Indulge

Stopped in for downtown dinging which is a great program, but I feel can be kind of a hard way to judge a spot. Anyways it was a solid meal, just the right amount of food for three courses even if it wasn’t quite what I was expecting.
I can see this being the prefect date spot for dessert and wine, maybe not so much if your are looking for a hearty meal though. The desserts were absolutely fantastic and they have a solid wine list!

Wow. Cool find. Hard place to find on busy Milwaukee street with all the hub bub but well worth it. I asked for a mint Julep on Kentucky Derby weekend and I was told they did not have the correct ingredients to make one. However a few minutes later the VERY cool bartender said he would get the fixings needed for the drink and made an incredible drink. But cooler than that this place has great atmosphere that is very intimate for a great conversation. Their wine selection is the best. The service was even better. Coming back again and is one of my new favorite places in Milwaukee.

I’m between 3 and 4 stars on Indulge.
It’s a place that I’ve only been to twice, I honestly forget about it.
My last visit wasn’t too memorable, either. There was only one other table present and between the time they left and near closing time it was just me and my guest. It was a Wednesday, I guess, but still.
It’s a nice little bar. Good for meeting a friend or blind date low-​key.
We didn’t have any snacks so I can’t comment on that. But I felt the wine pours were really short. I mean at $ 10 to $ 14 per glass, I want a good amount that I won’t be done with in 10 minutes. But, places in Milwaukee overall are abusing this, I feel.
I can go over to wine thief or any other place that sells liquor and get a really, really nice entire bottle of wine for $ 10-​$ 15.
This makes me miss the BYOBs when I lived in Chicago. Really awesome concept.
Affordable AND a restaurant has to stand on it’s own just on the food.
I miss it. But, I get this is a wine bar. Was just underwhelmed with it.

Great ambiance for a date. The last time we were there, I tried the lavender and the rose truffles which paired quite nicely with the white wine from the Basque Country that I ordered. Good spot for dessert and/​or a libation if you are out and about downtown.

We were in town for the weekend and ended up coming here for desert and wine two nights in a row. Great music, beautiful interior, amazing when selection and the best chocolate. The staff was great and we can’t wait to come back.

Loved this place. Was in town for the weekend and stopped by both nights! This is a great spot for before or after dinner. Great wines and the chocolates were creative and delicious. The staff was super helpful and friendly. Erik was great.
The Dragon’s Tooth 2012 red blend and the habanero chocolates were my favorites.

Love the chic décor and surroundings. This is where you go when you want to feel you are in downtown Chicago. Everything from the service to presentation of the food was done with care and consideration. This is where you go for girls time, date night before dinner or just when you are passing by

We had an hour to spend before another event and stopped in for a glass of wine. Ended up trying a flight of white wine (couldn’t decide on one) which is always fun. Also you create your own snack tray from a really nice selection of cheeses, charcuterie etc. Great concept and well done. We will be back.

After leaving Merriment Social we wanted to have some wine and enjoy more conversation with our friends. We decided to make our way to Indulge.
This place is tucked in amongst a backdrop of buildings and other restaurants right smack downtown Milwaukee. Indulge is really cool inside. Big mirrors and cream city brick and high tables with some of the heaviest solid steel chairs.
They specialize in desserts as well as meat and cheese. They slice it up to order and have more than a few to choose from. We tried a little of everything. What we chose was scrumptious! What we munched on helped me slip further into food coma!
Indulge is simply charming and the service was solid. Great nightcap spot and we enjoyed it immensely!

A great place to visit for all wine/​chocolate/​cheese lovers (pretty much everyone). Went there for a date night with the wife. We really enjoyed the wine and chocolate flight that the servers made for us. Great way to discover wine and chocolate, and to indulge the inner foodie.

OMG. Go here. My brain hurts as I search for creative ways to explain to you how great this place is.
Went here with the wife for 4:30pm wine, cheese, and chocolate. Christ. Amazing.
Wine flight called «bold & beautiful» was great.
6yr cheddar and blue cheese is great.
Cardamom cayenne and salted Carmel chocolate. Bam! Wow.
Pros — everything. Great place.
Cons — none.

This is a great little spot. Perfect for a date night
Some bullet points:
–Quiet atmosphere
–Good music
–Wine, Champagne Flights
–Small plates
–Chocolate truffles.

