On the last night of the year, many restaurants go all out with a curated multi-course dinner celebrating not only the holiday but the chef’s ingenuity. These are different experiences than ordering off the menu any other day of the year. Here are dinners in the Milwaukee area you will only find on New Year’s Eve.
And a quick tip: don’t linger too long before booking a table – events like these tend to sell out and book up fast. Prices quoted are per person.
1. 1033
1033 S. 1ST ST.
On Chef Adam Kemmler’s five-course menu ($150) are eats inspired by Snoop Dogg’s From Crook to Cook cookbook, including “billionaire pork belly” and banana pudding aebleskiver. Cocktail and wine pairings are included in the price. There are two seatings: 5:45 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Make a reservation through Toast.
2. Amilinda
315 E. WISCONSIN AVE.
Focused on Spanish and Portuguese cuisine since its 2015 opening, the New Year’s Eve menu ($130) is no different. Spanning five courses, it features flavors of the Iberian Peninsula. There are two seatings: 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Make a reservation through Tock.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
3. Ardent
1751 N. FARWELL AVE.
Chef-owner Justin Carlisle is pulling out all the stops like he normally does with his 10-course tasting menu, only this time he’s adding some bling and other surprises ($225). Note that this dinner will also be served Dec. 30. There are two seatings: 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Make a reservation through Tock.
4. ARIA – The Restaurant at Saint Kate
139 E. KILBOURN AVE.
A five-course menu ($145, cocktail pairings additional $70) will be available between 5 and 11 p.m. Starting with a Bacon and Egg dish centered around a soft-boiled egg and bacon lardon before moving into seafood dishes (scallops and Mediterranean sea bass), the menu wraps up with another meaty entrée, The Chicken and Cow, then Baked Alaska for dessert.
Make a reservation through OpenTable.
5. Avli
1818 N. HUBBARD ST.
This Giannis Antetokounmpo-owned eatery is celebrating the New Year with a Greece-inspired, four-course menu ($100). The earliest you can partake in this menu is 9 p.m. and it includes a complimentary Champagne toast at midnight. While tuna and lamb are on the menu, vegetarian substitutions can be made.
Make a reservation through Tock.
6. Bacchus
925 E. WELLS ST.
What’s unique about the New Year’s Eve offerings is there are two menus, depending on what time you dine. From 4 to 6 p.m., enjoy a three-course menu featuring scallops ($95) with a bottle of Champagne to take home. A five-course, wine-paired menu ($250) served from 6 to 9 p.m. features Australian Wagyu. Then, from 9 p.m. to midnight, the Conservatory transforms into a New Year’s Eve Bash ($325 including dinner) with live jazz music, desserts, appetizers and drinks, plus a Champagne toast at midnight.
Make a reservation through Tock.
7. Bartolotta’s Lake Park Bistro
3133 E. NEWBERRY BLVD.
Tucked into Lake Park, this fine-dining bistro with French flair is offering a four-course New Year’s Eve menu ($125, plus $75 for wine pairings). You can customize each course, as there are between five to six options in each, such as sea bream or guinea hen roti for the plat principaux.
Make a reservation through the restaurant’s website.
8. Birch
459 E. PLEASANT ST.
A chef’s-tasting menu on New Year’s Eve ($145) spans seven decadent courses, from canapés to Stone Bank Farm lamb and also includes chocolate cake for dessert. Seating is at the Chef’s Counter as well as within the dining room.
Make a reservation through Tock.
9. Braise
1101 S. 2ND ST.
This farm-to-table restaurant’s prix-fixe menu on New Year’s Eve ($75) features four courses with options to select within each one, such as vegetarian lasagna, branzino or lamb for the third course.
Make a reservation through the restaurant’s website.
10. Ca’Lucchenzo
6030 W. NORTH AVE., WAUWATOSA
This Italian-focused eatery is folding delicacies into its five-course New Year’s Eve dinner ($125 includes welcome drink with additional fee for wine pairings), including caviar and truffles. The main event is lamb loin from Pinn-Oak Farms.
Make a reservation through Tock.
