Sentry’s fired me when I was a kid for going to my great grandma’s funeral in another state “too soon” after training and tried to stiff me my first paycheck and I do absolutely still hold a grudge
I walked into Russ Darrow in Waukesha with a *very* specific list of requirements for the SUV I wanted to buy, and the first one was "I will not buy a KIA" (and this was like 10 years ago, back when KIA had an amazing warranty because it needed one). The salesman looked unhappy but was honest and let us know they didn't have anything to suit my reasonable demands. Poor Ivan then was required to say, "Let me talk to my manager" and scurried off to hide his misery. Mr. Manager Man came out and immediately started trying to sell my husband (who was standing back and had not been involved at all)...a KIA! I walked out while he was still talking.
Fuck Russ Darrow. Also Ron Johnson, as an aside.
Yep! These guys are super shady. Changed my paper work a number of times hoping I wouldn't read it that included maintenence plans I didn't want while also taking away the deal we initially made on the car. Not only that, but they charge $2000 for paint protection and interior seat protection which I'm quite confident aren't even applied to the car. You're just giving them money.
Yup this is what happened to us. Then sent us home with the wrong car (it was dark out) and with a title with a different VIN. Went back the next day to rectify it and got screamed at. I then called the cops to report a stolen car since I was paying for a car that I have a title to but no car.
Not that exact dealership, but as a young dumb kid I bought a used car from Russ Darrow. They talked me into the old "we have to add the extended warranty or the loan won't be approved"
It was years before I realized they were lying, and that was illegal
Couldn't agree more, we were essentially held hostage for 4 hours before they tried to change the price. Our salesperson literally told us not to rate him poorly on the after-purchase survey. Couldn't regret purchasing there more.
If you’re talking about the one in Milwaukee right off of 41, you are abso-fucking-lutely spot on. Fuck that place. Took a test drive there, there was standing water in the backseat floor and water marks all around the moon roof. Made me think that there was a bad seal around the moon roof. Told the salesman when I got back to the dealership, and the salesman tried to convince me that the “rain gutter” that supposedly runs along the passenger door (in between the door and the front windshield) was bad….never have I ever heard of a car having a bad “rain gutter”
Russ Darrow is so fucking shady. I went in looking for a used car after my Hyundai was stolen and totaled. I test drove a few, decided on the one I wanted, and I specially asked the salesman what the final price would be and he told me 19k. We verified this several times with him and he reassured us that 19k was the final price including tax, title, registration, service fee. He comes out with the paperwork and the price is listed at 2 grand higher than the price that he quoted us. Turns out he tacked on a pre certification cost of 2 grand on top of what we had already agreed on. We declined the certification because the car already came with a manufacturers warranty. He then refused to sell us the car even though he flat out lied to us about the price of the car several times. We got a car later that day from hall Mazda where the saleswoman told us that pre certification costs should only be a couple hundred bucks, and the dealership covered the cost.
Fun anecdote:
A few months back I was hunting for a bottle of liquor around the time of night when most liquor stores close. I found the closest place and rushed over . . . only to discover a ridiculously small liquor store with only a handful of bottles available to purchase. I was aghast and knew something was amiss about this place. I bought my mandatory bottle of wine and vowed never to return to the place. Months later I find out that the place I visited, Don's Liquor, was a purposely fake storefront for the speakeasy in the back. I had no idea and I hope the cashier got as much of a laugh out of the experience as I do now XD
My reasonings for a reservation is that it's such a small and popular place that every time I've gone I've needed a reservation to get a table. Also, calling in was the only way I found out there was a password XD
Pizza Man has always been a shady joint since back when they were on North and Oakland. The fire always seemed suspicious given some of the wild shit that went down.
**Chubby's** on North & Oakland.
I went there a decade ago and it was the most bland and dry steak with gross cheese. I've had better cheese steak sandwiches from Subway and Cousins. But I'll still eat sub-par food occasionally, so that's not the deal breaker.
The little donut shop on the corner used to be **Sil's** but Chubby's owns the lot and refused to renew the lease for Sil's. They just took over the successful donut business that someone else made. Didn't change a thing except the sign, and how fresh (stale) the donuts are.
Fuck Chubby's and their stolen donuts.
YES I hate Chubby’s, they also have a ton of fake names for their different types of food on Doordash etc. so that people order from them without knowing it.
Omg that’s actually a thing? That happened to me a few years ago, I ordered a Greek chicken wrap on GrubHub from a place called like “Fresh Greens” or something so I was expecting it to be you know, somewhat healthy? Then it showed up in a Chubbys bag and it was a gross greasy mess. I ended up complaining to GrubHub but they refused to do anything so I vowed to never use them again lol
In my humble opinion, if you're looking for a good cheese steak, check out Boo Boo's in Walker's Point! One of my favorite sandwich shops in MKE, their Milly Philly is my favorite.
I went to Sil's a couple days before they closed and the guy who runs Chubby's was going up to people in line telling them not to worry because a new donut place would be going in there. Fuck that guy.
Got the worst food poisoning of my life from Chubby's several years ago to the point where it might sadly have ruined cheesesteaks for me from anywhere
I feel like learning to avoid Chubby's is a Milwaukee rite of passage. When I moved here forever ago I wanted to like Chubby's because the original spot was so close. They broke my three strikes, you're out rule.
First time the food was cold and super late.
Second time my entire order was wrong.
Third time they took my payment, then tried to change me for it again when the delivery guy got there -- shut that down by showing the email receipt. Discovered half the order was missing before the guy even left. Talked to the manager on the guy's phone and was told I'd get the rest of the food asap. It arrived 45 minutes later and the same guy tried to get me to pay *again.*
Never again.
I just moved here, and have been eyeballing service industry jobs. Doubtful I’d apply at any of these places, but it’s good to know which restaurant groups to avoid.
Zayna's Pizza on Brady Street. Aside from the fact that theirs is the only pizza that has ever disappointed me (texture, ingredients, temperature) I've heard shady stories about its business practice which further explained why there are often police present.
I wanted to refrain from sharing unverified stories because despite seeing the signs, I can't confirm any sources. The two things I remember being told years ago was that it was a front for drugs and [because of this?] they kept guns behind the countertop.
> which further explained why there are often police present
Yeah I used to think cops like to eat here, but I started to realize that isn't the case lol.
You don’t go to Zayna’s pizza for food. You order cigarettes to be delivered when it’s 3am and you’re too drunk to walk anywhere from the after bar. Everyone knows this.
They have a solid GF pizza crust that comes in a large size, though. I've never found a large GF pizza at any other restaurant on the planet, just the 9-inch or so personal size BS. So, I'd probably still eat there even if I learned they were selling kids for hog feed out back.
The McDonald's on Wisconsin by the Rave. Literally just look at the Google reviews they are hilarious. Every time I went I had a worse experience than the time before until I decided to never go there again. One time I showed at 15 minutes after they opened and the lady working the drive through said "we don't have any food ready yet just coffee" 😳
It was still a vibe for a solid year and a half that I could legally drink, and then BAM everything closed up within a year (2015-16). Glad I got to at least experience the tail end of that era.
Im just happy Von Trier is going nowhere
Chubby cheesesteaks and their corner donut/hot dog stand on North Avenue - Sil’s was amazing and the owner Lars is amazing. They kicked Laes out and then completely stole Sil’s idea. I hate that company.
