November 24, 2009
Unlike its Bavarian sister, the Old German Beer Hall, formerly Guse’s City Hall, is comparatively smaller with a bar and a few windowside booths in the front and a large communal "beerhall" towards the rear. Still... no complaints here. There is a small stage where drunken revelers can do the oom-pah-pah routine. Much like the places you’d find in Munich, this bar is tied to a brewery - Hofbrau; the limited taps include their regular helles beer (Original), the toasty dark beer, a bock, a kindl - which is a Berlin style, a seasonal and an amber. Sehr gute. Fresh, tasty and filling. The food was much like one would find in Germany: heavy on the wursts, kraut and potatoes. They also serve spatzle as a side; this is very filling for long nights of vielgetrunkenheit. And the wurst? You gotta know it’s fresh since it made by the world famous Usingers, which is literally across the street. (You can almost, but not quite, hear the pigs squealing.) Add to this, a wide variety of German beerhall kitsch scattered among the walls, some good service - though no red-faced braufrau toting giant liter mass of bier, and a generally pleasant atmosphere that begs one to hang around and Milwaukee has one fine beer bar. Oh ja! On Sundays (11am-2pm) all litres are half-priced.

November 15, 2009
This place shouldn’t even count if all you can get is Hofbrau. That’s my vision of hell.

October 2, 2009
Typical German beer hall style only smaller. The staff at the bar is great and always willing to serve a fresh liter of HB. They only serve HB and one house beer but what else do you expect for a HB Haus? The food is tasty and comes quickly. The Christmas part is a blast and they always have fun tappings for each seasonal. Live music, authentic everything, and the "nail game" are going to keep me coming back for another dunkel!

August 16, 2009
Love the chili, when they have it. Very authentic style german beer hall (minus the size). Tends to draw a younger crowd, but can be fun, go hammer a nail!

July 10, 2009
This is a great representation of an authentic german beer hall. The bar up front is nice but the real action is in the back. The long bench style tables are made for dancing on. When the band is playing it gets pretty wild in there.

February 21, 2007
I visited this place for the first time before a Bucks game (it is very convenient to the Bradley Center in downtown Milwaukee). I was impressed by the "focus" of the beer selection (they only pour five Hofbrau (HB) Munchen beers on draft), the efforts made to provide an authentic German beer hall experience (with a few American touches like a big screen TV and American polka band), proper glassware, a lively environment (music, a game challenging you to pound a nail into a stump, various drink specials, lots of conversation), and bench seating (in the back room). I was not impressed with the food and the prices. Food was limited to some sausages (although they are Usinger sausages, made fresh across the street), which I thought was rather overpriced for what you got. A friend and I each had a sausage, two 1/2 liter beers, and we split some fries...our bill was $37 (before tip). I would recommend eating elsewhere before visiting, but this place is lively and fun, so I will no doubt be back again before another Bradley Center event.