Indulge is easily the most underrated after dinner spot in Milwaukee.
Let me walk you through my first experience with Indulge.
It all started with a long day of drinking, a week or so before Christmas. The streets were frostbite, the air was brisk, and I was dressed to the 9s. It was tops.
My fiancée and myself enjoyed some cocktails and out-​of-​this-​world gourmet burgers from Elsa’s, just a couple blocks away. We decided (per some big words from my sister Jessica O.) that we needed to suffer the cold, and walk to Indulge. Now I had been looking forward to going here for weeks, my expectations were through the roof.
We walked in the front door to a dimly light, sparsely populated room. The glass case to our right was overflowing with the most perfect truffles I have ever seen. These bad boys should have been in a museum.
As our eyes feasted on the truffles, our ears feasted on some Louie Armstrong. This place easily has the best background music of all time. Every song that I’ve loved, but forgotten, played that night. The atmosphere was perfect.
We sat in the back, and started sorting through the menu. Now, this place isn’t cheap, but it’s not outrageous. The truffles will run you about $ 2 a piece, and the wine is… well it’s wine. You don’t come to a place like Indulge and pair your truffle masterpieces with cheap wine.
Anyway, we opted to share a pairing of 5 wines with 5 truffles to get things started. Sean was our, well I want to say waiter but that’s not the right word… Sean was our good friend and wine aficionado for the evening. Now I used to work at a vineyard, I love talking wine. I can’t tell you how nice it was to sit back, stick my pinky in the air, and discuss the finer things in life with Sean. This guy is incomparably knowledable. There are things he knows that are so obscure that they’d be impossible to know unless you had a real love for the subject. We left the truffle selection and pairing to Sean, and he knocked it out of the park.
Every pairing had perfect, absolutely perfect, balance. The more savory truffles were paired with wines that did not overpower the flavor, but cleaned your pallet so that every bite was like your first. The saltier truffles were paired with rich, full bodied wines that blended the two flavors into something entirely new. I have never experienced such a flawless combination of dessert and drink.
My fiancée and I shared those 5 glasses of wine and the truffles that went with them, and talked to each other over candlelight. I couldn’t remember the last time we’d done that. We ordered another glass of wine and a few more truffles truffles and left for home.
All in all the excursion cost ~$ 100 dollars, probably a little less. It’s not the kind of place you can go every day (well maybe you can, I can’t), but if you go once you’ll be counting the days until you get to go back.

PRO TIP: Open Table says you can’t book from 5:15 — 10:15 — YOU CAN. Just call. They probably aren’t full.
I avoided Indulge for the longest time because of this Open Table snafu, but finally, I couldn’t wait a second longer, and I called to see if maybe they could still fit us in. And they totally could. They weren’t that busy at all.
Anyways, my best friend and I settled into one of the cozy tables in the back and met Sean. So… time out for Sean…
Sean is awesome. We were expecting a friendly server who knew the night’s specials and would maybe make a recommendation or two about his personal favorites. Sean knew EVERYTHING. After hearing about the specials, we could tell that Sean wasn’t just reciting whatever his manager had told him to sell that night. He knew all about each wine offered, the region, the tastes, the story behind the vineyard, just… EVERYTHING.
I know very little about wine, so my friend and I seized the opportunity to pick Sean’s brain throughout the evening. He helped us select a delicious pinot noir flight, helped us learn about each one, and entertained us with some common misconceptions that people have about wine. But he didn’t hover or push us or upsell anything. He could tell that we were there to catch up with each other, and paced everything accordingly.
Okay…back to the wine. The pinot noir flight was on special for the night, «N», «Pinot Noir de la Chevaliere», and another from Purple Hands winery. We paired it with a giant basket of truffle popcorn, since the wine had us craving salt rather that sweet.
After that, we sampled the Bubblicious flight with a selection of truffles. The bubbles and sweets were a lovely way to end our night. We went with truffles that had a little spice to them, the Thai Peanut Butter, Cinnamon Cayenne, and Coconut Habenero were our stand out favorites.
We also tried the special crème brûlée of the night — which I have forgotten the name of, but it tasted like it was flavored with the mildest mildest MILDEST blue cheese on the planet. The comfort of a traditional crème brûlée with just that little hint of funkiness. It was a perfect companion to the lambrusco we were sipping at the time.
This is the perfect place to relax without the hustle and bustle of a bar or the pretentiousness of a ritzier cocktail lounge. The ambiance is warm, the truffles are delectable, and with Sean guiding you through the wines, you really can’t choose wrong. An absolutely perfect way to spend an evening.

