Mainstream Bar & Grill

Out go-​to place when we want to grab a bite from a casual spot.
I love that they don’t use prepared ingredients, especially with their black bean burgers.
Staff is friendly, and the food keeps us coming back.

I went to Mainstream Bar and Grill with my wife. She had a Caramel Creamtini which she thought was excellent. I just had my usual diet soda.
We then moved to our main. We both decided on the $ 10 build a burger. They’re format is fantastic because you buy the protein and then the rest of the toppings are included — cheeses, veggies, bacon, egg, condiments, etc. if you can’t decided, they have some favorite suggestions listed, too!
Our burgers were both overcooked a bit. I asked for rare and got more medium. She asked for medium rare and got more medium well. However, the flavor was still excellent and they were both juicy. I tend to send them back when they’re over, but I thought these were still okay.
Excellent burger, I thought. I did American cheese, bacon, mushrooms and tomato with some sauces in the side. Really liked the whole thing.
We finished with the cheesecake in the wonton. It was ok; nothing really special.
Daniel was an excellent wait person /​bartender. He kept our drinks full as needed and made sure we had everything we needed.
Overall, I was very happy with the experience and would recommend Mainstream Bar & Grill. If you’re looking for a burger from a local place in Waukesha, it’s a good spot.

I have been here many a times with colleagues, as we have been in the Waukesha area on business for quite a while now. We always seem to have a good time here. For a bar and grill type place their food is excellent. Good beers on tap, service has been good generally, the atmosphere is very comfortable, and karaōke night just enhances the experience! We will definitely continue to come here for a drink and good food. Highly recommend for a bar in DT Waukesha.

The cheese curds were a great appetizer. I had their sunrise burger, which was the best sunrise I ever had due to the blackberry jam. Great service, and great atmosphere.

I came in for a drink, but I keep coming back for the food! Their fish fry is great and their wings are awesome! I love this Thai peanut sauce that you can get for the wings. It’s really different and delicious. You get a good amount of food for the extremely reasonable prices. I sometimes have a hard time finishing an entire order of boneless wings! The food is all cooked in plain sight behind the bar so you know that they aren’t doing anything questionable with it. To top it all off, the service is always exceptional. I’ve been here several times and both the quality and service has been consistently excellent.

Ok this place was not in my book marks or on my radar because a guy at work keeps talking about this place so I finally stopped by. The place is in down town Waukesha with street parking so when they are busy it must hard to park. I keep hearing about the tator tots and I should try them.
The place is in a nice old looking brick building so I didn’t know what to expect and to my surprise it was nice. The walls and ceiling have color with a nice exposed brick wall behind the bar. The place was a little more up scale looking compared to the average neighborhood bar with nice dark padded chairs and high tables. The front window is a stage area with a movie screen playing the game. There is flat screens to catch the game in all directions. There was about 15 different taps to choose from along with a full bar. The kitchen is open and at the end of the bar with a real char grill.
The menu has burgers, apps, chicken, wings, flat breads, sea food etc. I know I was told to get the loaded tots but when the back of the menu is mostly Angus burger creations and build your own so how could I possibly resist. I would have the blackened blues seared rare with a soup side.
I started with the jambalaya soup which for some odd reason was served in a Coffey mug with a plastic spoon, see my pictures. The soup was very hearty with meat in almost every bite but was not home made but way better than chunky so it was acceptable considering I’m in a bar and not a full blown restaurant.
The burger looked amazing when it hit the table, see my picture. It was tall with a knife holding it together and I could see drips of juice on the paper which is a good sign. I unhinged my jaw and went in for the kill and I was slapped in the face at how tasty it was. The char grill flavor of the beef bounced off the smokey goodness of the bacon mixed with the other fresh ingredients really popped even though I didn’t get any blue cheese flavor and for all I know it was not there. That being said the one missing flavor didn’t hurt or take anything away from the burger. The burger was very juicy and cooked to perfection. I was really impressed that a bar is putting out such great burgers in down town Waukesha.
My service and food experience made for a pretty good lunch lunch today and exceeded my expectations or this down town local bar. I would defiantly rock another burger from here, two thumbs up.

Had fish fry and barbecue chicken flatbread. Fry was a little, little greasy but not at all bad. Flatbread was flavorful, my daughter picked out onions but I liked it.
Very surprised at how many families with young kids were there for dinner on a Friday night.
Music playing was great mix.
Overall would go back to try a burger next time.
Slightly pricy for what you got.

Took my friend here for her 26^th birthday celebration. They didn’t make it special and were not particularly nice. Not an awsone experience — had potential, but we had more fun at the Salty Toad. Oh, and there are dogs on the bar. Like on the bar. Not on the floor running around with other dogs, on the bar you receive your drinks.

Mmmmm food was great! Server/​bartender was efficient and nice would def go back for some grub and or another Packer game!:-) Wings are kick ass honey bbq sauce is soo good!!!

The food was fantastic. Service great too! Loved the Friday fish fry and funnel cake fries – among other things!
Highly recommended!

