Allium

Are here with fiancé on a Friday night – definitely call ahead! Limited seating for sure in a small restaurant. The bar isn’t huge either! Food was pretty good but it wasn’t the most memorable. Not to say anything was bad, it just didn’t have «WOW» factor. Cocktails were mediocre at best. Should’ve gotten a glass of wine.

My boyfriend and I love coming here! The service and atmosphere are amazing. Food and drinks are perfect every time, regardless of what we order. Their soups and their crispy flatbread are the best! I highly recommend this restaurant and promise you won’t be disappointed!

Imagine yourself in Milwaukee. Imagine yourself lowly siphoning your drink with a cocktail straw from your whiskey glass into a crystal shot glass. Imagine it being –20 degrees wind chill and sitting on a heat vent (happiness). Imagine terrible artwork but delicious trout, and a few men clearly not interested in American football yelling «run faster!» at the Packers playoff game.
Good place. Great service. Cute atmosphere — the kind of place where you can imagine everyone sipping absinthe. Interesting, new, tasty food. The prices are generally low but the portions are reasonable.
And seriously isn’t that crystal shot glass adorable.

Quite frankly I don’t understand the hype of this place. I’m new to the area and heard lots of good things so I decided to check it out. The people who work there are extremely rude. It’s hard to get a drink because they are constantly talking to the regulars and there friends. The food is extremely limited and small portions while being expensive. I wouldn’t go there again

We were extremely disappointed with our experience here. I don’t think we’ll be back.
When we arrived on a wednesday night we were immediately greeted and shown a table. So far so good. We got our menus and then we waited and waited and waited and waited some more. After 20 minutes of no one coming to our table to take our orders or give us water I finally asked if we could order. The host (? not sure what his role actually was) apologized for the wait and said that one of the waitresses was too sick to come in that night. For a small place Im surprised that having 3 people there on a wednesday night wasn’t sufficient. We ordered a cheese plate, a white pizza, and I had a glass of prosecco and my boyfriend had a stout. And again we waited and waited and waited. Ten minutes later we finally got our drinks, My prosecco was not chilled at all which i find appalling for a place that specializes in their alcohol selection. And again we waited and waited and waited. 45 minutes later we finally got our white pizza. Now the only reason this place is getting 2 stars is because the pizza was delicious though utterly too small. Our cheese plate FINALLY came out 50 minutes after ordering. For 4 small pieces of cheese, cold bread, cold jam, and cold smoked duck I cannot fathom why it took 50 minutes to get it out to us. No one came to our table during any of the waiting time to apologize, let us know how long it would be, or get us more to drink. When we were finished we asked for our bill, and waited and waited and waited again. After ten minutes I finally went up to the bar to pay or I don’t think we would have left before bar close. Our hour and a half endeavour that cost us $ 40 and left us still hungry and in a worse mood than when we arrived was not worth the visit in any way, shape, or form. Besides the host’s initial apology when we didn’t get to order, no one made any effort to make our evening better, or make it seem like they even knew we were sitting there.

I’ve been wanting to try Allium for a while. I had a City Tin for Allium that expires at the end of the month, so I stopped in last night.
The menu is small and didn’t really appeal to me. If you’re a vegan or vegetarian, this place is right up your alley.
The drink list offers 4 warm cocktails and 8 or so «cold» cocktails, plus a decent beer and wine list.
After getting info from the server on a few items of interest, I decided on the Spanish Sausage Trio ($ 9) and the Duckshroom pizza ($ 9). I added a cup of Mushroom soup ($ 5) and a beer to get past the $ 25 minimum for the City Tin.
The other soups offered were Curry Lentil and Cream of Potato, all three soups are vegan. A cup is $ 5 and a bowl costs $ 7.
The Mushroom soup was very hearty with fresh mushrooms, potatoes, and carrots, served with a slice of fresh, Frech bread. The broth was slightly rich and perfectly seasoned.
The Spanish Sausage Trio includes a serving of flavorful Spanish rice with peas in it, two types of chorizo and chistorra, a cured Spanish sausage, and a side of aioli. The sausages are served on skewers and two were tricky to get off the skewers, so be careful not to be too forceful and get a piece to fly off and stain your clothes or your dining mates clothes. No that didn’t happen last night. I was careful. The sausages were on the tougher side in texture and none of them were spicy, but were all solid.
The Duckshroom pizza is sliced into 4 small pie (triangle) slices and topped with shitake and cremini mushrooms, as well Nueske’s Smoked Duck Breast. The crust was crispy and the overall flavor was great, but the smoked duck breast pieces looked and tasted like Canadian bacon, not duck. I liked it, but I wanted the flavor of duck that I’m familiar with. I’ve never had smoked duck before, and now I know it tastes like ham or Canadian bacon.
All of the menu items are small plates, but I’m told the Veggie Lasagna is closer to an standard entrée size and served with bread. The veggie changes regularly and currently features squash.
The lighting is dim and the ambiance is tranquil, so it is a good place for a date, and there was a couple seated behind me on their first
date. I shouldn’t know that, but he was very loud when he arrived, late. The first thing he said to her in a very loud voice was «is this your first
date?!,» so everyone at Allium, and maybe next door, heard him. I could actually feel her turning red. The next words out of her mouth were: «you don’t look like your picture.» I wish I could have stayed to hear how the rest of their date went because it was off to an entertaining start, but I had another stop to make.
I think Allium is a great place to go for drinks with the option for a bite to eat. The food I had was full of flavors, but I wouldn’t suggest it for dinner if you’re a picky carnivore.

