La Merenda

La Merenda is my favorite restaurant in the city. It might be my favorite restaurant, period. Their menus (both dinner and drink) rotate frequently, so even for someone like myself who goes here a number of times each year, there's always something new to try. I love farm-to-table restaurants on principle, and this one is cool because many of their ingredients are things locals have heard of. For two people, we'll often order 4-6 tapas to share, and we always end up taking some home in little boxes after eating more than enough. You can enjoy flavors from around the globe made with ingredients found locally. It has an artsy interior with medium to low light and music, plus servers who are very knowledgeable about the menus and offerings.

We returned to one of our Milwaukee faves for date night this weekend and it didn't disappoint. We enjoyed the La Merenda salad, the goat cheese curds (always a favorite), the butternut squash gnocchi, Argentinian beef, and tres leches cakes. Always looking for good NA bevs, I had the faux fizz mocktail and my husband enjoyed the Riverwest Stein NA beer. Our server was super friendly and paced everything nicely. It's always great to revisit a favorite and be reminded why we love it in the first place!

We visited Milwaukee and wanted a one of a kind spot for dinner. La Merenda was that and more! First time tapas place, and the server explained it perfectly. We had: Prosciutto Salad (hubs is raving about this 3 days later), Ceviche (great veggie/seafood balance), Mushroom Risotto (inspired my daughter to learn to make this delicious dish), Gnocchi d'estate (never had gnocchi with such a delicious sauce), beef empanadas (crisp outside and delicate and moist inside), Roman Pork Belly (perfect with great polenta), New York Strip (well cooked and the kale was a nice surprise), pork and shrimp tostadas (a little fishy-probably the only thing I wouldn't order again), and crème brûlée s'mores. Yum yum yum. Melissa was our server. I notified her of my food allergy and she let me know what to stay away from. We'll definitely go back!The space was loud, but the delicious food compensated for that.

Brandon's service was impeccable. Do get: lamb queso fundido y beef empanadas y thai duck y argentine steak , and car bomb for dessert. Don't bother with ceviche (tuna was cooked practically through) . Vibe was awesome. Food was seriously next level delicious and plates were easy to share. This would be a repeat spot for me if ai lived here.

My husband treated me to a birthday dinner here because we LOVED Engine Company No. 3, missed some of our brunch favorites, and hadn't tried La Merenda before. It was a bit of a last minute decision, so he made reservations the day before and there were still some times available, luckily!The restaurant itself looks very unassuming from the outside, but don't be fooled - it holds some very delicious treasures! We were seated right away and we noticed the place was pretty full, so I'm glad we made the reservation.Our server was kind, knowledgeable, and very efficient. I got their special cocktail of the day which was kind of in between a piña colada and a Mai Tai, which was one of the best fruity cocktails I've ever had, and my husband got a beer.The menu is tapas style, so they're smaller plates and meant to be shared. Unlike other tapas/small plates style restaurants, however, La Merenda prices are very reasonable and allow you to order more dishes to get a more varied sampling. I also like that they have a dedicated vegetarian section. From it we got the empanadas, the gnocchi, the patatas bravas, and the quesadilla. It was all SO good! The empanadas were warm and filled to the brim; I could drink the sauce it comes with on its own. The quesadillas were loaded and tasty. The patatas bravas were a known favorite for us from their sister company's brunch menu, and the gnocchi was a perfect summer dish with the pesto cream sauce light and flavorful!When our waitress found out it was my birthday, she brought out the dessert menu and asked me to pick one, which was super sweet of her. I went with the Guinness chocolate cupcake, which she brought out with a lit candle. Oh my goodness, the cake was so good! Dense, but moist and soft. Delicious and rich. The frosting was divine. I shared with my husband, but I could've eaten two of these cupcakes on my own easy!Loved this restaurant and our experience!

What a funky little tapas bar - where else can you get mushroom risotto, butter chicken and ceviche? We found this spot while in town for a girls trip and they were able to accommodate us on a Friday night without a reservation - but I definitely recommend getting one, as they were quite busy! We tried a variety of options on the menu - and there were great options for our vegetarian friend. It was fun to surprise your palate from all these regional dishes. My favorite were the summer pasta and the mushroom ravioli!Service was great and food came out quickly!

This was my second time visiting and it was not as good as the first time. I went for my 21st birthday and the service was not up to par this time around. I called ahead to ask if they do reservations and the staff member told me they do not do reservations which is not true. Our server did not visit our table as much as she should have, when we wanted to order more food she was nowhere to be found. Another staff member reached behind me to grab empty plates unannounced and it completely scared me. She did not apologize or acknowledge us during that interaction. My food was good (gnocchi and steak) however the rest of my party did not enjoy their food. The ambiance was great which is what I love about this restaurant however I was disappointed by the service.

La Merenda was scrumptious!Went here with my parents before going to show.I made a reservation in advance and it made the process easier .We were recommended cocktails and I got the special "the Flannel Shirt" .We got 7 dishes for the 3 of us to share.The cheese curds were amazing - unique and lovely.Empanadas are so good - we got the veggie and it was great.The maple pork chop was fantastic - I highly recommend this.The dishes that disappointed were the potato truffles and the Argentinian beef. The beef was very bland and not special.The Moroccan beef was fantastic ! I highly recommend this dish too.Overall La Merenda was great! The prices were very low for the portion sizes and quality. I would recommend two dishes per person to share unless you're extremely hungry.Can't wait to come back!

The wait is over! Prob the number one place I have been wanting to try. My mom got me a gift card almost a year ago, for my birthday. We never found time to ditch the kids for a dinner out that wasn't short notice. Last night after cleaning the kitchen I said what about La Merenda? To go? He said "you're dying to trying that place, yeah that's fine". We ordered Goat cheese curdsBeef empanadaArgentinian BeefButter chickenKung Pao BeefWow!!! So good! All of it! And it was to go! Goat cheese curds were so good and the sauce with the crustini, so good. My husbands favorite were the empanadas. Best butter chicken I've had. It was so wonderful! The Kung Pao was good and pretty spicy!! The mash under the perfectly cooked filet was perfection. So much flavor. We can't wait to come in person. My husband said the inside was very nice! A beautiful ambiance! Wish I had pictures of the food, it was packaged so nicely and the food was warm and so good!

A solid 4 star tapas experience! A super cute almost "super club" vibe, very lively and vibrant. We were a party of 3 so got to try many different dishes! I love that we had a global variety all in one meal! Some of the dishes were amazing, but a couple were a bit weak - but I suppose to be expected with such a broad menu. We also all had a cocktail - all were good but none really stood out. Service was good! A bit shaky at first but once our waiter got to us the meal was well paced.