft cocktails, happy hour every day, huge dance floor on the weekends, outdoor seating and tons of great whiskeys! Highly recommended this place. Very good service and nicely dressed people. Clean and comfortable with a huge Jim Morrison mural.

I’d like to review this place with a couple stories that I believe reflect how I feel about this place and hopefully will entertain you for a minute because my last experience here was pretty funny.
So the last time I was here, these three clowns come storming in and the leader of the pack sets himself up at the bar right next to me and a little too close for my comfort. You know, the type of guy who brags about his sexual conquests and high fives whoever he can in an attempt to establish his manhood. Anyways, his gum smacking and febreezed clothes were all up in my bubble so that was really fun. Then he acts like he owns the place, telling the bartender to check the receipt. «Dude, yo, check the receipt man, I got you, I’m taking care of you, everyone hear that, I’m taking care of him because I got dollas to spend!» I’m paraphrasing. But he keeps shouting this over and over and the bartender checks the receipt as he’s told because he has to listen to God over here, forces a smile, and walks away. Meanwhile, gum-​smacker is so proud. Oh so proud of himself. At this point, my brain has reached maximum eye-​rolling capacity.
Next up is this lovely girl behind the bar. Brunette, tan, heels, more make-​up than a drag queen, and she’s wearing this black dress of sorts that is about two sizes too small. But it’s okay, like any self-​respecting bar eye «candy», she had a severe case of resting bitch face to defend herself if someone were to, say, write a not-​so-​nice review on Unilocal about it. But seriously, I had zero idea what they hired her for. The bartender, who was perfectly pleasant, set down the checkbook with my tab while I was chatting with my friends. This girl then uses her all of her brain power and decides to take it before I could put my money in it, open it, and proceeds to sigh in disbelief. You’ll get the hang of it, sweetheart.
And then there were the bouncers. Actually, I have nothing to say about them really but they were nice and wished me a good night. That was cute.
Will I be back? If we’re given a leftover bottle of SoCo like the party next to us did last time, sure. Otherwise…
No.

So disappointed in this place. They are stuck in the 1990s with their no athletic shoe policy. In an age where some athletic shoes shoes cost just as much as designer shoes they WILL NOT let you in. The irony is they have a bucks flag at the door.

I visited this bar while I was back in Wisconsin to visit UW– Whitewater, my Alma Mater, for homecoming! My friends and I were staying in Milwaukee and we did a nice, formal dinner, cocktails and were ready to go out on a Friday night! We were walking around MKE trying to decide where to go when we stumbled in here. The ladies were wearing heels and wanted to sit and also wanted to have a place to talk to our group without having to shout. There were VIP areas roped off with beautiful couches so one of my friends asked if we could sit there for a bit? (We were only planning on being there 30 minutes!) I got nervous about this because I know that some bars are big jerks about their VIP areas. (I hate conflict and I hate feeling «less than» at bars.) This bar was SO NICE and was like «absolutely! Sit down!» We really appreciated it. About 10 minutes later a woman came around and was selling a bottle of vodka– we happily bought it because they were so nice to us originally. (We were happy to show our appreciation with our wallets!) We ended up getting a cart with whatever we wanted (pineapple juice, cranberry juice, sprite etc) and a really nice server to serve us drinks!
All in all a very good experience. We will go back!

Such a weird place.
The dance floor was packed, but people were just standing around! No one was dancing. It was weird.
The décor was cool, the crowd was meh. There are posted rules for dress at the door, but it wasn’t strict and people either were way underdressed or way overdressed. There definitely was some boobage popping out of bad dresses, so if that’s your thing, go for it!