Pretentious waitstaff, treated a couple out having a fun night as if we were low class. So, my girlfriend and I took a walk this wonderful winter evening and decided to stop at alium for a drink and a plate or two. Upon entering we seated ourselves at a cozy table that had previously been occupied. The table contained a half full bottle of wine from the previous group. Being in a playful mood I suggested to my girlfriend that we ask for a glass to sample the wine (which I possibly would have ordered). When I asked the server she looked at me with daggers as if she had never heard of something so ridiculous. She left and our server Steven came over and proceeded to snatch the bottle away from me as if I were some child. He continued by speaking to us in an extremely condescending manner, as if he didn’t care that we fully intended to spend money and enjoy their establishment. Furthermore they failed to realize the difference between a drunk group of people being abnoxious, and a couple in love having a fun and romantic evening on the town. Milwaukee is full of establishments just as good or better, that are friendlier and more welcoming. Trust me, go somewhere else.

Awesome cozy spot, perfect for a snack, a good beer or drink, and conversation. I have really enjoyed all the small plates I’ve eaten here — LOVE the cheese plate especially, but they’re all solid. I’ve witnessed multiple first dates here, and good on whoever suggested this place — it’s perfect for that! I’m always happy to be at Allium and it’s one of those places where you could easily get lost in the atmosphere & eat, drink, and talk the evening away…

So close to great, yet not. Allium is small, dimly lit, and cozy, so it should be a great spot for an intimate evening at a local spot. The problem is that the owners have inexplicably failed to understand real charm of a small Euro-​style bar/​restaurant. Tip: it is not a flatscreen TV or a dance music playlist.
If I want to listen to people literally shouting at baseball or tennis (these happened during my previous two visits) with clubby music playing in the background, I have many choices. Where can I go to have a good conversation & see the occasional bit of live music over craft cocktails in an old-​world-​feeling corner bar?
The food is good, the cocktails are good, and it would be a great place if you could go there for a comfy, analog, pleasantly lit sort of experience!

Limited make that very limited small plates menu. Uninspiring. Had to order 2 orders of the flatbread since everything else looks blah. This is a bar with coffee shop seating I can hardly call this a «lounge».

Part craft cocktail/​small plates lounge, part greenhouse (lots of plants), part medievel museum (ok, it just looked like that to me), part sports bar (large tvs with the game on.)
I really liked that this place is a cozy more «adult» departure from many of the bars on north and the eastside. It’s housed in a slightly «fancy» (why do I keep using quotes?) little building. The cocktail list was hard to choose from– all of them looked so good.
I would deduct half a star because although the menu says «kitchen open late», at 11:05 pm on a Saturday, our server was not sure that they were still serving. In the end we were served very good appetizers, and honestly since I usually am asleep by that time most nights these days, being the person to keep the kitchen open made me feel all wild and young lol. Or something. So we’ll keep it five stars.

