Mamies Milwaukee

I can't say enough about Mamies. I mean I have been coming here for a couple of months now and a couple times last year. So... I think I can write an informed review.The food: Well there are always fresh hamburgers available and hits the spot on a late night. there seems to be chili available most often which is home made.There are events (take a look at the schedule for the year!) where there is some serious cooking and BBQ going on in the back yard! Homemade. Where do you get Homemade anymore? Oh and packer Sundays. I don't even want the word out but... I guess I have to share as they have been in Milwaukee Magazine now. Read up.Packer Sundays... $20 all you can drink tap domestic or $25 rails WITH... Home cooked meal at half! Ribs, chicken, meatloaf, stuffed pork chops. You'll never know always a surprise and no one's talking so show up enjoy and don't ask.Yes Dive bar. I like it because most often I kind find a spot but not on music nights and packer days. I even found St Louis fans and Cubs here in there. Nice people travelers and locals. Mostly locals. Always welcoming and pleasant.Service: Very friendly and attentive. You are treated like a local whether you are a first comer or repeat guest. They know and will treat you like a neighbor.Plenty of room a very long bar with plenty of seating. Tables on the outskirts, high tops. The music: OMG on Fridays usually late (too late for me or I'd be here more often) is amazing! To me one of the best Jazz and Blues music in the city probably state since the only Jazz I get that is close is in chicago or New Orleans.Keep your eye out not only do they have a schedule of music but also a Blues festival every September. I have not been able to attend but I plan to and cannot wait.the owner and her husband: Just amazing down to earth people doing all the cooking themselves and just welcome you to the bar and neighborhood. Hey... they've been doing this a long time. Don't bring your container in like I did with my coffee one day. They serve fresh coffee. No need.The bartenders: Attentive, friendly, just down to earth good people. Enjoy you and enjoy what they are doing. Highly recommended. and I am so grateful for the hospitality that I receive when I come. Try it out. You will not be disappointed!

I stopped here being the neighborhood traveler that I am and trying to support local business for a beer and a burger lunch. The place has a dedicated parking lot which is nice but street parking was plentiful at lunch time. As I walked up a sign in front says Sunday $3.50 Bloody Mary with a Miller light chaser so I guess I'm having the Sunday special now because when in Rome. The place is definitely unique with antiques on the walls and ceilings from a stretcher, bikes pedal cars etc. the bar has a long bar with a pool table and games on the upper level. I ordered the Bloody Mary spicy but Pabst was an option for the chaser so since it's a former Milwaukee beer I chose that over Miller light. The Bloody Mary was as expected nothing special and Pabst is Pabst so your typical neighborhood bar drinks.The menu is small and cheap so I wasn't expecting much but I ordered the $3.50 cheeseburger that comes with pickles or onions, raw or fried so I chose raw. I saw what looked to be a hand formed patty come out of a zip lock bag, the pizza oven was opened up and a sheet of foil was inserted and my burger went in, these crazy mofo's are making cheeseburgers in a pizza oven. You get ketchup and mustard set next to you for when your burger is done. There is a hot pot next to the pizza oven with probably the soup or chili of the day.It's a very basic cheeseburger on a generic white bun with raw onions and generic razor thin pickle slices. The cheeseburger was actually good because it was a fresh hand formed patty that was juicy with a nice beef flavor I thought. It's not super huge so if you have a bigger appetite than order 2 or get the soup or chili.This was a pretty reasonable for the experience of a new place with drinks and a small lunch with the $3.50 cheeseburger, 3.50 Bloody Mary with a glass of Pabst and $3.00 tip which = $10. Look I'm not proud because you could find me in a nice place or a hole in the wall because I like trying everything and I don't discriminate.

Great music dive bar. O% pretensions, good drink value, had great bbq ribs there for 34th year celebration! Most importantly, there's live music!!! Free every time I've been. Good service.

I've been going to Mamie's for about 17 years. It started when a friend who brought me here on a Friday night to hear some live blues. The band playing that night was Stokes & The Old Blues Boys and been a fan of Stokes since. I've been coming here to get my live blues fix to taco days on Wednesday's and bloody Mary Sunday's. They're simple, basic bloody Mary's that come with a chaser but delicious and reasonable. Hey sometimes simple is all you need.When June comes around, it's the beginning of the summertime events that the owner Debbie puts together and I always look forward to. June is the annual Silver City Day where you they have a corn and brat roast. July is their delicious chicken fry. August is the big one with their annual pig roast that's been going strong for 37 years! In October is The Last Hoorah which has been going on for a few years. I would love to finally attend this, this year just may be the year. And yes there are bands performing at all of these events.The thing I enjoy most about this place is the diversity. You see young, old and all races. The one thing everyone all has in common when they're here is to hear some good music and overall have a good time. As long as Debbie and Mamie's is still around, so will I .