Came here last weekend when we didn’t feel like waiting in the cold for 720. I don’t know why people are waiting so long in the cold at 720 to pay cover when this place isn’t far and didn’t charge cover. It seemed clean and classy inside but I felt like the dress code was a little unnecessary. There’s something for everybody, a wide variety of classy drinks and more quiet lounges and a bumpin’ dance floor. I felt like the drink prices were reasonable considering the location downtown and my boyfriend loved the vast whiskey selection. My only complaint is that the bathrooms were pretty gross which I was surprised by since the rest of the bar was pretty clean. The bathroom lady’s supplies covered the sink counter so much that you couldn’t access the soap! Also, there was a mysterious liquid all over the bathroom floor. My boyfriend gave a similar report for the men’s room.

My bachelorette party was a whirlwind weekend that included more fun events than a girl could ever ask for. Though a Chicago group, we decided to go «Destination» and picked Milwaukee. Pedal Tavern, Brewers game, Mexican meal, Whiskey Bar and the Cheese Castle?! I wish I could do it again!
Anywho, the Whiskey bar was our stop after dinner on Saturday night. I was immediately impressed, as there was literally a seat in the house for everyone. We picked an elevated area that was relatively private, which was a great start — and a waitress worked with all of us (even on split checks!). There were older folks at the bar with their straight up whiskey, those out for a chill night sitting at a table or standing by the bar, and then surprise! Walk around the back and there’s a dance club?! Awesome! This bar literally had everything. It was packed, fun, and not too loud, dark, expensive, anything. If I’m ever in the area again, I definitely plan to stop by!

I’m a fan of Scotch Whiskeys, so I thought this place would be pretty neat. I was expecting over-​sized chairs, low ambient music, and knowledgeable bartenders.
This is not that kind of place. Oh no.
This is an untz-​untz-​untz dance club on the weekends. It’s probably the best in the city, to be honest. It’s kind of a meat market, and there’s a lot of college aged people here. It’s expensive, there’s not enough seating, and it’s loud enough to make your ears bleed. A Hendricks and ginger was $ 9, and it was pretty weak. There’s often Bachelorette parties parties and birthday parties. They also have bouncers who selectively enforce dress code (No hats, no white shoes, etc) so sometimes they hassle people depending on who you’re with (If you have ladies in tow, they’ll most always let things slide).
It’s better than Victors and it’s better than Jo-​Cats. You can definitely do worse for a place to dance, but this just usually isn’t my cup of tea. But don’t take my word for it, give it shot (an $ 8 shot).

Whiskey Bar is a mixed bag.
I love Whiskey, and I love bars, so I figured this would be right up my alley!
Located in Cathedral Square, the location is right in the downtown drinking scene. The building itself is easy to find, and is pretty well set up, with a main bar area near the entrance, a lounge area to the side, and then a dance floor with small raised areas from which to judge the people on the dance floor who have more balls than you and are out there having fun.
The prices can be a bit high, but the drinks were decently strong to help balance that.
It wasn’t terribly busy until around midnight, and it seems like this is the kind of place to end the night, after getting cheaper drinks in your system elsewhere. When empty, it can seem pretty sparse, but once people start trickling in and the place fills up, it becomes much more lively and fun.
We ordered bottle service, and were stuck in a corner by the bathrooms, which was pretty awful, and our server wouldn’t stop by to check on us very often, as we were out of the way.
With our drinks so far away from the fun, we would have to make trips away from the life of the party to go fill them up, and there were a few occasions where we saw some random people trying to sneak drinks from our rack. For the prices we were paying for bottle service, you’d think that they would have at least more than one area set aside, or at least put us in the lounge, where we can have a bit more room and keep an eye on everything.
When we ran low on mixers, I tried to flag a wandering server down, but they gave me a look and said that they weren’t our server, and continued on their way without another word, it took 20 minutes to find someone to get us a refill on soda/​juice, and the soda was flat.
Outside of the questionable bottle service, the bartenders themselves were great and friendly, and once we got into the swing of things, we had a great time.
While I wouldn’t recommend coming here before 11, it’s not a bad place to go if you’re on a roll and looking for a place to finish the night.