Actually, this is a review of the Grafton Ale House. North Star Bistro took over the kitchen operations for this location and the Downtown Milwaukee Ale House.
I can't figure it out or rather how bad was the Ale House food before if what they currently have is considered a positive move to increase business.
Had a Groupon and decided to head to Grafton. The actual space is great. The did a nice job on it and the staff was very friendly and they wer extremely busy. I actually emailed Groupon to take them up on their offer of 100% satisfaction or your money back guranteed/no questions. Groupon was amazing and issued a full refund literally ASAP.
This food was a complete joke. One of the nightly specials was cheese ravioli w/ spinach. So, they take frozen/pre-made cheese ravioli and cook it and toss in a few pieces of spinach to mix in w/ a completely tasteless red sauce.
The other entree was Shrimp Scampi. I asked the waitress if the shrimp was fresh and she said she believed it was frozen. I can kind of understand that. Though the pasta was hard and most likely out of the box.
Now this Schrimp Scampi was $17.00 and was you received were 2 pieces of crostini, 6 med-large shrimp on a small bed of undercooked out of the box pasta in a very bland sauce.
I don't know how they stay open w/ that kind of food, yet the real money is in the liquor and maybe after a few drinks the patrons don't even realize what they are eating.
Was hoping for better.
Nick N Wilys is no longer. It is/will be replaced by Jake's Deli.