Ray's Place

So amazing in downtown Eau Claire we went two nights in a row. First night got the French dip pizza…read more(wood fired oven!) which was great and then went back to get an outstanding burger made special by quality beef and three year old aged cheddar. Fabulously friendly young crew deserves special mention.

Huge thanks to the staff at The Informalist for accommodating a large group with short notice a few…read moreweeks back during our visit to Eau Claire. I think we had approximately 20 people and a couple joined last minute. I know this is not ideal for servers, but it worked out well and again, we so appreciate it! The Informalist was super convenient since many of us were staying at the Lismore Hotel. Since this restaurant is located in the lobby, it was just super easy and the menu has something for everyone. We ordered from both the pizza and regular dinner menu and many of us shared a bit of everything! The truffle fries may have been the biggest hit of all, so don't miss out on those! Pizza is fabulous too. We saw elote fries, a burger, caesar salad, steak and so many other things at our table. My favorite pizza was the Yellow Jacket, which includes red sauce, mozzarella, cheddar cheese, pepperoni, and spicy honey. My least favorite item was the salmon crudo, but the salmon entree was not bad. Ambiance is hip and trendy and feels a bit fancy, but we were all dressed casually. Interesting due to the name of the restaurant, but it works! If back in the area, I'd absolutely return. Enjoy!

Dining room

Scratch-made fare.

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London Fog Tea Latte

Northern Tap House

4.1(204 reviews)

4.8 mi

A guy from Eau Claire recommended this place. I got a Bloody Mary and it was great. Pizza was…read morereally good and my coworker had a steak salad that he liked as well. Good ambience and our server was a doll. I recommend this place for sure

My first visit. Well start with the positive - The place is…read morefairly nice inside a family sports bar vibe. The beer selection is pretty vast with some gems. But our food was terribly slow nearly an hour waiting for chicken wings and kids Mac and cheese. It came out warm-ish like it had been sitting for a long time. The boneless wings were overcooked to a dry rubber like texture. These were FAR worse than a McDonadls chicken nugget. I'd have complained but didn't see our server again and after an hour wait didn't care anymore, I should have listened to my 6 year old and gone to the arches but I came here because I didn't want to eat crap

Brick Oven Pizza + Craft Beer

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Outside sign

The Reboot Social

4.3(55 reviews)

1.1 mi

Happy vibes and truly mouth watering food. Special thanks to Cameron whose stellar attention and…read morepersonal recommendations made our first visit a great memory. Many of the all time classic board, table and arcade games all add in to make you feel glad to stick around and truly welcome. In our house we haven't stopped talking about the tenderness of the Philly cheesesteak for days now. Molasses bbq and even the cauliflower poppers were all honestly incredible too. Easily my new favorite local place to eat.

Atmosphere was cool and retro. Server was nice and attentive. The food was not great. Got the smash…read moreburger and it was alright. Not super flavorful but decent. The nachos were awful. 1/2 was inedible due to too much seasoning. Not like being picky too much seasoning. It was cap fell off the seasoning salt too much. I'm including pictures. It was disappointing.

My partner's smash burger - didn't try, but tastes amazing

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Butterbeer cocktail with Diet Coke (instead of root beer) - amazing !!

River Jams

4.6(66 reviews)

6.6 mi

Stopped in for a quick bite, and so happy we did. Live music outside right by the river, plenty of…read moreseating inside w AC to cool off if needed. Burger was fantastic!!

River Jams was great! We were in Chippewa for the day on a Friday and I'd seen good reviews online…read moreabout their first fry. It lived up to the hype! I thought the fish fry was amazing and drinks were very well priced, the vibes of the restaurant were great, overlooking the river. Our service was great as well, super friendly. I can't wait to go back and try the regular menu too!

Great beer on tap selection

2 sweet chili taco and one shrimp

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Great bourbon selection

Bijou Bistro

4.3(28 reviews)

2.7 mi

•$$$

Best restaurant in Eau Claire! Menu was colorful and each dish was beautiful! Seafood ravioli was…read moredone perfectly and very tender. My husband had the lamb and it was melt in your mouth good! Got to meet Tony the owner and chef which was a pleasure and he is from our home town! Wonderful experience and we will be back many times!! You NOT be disappointed!!

Our go to special date night restaurant. Chef owned with a changing menu. A small venue that keeps…read morethe intimacy at a nice level. Never disappointed.

Pan seared salmon

Very nice!

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The District Pub & Grill

3.6(102 reviews)

1.0 mi

This place is hit or miss depending on the day and the time. In general, I love it, but the staff…read morecan sometimes be clumsy at best. For eats, I can't recommend enough the Brussels sprouts. Their burgers are also excellent. I had some type of Paloma concoction recently that was da bomb, and they have a decent beer selection. There is one awesome bartender, and dammit, I can't remember his name but he reminds me of Ryan Phillipe.

