Cafe Centraal

Cafe CentraalCafe Centraal
Cafe CentraalCafe Centraal
Bar, Eatery

2306 S Kinnickinnic Ave
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53207-1626
United States

(414) 755-0377 | map
thecafecentraal.com
PLACE STATS
Average:
4.16
Reviews:
10
Ratings:
29
pDev:
8.89%
View: Place Reviews
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Photo of REVZEB
Reviewed by REVZEB from Illinois

4.04/5  rDev -2.9%
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 4.25 | service: 3.75 | selection: 4 | food: 4
Nice tap list with belgians and local beers featured, though a bunch of tap lines were unavailable. Service was not great, don't know if we caught the shift change of what, but getting a beer took forever. Frites were solid but by no way one of the best in the city full of them. Lowlands collective options are appreciated. Very clean in general
Oct 22, 2022
Photo of cratez
Reviewed by cratez from Canada (ON)

3.28/5  rDev -21.2%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.25 | service: 3 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3.25
Visited with my wife on a recent trip to Holland, MI and Milwaukee, WI.

Tried the following:
Hop Haus 1st & 10 Red Ale (draft)
Deschutes Fresh Haze IPA (draft)

The Hop Haus was mediocre while the Fresh Haze was quite tasty. Had the Red Curry Rainbow Trout to eat; it was underwhelming (too creamy and one-dimensional). But my wife enjoyed her salad and wine. Service was lacklustre as the hostess seemed reluctant to give us a booth – even though the place was almost empty – and our waitress disappeared on us for a bit. Our overall experience was below average, and I don’t think we would come back.
Apr 13, 2020
 
Rated: 4.66 by lrend13 from Wisconsin

Sep 27, 2018
 
Rated: 4.31 by BarrelAgedG from California

Apr 20, 2017
 
Rated: 4.18 by BYOFB from Wisconsin

Jun 29, 2016
Photo of Ottoj55
Reviewed by Ottoj55 from Wisconsin

3.64/5  rDev -12.5%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3.75 | service: 3.75 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4
Restaurant and bar focused on Belgian beer. It often very busy and very loud. The service is decent and the beer list extensive (and Belgian). Their Friday fish fry is a favorite.
Feb 29, 2016
 
Rated: 4.03 by adamranders from Wisconsin

Oct 24, 2015
 
Rated: 4.15 by Eman17 from Illinois

Sep 14, 2015
 
Rated: 3.76 by atone315 from Wisconsin

Feb 15, 2015
Photo of Steady_eddie1
Rated by Steady_eddie1 from Michigan

4.25/5  rDev +2.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.25 | service: 4.25 | selection: 4.25 | food: 4.5
cheeseburger is amazing, excellent beers and friendly staff
come here once a year
Feb 06, 2015
 
Rated: 3.9 by egrace84 from Illinois

Dec 22, 2014
 
Rated: 4.69 by NicolaHopFreak from Hungary

Nov 22, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by MilwaukeeBeerMaker from Wisconsin

Aug 12, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by Alpar from Wisconsin

Aug 08, 2014
 
Rated: 5 by mkenole from Wisconsin

Jul 27, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by Bodurtha

Jul 09, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by hansenm72 from Texas

Jul 03, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by Localdrinklax from Wisconsin

May 30, 2014
Photo of robear
Reviewed by robear from Wisconsin

3.76/5  rDev -9.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.75 | selection: 4 | food: 3.75
Belgian-inspired food & beer. Part of a local restaurant group (Lowlands) focusing on Belgian food & beer. Growler fills of all(?) beers on tap are available.

Atmosphere- very good design. Comfortable and interesting.

Quality- the food is good but I'm not sure if they source ingredients locally. Beer selection is quality Belgian breweries and a few American breweries. They do have a few macros on tap/ in bottles.

Service- average to good.

Selection- this is a tricky one. If you're looking for Belgian beer, then you're going to be in heaven. If you want a stout or an IPA, then you're going to be disappointed. I suggest going when you're in a Belgian mood or on a hot summer day, when a nice crisp Belgian Single will hit the spot.

Food- the food is good, but falls short of being memorable. Definitely a step up from chain restaurants and family diners. A lot of Belgian-inspired dishes and some authentic Belgian dishes. Lots of fried appetizers, though, so not a particularly healthy meal. It was hard to gauge the quality of the food because so much of it was deep-fried.

Value- not really a value. You get what you pay for- good food and good beer.
May 24, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by Vinithing from Wisconsin

Mar 12, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by Nemers from Wisconsin

Nov 27, 2013
 
Rated: 4 by Cindy_C from Wisconsin

Nov 10, 2013
 
Rated: 4.25 by TheRealPour from Illinois

Oct 30, 2013
Photo of BelgieScott
Reviewed by BelgieScott from Pennsylvania

5/5  rDev +20.2%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | food: 5
Drove past Centraal around lunchtime and noticed it, based on BA reviews I was heading for Palm, a bit further out the street. Palm was closed, so I turned around and came back to Centraal, and I am glad I did. Beer list impressive, maybe 25 beers on tap. Did not look at bottles because taps so impressive, but there were a lot of them (contained in the "Bier Book," a nice touch. Had a Karmeleit Tripel, I can never resist that when it is on tap, and another beer called Confession Grand Cru, which is one of their private label beers from Belgium. Both very good, sadly had to drive to airport so could not sample more. Had a rosemary goat cheese macaroni for lunch, truly excellent. I sat at the bar, and the young bartender was well informed and obviously eager to learn more, and as the place was uncrowded we chatted about beer and Belgium quite a bit. Bar and restaurant are excellent rehabs of an old drug store, the bar is quite long and it is hard to imagine that it fills up very often. The back patio looked very nice as well. A great place, particularly if you are fond of Belgian beers. Then there is American craft beer "Sugar Maple" next door, at least later in the day.
Aug 05, 2011
Photo of sweemzander
Reviewed by sweemzander from Illinois