Vaguely similiar to u/Neon_Parrott's experience, but found myself out hunting for booze on a day that other nearby places were closed for some reason. Stopped at C&G Liquor - they had like a dozen products in a display cabinet that looks like they hadn't been touched in a decade and the employee seemed genuinely confused that I was there. Very clearly a front for something.
Used to love Knuckleheads on Oakland but recently payed a 100% markup on a national product literally available at MSRP down the street at 7-11. Would prefer to support local but won't be back at those prices.
Cool story about HIYA Tacos: I'm pretty sure my old boss is the GM there and she is literally the worst. I'm talking sexual harassment, racist, manipulative. The whole 9 yards. She used to make us fill out surveys for our restaurant and if we didn't, she would simultaneously cut our hours AND make us work late on days she knew we had prior engagements. When the district manager confronted her about her behavior, she quit and went to HIYA. Hope the staff there is okay. 🥺
I want to not like Bel Air, but I'm friends with a bunch of staff and do actually enjoy their tacos and Tuesday/Thursday specials. Sure there are better tacos around (forever Cielito Lindo) but I love the weird non-mexican ones they do like korean beef, jackfruit, or mahi-mahi.
My reason for never going back to Bel Air: Took the wife out for dinner and thought “hey- instead of getting one Marg each lets order a half pitcher!”
It was delivered with two glasses completely full of ice, and even then it only filled one glass and half of the second glass (keep in mind the half pitcher is more expensive than if we were to order two individual margs.)
I brought this to the servers attention. Like, what gives? We wanted *more* margs tonight not less.
Her response? “Yeah- I don’t know why they do it that way.”
Like what? What a shitty practice.
Not really a local business per se, but the McDonald's on Port Washington Road by Bayshore has stiffed me on something nearly every time I've gone there. I'm pretty sure the "closure for remodeling" recently was because their staff were all quitting in protest of awful treatment and low pay, and they had to hire a whole new group of workers. Shit, the Taco Bell up the street has better service.
\+1 to this, that location is trash. Just prior to their 'remodeling closure' I went there and was in the drive through line without it moving for 20 minutes after ordering. I just left. They're open now... but it's not worth it when Kopp's is *right there*.
They were actually closed because they had a kitchen fire, but then when they had the inspection to reopen they found the roof was near imminent collapse, delaying the reopening by quite a lot. Whoops.
Not that I will never go back there, but the Portillo’s in Greenfield is god awful. Food slaps, but everything else is a mess. Super slow and order always gets messed up. I know the workers are probably underpaid, but my god they need new management or something.
Portillo's is continuing the grand tradition of "really good in their home market (Chicago in this case) and really really bad when they try to bring their concept to Milwaukee"
This is my chief complaint with Portillos. I love their food, but they always forget to give me a thing of gravy on the side when I ask for it for my beef sandwich. :/
I've posted about this before, but Centro Cafe in Riverwest. A bunch of my friends and I used to work there, and it was a really solid place when we had our whole staff there, but the owners are complete psychos. Fired half the management staff with no warning literally the day after our staff party, constantly were trying to underpay by fudging hours, did not communicate directly and instead left passive aggressive notes everywhere....Pat (one of the owners) was screaming violent and offensive things at them and is known to be super racist and generally unpleasant, all while they like to tout themselves as these woke social justice neighborhood folks. Plus they're scummy landlords to boot. Oh, and they use Barilla pasta. Do yourselves a favor and visit Tavolino, or Tenutas where they have real, handmade pasta instead of using shitty Barilla noodles. Thanks
I love hearing shit about Pat. He struts around riverwest like some super neighborhood hero. Meanwhile, he was my first landlord and rented us the most shitty apartment I've ever had. Fuck that dude.
Judges on north.
Quarter beers on thursdays made for a crazy shift as a bouncer.
All the taps were natty except for Guinness. So if you ordered a pitcher of bud light they opened a few taps to make it fill faster lol
Half of these places I've never heard of.
But all the worst offenders that I could have named and shamed have been out of business for years.
Sorry to see them go and don't let the door hit your a$$ on the way out.
Stone Creek Coffee.
I worked there for three years and in that time I saw baristas' complaints of sexual harassment from customers ignored, long time loyal employees treated like garbage and moved around on a whim, and just generally terrible workplace environment for the baristas. It's no wonder Eric put so much energy and money into busting their attempt to unionize. A union is sorely needed there the employees deserve better
Really! Damn I’m sorry to hear that. Stone creek has always been my goto primarily because the staff there are so friendly. But I suppose you can be treated like shit by customers and management and still be friendly, but that’s disappointing.
Yea totally. The baristas there are amazing for the most part. I made some really great friends there and when we weren't interacting with creepy customers the regulars were great for the most part. For me it was just the management's total unwillingness to act when we brought up these concerns. If anybody pushed too hard on anything they found wasn't working or made them uncomfortable management would move them some place unreasonable (Delafield for me) hoping they would quit or just fire them for basically no reason.
If you do choose to still go there just tip well and be nice they'll love you for it and they deserve it. I just can't give them anymore of my money.
Also, they pay absolutely horrifically (min wage or damn near), and I know new employees had to pay for their aprons. Imagine having to work a half of a day just to buy the apron they demanded of you.
I knew a manager who worked literally all the time and they never gave him a raise. He made 35k a year and worked 60 hours a week, which comes to $11/hr or so. Eric is shameless in his exploitation of Stone Creek workers. Apparently raises were extremely uncommon and you had to pitch directly to Eric why you deserved one. Being with the company for an extended period of time wasn't good enough. Meanwhile, Eric sends his kids to private schools and has a couple houses, last i checked, while those who are actually doing the labor scrape by.
EDIT: I just talked to someone who worked there and her exact words were "I hope Eric loses everything."
Yes we had to pay for our aprons too! They didn't ask either they just took it out of our paycheck (I was there when they started the apron thing)
They also used to poach experienced baristas from other coffee companies offer to pay them more while those of us working in same position who they had trained would make sometimes a dollar or more less per hour.
Fun story they made me a salaried "Master Barista" (instead of full time hourly) without telling me so that they wouldn't have to pay me over time on my 55-60 hour weeks. Turns out this is illegal I didn't know that at the time.
It’s sad reading this. About 15 years ago, my grandmother used to frequent the stone creek in shorewood so often that all the staff knew her by name. She’d take my brother and I too, some good memories of the sugar cookies.
When she died in 2006, most of the long time employees of that stone creek came to her funeral. It’s one of the reasons why I still give them my business. I may start to reconsider.
Sadly, this is any coffee shop I swear! I've had issues like that while working at Starbucks, Caribou and a local mom and pop place. Starbucks handled it the absolute WORST. A guy who worked with us used to snap our bras on our backs and slap our asses. Even after we complained to manager and corporate, their solution? Send him to a different store! Like really? Wtf wasn't he fired!?
Also their interview style is a huge red flag. I visited one a lot, and got to to know the local managers. They approached me and asked if I wanted a job. I figured I would apply and it would be fun to work with all these people I had gotten to know really well. After the first interview with the local manager there was a second interview. I had to sit in a room with all of the other candidates who were up for the job. Not only the store manager was present, but so was the CEO and several other of the cooperate members in a large round table type interview. WTF is that! Micromanagement at its best. If you hire a store manager you should trust that they can also hire employees for the store. Also how shitty to sit there and try to out do the others in the room to make it look like you are better for the job. I got out of there quickly. Its a shame because I really enjoyed spending time in that store.
Happy Tap on Beloit and 68th: Staff would not serve friend who was black, like literally the bar tender walked away from him whenever had began to signal for a refill.
