Battle of the Happy Hours: Mason Street Grill

This week, I’ve been exploring Happy Hours at The Marcus Corporation’s three distinct and lovely hotels in Milwaukee: The Hilton Milwaukee City Center, The Intercontinental and The Pfister.

See what I thought of CLEAR Bar in The Intercontinental here, Monarch Lounge in The Hilton here, and Blu in The Pfister here.

Where: Mason Street Grill, inside The Pfister Hotel (425 E Mason St)

Happy Hours: Monday- Friday 5-7 pm and Sunday 5-9 pm

Drink Specials: $5 glasses of house wine, $5 well drinks, $3 draft beer

Food Specials: $6 bar snacks, which are actually generously portioned appetizers

Who I Brought: Paige, a fellow writer who recently moved to Milwaukee from New York City.  We met earlier this year at Pfister Book Club and were instantly chatting like old friends.

What We Tried:

Bacon Cheeseburger Fondue. Every part of this was delectable, but my favorite part was swabbing up the cheese with the toasty bread.

Fried Surf Clams. Battered in buttermilk, these are the house specialty and I could eat them every day.

Steak Forks. Two tips: 1. The trio of dipping sauces are all very tasty, but the garlic butter and steak sauce are staples, what you expected when you dipped. The light brown sauce on the end, however, has a unique flavor I can only describe as “nutty”, and it is by far my favorite. 2. When you order something called “Steak Forks”, you may not be exactly sure what you’re getting. This turned out to be is exactly what it sounded like, hunks of delicious steak…on forks. When all the steak had disappeared, the table is full of superfluous forks, which I find strangely hilarious.

Our Favorites: Fried Surf Clams and Steak Forks

This Spot’s Perfect Crowd:

– An after-work group of friends.  Mason Street Grill offers live music six evenings a week, making this a lively and boisterous spot.

The Joel Burt Duo, possibly my favorite group to play in Mason Street.

Thanks so much for joining me on this Happy Hour tour! Hope you found (or remembered) a wonderful spot to drink away the dwindling of the day.