Mars’ Cheese Castle

Haven’t been in since they re-​did the place and was very impressed with the new look both inside and out. I stopped in the tavern for a beer with my family, laid down a twenty dollar bill for 3 beers and watched the bar tender put the change directly in his tip jar. Now of course I would have tipped; however as a server, one can NEVER assume something like that. I was quite blown away, and the bartender didn’t speak to us the rest of the time we were there. Now I’m not from the Kenosha area, but I certainly won’t be stopping in the bar at Mar’s Cheese Castle again if I even decide to return.

Must stop when traveling thru Wisconsin. Between the free samples of beer and local craft beers you cannot go wrong

Ordered a grilled ham & cheese sandwich, bag of chips & soda. Sandwich was really good, got to pick the cheese, but wow, really expensive. $ 11.00 total for the meal. Tables were kind of dirty, but it was towards the end of the day on a Saturday.

Love this place! Cheese, wine, beer, cheesy souvenirs? How could you go wrong? I live in Illinois but make frequent trips here to get some of my favorite beers including Spotted Cow!
It’s ALWAYS busy, such a tourist trap BUT well worth it! The people that work there are so friendly and will answer any cheese questions you have and obviously there’s free samples!
It’s right off the highway so always stop here when I pass by or I go out of my way to go here. Love it!

It’s cheese, meat, cheese, more meat, bakery, café, beer, wine, snacks, more cheese and meat. What could go wrong.
Café offers breakfast and lunch sandwiches, good coffee and beverages. I ordered an egg sandwich — and it’s real egg. The café is a little slow, but not enough to fuss about.
If you are driving out of Milwaukee to anywhere south, you should go here!

It was way cooler before they remodeled it. Now it’s almost more of a beer store. It’s always been a tourist trap, but now it has lost the coolness factor. It is large.

I have stopped here before but had not yet done a Unilocal review. My reason for stopping this time was to try their brat and grilled cheese sandwiches. I ordered my Bratwurst with Saurkraut and also ordered a Grilled Cheese sandwich with Pepper Jack and Muenster cheeses (it is a cheese castle, after all) on Dark Rye bread; the cheese sandwich includes your choice of two cheeses.
When I ordered there was no line except me studying the menu and trying to decide. After I ordered and took a seat I noticed a line came and went as more people came to place orders. The total wait time for me was 20 minutes, they will give you an estimated wait time when you order. So if it is backed up, you can wander the rest of the Castle until they announce your number. I took a quick look around in their bakery and then sat at one of the limited tables and waited.
Then they called number 35, my number! I picked up my order and sat down to eat. Having just tried a brat at the nearby Brat Stop the day before, direct comparisons were inevitable. But first the Grilled Cheese… I dipped it lightly into spicy brown mustard and it was really good. Then I thought it was the kind of simple thing that I should be making at home; and in restaurants is usually relegated to the kids’ menu. But I had to try it because… Cheese Castle!
Now for the bratwurst! First of all, brat to brat, I thought they were pretty equal. But there were some differences. The bun was lightly toasted here, I liked that. And the price if you just ordered the brat in a bun with no sides (Saurkraut is not a side, it’s a condiment) was $ 1 less at the Cheese Castle. So based on that I would give the nod to the Cheese Castle.
But the real kicker in this whole adventure was, when I told my brother and his wife during my visit that, even though these places are tourist focused and a bit overpriced, they have good quality, tasty food, she said the local hardware store was just serving really good brats for $ 3 each! Of course, only locals would know about that; I know where to find the best and lowest-​priced Coney Dogs in the Detroit area on specific days because… local!
To complete my journey, I did wander through the Castle looking for… what else, cheese to take home. I found a nice Brick cheese by Widmers (had previously gone directly to the cheese factory once for the best prices but it was out of the way for this trip), and Asiago made by Grande (formerly the Stanga Cheese Factory in Rubicon, WI, I’ve been told; which is interesting only to me because that was where I worked my first real job while in high school, starting at $ 1.10/hour), and of course, squeaky cheese curds. I also bought some brats (Chef Martin Original Old World Sausage– many of the ones they had were Wisconsin name brands like Usinger’s-good stuff-​that I could buy in any grocery store) and bison sausage so I could try to recreate the experience at home.
They may be overpriced, but for the convenience of finding so many different cheeses and other Wisconsin products in one place, to me it is worthwhile. But next time I’ll probably also have to go to the hardware store because… I like cheap brats and I cannot lie!

