Byron’s Beer Garden and Bistro

this place has closed.

Stumbled into Byron’s for the first time around 1 a.m. on Halloween this year, and found what I was looking for — a place that was lively but not crammed with people and where the music was good but not so loud that I couldn’t have a conversation with my friend, who has the misfortune of a November 1 birthday! We ordered a few drinks at the bar, and the service was speedy. The drinks themselves were standard, but good quality, and reasonably priced.
I came back here a week ago to see if the experience would be repeated, and it was. It was a Tuesday, so there weren’t as many people, but I like it that way. There were still some folks in and out, and the drinks we ordered were once again quickly served, reasonably priced, and of the expected quality. Very consistent.
I have never seen anyone eating here, but my vists have always been after 9 p.m. To me, Byron’s isn’t for dinner so much as a welcome, nearby escape from the Water Street scene.

We stopped into Byron’s for a cocktail before a show at the Pabst.
I like the decoration of the place and was grateful that what background music was playing was soft so conversation was easy to accomplish.
Good selection of bottled beers and a few on tap– nice selection of liquor too.
The staff was friendly and more than willing to answer our questions with a smile.
Overall a good place to spend a little time on a Friday evening.

Service was quick, waitress was very friendly, Kobe beef BBQ sandwich was fall apart tender, fries were crispy and tasty, smoked duck quesadillas were very flavorful, bruchetta wasn’t the typical crustini with nothing on it — these were LOADED… the place was full of people, live band, the patio was full.
Nothing to complain about here!

I went to Byron’s the other night for dinner and had an underwhelming experience.
Definitely do NOT get the nachos. I’m not to hard to please, especially when talking about cheese covered things, but these are really, really crappy nachos. The cheese is worse than ballpark quality and they did not include sour cream or guac even though it was described on the menu.
The salads are definitely not big enough to feed a hungry adult and no child should be punished by having to eat a salad for dinner. The salad had iceberg lettuce which is not even worth eating in my opinion.
I had the kobe beef BBQ brisket which was missing some pop in its flavor. My girlfriend had the lamb gyro that was pretty tasty and would recommend that dish if you end up visiting Byron’s.
I was pretty disappointed by their beer selection. As a Wisconsin native, I don’t really care to go to a bar that carries a huge selection of Wisconsin beers at 5 times the grocery store price. It would be great if I was from out of town, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case.
The price was a little high in my opinion but the I liked the location right next to the water. Fortunately, my waitress was very friendly and helpful.
I don’t plan on making a trip back to this garden unless they do same major weeding.

We stopped at Byron’s on our Milwaukee pub crawl. They have a nice patio right on the river. You can get to the patio from the outside. We walked up and nobody said anything to us. The two of us sat down at a larger table because the empty smaller tables were loaded with glasses and dishes. The waitress started to clear off a smaller table for two so we moved there (so a larger party could sit at our table if need be). She stopped clearing off the table. Tim went in and got a beer that the bartender suggested. It was a wheat beer that was skunky. I don’t know if that’s just how the beer is or if the lines were dirty. Nobody ever came over to greet us or ask us if we wanted food. They never finished cleaning off our table. The waiter was apparently pissed and he took the «Wait for hostess» sign from the door leading to the bar and put it by the enterence we came in. He literally walked past us several times without even acknowledging our presence. If you didn’t like the fact that we sat ourselves you should have A. Had that sign at the outside entrance from jump B. NOT have an outside entrance and C. Approached us when we walked in.
With all the great places in Milwaukee I will never EVER go back to Byron’s. I’m not that picky but boy did this place piss me off!