Brothers Bar & Grill Milwaukee

Came here for my cousin's 28th birthday on a Saturday night for drinks and dancing. I'm 32 and hadn't been to Water Street in a long time. Buffalo Wild Wings isn't there anymore. Rosie's isn't Rosie's anymore and plays fun indie emo punk songs. And Brothers underwent a layout change. Please keep in mind that I'm a generally grumpy over 30 year old, so take this review with a grain of salt cuz I KNOW Water Street is not for someone wishing they had ducked out of barhopping by 10pm, but for college children who are just getting started at 11pm. Pros: 1. Despite there only being one bar now to get drinks, the bartenders fielded it well and we waited a reasonable time to order and receive our drinks. 2. They have a fun little garage area with games like giant jenga and cornhole. This area also has nice ventilation if you're feeling stuffy, as well as picnic tables for lounging casually. 3. The music selection was a good range of 80s to current pop and a surprisingly delightful amount of edm drops and transitions that satisfied even my wibbily wobbily dubstep heart. There was truly only one con for me and that was the actual dance floor. Idk if it's just a current trend I'm unaware of but the length of the far wall was tiered up like risers so ppl standing there awkwardly faced the whole room like a bizarre graduation ceremony. And the dance floor is smaaaaaall with narrow room for escape when it's jam-packed. We ended up abandoning that room to take over one of the tables by the bar and dancing there to avoid the awkward stare down of the riser ppl. And this isn't a criticism of Brothers, but the current bar scene culture, I guess, because no one seemed to really dance. We came to Brothers to dance and waited in a long line for it. Once inside, it seems like kids these days just like to stand with drink in hand and sway, trying to be "seen" rather than go for wild abandon. 🙄 annoying when you're trying to find a crowd of likeminded bodies to get lost in. Overall, Brothers was clean and efficient. I myself may enjoy it better as a daydrinking spot.

Spent a weekend in Milwaukee and this was our first bar of the night. We totally loved it here. The atmosphere and the vibes were great! We enjoyed the second floor where they had the pool tables. All of the bartenders were great!