11. EsterEv
360 E. ERIE ST.
Not limited to one night, the New Year’s Eve Dinner Series runs Dec. 28 through Dec. 31 with seatings at 6 p.m., 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. for the seven-course tasting menu ($125, wine pairings additional fee). Items on the menu range from a potato dish highlighted by Uplands Cheese Co.’s Rush Creek Reserve to king crab served with sweet potato, pistachio, pear and chanterelle.
Make a reservation through Tock.
12.Harbor House
550 N. HARBOR DR.
Whether you prefer the restaurant’s New Year’s Eve offerings—a three-course brunch ($65) and four-course dinner menu ($125)—both highlight seafood and offer selections (such as Alaskan black cod or eggs benedict with smoked salmon on the brunch menu) within each course. Wine pairings are an additional $55-$105.
Make a reservation through the restaurant’s website.
13. Movida at Hotel Madrid
600 S. 6TH ST.
The Unlimited Tapas Dinner ($55) on New Year’s Eve celebrates this Spanish restaurant’s best dishes, such as patatas bravas, as well as bowls and classic tapas.
Make a reservation through OpenTable.
14. Il Cervo
420 W. JUNEAU AVE.
Milwaukee’s newest hotel (The Trade, Autograph Collection) is hosting a New Year’s Eve party and dinner ($195, plus $65 for wine pairings) at its rooftop lounge. Featuring five courses, such as antipasti, pasta dishes and dessert, seatings for the prix-fixe dinner are between 4 p.m. and 11 p.m., wrapping up in time for the 9:30 p.m. Late Night Party to start.
Make a reservation through Tock.
15. Joey Gerard’s
5601 BROAD ST., GREENDALE
A three-course New Year’s Eve menu, available a la carte with $45 additional for wine pairings, will be served from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Following the typical supper-club menu, but with special additions, options range from Joey’s deviled eggs as an appetizer to red-wine braised beef short ribs for the main course.
Make a reservation through the restaurant’s website.
16. Lowlands Group
MULTIPLE LOCATIONS
In celebration of New Year’s all of this restaurant group’s eateries (Buckatabon Tavern & Supper Club, Café Benelux, Centraal Grand Café & Tappery and Café Hollander) are introducing a special menu on New Year’s Eve. For example, at Buckatabon Tavern & Supper Club it’s fried cornmeal oysters, a duck quarter with rice and butterscotch pie.
Make a reservation through Yelp.
17. Lupi & Iris
777 N. VAN BUREN ST.
Chef Adam Siegel’s four-course New Year’s Eve dinner menu ($135) reflects the restaurant’s Mediterranean lens but you do get to select an item in each course, whether that’s butter-poached Maine lobster or wood-roasted beef tenderloin, or a caramel or chocolate dessert.
Make a reservation through Tock.
18. Mr. B’s – A Bartolotta Steakhouse
18380 W. CAPITOL DR., BROOKFIELD
11120 N. CEDARBURG RD., MEQUON
Each of these two locations are rolling out a New Year’s Eve a la carte menu with specials available between 4 p.m. and 11 p.m., with the option to tack on shaved black truffles for $35 per entrée (such as roasted black sea bass, prime filet and dry-aged ribeye in Mequon; and seared halibut, dry-aged bone-in Kansas City strip and Wagyu sirloin in Brookfield).
Make a reservation through the restaurants’ websites (Brookfield and Mequon).
19. Supermoon Beer Company
3145 S. HOWELL AVE.
Dubbed “Supper Moon,” and the first of a dinner-club series, this Bay View brewery is partnering with Bartlett Dining to serve a five-course, beer-paired dinner ($100) on New Year’s Eve. There’s a choice of salad, soup, entrée and dessert, along with several side dishes and dessert, with a caviar add-on available ($35).
Make a reservation through the brewery’s website.
20. The Original
2498 N. BARTLETT AVE.
With seatings between 5:30 p.m. and 9 p.m., the six-course New Year’s Eve prix-fixe menu ($100) highlights sweet and savory, from scallop crudo with a sweet-potato chip as an amuse bouche to a Wagyu slider with lemon-truffle aioli, before easing into house-made pasta, lamb chop and dessert.
Make a reservation through Tock.