I’m dating myself here, but I used to come here often when this was Café Brucke (and The Vox, which later became Detour, and is now something else, was right down the street from them). It’s now Allium, and I only knew about it because Lisa A. had her infamous «city tins» and wanted to go here. Their cocktail menu is limited, but the two different cocktails («Blood Sazerac» and «Double Eagle») I had were delicious, and very strong. We also split some appetizers (prosciutto-​wrapped dates and some sort of hummus type thing I now forget). Although we arrived shortly after the kitchen had closed, the waitress and chef still allowed us to order food.. . Very cool of them. The atmosphere is cozy and welcoming, and there is always ample parking on Prospect.

Went in last night and was really disappointed again. Very cliquey and unfriendly.
Someone told me the owner was bartending. By the way, I sat at the bar.
He poured beautiful looking drinks with top shelf ingredients and fresh squeezed juices, but was dressed like a homeless guy with a crappy t shirt and dirty jeans. I thought he was the dish washer at first. Then the dish washer came out and was dressed better then him.
I stayed for 3 beers and tried to engage him but as stated earlier, not friendly.
I’ll go and buy my $ 7 beers someplace else.

Very interesting menu that at first I was hesitate about but after trying everything (and I mean everything) this place has become a perfect local joint to grab some delicious small plates and good wine.
My bf and I also love their soups so yesterday when we had a craving this was the first place that came to mind. They’re always rotating so you never know what they’re serving, but trust me they are all good. I got a garlic potato soup that was awesome! Rich and creamy and definitely full of garlic. Warmed me right up. The bf got a white bean and spinach soup that was also good (more broth based). The Italian slurry (basically bread served with a plate of shredded cheese, olive oil and garlic) was the perfect compliment.
The inside is very cozy, with pillows on benches and small tables about. Very dim lighting that sometimes does make it hard to read the menu. Bar is great and staff is very friendly. They have a tv they sometimes put a game on but most times it’s off. Very romantic setting so would be perfect for a date.

With all the wonderful places Bay View has to offer, I don’t venture to the East Side as much as I’d like to. But I’m glad I ventured to Allium, and I’m pretty positive I’ll venture back!
Like others have said, the atmosphere is perfect for «date-​night». It’s casual, yet fancy-​ish. You feel like you’re in a cozy European café — I like that. The drink list is unique. I had the Blood Sazarac, and my boyfriend had the old fashioned. I’ve had better old fashioneds elsewhere, but the Sazarac was great.
I really enjoyed everything we ate, except the potato stack. But that was my own fault. I failed to read the menu carefully enough to see the stack included sweet potatoes. If you like sweet potatoes you’ll probably love it. I don’t and I didn’t. What I did love was the white pizza. I’d probably come back just for a drink and a white pizza, or two. ;)
Actually, I could see this being a regular stop when I’m feeling small plates or fun drinks. I’m looking forward to coming back.

Allium is in a nice little spot on the East Side. The space is interesting and comfortable, if a little snug (especially if you have to wait for a table and there’s no spot at the bar and no good place to stand).
Once we were seated the service was a little slow and neglectful, so my initial impression wasn’t that great — especially since it was a Thursday.
But the menu was intriguing, the drinks were pretty good and I really enjoyed our shared small plates — particularly the white pizza with goat cheese. Three small plates were enough for two people to share and feel full, and the food arrived fairly quickly once we ordered it.
Despite my initial impression, the food was interesting and tasty enough that I’ll definitely give Allium another chance and hope they step things up a notch in the service department.