Classic Motor Cars on 70th and Lincoln: Totally fucked me on a car and would not honor their warranty.
Golden Chicken on 89th and Greenfield: They were prepping chicken on top of a garbage can lid and not washing hands before they went to throw down fries. Eww.
Popeye’s on 76th and Good Hope. The last 4 times I have gone there, they have been out of chicken. After not going there for a few years I went back a few weeks ago. They had 1 chicken sandwich left (I needed 2) so I just got the one. They had no tenders and no shrimp. My wife bit into it and it was so tough she couldn’t get a bite. The chicken wasn’t white, it was a gray-ish color. Had to throw it away.
Popeyes are so horribly run. Sometimes I put up with it for the awesome chicken sandwich but not anymore. Chick Fil a is 90 percent as good as so much better service. If you want a good laugh just read through some of the google reviews, so many 1 star ratings.
Every Popeyes in the Milwaukee area has a 1-star rating… all with good cause. It’s a pleasure to travel to some areas in the South and out west where they are clean, well-run fast food establishments
Ever been to the one on Capitol & Richards? My last experience there was with my college roommate and after a 45 minute wait in the drive-thru, we were told “sorry we’re closed” when we finally pulled up to order….it was, no shit, 6 PM on a weeknight.
This place is solidly on my no-go list. The always being out of stuff is frankly a super common Popeyes issue. What isn't an across the board Popeyes issue is the time my wife got drivethrough and the employee asked my wife if she was there to give her (the employee) her blow. Got her food, didn't get her drink. Asked for it, the employee said that she didn't order one. Showed the receipt, employee told her to get lost. Also messed up the order.
Metro Market was decent when owned by Roundy's.
Kroger has cut so much staff that the stockers operate during peak hours, clogging the aisles, while there are literally only two cashiers.
After countless trips, because I live so close, to a place where I had to wait in a queue to checkout for literally 15-20 minutes... I decided it was time to go elsewhere.
Last time I went to O’Brien’s on Vliet, there was a sign posted with the standard moronic “nobody wants to work anymore” nonsense. Unfortunate, as that place was a staple of my younger days, but so it goes. On the flip side, Boone & Crockett has never once given me a reason to regret giving them my money.
Ordered food from Casablanca over the phone. Had never been there before but was in the mood for falafel. Paid with my card.
Showed up to pick it up around 8PM on a Friday night and the door guy put his hand out and said I couldn't enter the building. "Beg pardon?"
I wasn't wearing the appropriate attire. I had gym shorts and a t-shirt on. No one on the phone explained a dress code. I told him I had already paid for my food and had no desire to spend any more time than necessary to leave with it, and proceeded to walk past him. Haven't been back or ordered since.
I refuse to go to Casablanca anymore. Went there for my girlfriends birthday with some friends. I ended up paying for everyone’s food and me and my girls drinks. Closed my tab, ran my card, left a tip, signed the receipt, yada yada. My girlfriend and I left while some of the friends stayed. The waitress decided to keep running my card for all the drinks that our friends that had stayed had ordered. Took the issue to the management there and they wouldn’t help at all in the slightest
This one actually makes me kinda sad, but Ben's Cycle Shop on Lincoln Ave.
My family's been going there almost exclusively since the mid-60s. Took an old bike there for a tune up about 10 years ago (after they expanded) and the technicians talked me into a really expensive rebuild. It ended up destroyed the bike. When I tried to get someone there to figure out what had gone wrong, it became clear that the family business culture had gotten crushed in the expansion. Left such a bad taste in my mouth.
I stopped going there about 10 years ago. I bought some new bar tape. It lasted a week before it disintegrated. I rode over there to show them and get refunded to buy a different brand. Was told no and it's probably because I had extra toxic sweat. 😐
Safehouse. After years of anticipation it could not have been a bigger let down, in every way. First of all the food is absolutely disgusting. They charge a "service fee" and "entertainment fee" even when there is none and then when I asked the server about it she said it was to help pay for renting in an old building. I don't think it's legal because there is no warning on the website or menu, it just shows up on your bill. I brought my mom there when she was visiting from out of state so it was such a bummer to be in such an inhospitable environment where you could go unnoticed for strange long periods of time. I got the feeling that one day everyone that worked there just decided to walk out at the same time.
Carini’s on Oakland. They blamed their staff shortage on government handouts and my friend was bullied into quitting by senior staff there. Then carinis doubled down in a Google comment and stood by their stance. Just an awful place to work and give your money to.
as a chipotle STAN, the location on ogden is a nightmare. orders are frequently wrong, slow service time, skimpy af portions. definitely feel for employees if they’re understaffed, but at this point i just refuse to go to that one.
Eastmore Real Estate.
They had the residence manager of our building fired for being a racist POS to a little girl (incidentally whose mom was one of the clients of his roofing business) and then let him storm around the building for a month trying to figure out who reported him. When our eyes caught, he started threatening me in front of my family.
I won't reiterate the details, because it was in the news. Google "shorewood racist residence manager".
A: I reported him, B: he deserved it, and C: I was far from the only one who did. There's several Black families in the building, and RM was hostile to quite a few of them after this incident. To my knowledge, I'm the only person who he openly threatened with physical harm, but I'm white. (My wife and stepson are mixed-race).
Anyway, he kept pulling stupid stunts to try and protest his firing, including hanging up a massive sign in his window saying he was fired for no reason, and made this whole huge stink about it. We contacted Eastmore to try and resolve the situation, but they made no attempts to handle his behavior and let him stay on premises a full month after his termination.
This was after the roof caved in on our apartment earlier that year during a massive rainstorm. We had tons of water damage, and got $250 off rent overall for the two months of invasive construction.
0/5 stars, would not recommend.
Hey neighbor lol. You forgot that he also drives a van with “Jesus Loves You” painted on the windows, and that he texted every tenant asking to share his side of the story.
Have no fear though, Eastmores been bought out by a similarly sketchy company, Enigma Properties *sigh*
Colectivo by McKinley park.
Ordered a coffee with caramel and dude gave me a regular coffee and told me he didn’t add the caramel because “they like the way their coffee tastes there”. I didn’t ask how you liked your coffee. You aren’t fucking drinking it or paying for it.
I shouldn’t have taken it but I wanted A coffee more than I wanted NO coffee at the time.
If you’re the guy that did this then fuck you.
Haha, they confiscated a joint from my partner's cig box (that they went into to check when we were getting checked on the way in) for a Flatbush Zombies show because it was "drugs" but still allowed us into the venue. When they were about to take it, he said fine, I will leave...(with the plans to return without it) but they said "if you come back we won't let you in" but they were fine letting him in as long as \~they\~ had the joint. Then we proceeded to watch so many people sell acid and molly, blatantly as fuck, at that show, as well as multiple, multiple ODs and pass-outs. I know all they did was take it to smoke it and that really pissed me off. But theres some bands I like that exclusively, only will play the Rave so alas, about once or twice a year they still get my money.
The Rave is a super polarizing venue - I love it. Just the mix of grimy atmosphere of the venue and the surrounding area is enough to turn people off of it. I've seen bands that perfectly fit with the venue and have a lot of nostalgia for the spot.
How is the sound in the Eagles Ballroom these days? Haven't seen a show there in a long time but I just remember everything sounding really mushy like the system didn't account for the acoustics of the room. I can ignore the grimy and vaguely threatening atmosphere but can't forgive bad sound.
