The Bay restaurant has been open for at least 2 months. I've got a few friends who have been regularly going here 1-2X per week and always asking me to go with. My rule is to wait at least 2 months for systems, staff and procedures to reach operational efficiency. Otherwise I've experienced spotty service mixed with either good or bla food. From newly opened locations. On the topic of spotty service. This building was not a good match with my phone the manager suggested I use the free Guest WIFI. This place is innovative to have staff use iPads to enter drink and food orders instead of clumping around POS terminals. Tsk tsk (Point of sale) I came in around 6:00pm 7/11/13 to try a new place. Instead of my old routine of the trivia buzztime. I was quickly greeted. Staff were all sharp looking dressed in black. Plenty of bottle beers range 4.00-6.25. Wine in club pours=(approx 9 oz) range 9-11. Menu was very easy select off. Each section had 4-6 choices. Ranging from 2-15 dollars. I was glad to find a majority of the menu that was to my liking. I really wasn't too hungry but I seen 2 people order the Andouille crusted cod, and they were happy. 1 other couple had a burger and cod. Since I'm a picky eater. I ordered the 14 inch pizza partially to go while it was busy and it came out within 10 minutes. It's a hand stretched crust with pepperoni and freshly pinched Italian sausage good for 2 people. The manager made rounds to check on how everyone's meal was. I think his name was Kevin, and he asked if I needed a box for my unfinished pizza to go. On the topic of going, they have a side door to exit across from the restrooms it can be a bottle neck if people are running food since they share the same hallway. They have metered parking up front while the back lot has 2 hour free parking. Most of the outside tables were occupied as the weather was great. Inside was 80% full. They were staffed up pretty good 3-4 tables per server. I sat at the bar. Bartender was friendly offering a drink menu and a food menu. Beer can get spendy if you have more than 2 same goes for wine. The food menu looks very professional while the Beer and wine list was done in two separate fonts giving the appearance of Cut and Paste I hope they continue to add and change till the final edition. I could see coming back for the pizza, steak sandwich. Food: 4. The chocolate cake is house made without flour. I'm sure it's unhealthy since it tastes so good! Moderation and self restrain in this case is called for. Ambiance: 4 Cloth napkins and fancy utensils. A nice mix of old B/W pictures and local paintings. Dark ceilings and dark wood tables chair and bar. The seats could use a bit of padding if you plan on staying for a game. Service: 5 Very attentive. Location: 4 Value: 3 I can't drink like I want here so one beer is my limit. $$ two max. 3 beers exceeds the price of most entrees and the meal is price is now doubled?? Grrr. Please upgrade the bun for the burger. read more

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I ordered the Bay Burger ($10), which is topped with cheddar cheese, bacon, a fried egg and "Bay Sauce." The burger patty is grilled per the description, but didn't taste grilled. The patty didn't have much seasoning, so not much flavor. The fried egg was a beautifully cooked sunny side up egg, but when I broke the yolk, not much flowed out, which helped prevent the burger from being too messy. The Bay sauce was pretty good. I couldn't make out specific ingredients, but it was a little spicy. The house made chips looked appetizing, so they must do a nice job keeping the cooking oil clean. They would have been good with the right amount of seasoning. They had none. My friend ordered the house made tortilla chips with her chicken sandwich, which she enjoyed. I tried one of the tortilla chips and thought it was great. I would buy a bag of them to take home and eat with guac or pico. The menu has six burgers/sandwiches, four salads, and four entrees. Some items on the menu are changed out frequently. Some of the entrees looked good, such as the Andouille sausage crusted cod, but I'm leary about a chef who can't make a great burger. It was good, but not great. I'd call it a $6 burger, not a $10 burger. I might go back to try an entree - maybe. read more

The Bay - Bay Burger with house made potato chips - New American Near Me - Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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Went tonight - server actually discouraged us from staying - "we're too busy" when we could see open tables. Wait staff must have been lazy. There are better options for the price and better quality than this. read more

