Liquid meals: Milwaukee's best happy-hour food specials
When drinking cheap booze isn't enough to get you to the nearest bar
Get tacos from Hector's at Blackbird Bar every Tuesday.
Happy hour as we know it dates back to Prohibition, when folks would drink illegally before heading out to dinner. These days, happy hour is a perfectly legal and acceptable away to incur minor brain damage on two-for-one drinks and other boozy specials. Even better, you don’t have to leave for dinner—or even pay for your food. Lots of local bars provide free spreads for happy-hour customers. In the interest of helping you pinch pennies and keeping your belly full, The A.V. Club rounded up free happy-hour and other bar-food deals around Milwaukee for practically every day of the week. (You’re on your own Thursdays and Saturdays.)
Monday
Get the week started right at Taylor’s (795 N. Jefferson St., 414-271-2855), which offers a great happy-hour spread Monday through Friday from 4 to 8 p.m., with bread, cheese, cold cuts, pretzels, and crackers. The food usually runs out by 6 p.m., so don’t dilly-dally. Wash it down with a $3 cocktail or $4 glass of wine.
Tuesday
Taco Tuesday lives at Blackbird Bar (3007 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., 414- 486-1344) in Bay View, where the free taco bar from Hector’s starts at 6 p.m. Happy hour runs from 4 to 8 p.m. daily, so you have time to pair those tacos with a couple $3 margaritas, too. Later on, stop by Vitucci’s (1832 E. North Ave., 414-273-6477) for free Topper’s pizza starting promptly at 11 p.m.
Wednesday
Free food isn’t for happy hour over at Old German Beer Hall (1009 Old World Third St., 414-226-2728), where you get a Usinger’s brat with every liter of beer all day long on Wednesdays. While it’s possible that you could just camp out drinking beer and eating free brats from open to close, you could also head over to Antigua (5823 W. Burnham St., West Allis, 414-321-5775) from 6 to 9 p.m. and enjoy a free house appetizer—which includes a mango quesadilla, potato croquette, and pork empanada—with a couple buy-one-get-one beverages.
Friday
The most provocative happy hour special out there has to be Molly Cool’s Seafood Tavern (1110 N. Old World 3rd St., 414-831-8862), where there’s something called an Oyster Orgy from 3 to 6 p.m. Your first dozen oysters are free, and after that they’re just 69 cents apiece. Couple that with two-for-one drinks, and your weekend is off to one sassy start.
Sunday
Everybody knows you can get free bacon Sunday at Comet Cafe (1947 N. Farwell Ave., 414-273-7677), so if you’re looking to add a little sodium to your diet, head over at 5 p.m., when it starts. The free bacon lasts until Comet runs out of it. Sip a $2.50 Lakefront tap with that basket-o-heart-attack to start your week off properly.