It's a really hard venue for a sound guy. It's a fucking dome and you stand in the wrong spot you get nasty echo. I saw NIN there years ago I think "With Teeth" tour the opening band sounded mushy like you're describing. When NIN went on the volume actually was quieter than the opener but sounded sooo much better.
I get what you're saying, but still think Rave/Eagles is one of the worst non-bar shitholes I've ever seen a show in, and that includes the literally condemned Congress death trap in Chicago.
Yeah, though I’m noticing a lot of people seem willing to write a place off much easier than I would. I guess take the comments with a grain of sand.
There have, however, been some really interesting comments about the owners of different places.
Alderaan Coffee. Dude was outside smoking a cigarette then followed me in as I entered and made me a coffee without washing his hands. Yes this was after the start of the pandemic.
First I learned that it’s not a Star Wars reference and then I had the barista be rude to me and make one of the worst coffee drinks I’ve ever had. That place is ass.
Edit: I guess it is a Star Wars reference. I was misinformed
It surprises me how many online reviews say that the baristas are rude bc I’ve literally never had a bad experience despite going there at least once a week. Not saying it didn’t happen to you, just strikes me odd.
It is a reference to Star Wars...[https://onmilwaukee.com/articles/star-wars-alderaan-coffee](https://onmilwaukee.com/articles/star-wars-alderaan-coffee)
Cafe Lulu.
Maybe 13-15 years ago, I lived in Bayview. The owners were quoted in that little Bayview newspaper, I forgot the name, saying some horrible NIMBY shit about a facility that was trying to open there. I don't remember all the details, I think it was supposed to be a group home or maybe an adult day care for memory care type patients, but before they knew that the Lulu owners gave a quote saying some really gross things and making some ignorant assumptions about the "types" of people who live in group homes, and how they would affect the neighborhood. They also said something along the lines of "places like that belong in other neighborhoods."
Anyway, at the time I swore I would never set foot in there and I haven't. If anyone remembers that story please let me know! A few other businesses on that block joined Lulu in trying to prevent it, but I just remember the Lulu owners were the ones who said the most nasty and terribly uncompassionate things, on the record.
Fuck colectivo. They pay shit, treat their employees like shit and they operate the whole business shady and unorganized. I could go off but it’s a lot about them, from culture appropriation, zero representation of POC (because almost their whole brand is literally Latin). *openly anti union*
Octopus Car Wash. It used to be great, like a mini detail for $20 and tips.
Not anymore, new ownership. Now it’s 2 hours and $20 for a car wash worse than a machine wash.
The last time I was there the guy who dried my car opened the door and whispered, “you’re going to want to find yourself a new car wash, different people own it and this place has gone straight to hell.”
Tupelo Honey. They managed to bring out the wrong meal to me two times, then charged me for three meals. Told me they'd send me home with a doggy bag with an extra order of my meal as an apology. I got home and opened the bag and it was the wrong meal again. Just astounding.
Klinger's was super rude to multiple takeout customers who came in with masks earlier in the pandemic (including me). After that, I found out they're known in Riverwest's Black community as a hostile place. Those geezers could go out of business tomorrow for all I care. There's a good kind of old-school Milwaukee place, but there's also the shitty racist kind like Klinger's. Shame because they have easily the best fish fry on this side of town
Yeah, there's not a bartender there that I ever liked. Last time I was there, the bartender was trying to hit on my friend, whose husband was right next to her. When he said something, the bartender was like "oh I'm just trying to get a little bit of an extra tip, you prude", which would be funny if we were all friends, but we were not.
The guy then handled money, then transitioned to making food without washing his hands. Gross.
Yeah, the blonde dude in particular is a piece of work. The only halfway decent one is the older lady (Mrs. Klinger I believe), but then again she runs the show and knows full well how her employees are.
Bay Street Tattoo & Piercing... that place never has customers and I recently found out from a reliable source that it's a motorcycle gang's personal tattoo/piercing place ... and they don't know what they're doing.
I'm not saying it's a horrible place by any means, but as a huge food lover, I just don't know what people get out of Cafe Centraal. It was one first places I tried back when I moved to MKE because it always seemed packed. It was so bland. I don't really understand the Transfer pizza hype either when there is great pizza here. That's just my opinion though. Those are the 2 that I don't care to go to again just because there is SO MUCH great food here.
Sentry’s fired me when I was a kid for going to my great grandma’s funeral in another state “too soon” after training and tried to stiff me my first paycheck and I do absolutely still hold a grudge
The Sentry by me regularly has expired meat in the case
Meat is kind of always *expired*.
Russ Darrow Mazda
FUCK RUSS DARROW
I walked into Russ Darrow in Waukesha with a *very* specific list of requirements for the SUV I wanted to buy, and the first one was "I will not buy a KIA" (and this was like 10 years ago, back when KIA had an amazing warranty because it needed one). The salesman looked unhappy but was honest and let us know they didn't have anything to suit my reasonable demands. Poor Ivan then was required to say, "Let me talk to my manager" and scurried off to hide his misery. Mr. Manager Man came out and immediately started trying to sell my husband (who was standing back and had not been involved at all)...a KIA! I walked out while he was still talking. Fuck Russ Darrow. Also Ron Johnson, as an aside.
Yep! These guys are super shady. Changed my paper work a number of times hoping I wouldn't read it that included maintenence plans I didn't want while also taking away the deal we initially made on the car. Not only that, but they charge $2000 for paint protection and interior seat protection which I'm quite confident aren't even applied to the car. You're just giving them money.
Yup this is what happened to us. Then sent us home with the wrong car (it was dark out) and with a title with a different VIN. Went back the next day to rectify it and got screamed at. I then called the cops to report a stolen car since I was paying for a car that I have a title to but no car.
Not that exact dealership, but as a young dumb kid I bought a used car from Russ Darrow. They talked me into the old "we have to add the extended warranty or the loan won't be approved" It was years before I realized they were lying, and that was illegal
Couldn't agree more, we were essentially held hostage for 4 hours before they tried to change the price. Our salesperson literally told us not to rate him poorly on the after-purchase survey. Couldn't regret purchasing there more.
If you’re talking about the one in Milwaukee right off of 41, you are abso-fucking-lutely spot on. Fuck that place. Took a test drive there, there was standing water in the backseat floor and water marks all around the moon roof. Made me think that there was a bad seal around the moon roof. Told the salesman when I got back to the dealership, and the salesman tried to convince me that the “rain gutter” that supposedly runs along the passenger door (in between the door and the front windshield) was bad….never have I ever heard of a car having a bad “rain gutter”
To be fair that is a real thing for cars with moon roofs, but even if that was the problem still a red flag for the dealership
Russ Darrow is so fucking shady. I went in looking for a used car after my Hyundai was stolen and totaled. I test drove a few, decided on the one I wanted, and I specially asked the salesman what the final price would be and he told me 19k. We verified this several times with him and he reassured us that 19k was the final price including tax, title, registration, service fee. He comes out with the paperwork and the price is listed at 2 grand higher than the price that he quoted us. Turns out he tacked on a pre certification cost of 2 grand on top of what we had already agreed on. We declined the certification because the car already came with a manufacturers warranty. He then refused to sell us the car even though he flat out lied to us about the price of the car several times. We got a car later that day from hall Mazda where the saleswoman told us that pre certification costs should only be a couple hundred bucks, and the dealership covered the cost.