This is more a bar with good food than a good restaurant with a bar. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, but The Bay feels more like a bar with the high-top tables and TVs showing sports than it did a restaurant. The food was generally good. My wife and I enjoyed the buffalo chicken wrap. The place offers a $2 split fee, which I don't object to, except they do not split the food. I think if you're going to charge a split fee, it might be expected you'd separate the food onto two plates with nice presentation rather than deliver the food one plate along with an empty plate. The side salad was good and fresh. We also ordered the "loaded" baked potato with an upcharge, and I expected more than a tiny, overcooked baked potato with an ounce of cheese and a handful of bacon bits. I'd definitely recommend skipping the baked potato and sticking with the fries or coleslaw. Service was good, the ambiance was okay, and the food quality ranged from very good to mediocre. So, our The Bay experience was a little inconsistent. read more

The Bay has consistently pretty good food and a laid back atmosphere. Can get very loud inside and lots of kids. The patio is the draw. Service wasn't great on my last visit - one server to inside and outside tables - but ok. It's a "fine" restaurant with a good patio and family friendly spot to meet up with friends. read more

My first time here and it was horrible. The roasted veggie appetizer looked so unappealing, I didn't even try it. Had it sent back. The cod dinner was barely fried and mushy. No flavor at all. The buffalo chicken salad was not good. Chicken had a weird after taste. Only ate 3 bites. Will not be back. It was a waste of money. read more

great patio nearby to bayshore but out of the craziness of it. diverse menu of salads, pasta, pizza and apps. lot of people around me were ordering wine ... I passed, but I definitely took notice of their generous pours! waitress recommended their BBQ chicken watermelon balsamic salad ... a combination I've never heard of so I figured it was worth a try, and was pleased I did! the pairing went together well --the balsamic glaze was incredible and the watermelon really fit on the salad (I think I need to start making these myself!). read more

The service was extremely slow. I ordered the classic lasagna and it was aweful hardly any cheese and sauce was terrible all you tasted was the oregano read more

Just tried this spot after moving to whitefish bay a year ago. We ordered the Buffalo cauliflower and 2 Cobb salads. The app came and it was maybe 8-10 pieces of cauliflower. For $13 I was expecting much more food. Then our salads came out as our main dinner dish, 4 cut baby tomatoes, 1/4 of an Avacado, 8 small bite size pieces of pre cooked/refrigerated chicken, a small handful of candied walnuts and one hard boiled egg...man this salad was SMALL! I told the waitress for a $15 salad I was expecting a bit more to eat. The food was great but the portions were so incredibly small and not filling, I'm still hungry I'll give this spot 2 more try's, once for brunch and once more for dinner. If you're expecting to be full on their salad, go elsewhere, if not you're paying for over priced romaine lettuce ‍ read more

Just ok. Nothing special. Limited outdoor next to street seating and at lunchtime in the summer it's in the sun and hot. I had a toasted cheese sandwich but I've had better. Doubt if I'll be back. Too many other places to pick from. read more

I'll start off by saying the food was excellent, but it stops there. The service was horrendous. The server wasn't running around super busy either, it was rather slow actually. The icing on the cake was running our debit card for three times our bill, because she ran the card on some other groups tab from a totally different table. Totally avoidable and unacceptable. 5-7 days for the reversal to go through. Of course the server apologized but, come on comp me a beer or a dessert. Of course we still left a tip but we tipped accordingly. Unfortunately for her it was our 10 year anniversary and was planning on tipping at least the cost of the bill. I don't see myself returning. read more

Wow - I'm smitten! The staff is friendly and playful from the moment you walk in the door. The food is absolutely top notch - they take the ordinary burger and offer several combinations of toppings - I went for the western - bacon, bbq sauce to start. I asked for medium and it was a perfect medium - very flavorful, juicy. The bread was toasted and was able to stand up to eating the burger without falling apart. The "made to order" chips really went over the top to make me happy. The wife had a club sandwich with potato salad. When you look at the 2 halves, you know this is going to be one of those situations where you don't put down the sandwich - you gotta finish what you start in one sprint and she had no problem. Everything was fresh, tasty and hard to imagine how it could have been better. The potato salad wasn't quite best-of-show, in contrast to everything else. While it wasn't "bad", it didn't have much flavor. Veggie daughter was quite taken with the Veggie Wrap - fresh veggies with a perfect, crisp texture stuffed into the wrap was "just amazing" to quote someone who has only eaten veggie food for a few years now. She was very happy with the pasta salad - tasty, fresh, everything she could have hoped for. Did I mention that the staff is really great here? I really like the way they engage with us - friendly, cheerful, eager to talk but never too "talky". Samantha was great in helping us navigate the menu and did a fantastic job getting the food out to us quickly and making sure our glasses never went empty. Kudos! You owe it to yourself to step in here and give it a try. I don't think you will be disappointed. read more