I found the cheese I wanted for a great price! I got a 7 year aged cheddar for about $ 6. They had a great selection and a few samples around to try out.
I ordered a grilled cheese with cheddar and muenster from the little café they have inside and it was pretty good but it took way to long to be prepared. The place was pretty busy and I’m not sure if staff was short but those sandwiches were taking a very long time to be made.
Definitely a good stop to make to pick up a delicious selection of cheese!

Being from Texas and seeing the chocolate cheese on the food network. I had to try it, thought it was cool but a little over priced. They have a variety of beers, sodas and cheeses. We split a grilled turkey and cheese sandwich, sandwich was good but overly priced! 8.50 for a grilled cheese? Really plus the server over changed me for my drink and I didn’t realize it until I had already left the store.

Cheese! Cheese! Cheese. Rockin every where! This place stands to its name… A true cheese castle. There are so many different varieties of cheese here on the day I went they were also handing out different samples of cheeses and sausages. This is also the place to visit if you’re looking for souvenirs for out of town guests. I found the iconic Cheesehead hat and a lot of cool Wisconsin magnets. I came here on the weekend and it was pretty busy which I wasn’t really expecting but it seems to be a go to place for people coming into the state. They also have an attached pub and sell various types of old fashion candies and jams. All-​around a neat shop to stop at for 15 minutes.

I think it should be renamed «Mars Generic Truckstop Souvenirs and Tourist Trap».
I was last up there before the 2011 renovations, and at that time, it truly was a cheese shop. This was the place to get cheese. Granted, they also had tchotchkes and souvenirs, but they really had a lot of cheese selection.
Now they have what pretty much every other roadside truck stop store and tourist shop has. T-​shirts; mugs; glasses; general merchandise; giant mouse wearing a cheese hat. Oh … and a cheese selection that is smaller than my local Whole Foods. By a lot. There’s a lot here, but it’s no longer the Mars CHEESE Castle.
Tip — if you want cheese, just north of there on the other side of the Interstate is a supermarket called Woodman’s. Giant cheese selection, same cheeses and cheaper!

So this place is for those that love Cheese. I do! Having most of my family in Wisconsin, I have grown up with a love for cheese. Every time we go up North to visit them, we always stop here. It is conveniently located between Wisconsin and Illinois, kind of near the border but actually in Wisconsin. We usually fly to Chicago and drive to Green Bay, where our family is and we stop here coming and going.
They have a gift shop, restaurant, store and bar. I have never really sat or ate in the bar but it looked pretty self explanatory. Its a bar. I’m not sure if they serve food, I think that you can bring food in from the restaurant part. If you check in to Mars on Unilocal there is a free spotted cow, which is a drink, at the bar.
So the restaurant, it’s more like a quick service restaurant with tables around the store, some in the bar and some right next to the actual food counter. You order and then they call your number when your food is ready. They actually have a pretty large menu for being a quick place to get some food. Sandwiches, brats (a Wisconsin favorite), chili, burgers and more. The last time, between my parents and husband and sister we tried a lot. I really enjoyed the brat and the chili. It was actually really delicious.
The gift shop part has all kinds of cheese items. Cheese heads worn by Packer fans, cheese ties, shirts, sweaters, coffee cups and so much more. They also sell pre packaged items such as crackers, popcorn, sauces, jellies and more.
Now my favorite part. the store!!! It is literally filled with every imaginable cheese you could think of. They sell cheese that they make themselves and also who others make. They also have summer sausage which is really popular in Wisconsin and goes perfect with cheese and crackers. They really offer some unique cheeses. Last time, my husband purchased a cheddar that was mixed with ghost pepper. Something we have never seen before. What I really enjoy is that if you are curious about a product, which we were, they let you sample it before you buy it. I really wanted him to try it first before we bought it. But he loved it. Its a little too hot for me. Some of my personal favorites are the 7 year cheddar and the cheese fudge. They usually have samples all around of different cheese, which is a nice touch as well. The store also has a bakery where they make Kringle and cheese bread. Cheese bread is delicious and can be great alone or even better toasted. Kringle is a yummy bakery type pastry that usually has a flavor, its much like a danish but better. Its not thick like a danish which is probably why I like it. My favorite is the raspberry. We usually get one on the way to eat while we are in Green Bay, but its a little hard to get in back to Florida especially on a plane.
If you are near this place you should definitely check it out. It has everything cheese wise you can imagine and so much more. There is something for everyone, even if you just stop and take a picture in front of the castle!