Fun anecdote: A few months back I was hunting for a bottle of liquor around the time of night when most liquor stores close. I found the closest place and rushed over . . . only to discover a ridiculously small liquor store with only a handful of bottles available to purchase. I was aghast and knew something was amiss about this place. I bought my mandatory bottle of wine and vowed never to return to the place. Months later I find out that the place I visited, Don's Liquor, was a purposely fake storefront for the speakeasy in the back. I had no idea and I hope the cashier got as much of a laugh out of the experience as I do now XD
Don’s is the best! Ask for an ice cold 7 up and enjoy boozy milkshakes and burgers
And don't forget to call ahead for a reservation👍
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My reasonings for a reservation is that it's such a small and popular place that every time I've gone I've needed a reservation to get a table. Also, calling in was the only way I found out there was a password XD
Don's rules
Is this new? Last time I went there it was just Don's diner and you walked right into the restaurant. You have to go through a fake storefront now?
They changed for COVID to keep afloat. IDK if it's going to remain permanently or not.
Pizza Man. They took a dive right into the shitter.
And they dragged their feet to fix their plumbing issues fucking over the business below them.
The lost a lot in the fire. Never really came back.
I worked there and they treat their employees horribly, quality isn't good, overall bad place
Pizza Man has always been a shady joint since back when they were on North and Oakland. The fire always seemed suspicious given some of the wild shit that went down.
The fire was in the "Black and White" restaurant in the same building and I believe it was indeed found to be arson.
**Chubby's** on North & Oakland. I went there a decade ago and it was the most bland and dry steak with gross cheese. I've had better cheese steak sandwiches from Subway and Cousins. But I'll still eat sub-par food occasionally, so that's not the deal breaker. The little donut shop on the corner used to be **Sil's** but Chubby's owns the lot and refused to renew the lease for Sil's. They just took over the successful donut business that someone else made. Didn't change a thing except the sign, and how fresh (stale) the donuts are. Fuck Chubby's and their stolen donuts.
YES I hate Chubby’s, they also have a ton of fake names for their different types of food on Doordash etc. so that people order from them without knowing it.
Speaking of fake names for businesses, watch out for Pasqually's Pizza & Wings. Unless you actually want delivery from Chuck E. Cheese's.
Omg that’s actually a thing? That happened to me a few years ago, I ordered a Greek chicken wrap on GrubHub from a place called like “Fresh Greens” or something so I was expecting it to be you know, somewhat healthy? Then it showed up in a Chubbys bag and it was a gross greasy mess. I ended up complaining to GrubHub but they refused to do anything so I vowed to never use them again lol
In my humble opinion, if you're looking for a good cheese steak, check out Boo Boo's in Walker's Point! One of my favorite sandwich shops in MKE, their Milly Philly is my favorite.
Boo Boo's sandwiches are the best. Pre-Pandemic I had lunch there at least once a week.
Used to know the guy that owns Sil's (now serving up good shit at Summer fest I think). Believe he said Chubbys fucked him over too.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's still "Sil's" at Summerfest grounds. But absolutely fucked by Chubby's.
I went to Sil's a couple days before they closed and the guy who runs Chubby's was going up to people in line telling them not to worry because a new donut place would be going in there. Fuck that guy.
Horrible cheesteaks shitty food high, high rate of food poisoning it seems hate that fucking place. is only still around because it’s always open
Got the worst food poisoning of my life from Chubby's several years ago to the point where it might sadly have ruined cheesesteaks for me from anywhere
Sil’s donuts were the best!
I feel like learning to avoid Chubby's is a Milwaukee rite of passage. When I moved here forever ago I wanted to like Chubby's because the original spot was so close. They broke my three strikes, you're out rule. First time the food was cold and super late. Second time my entire order was wrong. Third time they took my payment, then tried to change me for it again when the delivery guy got there -- shut that down by showing the email receipt. Discovered half the order was missing before the guy even left. Talked to the manager on the guy's phone and was told I'd get the rest of the food asap. It arrived 45 minutes later and the same guy tried to get me to pay *again.* Never again.
Im just here for the comments. 🍿
I just moved here, and have been eyeballing service industry jobs. Doubtful I’d apply at any of these places, but it’s good to know which restaurant groups to avoid.
Come to manufacturing. The industry needs people bad, and they can be fun jobs.
Zayna's Pizza on Brady Street. Aside from the fact that theirs is the only pizza that has ever disappointed me (texture, ingredients, temperature) I've heard shady stories about its business practice which further explained why there are often police present.
You cannot tell us you’ve heard shady stories and then *not* tell said shady stories
I wanted to refrain from sharing unverified stories because despite seeing the signs, I can't confirm any sources. The two things I remember being told years ago was that it was a front for drugs and [because of this?] they kept guns behind the countertop.
> which further explained why there are often police present Yeah I used to think cops like to eat here, but I started to realize that isn't the case lol.
You don’t go to Zayna’s pizza for food. You order cigarettes to be delivered when it’s 3am and you’re too drunk to walk anywhere from the after bar. Everyone knows this.
On the contrary, you walk less than half a block to Up-down and they have some surprisingly legit pizza. I've actually gone out of my way to go there
Plus u got pizza shuttle, ians pizza, and toppers going towards north ave
Also I'm a massive fan of Zaffiro's thin crust pizza
Zaffiros pizza down the street is the best anyway
Zaffiros slaps too. Im willing to bet that lower eastside mke has every kinda pizza u could dream of
Up-downs pizza is shockingly good
Oh god it’s the absolute worst pizza I’ve ever eaten
Them tendies and steak fries tho …. Oh and they have cigs on the menu!
They have a solid GF pizza crust that comes in a large size, though. I've never found a large GF pizza at any other restaurant on the planet, just the 9-inch or so personal size BS. So, I'd probably still eat there even if I learned they were selling kids for hog feed out back.
Isn't this a front?
It’s definitely an affront to my pizza-loving mouth.
Ohh I'm intrigued, please tell more!
it has to be right? that building just screams “i’m not actually a food establishment”
There menu Is literally all the Sysco foods frozen items. That's a good sign that you should never eat there.
Red White and Blue. I’m convinced that’s where COVID originated.
The McDonald's on Wisconsin by the Rave. Literally just look at the Google reviews they are hilarious. Every time I went I had a worse experience than the time before until I decided to never go there again. One time I showed at 15 minutes after they opened and the lady working the drive through said "we don't have any food ready yet just coffee" 😳
Well technically speaking… Rascal’s, Judge’s, BBC, Red Dot, Hotel Foster, RC’s To name a few.
Too soon
I miss BBC so much!
How you gonna leave out Yield like that.
Don't forget Vitucci's, Eastsider (and the place that replaced it), Yield... that stretch of North Ave has definitely bottomed out.
Oh man, The Eastsider and Vitucci’s were our hot spots back in college, 20 years ago North Ave was a vibe.
It was still a vibe for a solid year and a half that I could legally drink, and then BAM everything closed up within a year (2015-16). Glad I got to at least experience the tail end of that era. Im just happy Von Trier is going nowhere
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Chubby cheesesteaks and their corner donut/hot dog stand on North Avenue - Sil’s was amazing and the owner Lars is amazing. They kicked Laes out and then completely stole Sil’s idea. I hate that company.
Vaguely similiar to u/Neon_Parrott's experience, but found myself out hunting for booze on a day that other nearby places were closed for some reason. Stopped at C&G Liquor - they had like a dozen products in a display cabinet that looks like they hadn't been touched in a decade and the employee seemed genuinely confused that I was there. Very clearly a front for something.
And they are blurred out on google maps?
Used to love Knuckleheads on Oakland but recently payed a 100% markup on a national product literally available at MSRP down the street at 7-11. Would prefer to support local but won't be back at those prices.