2 words aptly describe this place: Cool with a sense of community!I met a new friend there recently. When meeting a new friend, one should meet on neutral territory. We both decided we liked dive bars and found a semi-halfway spot in Mamie's. It was a hit and will get a return visit!Why Mamie's gets 4 stars:--Atmosphere. You can't duplicate the "nobody puts Baby in a Radio Flyer wagon and hangs her from the ceiling in a corner" decor. I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it with my own eyes. And trust me, there is a lot to lay your eyes on here, when you're forced to take your eyes off your friend. --DRANKS! CHEEP! My friend ordered bottles of PBR (because, he said, PBR is exactly what you drink in a place like Mamie's). They cost just $2 each, and I don't think that was a special - it was everyday low price. Me, I like to eat my calories, which takes me to (drumroll please)...--FOOD! CHEEP! Two words: FREE POPCORN. I pretty much fell on it. Other food was available for $2-$3 each. We're talking bowls of soup, hamburgers and cheeseburgers. Staple fare that gets the job done when you are hungry and don't have a lot of coin. Hint...feel that community emerging? We'll get there in a bit.--Pool Table. A Dive Bar's just gotta have one. This one was front and center. My friend and I both wanted to play but wound up enjoying each other's company so much we didn't get there. Onward...--Jukebox. Spontaneously it dropped a sentimental Patsy Cline number into our conversation and we both marveled at the good call. Later, more woman-bonding stuff came out, which we learned was courtesy of the...--Awesome Staff. The woman behind the bar was quick with drinks, friendly, social and conversational. Not intrusive but made us feel welcome. Perfect. --Community. It should be said that locals support this place. My friend arrived before I did and helped an elderly, sober gentleman into a cab. It's what people do there. We saw it. Mamie's supports the community by holding events such as a community rummage sale where neighbors can bring their stuff to sell for a few bucks to cover overhead, as well as pig roasts and customer appreciation food feeds. They bring blues in too - every Tuesday night there's an open jam starting at 8 and occasionally on weekends too. Mamie's raises the prices of drinks 50 cents to cover the band cost. My first foray into Silver City has me jonesin' to go back. Did I tell you my friend wins bonus points for standing outside in the rain, waiting for me at the door so I wouldn't have to walk into the bar alone? That my friends, is icing on the (ahem) popcorn!

Stopped by for a quick lunch... Nice little neighborhood bar. $1.50 beers $2.00 burgers, & fresh chicken tortilla soup. Not a bad deal! Bring cash...Mamies ain't the Ritz but it's far from the pits....

Last year I saw Mamie's Tavern featured on an episode of Around the Corner with John McGivern about Silver City on Milwaukee Public Television, and bookmarked Mamie's for future reference.While heading home from Mayfair, we were looking for someplace to grab a bite for lunch and ended up close enough to Maimie's that it popped up on my Yelp search, so we headed there.The current owner has been there close to 34 years. Inside you will find antique pedal cars hanging from the ceiling, several old lighted signs, a parquet-topped bar and an Art Deco-styled back bar. There's a pay phone off in the corner, and there were some baskets of popcorn available.They didn't have a food menu, but there was a soup of the day available plus chili, and hamburgers and cheeseburgers. We ordered cheeseburgers which were $3.25 and the patties were juicy, topped with gooey american cheese and mine with grilled onions nestled in soft white buns. The burgers were served with hamburger pickles on the side. The patties were prepared in a somewhat intriguing gadget on the counter that looked similar to a pizza oven. Domestic draft beers were $1.75 and domestic bottles were $2. They do not accept credit cards, however there is an ATM on site.There was a fairly diverse small crowd around the bar at this watering hole, some presumedly from the neighborhood and some who seemed to be there for the first time. I wondered what brought them in, and after going to Mamie's, I'm sure the reason I bookmarked it was because they feature professional live Blues music on Friday nights. We miss hearing the Blues, and may have to force ourselves to stay up for a "late" night sometime to take in some tunes at Mamie's which starts at 9:30.On our visit, people were friendly, service was good, prices were great and the food was tasty.

You just never know what to expect when you walk into an unfamiliar tavern. Will you feel threatened? Unwelcome? Out of place? I've experienced all of these at one time or another -- sometimes all at one time. (I'm looking at you, up north Wisconsin bar next to the Bad River Tribe of Chippewa Indians reservation. I walked in to pick up a six'er in the midst of the Wisconsin spear fishing conflict in the late 80s -- a conflict in which I had no opinion or care. I was lucky to leave that bar not only with my 6-pack, but without a pool cue uncomfortably positioned as a permanent part of my anatomy!)Mamie's is the kind of place that won't give you any of those feelings. In fact, it's one of the most welcoming, melting pot bars I know of in the city of Milwaukee.For years I was curious about this classic looking lounge at 33rd and National. I made my first visit on a Friday night as Mamie's was hosting their annual Halloween costume contest. My wife and I, sans costume, took only a few steps into Mamie's before a kind fellow dressed as a mobster handed us a couple of chocolate kisses. A few minutes later, a Madam Marie Laveau lookalike placed strands of beads around our necks.As we glanced around the joint, we couldn't help but notice the great mix of ethnicities libating together -- African Americans, Mexican Americans and southside Milwaukee, Joe 6-pack Americans. All enjoying a festive Friday night and the live blues and jazz provided by Chanel le Meaux and the Dapper Cads.Mamie's is a great place to take in live blues music. Friday nights are reserved for the pros, and Tuesday night is for the others (open jam night; if you can play, you can join!). If you're lucky enough to visit on a night when Chanel le Meaux is performing, you're in for a real treat. She's a total pro.I can't say that every Friday night at Mamie's will be as fun and as welcoming as my first visit, but even if it is not, I will look forward to future visits. I'll definitely be checking out the Open Jam on Tuesdays. I'm a bit of player myself and I'd like to find out if my chops are worthy.Plus, it's certainly better than a pool cue in the ear.

Stopped in on a whim on a Friday night, looking for a drink. Blown away by the jazz music. Fantastic drinks and atmosphere. Definetely will stop in again!!

Not the best service. Went and the bartender was just chatting up his friends and serving them and no one else. Waited about 30+ minutes and left.