Cute place, not too far off the river and within walking distance to a fun dessert stop, but the…read moreservice was less than stellar. It's the type of place you'd like to go and hang out it while watching a game. Menu for drinks is also fun. However, the wait for our food was nearly an hour and it wasn't crazy busy. I came into this experience very excited about the menu, but the execution was disappointing. We ordered "The Spread" with two different types of wings for our kids, along with curds and fried pickles. Our spread came out, after an hour wait, with only one of the wing sauces we ordered and it was not the one they really wanted. The pickles are extremely thin and very heavily breaded so it's hard to taste the pickles amongst the heavy breading. Curds were fine. I ordered the Balsamic Chicken Quinoa Bowl and to my surprise it came out cold. It wasn't cold as if it was made with cold ingredients, it was the type of cold that makes you think it sat for a while before being delivered to the table. If it is supposed to be cold, it should be notated on the menu. After waiting so long for our food we didn't even bother with asking for something else or letting the server know that things weren't right. We just wanted to get on our way to get to our destination. The server never acknowledged the long wait time or offered to do anything to compensate for it, which leads me to believe this may be commonplace at this establishment. I should have taken the warning from other reviews about the poor service, but since they weren't recent we thought we'd give them a chance to redeem themselves and earn a great review. Won't return.

Lots of space and very open!

Gyro flatbread chicken gnocchi soup

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Wisconsin Old Fashoined

Grand Avenue Café

4.4(61 reviews)

0.8 mi

Food is great and service is friendly. Tables are small and a little uncomfortable and parking is a…read morebit inconvenient, though.

Apparently this place been here since the late 1800's (the building) it's a nice neighborhood…read morediner. With regulars and just good fooods

Egg Benedict with a side of Hashbrown

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Inside

44 North

3.4(83 reviews)

3.2 mi

The food was delicious! The French dip the best! My wife had the patty melt on sourdough bread and…read moresaid it was a little dry. The fries were crispy. The coleslaw was amazing! We will be back.

Great food and great atmosphere. The first floor is mainly the arcade with a window for ice cream…read moreand a bar on the side. The second floor hosts the restaurant with a good amount of seating (booth indoor and outdoor). The prime rib burger was pretty good, as were the tacos and side of fries. The cheese curds however stole the show! Probably some of my favorite in the area. Our server/bartender was quick and attentive.

Mojito flight

Teriyaki Bowl w Salmon

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Pattymelt with fries

Randy's Family Restaurant

4.4(165 reviews)

1.0 mi

A traditional family-style restaurant which, if you are older than forty years old, is something of…read morea time machine that will convey you back to the days when most restaurants were "family restaurants." I savored the potato pancakes which tracked more towards a thinner latke-like variety than the thicker cake-like type. Ask the waiter to bring sour cream on the side and your taste buds will be transported to Cracow, Chicago's north side, or Cleveland on Dyngus Day.

This is a great family restaurant. This is an Eau Claire staple. It's been here for decades and…read morestill serves great food with great service. Your greeted with a small serving of warm vanilla pudding. I almost always get the chicken gizzards and have since childhood. The hash browns are perfect. Unfortunately the "pie lady" retired, so they have "pie in a cup" instead of the whole Pies. The place is very nostalgic for me, it hasn't really changed much in decades. And I like that.

Potato pancakes, eggs and bacon

$10 meal. So good! Reasonable prices. Pumpkin pancakes and hash browns

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The Joynt

4.6(49 reviews)

0.5 mi

I've been coming here for 50 years. Best damn bar in the Midwest. I miss the live acts, but the…read moreambience remains.

Townie bar. Cash only. Very dark wood and dark in general. A good dive bar. Tons of stools crowded…read moreat the bar, a few corner tables in the front, pool tables in the back. The walls are full of pictures of the jazz and blues musicians who performed there from 1972 to 1989. There are also 7 Crumb posters. And a huge old can collection above the mirror. It's a dog friendly bar so be warned of that. There is a juke box (not a TouchTunes or AMI, but an actual old school juke box). Drinks are super cheap. We're talking under $2.00 for a 10oz pour. There are several taps available and bottles. As it's a townie dive bar, they don't do fancy drinks or shots (a group asked for Lemon Drops and the bartender said "We don't do that" which makes total sense given the ambiance. Bartenders are nice. I'm still wondering if Lilly was able to get her lava lamp up and running.

Very kind staff. Cheap drinks. Great afternoon hangs.

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Ali K.

6 years ago

Ray's has the best hot beef or ham sandwich around. We love watching Packer games here, not just for the amazing halftime snacks, but also for the friendly service and comfortable vibe. The owner is a great guy and you'll often see him tending bar or cooking, which is a great reminder of how it is a small, locally owned tavern in the heart of town. read more

Courtney M.

