Turner Hall restaurant will open in time for Bucks’ first exhibition game.
It’s going down to the wire, but the new restaurant at Turner Hall will open in time for the Milwaukee Bucks’ first exhibition game at the new arena.
Tavern at Turner Hall will be open Oct. 3, when the Bucks play host to the Chicago Bulls at Fiserv Forum. The restaurant is at 1038 N. Vel R. Phillips Ave., formerly North Fourth Street.
It will be operated by Mike Eitel’s Caravan Hospitality, which Tuesday announced the opening date. The group also operates the Nomad World Pub in Milwaukee and Madison and SportClub in downtown Milwaukee.
The previous restaurant, which was open only on Bradley Center event nights, closed in May. In July, when the new tenant was made public, Turner Ballroom Preservation Trust Chairman Gary Grunau said the trust wanted an operator who would serve lunch and dinner daily at the restaurant. The trust holds the lease on the restaurant and the building’s ballroom with the Turners.
Turner Hall is adjacent to the entertainment complex being constructed
near the new arena. Turner Hall is the four-story, 136-year-old Cream City brick building built by Milwaukee’s German Turner, or gymnasts, society.
Tavern at Turner will be open every day, from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Monday to Thursday, 4 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. Sunday. On the weekends, it would open two hours before any early nearby events.
Pabst Theater Group, which schedules concerts at Turner Hall Ballroom, will allow customers to bring drinks from the restaurant into the concert venue, a first.
The restaurant will serve a Friday fish fry and pan-seared whitefish with potato pancakes, prime rib on Saturday, and a variety of other entrees, burgers, sandwiches, tacos, rice bowls and appetizers, such as variations on loaded fries and chicken wings.
Prices mostly fall from $7 for a basic one-third pound burger with fries to $34 for a 16-ounce rib-eye steak dinner.
The restaurant is being redecorated into three areas. The main dining area, or tavern, will have high-top tables, televisions and a pool table. The Palm Garden can be reserved for special events, and when it’s not booked, customers can play darts, pool and shuffleboard there. The smaller area known as the parlor keeps the restaurant’s banquet seating.