Indulge has everything a wine bar needs: solid wines, knowledgeable bartenders, flights, and good bar snacks. Indulge succeeds in each of these respects. Try the truffle popcorn and the Italian wine flight … perfection …
¹³⁹⁄₃₆₅

Sensational in every way. The ambiance when you first walk is is very welcoming and relaxing. I am always greeted with a smile every time I enter. Working Women Wednesday is the best thing ever created. Each woman gets a free glass of wine with choice of a red or a white, our choices were a Merlot or a Savignon blanc. Both were delicious. We started the night off with truffles which melt in your mouth with an explosion of flavor that keeps you licking your lips. They have an extensive list of cheese and pairings of everything you can imagine. Plus they are always willing to teach you anything you want to know about wine. For example, I have no knowledge about red wines, so the waiter poured me a tasting of two good starter red wines and talked me through tasting them what each sensation meant and what tannings actually are.
This place is definitely worth the visit, and makes a great date location, or girls night out after a long wednesday at work!

Went to this place last night with my girlfriends after dinner, and it was the perfect end to a night out with the girls. Our server, Josh, was very helpful in pairing desserts and wines, making suggestions and helping us enjoy our evening.
The ambiance here is really trendy but still welcoming. This would be the perfect place for a date!

Somehow, when out with the girls, I frequently end up here. It’s obvious I suppose — indulgent bites, wine, friendly staff, and plenty of space and room to talk.
The wines are good. Truthfully, I don’t care for all of them, but I’m really not that snobbish about my wine. It still tastes good, it’s just not what I stock my fridge with. But, that’s why you try new things… to find new favorites and confirm old ones. Go for a flight, live dangerously.
I have only ever eaten two things here. Not because I don’t want to, but I always ate somewhere else. The chocolates are good! I’m not sure I can taste the clover dust or honeysuckle winks or fairy kisses that are in some of them, but it’s still chocolate and it’s still good. The truffle popcorn was an unexpected treat. I’m generally not fussed about TRUFFLE. But if you’ve ever destroyed a pile of popcorn while chatting with friends, just wait until it’s truffle popcorn. You’ll need more immediately.
I know you’re asking why I gave 5 stars when so far my review so far is just pretty good. Because when my girls and I come here, they keep bringing drinks, they are helpful and friendly, there is plenty of space and I don’t have to yell to be heard. It’s like a better version of your own couch and as good a reason as any to put on high heels!

I really love this place. We were looking for a place to get some small bites because dinner was hours away and this fit the bill. We got a couple of Carr Valley cheeses and they were all amazing. We also couldn’t resist trying a couple of their chocolates: limoncello espresso and bananas foster. I thought both were delicious, especially the latter. I wish they weren’t so small because they’re gone in seconds!
The décor is one of my favorites in the city. The chairs are comfortable even though they’re high because the table has a bar exactly at foot level. The chairs also have these hooks on the back to help you pull them out and also hang your purse!
I’d like to come back and try some of their macaroons. We were really tempted to get some then but didn’t want to spoil our dinner.

It would be a 4 if this place would just realize it’s potential.
The good: wine selection is awesome, prices are reasonable (I can attest to this as I know what they pay as well as what they charge), the chocolates (from Gail Ambrosious and Indulgence) amd charcuterie and cheeses are awesome, and I love the décor and feel if the interior. Server knowledge is generally strong and friendly. Music is usually pretty solid too.
The bad: cupcake quality is inconsistent (usually good, sometimes dry), business comes in waves (being at the front or tail end is good, but walking in during the middle can leave you waiting), chocolates tend to run low in availability by Saturday as they usually arrive early in the week
The ugly: not enough of a bar atmosphere (due to not really being a bar) to keep people drinking long when you have a group that doesn’t have enough wine drinkers, a location that screams for better business but doesn’t do anyrhing to advertise, and the sheer annoyance of having to pay to park. $ 6 to go have wine and cheese isn’t right.
If it was something closer to a bar, with a little less emphasis on wine and maybe sacrificing a few chocolates and charcuterie to add legitimate desserts, this would be more of a draw to Milwaukeeans who don’t necessarily appreciate the concept of what Indulge is trying to be.