I like this place alot! Quick service despite having what seemed to be just one waitress! She was working really hard but still really nice. I like the food as well. It's not super fancy but nice to go for lunch during the work day. The salmon cakes are really really good! read more

The food is pretty decent. Not too hard to get a table. Nice staff. Although if you want to dine outside, think again!! Their outdoor tables and chairs are dilapidated, rickety wooden furniture that needed to be used as firewood years ago. We've eaten there several times this summer simply because it's close to where we live, and every single time we've sat outside, the chairs have either creaked and wobbled so badly they've caused us to spill a drink, or the splintering wood has given someone in our party a sliver. EVERY time! Each time we visit, we mention this to an employee of the restaurant, and they laugh it off as though it's somehow charming. If you're reading this review and you want to eat outside, but don't want to yank splinters out of your legs and hands, bring your own chairs!! read more

Hosted the Yelp Supper Club at the Bay tonight and James did not disappoint. We began with the homemade potato chips fresh from the fryer served with a very tasty french onion dip. The second appetizer was Milwaukee con queso served with three different types of taco chips. The chips were fresh, but I would have liked more spiciness in the queso, For my entree, I had the aged cheddar burger cooked medium. Since the burgers are ground fresh from local steak, I was not afraid to order a bit more rare than normal and it was very good. Another Yelper actually ordered his rare and seemed to enjoy it. Other orders included the cedar plank salmon and chicken BBQ pizza. Everyone seemed pleased with their selections. If you've not tried The Bay yet, give it a go. I have always had wonderful service and a great meal. They also have a good local beer selection, but alas no draft beers. read more

The Bay - Burgers and appetizers - New American Near Me - Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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Great food, fast service. Busy. Not recommended for a romantic meal. Parking can be challenging.

Outstanding food. Had the pulled pork sandwich and the meat was done perfectly plus the sauce was delicious. They are willing to take special requests with no attitude. Never disappointed with my selection. read more

Service was good and friendly and decor is pleasant for a casual lunch or dinner (with kids). Food is decent - salmon salad was tasty with spinach and grapefruit complimented by a horseradish dressing. My husband ordered a chicken sandwich which was mostly bun and not much chicken. All sandwiches come with tortilla or potato chips or a salad for an upcharge - no fries though. Beer selection is also decent, but nothing offered on draft. read more

Live music, fully stocked bar, and gluten free labels on the menu. The food is good, but not great. I recommend trying their seasonal salads. read more

Great food but the service can be slow and spotty. The patio is a nice spot in the summer. read more

The Bay - New American Near Me - Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Loved the outdoors! Great food and drinks selection. Their salmon appetizer and pasta was super delicious and brings an interesting twist to meals with variety of Moscow mules. It's a great place to be in summer with great food and company. read more

The seasonal veggie burger is awesome! For summer they have the beet based patty and it is absolutely delicious. The brioche bun is a plus. Everything from my previous reviews stands. I just wanted to rave about the new veggie burgers. read more

Good burger. Didn't really enjoy the ribs. Had a few other dishes which were average.

The food and service here have improved since opening tramendously! We go regularly and really enjoy it. Great patio during warmer months

This place was awesome. It was my first time last week and I'll be taking my husband in the near future. If you're a wine drinker - drink the wine. Their wine portions are HUGE and the Cabernet was absolutely amazing. It had a very small hint of sweetness. Yum! My friend and I ordered the chips and dip as an appetizer and of course they were good! I had the quinoa spinach salad which was super good. I was unsure of how I'd like the dressing lemon honey vinaigrette. It didn't have much of a lemon taste, which was fine by me! For 4 glasses of wine, an appetizer and 2 salads our total was $70. A little expensive but worth it. I'm trying to eat healthier - so it was really hard not to order a burger or other items on the menu, but after taking a peak at a few of the plates around me, I don't think you'd go wrong ordering anything on the menu. read more

The food and service were superb! Especially my server Alexi who was super funny and helpful and cute :) she recommended the Brussels and the salmon which were to absolutely die for! Great vibes and environment too. Can't wait for my next visit!! Alexi, thank you for making my experience here so special! read more