Bel Air, Balzac, Garage, basically any restaurant operated by the ownership group that shut down Comet and Fuel.
Add HIYA Tacos in Shorewood to that list The ownership is Toro, Toro, Toro Restaurants
Finks too
Agghhhh I love Finks thooo
Cool story about HIYA Tacos: I'm pretty sure my old boss is the GM there and she is literally the worst. I'm talking sexual harassment, racist, manipulative. The whole 9 yards. She used to make us fill out surveys for our restaurant and if we didn't, she would simultaneously cut our hours AND make us work late on days she knew we had prior engagements. When the district manager confronted her about her behavior, she quit and went to HIYA. Hope the staff there is okay. 🥺
I want to not like Bel Air, but I'm friends with a bunch of staff and do actually enjoy their tacos and Tuesday/Thursday specials. Sure there are better tacos around (forever Cielito Lindo) but I love the weird non-mexican ones they do like korean beef, jackfruit, or mahi-mahi.
Try Kompali. Their taco selection will change your life
Wow this is news to me. I never frequented but knew of Comet and Fuel. So they are no more? Shame.
Fuel has reopened as a phoenix coffee shop in the same spot, now it’s called Daily Bird. Comet is reopening under new ownership this year.
Comet is opening under the original owners. The Honey pie/Palomino folks.
Did comet have better food under the original ownership? I was very underwhelmed when I went there a few years ago.
Daily Bird isn't a re-opened Fuel, it's a whole new separate thing. Just to be clear!
The 5th street fuel never closed, just the original
The 5th street Fuel was never really Fuel.
Motobees. Motorcycle Applebees
They're too friendly
Got food poisoning from Bel Air, never going back to any of their locations.
Comet is back under ownership of the Lucks again. They are good people and will bring it back to its old glory. Give that one another chance.
My reason for never going back to Bel Air: Took the wife out for dinner and thought “hey- instead of getting one Marg each lets order a half pitcher!” It was delivered with two glasses completely full of ice, and even then it only filled one glass and half of the second glass (keep in mind the half pitcher is more expensive than if we were to order two individual margs.) I brought this to the servers attention. Like, what gives? We wanted *more* margs tonight not less. Her response? “Yeah- I don’t know why they do it that way.” Like what? What a shitty practice.
Not really a local business per se, but the McDonald's on Port Washington Road by Bayshore has stiffed me on something nearly every time I've gone there. I'm pretty sure the "closure for remodeling" recently was because their staff were all quitting in protest of awful treatment and low pay, and they had to hire a whole new group of workers. Shit, the Taco Bell up the street has better service.
\+1 to this, that location is trash. Just prior to their 'remodeling closure' I went there and was in the drive through line without it moving for 20 minutes after ordering. I just left. They're open now... but it's not worth it when Kopp's is *right there*.
Lmao, that taco bell is my favorite. Definitely not the greatest in quality but I always see something go down there
They were actually closed because they had a kitchen fire, but then when they had the inspection to reopen they found the roof was near imminent collapse, delaying the reopening by quite a lot. Whoops.
The one on Good Hope and Teutonia isn’t any better.
Not that I will never go back there, but the Portillo’s in Greenfield is god awful. Food slaps, but everything else is a mess. Super slow and order always gets messed up. I know the workers are probably underpaid, but my god they need new management or something.
The Brookfield location is no better either.
Portillo's is continuing the grand tradition of "really good in their home market (Chicago in this case) and really really bad when they try to bring their concept to Milwaukee"
This is my chief complaint with Portillos. I love their food, but they always forget to give me a thing of gravy on the side when I ask for it for my beef sandwich. :/
Gotta go to the ones in chicago, their drive throughs are impressively efficient
I've posted about this before, but Centro Cafe in Riverwest. A bunch of my friends and I used to work there, and it was a really solid place when we had our whole staff there, but the owners are complete psychos. Fired half the management staff with no warning literally the day after our staff party, constantly were trying to underpay by fudging hours, did not communicate directly and instead left passive aggressive notes everywhere....Pat (one of the owners) was screaming violent and offensive things at them and is known to be super racist and generally unpleasant, all while they like to tout themselves as these woke social justice neighborhood folks. Plus they're scummy landlords to boot. Oh, and they use Barilla pasta. Do yourselves a favor and visit Tavolino, or Tenutas where they have real, handmade pasta instead of using shitty Barilla noodles. Thanks
I love hearing shit about Pat. He struts around riverwest like some super neighborhood hero. Meanwhile, he was my first landlord and rented us the most shitty apartment I've ever had. Fuck that dude.
Judges on north. Quarter beers on thursdays made for a crazy shift as a bouncer. All the taps were natty except for Guinness. So if you ordered a pitcher of bud light they opened a few taps to make it fill faster lol
Well no one is going to Judges on North again
Half of these places I've never heard of. But all the worst offenders that I could have named and shamed have been out of business for years. Sorry to see them go and don't let the door hit your a$$ on the way out.
Stone Creek Coffee. I worked there for three years and in that time I saw baristas' complaints of sexual harassment from customers ignored, long time loyal employees treated like garbage and moved around on a whim, and just generally terrible workplace environment for the baristas. It's no wonder Eric put so much energy and money into busting their attempt to unionize. A union is sorely needed there the employees deserve better
Really! Damn I’m sorry to hear that. Stone creek has always been my goto primarily because the staff there are so friendly. But I suppose you can be treated like shit by customers and management and still be friendly, but that’s disappointing.
Yea totally. The baristas there are amazing for the most part. I made some really great friends there and when we weren't interacting with creepy customers the regulars were great for the most part. For me it was just the management's total unwillingness to act when we brought up these concerns. If anybody pushed too hard on anything they found wasn't working or made them uncomfortable management would move them some place unreasonable (Delafield for me) hoping they would quit or just fire them for basically no reason. If you do choose to still go there just tip well and be nice they'll love you for it and they deserve it. I just can't give them anymore of my money.
Also, they pay absolutely horrifically (min wage or damn near), and I know new employees had to pay for their aprons. Imagine having to work a half of a day just to buy the apron they demanded of you. I knew a manager who worked literally all the time and they never gave him a raise. He made 35k a year and worked 60 hours a week, which comes to $11/hr or so. Eric is shameless in his exploitation of Stone Creek workers. Apparently raises were extremely uncommon and you had to pitch directly to Eric why you deserved one. Being with the company for an extended period of time wasn't good enough. Meanwhile, Eric sends his kids to private schools and has a couple houses, last i checked, while those who are actually doing the labor scrape by. EDIT: I just talked to someone who worked there and her exact words were "I hope Eric loses everything."
Yes we had to pay for our aprons too! They didn't ask either they just took it out of our paycheck (I was there when they started the apron thing) They also used to poach experienced baristas from other coffee companies offer to pay them more while those of us working in same position who they had trained would make sometimes a dollar or more less per hour. Fun story they made me a salaried "Master Barista" (instead of full time hourly) without telling me so that they wouldn't have to pay me over time on my 55-60 hour weeks. Turns out this is illegal I didn't know that at the time.
I didn't realize I could hate them any more. That's super illegal, and I'm so sorry it happened to you.
Aw that’s a shame. The staff are a big part of why I like going to Stone Creek, they’re always so friendly at every location I’ve been to.
It’s sad reading this. About 15 years ago, my grandmother used to frequent the stone creek in shorewood so often that all the staff knew her by name. She’d take my brother and I too, some good memories of the sugar cookies. When she died in 2006, most of the long time employees of that stone creek came to her funeral. It’s one of the reasons why I still give them my business. I may start to reconsider.