4.39/5  rDev +5.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 4 | selection: 4
A cool looking corner bar from the outside. Upon entering I immediately got the belgian vibe that oozes out of this place. It definitely has some solid square footage in here. We did not eat, however the food looked and smelled absolutely amazing. What I liked about Cafe Centraal is that it stuck to the belgian theme with the beer. All of it is true authentic imported stuff that you can get either on tap or by the bottle. All 3 of us ordered something different, yet they were served to us in the exact corresponding and proper glass straight from that brewery.
The service was good as can be expected, yet despite being very full and busy, were were helped almost immediately.
Overall, this was my personal favorite bar we visited. I would love to go back and try the food as well. A top notch destination.
Apr 27, 2011
Photo of dirtylou
Reviewed by dirtylou from Oklahoma

4.15/5  rDev -0.2%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5
hit up cafe centraal for dinner, in between stops at Sugar Maple, and before the LCD Soundsystem show

very open and bright, much unlike Dutch bars that i've been to. The menu and beer list attempts to reflect Dutch/Belgian cuisine.

We started with some bitterballen, which were great, and brought back nostalgic memories of eating these fried meatballs in dark amsterdam taverns. i had the green curry mussels and frites for dinner - the green curry broth was really awesome, but i prefer the tradition serving vessel of a steel pot rather than a bowl. The frites were above average and there were lots of sauces - cilantro/cumin aioli and curry ketchup were both good.

tap selection was about 30 deep - almost all belgian and ameri-belgians. I went for the tripel karmeleit which was served in the proper oversized glass.

Atmosphere was kind of a letdown (bright, more of a restaurant) but hard to complain about anything else. Go here, then go next door to Sugar Maple.
Oct 23, 2010
Photo of crossovert
Reviewed by crossovert from Illinois

4.45/5  rDev +7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5
Located on the intersection of 2 decently sized roads it is easy to find. It is next door to Sugar Maple. I stopped in for lunch.

They have 23 taps and a special where you can have 4 of their tap brews for 12$. They also have maybe 50-60 bottles/cans.

The beer is always poured into proper glassware and served at a nice temperature, with nice clean taplines.

The wait staff was extremely nice and gave me a free meal for not having one of the beers I wanted despite it being on the menu.

Overall a nice place, food was good, so was the beer.
Feb 06, 2010
Photo of emerge077
Reviewed by emerge077 from Illinois

3.78/5  rDev -9.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3
Stopped in tonight on a mega-tour of Milwaukee...

This place seems to ride the trend-wave of craft beer without really going in the deep end. Conceptually it sounds great, unless you've been spoiled by the Hopleaf, Brasserie V, or similar Belgian-inspired establishments. Don't let that dissuade you though.

The atmosphere was more restaurant than tavern... open, airy, with a hostess station at the front. Inside there were stone tile floors and rough hewn wooden tables with wicker chairs. behind the bar there were some cool horizontal lighted signs screened with some Belgian beer logos like Delirium and Cuvee de Trolls. The bar itself was a combo of brick and surfaced with slick wood. Mismatched chairs lined the bar. Lots of Belgian beer gift packs dotted the coolers. In the large dining area, there were the typical bar signs, with a large Tripel Karmeliet sign visible when you walk in. Some urban bicycle-themed photos, keeping with the Dutch theme.

Beer wise, the most obscure beers were Cuvee de Trolls and Bottresse Noire, yet there was a "rarities/oddities" section of the menu that listed less-rare Pere Jacques and Blanche de Bruxelles. No Rodenbach? There was a lack of traditional lambics besides Cuvee Rene (listed as "unflavored lambic"), yet they rip off the Cantillon logo on their menu as a "drunk monk" symbol for trappist beers. The selection is available online, what you see is what you get, save for a few new seasonal beers. Our server was friendly and very prompt.

Food wise, we only had the frites, which should be a standard measure for a Belgian/Dutch cafe. Basically they were the same as frozen fries anywhere, not fresh-cut, served with a miracle whip blend of "aioli". Menu had some Belgian items, healthy turkey options, and good vegetarian options too. I know they have a broad audience to please, but is a burger or fish fry really Belgian?

As it's next door to Sugar Maple, I would pass by Centraal every time for a beer at SM instead. The selection doesn't even compare. Check out Palm Tavern nearby or Comet on the east side for some good Belgian beers... i'll have to check out the menu again here though to give it a 2nd chance, and adjust scores if necessary.
Nov 28, 2009
Photo of beerwolf77
Reviewed by beerwolf77 from Wisconsin

4.2/5  rDev +1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5
I've been here many times and I must say this is the finest combo of craft beer and food I've ever experianced.

The place is enormous for bar standards. The large wood/stone bar wraps around the entire building to point where you can't see the patrons on the other end.

The beer is the co star here along with the food.
The selection is outstanding. 23 taps to choose from mostly true belgians. The bottle selection is rediculous. All beers poured into the proper glassware.

The food is off the charts. They have a vast array of everything from sandwiches and soups to homemade meatloaf and some the most unique bloody mary's as well.

The service is always outstanding. Everyone from the servers to to the bartenders are very knowledgable about all their beers.

I've spent many days and nights eating and drinking at this fine establishment. I highly recommend this place if you are in the Mlwaukee area.
Jul 16, 2009
Cafe Centraal in Milwaukee, WI
Place rating: 4.16 out of 5 with 29 ratings