Best burger I’ve ever had! They have sweet potato fries which are delicious! The staff is so friendly and courteous, good selection of beers and great ambience!

Expensive but good food. Need to visit at least once. If your a first timer and don’t like to stand or wait, go on a Weekday or a Sunday when there are no football games

This local bar and grill is a gem in the heart of Waukesha! After searching for a good burger restaurant in the area we decided to check out Mainstream. This place has now become our go-​to stop for a GREAT burger! The entire backside of the menu features their «build your own» concept. Based on your main selection (beef, chicken, veggie, etc.) you can create your own burger with any combination of limitless toppings including fried egg, guacamole, bacon, cheese, sauces, and many others! They also offer a list of suggested combinations in case you’re having trouble making a decision. Each burger comes with a side of tots or fries.
The bar itself is not large so it can be difficult finding a table on a Friday or Saturday night. Also, keep in mind that everything is made on one grill top behind the bar by one of their great cooks so wait times could be longer if it’s busy. Keep an open mind — this is a great local establishment with awesome food!

Burgers cooked from frozen pre made pattys. Cheese curds are a flavorless joke.
The only thing worth eating here are the chips.
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The customer experience was awkward with the staff ignoring you at the bar. The young kid working the bar was to involved with his vapor device to serve you, I had to ask him to help me he never offered. There were only two customers at the bar at this time.
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If you enjoy cheap processed tasting food, this is the place for you.

My boyfriend and I came here on a Friday night around 11:00 pm. The place wasn’t super busy– seemed to be mostly regulars. The atmosphere was definitely calmer than some of the rowdier bars that are more geared towards the college crowd. It wasn’t obnoxiously loud and we could actually hear each other while dining, but it was loud enough to enjoy the eighties (?) playlist they had playing. The servers and bartenders were both very friendly.
The food menu has many tempting options, but ultimately we decided to split a black angus burger and substituted the sweet potato fries. The beers on tap seemed to be standard, and drink prices were comparable to other places in the area.
In summary, our visit was very good and we will definitely be back for more due to the delicious food, great location/​atmosphere, and servers.

Popped in to this place midweek for a quick meal with friends. I wasn’t that hungry but the waiter Dan recommended the Super Tots. Had a couple beers while I waited. The tots were excellent with cheese, bacon and ranch sauce right on top of them.
My two lady friends ordered custom burgers. This is what this place is famous for. The kitchen is right next to the bar, in fact it’s built into the bar. The burgers are big and they look really tasty. Each week a new burger of the week is featured.
Service was a little slow, but we didn’t mind. At the end of our visit the karaōke DJ was starting to get warmed up.

I need to say up front that my only connection to this place is eating here a couple times, I don’t know the owner or any employees. In my opinion the burgers are excellent, among the best in town. The cheese curds are world class, only matched by The Great Dane in Madison. Good service too.
I really tire of reading low rating reviews by wannabe restaurant critics nitpicking every f$$king bite they took. Especially the assclown whose fiancé got onions when she ordered no onions. Do you know how to handle that, Mr. Nitpicky restaurant critic? YOU SEND IT BACK! Every kitchen makes mistakes, give them a chance to fix it. If they don’t, then give them a low rating. Idiots like you don’t understand that people who own indie restaurants usually have every penny they have on the line and work 80 hours a week. Then some jerk off gives them a low rating because his girlfriend can’t be troubled to take onions off a sandwich. But you think you’re a big man because you can give every place you eat a mediocre rating.

Stopped by for dinner here, and ended up getting burgers. They were really good, good meat cooked perfectly, with whatever toppings your heart desires. We sat at the bar, and the service was also good. Beer selection was ok, but not great.
Only one problem. The furniture in this place is a little weird. The barstools are heavily padded and are kind of broken down, and there is no footrail on the bar. This makes for an uncomfortable dining experience. I ended up standing most of the time. Otherwise, we enjoyed the experience.

Great burgers where you build your own by selecting meat then cheese and 15 toppings and 16 dressings. Steak angus chicken veggie and tuna are the meat choices. All served with choice of home chips, tater tots, sweet potato fries or super tots (filled with cheese and bacon). I had the southwest which is off the chefs build list and it was amazing. This is your classic grill or bar grill and all cooked right there. A good variety of other main courses such as scallop tostadas. Also chicken wings which I will come back to try and write a review.

Here’s the thing…
I spent $ 10 for a burger loaded with as many toppings as I could list off before the guys hand started to hurt from writing; bacon, lettuce, tomato, portabella mushrooms, fried onions and pickles. And once I built what I was certain was going to be the best burger in Wisconsin, it was still $ 10.
It came.
I ate the whole thing.
And I didn’t where the beef came from.
Should I have? Maybe, but it was damn tasty.
You can get fried tots on the side covered in insane toppings or plain.
And the owner is solid. Really nice guy.
So to bring it all home… you can flip over the menu front to back to front to back to front to back a bajillion times, but you’re not going to find thousands of local farms listed. And it’s sort of ok, because there are plenty of places that do that, and these guys just make great food.