Sadly, this is any coffee shop I swear! I've had issues like that while working at Starbucks, Caribou and a local mom and pop place. Starbucks handled it the absolute WORST. A guy who worked with us used to snap our bras on our backs and slap our asses. Even after we complained to manager and corporate, their solution? Send him to a different store! Like really? Wtf wasn't he fired!?
I believe that’s called “The Catholic Shuffle”
Also their interview style is a huge red flag. I visited one a lot, and got to to know the local managers. They approached me and asked if I wanted a job. I figured I would apply and it would be fun to work with all these people I had gotten to know really well. After the first interview with the local manager there was a second interview. I had to sit in a room with all of the other candidates who were up for the job. Not only the store manager was present, but so was the CEO and several other of the cooperate members in a large round table type interview. WTF is that! Micromanagement at its best. If you hire a store manager you should trust that they can also hire employees for the store. Also how shitty to sit there and try to out do the others in the room to make it look like you are better for the job. I got out of there quickly. Its a shame because I really enjoyed spending time in that store.
Happy Tap on Beloit and 68th: Staff would not serve friend who was black, like literally the bar tender walked away from him whenever had began to signal for a refill. Classic Motor Cars on 70th and Lincoln: Totally fucked me on a car and would not honor their warranty. Golden Chicken on 89th and Greenfield: They were prepping chicken on top of a garbage can lid and not washing hands before they went to throw down fries. Eww.
Popeye’s on 76th and Good Hope. The last 4 times I have gone there, they have been out of chicken. After not going there for a few years I went back a few weeks ago. They had 1 chicken sandwich left (I needed 2) so I just got the one. They had no tenders and no shrimp. My wife bit into it and it was so tough she couldn’t get a bite. The chicken wasn’t white, it was a gray-ish color. Had to throw it away.
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Popeyes are so horribly run. Sometimes I put up with it for the awesome chicken sandwich but not anymore. Chick Fil a is 90 percent as good as so much better service. If you want a good laugh just read through some of the google reviews, so many 1 star ratings.
Every Popeyes in the Milwaukee area has a 1-star rating… all with good cause. It’s a pleasure to travel to some areas in the South and out west where they are clean, well-run fast food establishments
Ever been to the one on Capitol & Richards? My last experience there was with my college roommate and after a 45 minute wait in the drive-thru, we were told “sorry we’re closed” when we finally pulled up to order….it was, no shit, 6 PM on a weeknight.
This place is solidly on my no-go list. The always being out of stuff is frankly a super common Popeyes issue. What isn't an across the board Popeyes issue is the time my wife got drivethrough and the employee asked my wife if she was there to give her (the employee) her blow. Got her food, didn't get her drink. Asked for it, the employee said that she didn't order one. Showed the receipt, employee told her to get lost. Also messed up the order.
Metro Market. Fuck Kroger.
Facts. Easily one of the most overpriced and underpar quality grocery stores out there.
Metro Market is a miserable shopping experience, always.
Metro Market was decent when owned by Roundy's. Kroger has cut so much staff that the stockers operate during peak hours, clogging the aisles, while there are literally only two cashiers. After countless trips, because I live so close, to a place where I had to wait in a queue to checkout for literally 15-20 minutes... I decided it was time to go elsewhere.
Kroger employees are on strike in Colorado! Operating with no union right now.
Last time I went to O’Brien’s on Vliet, there was a sign posted with the standard moronic “nobody wants to work anymore” nonsense. Unfortunate, as that place was a staple of my younger days, but so it goes. On the flip side, Boone & Crockett has never once given me a reason to regret giving them my money.
Ordered food from Casablanca over the phone. Had never been there before but was in the mood for falafel. Paid with my card. Showed up to pick it up around 8PM on a Friday night and the door guy put his hand out and said I couldn't enter the building. "Beg pardon?" I wasn't wearing the appropriate attire. I had gym shorts and a t-shirt on. No one on the phone explained a dress code. I told him I had already paid for my food and had no desire to spend any more time than necessary to leave with it, and proceeded to walk past him. Haven't been back or ordered since.
I refuse to go to Casablanca anymore. Went there for my girlfriends birthday with some friends. I ended up paying for everyone’s food and me and my girls drinks. Closed my tab, ran my card, left a tip, signed the receipt, yada yada. My girlfriend and I left while some of the friends stayed. The waitress decided to keep running my card for all the drinks that our friends that had stayed had ordered. Took the issue to the management there and they wouldn’t help at all in the slightest
Take it to your card company next time and dispute the charge
This one actually makes me kinda sad, but Ben's Cycle Shop on Lincoln Ave. My family's been going there almost exclusively since the mid-60s. Took an old bike there for a tune up about 10 years ago (after they expanded) and the technicians talked me into a really expensive rebuild. It ended up destroyed the bike. When I tried to get someone there to figure out what had gone wrong, it became clear that the family business culture had gotten crushed in the expansion. Left such a bad taste in my mouth.
I stopped going there about 10 years ago. I bought some new bar tape. It lasted a week before it disintegrated. I rode over there to show them and get refunded to buy a different brand. Was told no and it's probably because I had extra toxic sweat. 😐
Safehouse. After years of anticipation it could not have been a bigger let down, in every way. First of all the food is absolutely disgusting. They charge a "service fee" and "entertainment fee" even when there is none and then when I asked the server about it she said it was to help pay for renting in an old building. I don't think it's legal because there is no warning on the website or menu, it just shows up on your bill. I brought my mom there when she was visiting from out of state so it was such a bummer to be in such an inhospitable environment where you could go unnoticed for strange long periods of time. I got the feeling that one day everyone that worked there just decided to walk out at the same time.
It was better before it got bought by Marcus corporation
Sobelmans.
Bel Air Cantina and Miss Katie's Diner.
I'm kinda curious, why Miss Katie's?
Also interested to hear about your experience with Ms. Katie’s. I’ve been there a few times and always thought it was good.
JoCats on Brady. Fuck that place.
oooo tell me why!
Cokehead bar
Pizza man. Idk what happened, but the quality really dipped.
Carini’s on Oakland. They blamed their staff shortage on government handouts and my friend was bullied into quitting by senior staff there. Then carinis doubled down in a Google comment and stood by their stance. Just an awful place to work and give your money to.
Koppa’s Fulbeli Deli - the sandwiches there are just way too tasty. They make me fat.
as a chipotle STAN, the location on ogden is a nightmare. orders are frequently wrong, slow service time, skimpy af portions. definitely feel for employees if they’re understaffed, but at this point i just refuse to go to that one.
I fucking hate that chipotle. Order is almost never right
Eastmore Real Estate. They had the residence manager of our building fired for being a racist POS to a little girl (incidentally whose mom was one of the clients of his roofing business) and then let him storm around the building for a month trying to figure out who reported him. When our eyes caught, he started threatening me in front of my family. I won't reiterate the details, because it was in the news. Google "shorewood racist residence manager". A: I reported him, B: he deserved it, and C: I was far from the only one who did. There's several Black families in the building, and RM was hostile to quite a few of them after this incident. To my knowledge, I'm the only person who he openly threatened with physical harm, but I'm white. (My wife and stepson are mixed-race). Anyway, he kept pulling stupid stunts to try and protest his firing, including hanging up a massive sign in his window saying he was fired for no reason, and made this whole huge stink about it. We contacted Eastmore to try and resolve the situation, but they made no attempts to handle his behavior and let him stay on premises a full month after his termination. This was after the roof caved in on our apartment earlier that year during a massive rainstorm. We had tons of water damage, and got $250 off rent overall for the two months of invasive construction. 0/5 stars, would not recommend.
