This week I am reviewing Pete’s Garage in Oshkosh.  Pete’s Garage is close to one of my work locations.  I have been lucky enough to visit a few times for lunch.   This is what I would consider a great neighborhood bar.

Atmosphere: This is a real man’s bar.  The floor is made of diamond plate and the bar looks to be stainless steel.  The walls are painted black and full of racing posters, beer lights, and large screen tv’s.  There is no lack of entertainment either, gambling machines, dart boards,  jukebox and one of my all time favorites, Golden Tee.  There is usually one person working behind the bar,  so don’t be in a big hurry if you stop for lunch.   They are always friendly and do a great job with how busy I have seen them on lunch hour.  Since I have only stopped in for lunch, I can’t speak to the nightlife after hours.

Food: The menu here is bar food.  The menu here is also entertaining!  Everything on the menu has a name that relates to cars parts.  You can start your lunch with some valve caps, shocks and struts (cheese curds and mozzarella sticks). Then move on to the transmission burger followed up by some blinker fluid.  Take a look at the menu link below, you get the idea.  I normally order a burger or my favorite the leather interior (prime rib sandwich).  This is a good size great tasting sandwich. For .25 cents more they will add mushrooms and onions.  For a $1 more you can get an order of fries to go with it.  Burgers here are also great, I would say better then average.  I have have had many of the appetizers and have been happy.  Though I think its tough to screw up deep fried mushrooms and poppers.

My bill today with sandwich, fries and a soda was eight dollars and change.

Conclusion: This is a stop that I enjoy for lunch. Yes its just bar food but,  the people are friendly, food is good and the prices are right.  Being able to watch sports center on your lunch hour is also a plus.

Petes Garage info:
website - petesgaragebar.com
address - 1514 Oregon St. Oshkosh, wi
ph# - (920) 235-9897
menu
map

Brian $0-$8, $9-$15, Sports Bar

I first learned about Sliders new patio from an article in the local paper.  What intrigued me about this patio was that it has a heated concrete floor, outdoor fireplaces and cost 100,000!  I later heard from Tom over at foxvalleyfun.com that this new patio was beautiful and worth checking out.  If you are looking for more outdoor patios to enjoy check out the patio finder at foxvalleyfun.com.

Sliders is a sports bar in Menasha. They have Friday night fish and live music on Saturday nights. Today our visit was only to check out the new patio, we did not have time to eat.

This patio is a large two tier patio surrounded by decorative fence and stone pillars. The lower level has a heated concrete floor, a S shaped brick formation with a fireplace on each end. There is even a heated waterfall. A creative way to extend the short summer season. There was country / soft rock music playing while we there. Drink service was excellent.  I am looking forward to going back after hours to see the fireplaces and lights in action.

Sliders information:
website - slidersbarandgrill.com
phone -  831-9550
address- 890 Country Rd. LP - Menasha, WI 54952
google map

Brian Sports Bar

UPDATE: Luck’s is no longer open for business - 12/1/09

Lucky’s bar and Grill is located in Appleton in the former Grazies building, just off Hwy KK.  We found a coupon in the Val Pack mailer and decided to give it a try. We did not have any idea on what to expect.  We thought it would be similar to Red Robin or Applebees. Lucky’s turned out to be much more of a sports bar than we had anticipated.  Not that this is a bad thing, as I personally love hanging out in a sports bar with a few hundred wings and a few sodas.  It was just not what we were looking for on a Saturday night.  We decided to make the best of it since it was getting late and our 5 year old was “going to die soon” if she did not eat.

Atmosphere: Lucky’s is an attractive brick building that is hard to miss with a large steeple over the front doors. There is an outside seating area just outside the front doors, but it was definately more of a drinking patio than a place for dining.  We both commented that this seating area looks strange in some way, like its part of the parking lot.  When you enter the front doors you are instantly greeted by a hostess. Next to the hostess is 2 large flat screen tvs on a table.  Both tv’s equipted with gaming systems, one of them had guitar hero loaded up.  Definately a nice touch for the avid gamer.  The concept of gaming systems for patrons is a cool idea that I have never seen before.  The overall atmosphere is much more bar than restaurant.   There is an open ceiling with exposed duct work and xmas lights all over.  Below are a few pictures taken from our both to give you a feel for the bar/dining area.  Directly off of the main area is a banquet room.  It was not be used while we were there.

Food: We were not expecting much more than basic bar food.  We were pleasantly surprised at the variety available on the menu.  Some of the menu options include, steak fajitas, lasagna, walleye, and even a Jack Daniels ribeye.  Not to mention brats from one of my favorite places in the world Haens Meat Market!  Someone knew what they were doing when creating this menu:)  I dont want to get off track, but if you have never been Haens you owe yourself a visit!  I believe it to be the best meat market in the area.

Service here was average at best. There were not many people in the restaurant and we needed to walk up to the bar and ask for our waitress. We decided to start our meal with hand breaded fair style cheese curds. Soon as I read that I had flashbacks of the cheese curd booth at Country USA, the best curds I had ever had. Is it bad that I remember that? These curds were a close second, no regrets on this order.

For our meals I chose steak fajitas, my wife picked the portabella quesadilla and my daughter had the cheese pizza..shocker. Our meals took longer then we thought they should have but that might have been because of the wood fire pizza. The pizza description reads “We guarantee you’ll love our wood fired, hand-tossed beer and honey dough crust”. The same dough was also used on the quesadillas. When are meals arrived we were pleasantly surprised, everything looked great! The only bar food we had was truly the cheese curds.  Very happy with the entrees.

I was lucky enough to grab a piece of my daughters pizza before she gobbled it down. Its hard to critique plain cheese pizza, but what I had was good. I would love to try the supreme. The fajitas came with a large plate of toppings. Salsa, tomato, guacamole, sour cream, lettuce, two kinds of cheese and four shells. The steak came on a sizzling plate with caramelized onions and green peppers. Everything looked fresh and there was plenty of food, even for me.   The onions were sweet, the steak was good and I was happy with my meal. I looked across the table at my wife who I could tell was also enjoying her meal. The picture above is a little deceiving, I wish I would have snapped another picture of the inside of the quesadilla. It was filled with portabella mushrooms, roasted red peppers, caramelized onions, goat cheese and spinach. The bite I had was good, I enjoyed it more then my fajitas. I am also a sucker for goat cheese.  Only positive things can I say about the entrees.  Atmosphere was not our style, but who can complain about $1 tap beer.

Conclusion: This was a slightly awkward visit for us. When we walked in, the interior of Lucky’s did not match its beautiful exterior design.  After having a meal better then we expected, we left as happy customers.  Lucky’s is not somewhere to bring the family if you have young children like we do. This would be a great place to meet friends for a fun meal, go to happy hour, or hang out on Sunday to watch the games. If this is the atmosphere you enjoy then you should check them out and let us know what you think.

Our bill for an appetizer, 3 meals, 2 sodas and a few beers was $36.00

Lucky’s information:
website - luckysbarappleton.com
phone - 996-9999
address - W6157 Lorna Ln. Appleton, Wi 54915
menu - website
google map

Brian $9-$15, Casual, Sports Bar