Never been here before decided to stop in on the way to the outlets. Huge and great selection of cheese hence the name. Plenty of samples to fill up on! Food was alright, typical bar food. Nothing crazy. Nice wine selection and bakery. Would stop in again if I am passing by!

How can you not love this place? After driving past Mars’ Cheese Castle for decades and watching it morph into an actual «castle,» we finally made it in.
Inside you’ll find:
A bar with properly-​made Bloody Mary’s (no pre-​made mix!) and good beer
A bakery (stocked with cheese bread, of course)
A café with desserts (including cheesecake!) and ice cream
And goods to take home, including hundreds of cheeses and sausage, goofy slogan t-​shirts, chocolate, and any other trinket you could think of for the cheese-​lover in your life (license plate frames, cheesehead hats, etc.)
Three cheers for bartender Kyle! On our visit, we stopped in for some drinks (the Chocolate Stout is delicious), and he was working the whole bar solo and didn’t skip a beat. Very friendly, funny, knowledgable, and fast.

A wonderful Mars experience! No crowds, and great food –we tried it on a holiday Saturday night – . Kyle the bartender was great. Instead of providing us with the beer list he asked us what we liked. That resulted in great selections. As a bonus, he fed us with information about the popularity of brandy in Wisconsin. Who knew that Brandy was so popular in Wisconsin? The grilled cheese sandwiches are to die for!!! We had one Swiss and Munster, and the other with cheddar and mozzarella (photo). We ate in the tavern, which is the only way to go. There was a small crowd of very interesting people. Again, I highly recommend coming an hour and a half before closing on a dark rainy night.
Don’t forget that the bar provides free cheese and crackers too!
Most of all, have fun at this place…

Mars’ Cheese Castle is an overpriced tourist trap as stated ad nauseam. Getting elbowed and trampled by droves emptying off tour buses at high rates of speed and the mad stampedes for cheese samples can leave one pretty grouchy by the time you depart.
Many of the cheeses are the same ones MouseHouse carries, only they slap a different label on it. The do have a slightly larger selection, I’ll give them that. They have a little café and a bakery as well but we didn’t partake in either offering.
Plenty of souvenirs can be purchased proclaiming your love for cheese and all things Wisconsin. MCC does carry an a-​okay selection of beer, so be sure to pick up your New Glarus favorites if you don’t feel like stopping at a liquor store down the road and paying slightly less.
The tavern was pretty cool; we enjoyed a Bloody Mary with Spotted Cow sidecars and people watched. It was probably the best part of our visit here. That, and the lady who stormed out screaming at her husband in front of everyone because he wouldn’t kowtow to her extreme cheese purchase.
Overall, a single stop just for the experience is fine but future visits are unnecessary.