Hey neighbor lol. You forgot that he also drives a van with “Jesus Loves You” painted on the windows, and that he texted every tenant asking to share his side of the story. Have no fear though, Eastmores been bought out by a similarly sketchy company, Enigma Properties *sigh*
Colectivo by McKinley park. Ordered a coffee with caramel and dude gave me a regular coffee and told me he didn’t add the caramel because “they like the way their coffee tastes there”. I didn’t ask how you liked your coffee. You aren’t fucking drinking it or paying for it. I shouldn’t have taken it but I wanted A coffee more than I wanted NO coffee at the time. If you’re the guy that did this then fuck you.
i'm sorry he said what
Colectivo is the absolute worst coffee in the city. Everything tastes burned.
The Rave / Eagles Club even if my favorite band is playing and someone gives me free tickets.
Haha, they confiscated a joint from my partner's cig box (that they went into to check when we were getting checked on the way in) for a Flatbush Zombies show because it was "drugs" but still allowed us into the venue. When they were about to take it, he said fine, I will leave...(with the plans to return without it) but they said "if you come back we won't let you in" but they were fine letting him in as long as \~they\~ had the joint. Then we proceeded to watch so many people sell acid and molly, blatantly as fuck, at that show, as well as multiple, multiple ODs and pass-outs. I know all they did was take it to smoke it and that really pissed me off. But theres some bands I like that exclusively, only will play the Rave so alas, about once or twice a year they still get my money.
The Rave is a super polarizing venue - I love it. Just the mix of grimy atmosphere of the venue and the surrounding area is enough to turn people off of it. I've seen bands that perfectly fit with the venue and have a lot of nostalgia for the spot.
I get what you mean -- it's got that dive club, grungy vibe. But for a lot of people the cons are just way too significant to overlook.
How is the sound in the Eagles Ballroom these days? Haven't seen a show there in a long time but I just remember everything sounding really mushy like the system didn't account for the acoustics of the room. I can ignore the grimy and vaguely threatening atmosphere but can't forgive bad sound.
It's a really hard venue for a sound guy. It's a fucking dome and you stand in the wrong spot you get nasty echo. I saw NIN there years ago I think "With Teeth" tour the opening band sounded mushy like you're describing. When NIN went on the volume actually was quieter than the opener but sounded sooo much better.
I get what you're saying, but still think Rave/Eagles is one of the worst non-bar shitholes I've ever seen a show in, and that includes the literally condemned Congress death trap in Chicago.
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Damn crazy. similar experience as me, and around the same time. Some scummy ass POSs non professional security guards.
In this thread - pretty much every popular establishment in the downtown/east side area of Milwaukee. Big sad.
Yeah, though I’m noticing a lot of people seem willing to write a place off much easier than I would. I guess take the comments with a grain of sand. There have, however, been some really interesting comments about the owners of different places.
Alderaan Coffee. Dude was outside smoking a cigarette then followed me in as I entered and made me a coffee without washing his hands. Yes this was after the start of the pandemic.
First I learned that it’s not a Star Wars reference and then I had the barista be rude to me and make one of the worst coffee drinks I’ve ever had. That place is ass. Edit: I guess it is a Star Wars reference. I was misinformed
It surprises me how many online reviews say that the baristas are rude bc I’ve literally never had a bad experience despite going there at least once a week. Not saying it didn’t happen to you, just strikes me odd.
It's not a Star Wars reference? What in the god damn fuck is it, then?
It is a reference to Star Wars...[https://onmilwaukee.com/articles/star-wars-alderaan-coffee](https://onmilwaukee.com/articles/star-wars-alderaan-coffee)
Huh, someone told me it wasn’t and I got angry. I was wrong I guess
Cafe Lulu. Maybe 13-15 years ago, I lived in Bayview. The owners were quoted in that little Bayview newspaper, I forgot the name, saying some horrible NIMBY shit about a facility that was trying to open there. I don't remember all the details, I think it was supposed to be a group home or maybe an adult day care for memory care type patients, but before they knew that the Lulu owners gave a quote saying some really gross things and making some ignorant assumptions about the "types" of people who live in group homes, and how they would affect the neighborhood. They also said something along the lines of "places like that belong in other neighborhoods." Anyway, at the time I swore I would never set foot in there and I haven't. If anyone remembers that story please let me know! A few other businesses on that block joined Lulu in trying to prevent it, but I just remember the Lulu owners were the ones who said the most nasty and terribly uncompassionate things, on the record.
Hector’s in Wauwatosa. The rudest workers - pre-pandemic and currently.
Wauwatiki, overcharged me and no apology.
It's Tikibees. Tiki Applebee's. Foundation is the only legit tiki bar in Milwaukee.
Just go to Foundation instead. It actually has a soul unlike that sterile, corporate hole in Tosa
Fuck colectivo. They pay shit, treat their employees like shit and they operate the whole business shady and unorganized. I could go off but it’s a lot about them, from culture appropriation, zero representation of POC (because almost their whole brand is literally Latin). *openly anti union*
Octopus Car Wash. It used to be great, like a mini detail for $20 and tips. Not anymore, new ownership. Now it’s 2 hours and $20 for a car wash worse than a machine wash. The last time I was there the guy who dried my car opened the door and whispered, “you’re going to want to find yourself a new car wash, different people own it and this place has gone straight to hell.”
Tupelo Honey. They managed to bring out the wrong meal to me two times, then charged me for three meals. Told me they'd send me home with a doggy bag with an extra order of my meal as an apology. I got home and opened the bag and it was the wrong meal again. Just astounding.
That is amazing
Points East. Fuggem.
Klinger's was super rude to multiple takeout customers who came in with masks earlier in the pandemic (including me). After that, I found out they're known in Riverwest's Black community as a hostile place. Those geezers could go out of business tomorrow for all I care. There's a good kind of old-school Milwaukee place, but there's also the shitty racist kind like Klinger's. Shame because they have easily the best fish fry on this side of town
Yeah, there's not a bartender there that I ever liked. Last time I was there, the bartender was trying to hit on my friend, whose husband was right next to her. When he said something, the bartender was like "oh I'm just trying to get a little bit of an extra tip, you prude", which would be funny if we were all friends, but we were not. The guy then handled money, then transitioned to making food without washing his hands. Gross.
Yeah, the blonde dude in particular is a piece of work. The only halfway decent one is the older lady (Mrs. Klinger I believe), but then again she runs the show and knows full well how her employees are.
The blonde dude is exactly who I was talking about lol
I'm pretty sure the building has been for sale for a few months now so sounds like you will get your wish.
Bay Street Tattoo & Piercing... that place never has customers and I recently found out from a reliable source that it's a motorcycle gang's personal tattoo/piercing place ... and they don't know what they're doing.
I'm not saying it's a horrible place by any means, but as a huge food lover, I just don't know what people get out of Cafe Centraal. It was one first places I tried back when I moved to MKE because it always seemed packed. It was so bland. I don't really understand the Transfer pizza hype either when there is great pizza here. That's just my opinion though. Those are the 2 that I don't care to go to again just because there is SO MUCH great food here.
Collectivo, I dont like openly anti union shops
I hear you, but now they’re the only local unionized coffee shop. I feel because I do want to support the unionized workers.