I love the slightly rustic/​very European vibe here. It’s a very cozy and welcoming little space. If only the service was a good as the atmosphere, food and drink!
The craft cocktail menu is fantastic ($ 8 – 11) as is the oft updated small plates offerings.
On a recent Thursday night the wait for a table was about 30 minutes and unfortunately there were no seats at the small bar, but we made the best of it. After being seated we waited nearly 10 minutes for a rather unfriendly server to come by with waters. And nearly another 10 for a drink order to be taken.
I ordered a Cucumber Vodka Gimlet type cocktail,($ 9) and my friend ordered a traditional Salty Dog ($ 9). Both were full of flavor and undoubtedly contained a bit more than the requisite amount of alcohol (thumbs up)!
Food also came out slow but flavors were excellent. We started with the Mushroom Pâté with Crostini ($ 8). Cremini mushrooms, caramelized onions and Carr Valley Glacier Blue Cheese was artfully piled on rye crostinis. The balance of flavors was fantastic. The salty cheese played well of the sweetness of the onions and the savory from the mushrooms. The rye crostini was a very thoughtful touch and added one more great layer to the flavor profile.
Our next choice was the White Pizza ($ 8). Baby artichoke hearts, and LaClare Farms Goat Cheese on a crisp flatbread crust is drizzled ever so slightly with white truffle oil. Again flavors had depth and balance. The oil brought out the tanginess of the cheese and the earthiness of the hearts. And everything played well together to comprise an awesome dish.
Our final dish was Rushing Waters Smoked Trout (a personal fave), sundried tomatoes, and capers served deconstructed style on a platter paired with a crispy flatbread crackers ($ 10). The tomatoes balanced the salty in both the fish and capers and elevated the flavors nicely.
All portions were of good size and three to four dishes would be great for two people.
Overall I really liked so much about this place. Food and drinks are a solid five, as is ambiance. Service is a 2.5 at best so I generously round up to 3 and split the difference. I will be back in hopes of improved service as I know the food and drinks will be worth the trip.

Hmmm.
I headed over to Allium when I was in that part of town after the Air Show on Saturday. We went in around 4:00 and sat down at an open table by the window. Ambiance was pretty loud as there were a bunch of guys at the front by the bar screaming over a game on the television — not at all what I expected from what I’ve read about the place… but okay for earlier on a Saturday.
Our server came right over to inform us that the kitchen didn’t open until 5:00, not a problem. We looked over the extensive beer list and settled on a couple. They were priced around $ 8-​$ 9 and high ABV so I was still happy. I used the restroom and really liked the artwork, not to mention they were very clean.
Around 5:00, another two friends joined us and our server came back over to talk food. I was ordering for four people and didn’t have a clue which way to go — so I asked for his recommendations. His first was a broccoli crostini. He also recommended a cheese plate and the «slurry». I suppose I should have really looked things over instead of ordering on a whim like that…
The three items came over staggered which I appreciated. The broccoli came with four crostinis. The veggie was pureed and topped with a sort of gruyère cheese slice, then toasted. It was very good and I wish I’d been able to have more! The cheese plate came out next. It was pretty, but a lot of the cheeses were not good. The brie slice was big enough for three bites and the rest was just okay. The worst part was the «slurry». It was literally a bowl of oil with a bunch of shredded parmesan sunk at the bottom. No one particulary wanted to just dip in, so we were trying to fish parmesan chunks out of the bowl of oil to put on the bread… it was just very awkward. The oil wasn’t seasoned at all so it ended up as a very flat dish with no flavor.
I say three stars because the beer selection was good, the staff was friendly, and the crostini was very good. I think if I were to try something else that they actually cooked it could be good, but I walked out after a couple beers and some cheese/​oil for $ 60. I was pretty blown away by that… not much else. I will try again sometime, but it definitely has moved to the bottom of my list.

Foods to definitely eat while at Allium: Definitely, definitely, absolutely the butterscotch rum pudding. Do Not Skip This. Also, the potato stack. Both of these dishes sound mild-​mannered, but are done so perfectly.
If you order a pizza, be aware that they are pretty tiny, and took quite a bit of time to come to our table. We’re talking smaller than a personal pan pizza at pizza hut. If you get the flat bread with prosciutto and arugula, know that it’s more like a quesadilla than a flat bread, but delicious.
The smoked trout dish was lovely, but I didn’t taste the horseradish anywhere.
I loved the ambiance of the place, and our server was incredibly in tune to our table.

… and it’s still so incredible. Allium is one of my/​our favorite go-​to «date night» spots, because, well, it was one of our very first date night spots, and also, it’s simply a fantastic place all around. (See Luke R’s review.)
It’s all so spot on. Incredible specialty drinks, a kick-​ass beer selection, small plates that are thoughtfully composed and well-​executed, a stellar staff (really awesome owners!) and a European café/​bistro vibe that you can’t find anywhere else in MKE. There’s beauty in the simplicity and authenticity; it’s Brew City and the other side of the pond in one and it’s not contrived. It’s the real, unique deal.
Allium’s not a «restaurant,» in the sense that you’re going to get a full-​on entrée and a mucho margarita; it’s a spot to enjoy good drinks, bites, and company thoughtfully.
Five five five five five.