Food was so so. Service was so so. Fish fry ok but came with HARD STALE bread and a baked potato that was so undercooked that I could barely cut with a knife. Server never asked how it was or I'd have mentioned it. Salads were served in small (4" across, deep but narrow at the bottom) bowl. At $14, this is gouging. The salad contains about $2 worth of ingredients. Nachos had canned cheese on them. Chips were terrible. We didn't even eat them. read more

Warm and cozy little bar/restaurant. We stopped here only because we had pulled over to look online for nearby restaurants. Very plain menu offers burgers and chicken sandwiches with fixings you can find pretty much any American restaurant. We visited on a Sunday and the menu was even more limited which made it tricky for me because I'm very picky! At first I kinda wanted to leave but I'm soooo glad we stayed. We ordered a burger and it was amazing. Nice quality meat cooked to perfection. Big side of fries were crispy. Food was hot, well presented. Way better than I expected! Friendly server took good care of us. We will likely return when they offer a full memu. read more

Fairly disappointing experience. Atmosphere is consistent with a typical Wisconsin bar that serves food. Plenty of seating for dining. We arrived for our meal at 5ish on a Saturday and the place was actually pretty busy. The joint has a pretty limited entree menu and the first dish I ordered, it turned out they were out of stock. I then ordered the lasagna, which was passable but nothing to write home about. My wife had a fish dish that had an unpleasant sauce on it. My son's meal was not put in, so he ended eating off our plates. I would pass on this joint. read more

By The Bay, For The Bay. The slogan alone ensures it will be a hit. The Bay is a great new local joint serving sandwiches, salads, seafood, burgers & pizza. My dining partner & I shared the Aged Cheddar Burger & Andouille Encrusted Cod. Both absolutely phenomenal & cooked to perfection. The Andouille Encrusted Cod had a perfect blend of flavors & a spicy bite that did not overwhelm the fish. The presentation was 5 star. The Burger has all the makings of an iconic burger & was served with made to order potato chips. Our server was attentive & orders are expedited via mini I Pads. The Community oriented Bay prides itself on buying locally. Décor is modern yet casual with big beautiful picture windows & historical photos of Whitefish Bay adorning the walls. read more

As I've watched North Oakland Avenue in Shorewood explode with business-activity in the past year or two, it was with moderate anticipation that the family and I went to "The Bay" in the heart of Whitefish Bay's sleepy little boring business district on East Silver Spring Drive. Was this new restaurant going to start the revolution, that WFB families have waited so long for: A GOOD-REASONABLY PRICED FAMILY FRIENDLY restaurant? Not so much... We came to dine in the 6 o'clock hour on a Thursday. Being a beautiful night, all the outside seating was taken, but I wanted to really check this place out so sitting inside was fine. It was about 70% full inside. The decor is pretty simple and straight forward. Maybe even a bit boring. There definitely was no "vibe" although, they seemed to be trying to create a concert vibe from the 80's by playing Journey, Soft Cell, and Survivor at near concert volume. (See my review of El Guapo's, the now defunct restaurant that was the former tenant.) On to the food! Our server was friendly and we ordered drinks, and after perusing the very simple menu, we ordered a simple app: Chips & Queso cheese. The chips were homemade, and pretty decent. The Queso seemed to be straight Velveeta, with a pinch of onions and peppers added--served at 5 degrees above room temperature---Not a good start. Main courses ordered were: The Bay-ffalo Chicken sandwich, steak empanada, and a Waldorf salad. So in order: The Bay-ffalo Chicken Sandwich was rotisserie chicken chunks on a bun with a hand full of iceberg lettuce and chopped celery. Beyond the clever name-play we thought it would be a Buffalo-style chicken sandwich, but the special "bay sauce" was so flavorless, as to be indescribable. There was definitely no Frank's Red Hot in the building. The "buttermilk blue cheese" ordered on the side, turned out to be a large thimble full of crumbled blue cheese... My wife's order of Steak Empanadas was mistaken to be the Hanger Steak dinner, so my wife was left to watch us eat, while they hurriedly corrected her order. The waitress apologized, the manager came over and apologized, and the owner apologized when he presented my wife with her empanadas. They've got the apologizing thing down pat. My Waldorf salad seemed to be a wedge of iceberg with 3-4 burned grapes and charred walnuts, in some kind of dressing, that the closest I could describe it was watery ranch. The chicken seemed to have either been boiled in water, or perhaps microwaved, as it was about as flavorless as you can make chicken be. My wife was comped her empanadas, and there were a few more apologies thrown around, so it's not like they aren't caring. I have heard that this is perhaps a starter menu, and that they are going to slowly ramp up to the good stuff in the coming weeks-months. I can only hope so, or this place won't be around to celebrate the New Year. read more