Oh, Wisconsin, I love you!
You’re quirky, charming, friendly and delicious.
These words also perfectly describe The Mars Cheese Castle!
Yes, it’s a bit of a tourist trap, so what? It’s also totally enjoyable, and a great spot to pick up some delicious Wisconsin goodies! Not just cheese and New Glarus Spotted Cow, (which are obvious things one needs to bring back to the flat lands of Illinois) but they also carry Nueske’s bacon (!!!) and their bakery has a fantastic sourdough bread. Two perfect ingredients for making the best BLT ever. Just add tomatoes from your backyard and you are set!
Hungry? Grab a sandwich in the back; they’ll make one while you wait. I’m particular to the Braunschweiger with Muenster.
Or take your sandwich to the adjacent bar and get a delicious Bloody Mary, complete with a beer chaser!
I should also mention that they have clean restrooms. Always a bonus.
If you’ve ever wondered about the Mars Cheese Castle, but never stopped as you drive to Milwaukee from Chicago (or vice versa), you need to change that. Stop by and check it out!

It’s not as cool as it used to be.
Mars’ Cheese Castle is an off-​the-​highway tourist trap cheese shop near the Wisconsin state line. The building is a relatively new one, and is now actually a castle. It’s a cool building, and there’s neat pew bench seating out front.
The cheese store bit is mediocre. It used to be a lot more cheeses made in house. Now it’s essentially just a cheese and meat grocery store where they sell other brands’ products. They have a lot of variety and are pretty middle of the road, price wise, but there are definitely more authentic cheese experiences in Wisconsin.
They have a great selection of beers and wines though, and it’s worth coming here to check those out. There’s also a bakery section that’s pretty good, and sells the famous Elegant Farmer apple pies. Plus, there’s Wisconsin tourist merchandise. Tshirts, Packers gear, cheeseheads, and tons of stuff with cows on it.
There’s a little café place inside as well that sells sandwiches and drinks and things like that.
My favorite part of this place is the tavern inside. It has cool décor, like the shelves of steins on the walls. The bartender was really personable and attentive, without being pushy. Some bars give you pretzels, some give you tortilla chips. This bar gives you free cheddar cheese spread and Ritz crackers while you drink. How cool is that? There were quite a few people around the bar when I was there, but it wasn’t too loud. It was a nice, relaxing bar with a good amount of background noise.
It’s a good place to stop if you’re just driving through and need a cheese fix. If you’re vacationing– find somewhere better.

This place is awesome! Conveniently located near the freeway between Milwaukee and Chicago makes this place a great stop for some local goodies! They have a huge market which sells local food and cheeses and a bar.
From the outside, this place looks like a castle which makes it very unique. I brought home some local cheese back to Michigan, my coworkers loved it.

This place is fun to visit if you havent been here before.
Getting here was very easy and there’s plenty of parking even on a Sunday. The great thing about this place is they are open 7 days a week!
We got there around 1:30PM ish and the wait for food was still half an hour. So we decided to order and walk around while we wait for food to be ready.
When you walk in the front door, you’ll see the cash registers and it’s like a little mini grocery store. They have tons of different crackers you can choose from. I really like the variety of honey they have. I’m a huge honey fan. I bought my first «raw» honey there and it tasted great! I don’t think i’ll ever go back to eating ‘generic” store bought honey that has been processed.
They have a good spacious section of cheese and few samples you can try. It can be overwhelming. I feel like i can just stand there and stare at the many different kinds of cheese they have and still can’t decide on what to get! :P
We bought the 9 year aged sharp cheddar… oh. it wasnt really to my liking to be honest. The after taste was very bitter to me. I had my sour face on the whole time while eating it. I think if it was just regular cheddar i would’ve been fine with it.
Anyway, if you are hungry, i do recommend the ham and cheese sandwich. I got it on rye bread, grilled with everything on it. It was great! It comes with a choice of potato chips or potato salad, along with soup and pickle. (this was ½ soup and ½ sandwich $ 7.99)