Karma Bar, at 600 East Ogden Ave., is not my kind of bar. To clarify, it’s not the type of bar I normally frequent. I usually avoid sports bars and clubs like the damn plague because I don’t enjoy them. But we’re all different, and to write a good review, I must set aside my prejudices and aversions and look at some bars not just with my eyes, but also with the eyes of others.
So I went to Karma, a sports bar only a few blocks away from my apartment. It has an upscale atmosphere, with just as many TVs as booths, just as many cocktail shakers as taps. A huge fireplace and mantle rest 
against one wall, with industrial beam supports framing the upper ceiling. An unfinished stone bar top gently curves outward in a crescent moon, wide and spacious, which is something not many bars do, but when done is really quite great (the worst is when a place only has a narrow strip, and patrons are forced to either rearrange the glasses and silverware and plates just right, or eat from their lap).
From the perspective of a sports enthusiast, it’s probably pretty great. For Husker fans, it’s the best bar in Milwaukee. The general manager is a huge fan, buys all the games and plays them in the bar, which can bring in on some nights larger crowds than Brewer or Packer games. And if a big group has the foresight to plan ahead, they can reserve the lower level of Karma for special events, which has its own bar and plush seating.
Recently, I wrote about how important a bartender is to the bar and how important conversation is to the patrons. I have to restate the importance of it here because it made my experience at Karma. When I sat down, the bartender immediately struck up light banter about the bar, about Milwaukee, about nothing in general. She talked to me, which made all the difference, and which would have been more than enough. But she went on to keep the bar open when my girlfriend and I were the last people there. She went on to welcome us to Milwaukee, even though we have been here for a few months, with a round on the house of The Knot (a mid-shelf whiskey).
In such a poignant way, Karma illustrated the importance of good bartenders and the commonality that lies in conversation. But, it also showed me that sometimes good bars are in places least expected, and that just because I don’t care for a particular style of bar doesn’t necessarily mean I won’t like the bar itself. In the end though, it’s all relative, and if something as inconspicuous as a bar can broaden horizons, I think that says more than any review I can write.