11 years ago

BEST. BLOODIES. EVER!! I always feel bad when I go in there a little later at night and order one but they are SO good! The staff is always happy to make them for me too! Hot beefs are second to none... it's really the perfect little "dive bar". read more

Kyli S.

5 years ago

Staff is always so welcoming! It's nice to see the owner there jumping in to help his staff:)

Mary D.

5 years ago

Locally famous for their hot beef sandwiches. Must try at least once in your life.

Megan E.

11 years ago

Order the hot ham & cheese! but make sure you grab at least 10 napkins first :)

Mandy S.

7 years ago

Lots of history - family used to own it before it was Ray's.

Scott R.

4 years ago

Best roast beef sandwich you can get anywhere.

Ray's Place - bars - Updated November 2026

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Court'n House Bar & Grill

(101 reviews)

I stopped into Court N House after a meeting in the EC area for a quick lunch…read more I sat right down at the bar and was instantly greeted by the bartender. She asked if I had been there before and asked me what I wanted to drink and gave me a menu. I come to EC a few times a year and this was my first time at CNH but it wont be my last. I ordered a bacon cheeseburger (with crinkle cut fries) and an order of the cheese curds. Curds came out fresh, hot and crispy. Paired with their ranch, these were the perfect start to the meal. After that came out the freshly grilled burger and fries. This was a no frills burger, but it was exactly what I like. Nice char on the burger, melty cheese and crispy salty bacon. Each bite brought me to a family bbq that I was missing. Fries were hot and fresh, perfect in my eyes. CNH came in clutch for a quick lunch and I will be back!

If I could give a zero for service and atmosphere I would!! We came in on a Friday night for the…read morefish fry this place is supposedly famous for. What we found was the most unprofessional operation I have ever seen in a restaurant. It is completely evident to me that the owner of the establishment either is clueless, checked out or both! Either way, they are derelict in their duty to oversee this operation! Our bartender, Sadie, was far more interested in chatting with her friends at the bar and with the other staff than in serving actual customers. We had to flag her down just to ask for menus and drinks. And when we finally got her attention, she mocked us for it -- flailing her arms in the air at us -- and then served us like we were an inconvenience. We saw her treat other guests like this too! People had to flag her down to pay their bill! Or to get a refill! In the 90 minutes we were there, I NEVER saw her wipe down the bar to clean it, not ONCE even as wave after wave of guests came through. The bar was a MESS! Bottles sitting out everywhere, an empty pizza box sitting on the back bar, an empty popcorn machine with no popcorn in it was never used! Pathetic! She wasn't the only problem. The staff were drinking behind the bar -- including the manager, Jackson! Yes, the MANAGER was drinking behind his own bar on a Friday night, WITH GUESTS, and I never saw him ring those drinks up. So not only is he endangering his staff and the bar, he's stealing from the owner! Cobwebs were hanging from the signs. The whole place feels like an owner who hasn't set foot in it in years, and it shows in every direction you look. The only half redeeming factor of that place is that the food and tap beer was good. The one exception deserves her own paragraph: Rachel, the greeter, was the only person in that building working hard -- good attitude, smile on her face, real hustle. She was carrying the place, and she deserves so much better than the team around her. Rachel, if you ever take that work ethic somewhere that appreciates it, your customers will follow you! Friday fish fry is a Wisconsin institution, and this place trades on a reputation it clearly stopped deserving a long time ago. Alumni were coming in to eat, and I was embarrassed for the owner of this establishment! We will NEVER come back, and I would not send anyone I liked through that door!

West Hill Bar & Grill

4.3

(26 reviews)

Third time here and first review. In the previous visits I have had the pizza and the green olive…read moreburger; both very good. Today, I gave the their "Famous" Hot Beef a whirl and the sandwich was pretty tasty. A little salty for some (I believe); However, with the paired sauce in which they serve with it, was awesome! I had a few chewy pieces, but that did not detract me from enjoying the sandwich from start to finish. I sat at the bar, as I didn't need a table for one and it was going to be a quick lunch. I do enjoy bar service, and Peter (I believe) was the bartender/server for lunch service was very personable and recommend the hot beef, the dish I was after for this visit. Ambiance is a classic Wisconsin bar/grill with money taking machines (hopefully not) and of course, pull tabs. There are outside patio tables, as well as, inside table service. West Hill Bar & Grill is more than just a bar with food! Give them a try and support your local businesses!!

Nice neighborhood bar known for its hot beef sandwiches. They are big enough to share and are…read moreexcellent. They have daily specials and reliably good food and service.