The Bay - Bay-Fallo Chicken Sandwich - New American Near Me - Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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Just okay. I went here because I saw the martini flight in their photos and it looked really good, but turns out it was seasonal. The hostess was not welcoming at all, either was the waitress. The food was alright. I probably wont be back because of the unwelcoming vibe read more

There will forever remain one unanswered question in my life: how do the residents of WFB deal with such bad restaurants? Totally empty early on a Sunday evening. Extensive wine, beer and cocktail list (but none of the beers are on tap). We skipped the appetizers and ordered entrees. The waitstaff here plugs the orders into iPads, so you'd think it would be accurate. Nope. 2 screwed up orders, 0 apologizes, subpar food. We've given The Bay 3 chances and it hasn't ever come close to good. I think their food is arbitrarily priced - $9 for a tofu stir fry with veg and peanut sauce seems quite low, while $16 for a restaurant pizza seems a bit high. I get why families keep coming... It's close enough and (I guess) good "enough". Skip it, folks! read more

They don't have s clue how to run an establishment. Food average at best. Service below average Prices on the nigh side compared to quality and portions are small. Management doesn't really care if you have an issue. Finally there were drinks on our bill that we never ordered. To bad to sad another one will bite the dust. read more

Took my extended family there this past Sunday. 16 people including six kids arrived unannounced and The Bay staff took it all in stride. The service was excellent especially considering the size of our group. Two servers took our orders. I had the Bourbon BBQ Chicken Pizza. The crust was crisp yet chewy. The pizza pared well with a Spotted Cow. Our total bill was extremely reasonable for the number of guests plus drinks. We'll be back!! read more

Slow service, drinks are way overpriced, no beer on tap, no specials even on a Friday night. Food was subpar wouldn't advise going here. I have tried it twice and won't be trying this establishment again. read more

I have been holding off on a review but I think now is the time. The Bay is a beautiful space located on Silver Spring. The service is always excellent. Seating inside and out when weather permits. They offer club pours on wine and bottled beers in addition to cocktails. The food has not been so good. I think they are trying to strike a balance between upscale and kid friendly. I hope the quality and presentation improve. For example, on the burgers I wish they threw the buns on the grill to be slightly toasted before serving. Perhaps some more interesting sides like vegetables or mashed potatoes. read more

Good ingredients and nice combinations guarantee a good meal. Peach Raspberry Cosmo yummy. Nice beer selection. Turtle cheesecake was a generous 2 person slice. Exceptional taste: stuffed dates & Cosmo. Exceptional hospitality: At the end of our meal we got caught in a cloud burst, were driven back inside and were served complimentary coffee and tea. Greater promise than delivery: roasted veggies appetizer a little underdone, none of the beautiful crisp or carmelization implied in roasting, although the red pepper sauce was very nice. The roasted beet salad was slightly disappointing the beets unroasted, added chicken uninspiring and the walnuts pretty average. The dressings/sauces were excellent. The decor was very nice, maybe slightly slightly worn around the edges. Still, price point and location was great for the quality and menu choices. I'd definitely go again and ask for my roasted veggies to be truly roasted and any added chicken grilled or blackened, or stick with the salmon my partner had, which was done perfectly. read more

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I've been to this location twice now. And like previous reviews I am trying hard to like it since there is not a lot of choices in the neighborhood. Food has been great but they really need some better service. We went there on a Saturday night and it wasn't busy (maybe 4 other tables total) and it took a good 7 mins just to get our waitress to come greet us and get our drink order. When she did come in she smelt like cigarette smoke. Anyways, we will probably have to give it another shot...eventually. Great vibe though! read more

The Bay fills the void of a nice place to get a drink, beer or glass of wine -- previously the only bar in downtown WFB was in the Fox Bay Cinema. The Bay also has excellent food, from homemade chips and dip to seriously good entrees. The atmosphere is relaxed but classy. Live music every Thurs (and occasionally other nights) adds to the appeal. During temperate months, outdoor seating is available. read more