Mogie's Pub & Restaurant

4.2

(61 reviews)

Hmm, this dilemma of having to choose a rating between four or five stars is a good one to have. It…read moremeans that businesses are doing a great job and Mogie's is one of them. We went there for veggie burgers on our long drive back to the Twin Cities. They do things our favorite way: you can get most styles with your choice of four patties, and one of them veggie, for a custom experience. The veggie one is a Gardenburger, not as cool as a home made one, which tempted me to drop a star. However, given what they are, a bar and grill, expectations should be tempered. For what they do, it is top notch. Service was wonderful. It was clean and low-key inside. Food was very good all around. We had the jerk style and Cajun style burgers. The jerk was very mild and had some intriguing spice in it that I really liked (cloves or nutmeg?). (Contrary to popular belief, the jerk is not named after me.) The Cajun was mild, but more spicy. The pub fries that we added to one were decent and the side salad upgrade with the other really hit the spot. The star of the show was the Buffalo chips appetizer: perfectly prepared crisps with light drizzle of sauce and bleu cheese. Less is more and they nailed it! Since we were driving and felt weary already, we didn't try their good selection of tap beers. I don't know if they have the best burgers in town, but we would come back for sure!

Another delicious burger and fries. Service was just ok. Drank a lazy monk, can't go wrong.read more

Westside Bar & Grill

4.0

(15 reviews)

The website does not have current menu pricing. I am adding a shot of the menu…read more We ordered the Westside burger, cordon blue bites and chili. The cordon blue bites were not so good. The chili is mid but the burger is delicious. The fries are heavily seasoned but pretty good. Prices match about anywhere else. The server was friendly

Went with a large group of friends and received excellent service. Each of us had individual…read moretickets and heard no complaints. Good food and varied menu. Outside and inside seating. Family friendly bar and restaurant. Good parking.

Burly-N-Bucks

4.8

(26 reviews)

I go here often. A local bar with really good wings, a variety of other foods and appetizers. They…read morealso have an upstairs with a pool table and more seating. It can get loud at times (usually on weekends) and the service is really good.

Stopped here on our way home from a wedding bc it was the halfway point and wanted to watch the…read morepacker game. Everything was fantastic! Wings, onion rings, burger and egg rolls on specials board. It was pretty busy, not a bar stool or table was left open. Staff was very attentive, zero complaints. It looks like they also have a cool upstairs area that's open to the bar below too. Pro: 1/2 block from Norske nook with tons of pies to go. Con: 2 hours from our house!

The Livery Restaurant & Saloon

3.4

(120 reviews)

Downtown staple, always a good experience. Food is good, service is always excellent and it's a…read moreregular stop in the downtown restaurant rotation.

The food hear is always solid without just relying on salt to cover mediocrity, and they will…read moreactually cook your burger to order instead of just giving you a medium/well done burger every time. It always feels loud inside, but the patio and upper level can help you escape. I ins supper time usually is busy, but it empties quickly. The Bob Jam was tasty with sweetness of the sauce and leaft arugula form the perfect opening for the punch of the gorgonzola. Salt levels were also good. 5/5 The sweet potato tots are always perfect - crispy outside, mushy inside - and that cinnamon sauce makes a knockout combo. 5/5 I'm guessing around 12 taps with a broad selection and not just the regulars. An 18% "living wage fee" is added to the bill. Burger, tots, and beer totalled $27.

Amber Inn Bar & Grill

(41 reviews)

Look up "Wisconsin" in a the dictionary and you will find a picture of this friendly neighborhood…read moretavern packed with happy locals all watching the game show channel and dining on the fish fry special. Found a spot at the bar and, after watching the classic Leinenkugel "starry night" sign put on its show and chatting wi the convivial barkeep about "Wisconsin winter weather", had the fish with two sides (salad and fries) and a Spotted Cow on tap. The food set the "pub grub" to a higher level. The panko-covered-fish and fries and generously-sized salad were great. Since the Amber is within walking distance from my apartment, I think I will be making it my Friday night go-to.

Pretty cool pub. Divey vibe. Plenty of TVs for sports. Plenty of parking. Food is good at…read morereasonable prices. Service is front a bit slow. Decent tap list. A place worth checking out.

Thirsty Badger

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We were in town for a softball tournament and called ahead to see if they could accommodate our…read moreteam. Walking into the badger it was cozy and felt like a cabin. The wait staff was ready and the processed our orders with speed and efficiency. The food is typical bar food with some twists. But was excellent and not typically greasy like you find in these local spots. Would highly recommend and will be back when in town again.

Mondays are BOGO burger day. What other reason do you need to visit? The burgers are big, really…read moregood and come with pub fries. This is my Monday go to spot when I'm in town. The staff is always friendly and the food is fresh. They also have great outside seating.

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