Bar Exam
The Only Saloon in Piggsville
And the Valley Inn is a dandy, with a nicely-restored 1898 building and all those photos (and stories!) of floods.
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And the Valley Inn is a dandy, with a nicely-restored 1898 building and all those photos (and stories!) of floods. Back to the full article.
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An informative and engaging piece about this fine pub. Thank you Mr. Horne!
Here is my take on the place (lifted from my now defunct Milwaukee restaurant blog)…
The Valley Inn is a fine example an old Milwaukee tavern. It has many charms…the ambiance created by the faded wood that surrounds you in a venerable building, the simple and unpretentious food, the honest ales and the honest host who serves them come easily to mind. With a little more delving another, more subtle advantage appears: it’s inaccessability. The place is tucked and hidden away in “Piggsville” in the very center of Milwaukee. It is hard to find. I came across it by accident a few weeks ago and vowed to return to sample what it offered.
The southern border of this neighborhood is a major highway. Those who use this elevated road to get home to the dreary western suburbs can have no knowledge of the rich and varied streets that lie below to the north. The patrons of The Valley Inn, I suspect, prefer it that way. They are mostly working folk who, after a shift at the gigantic brewery that forms the northern border of the area, come in to drink a few pours of what they spend their days making. This place is not for people who work downtown on Kilbourn Street and drive home to Brookfield.
Workers, cops on their lunch break, and people who are fortunate enough to live in walking distance of the Valley Inn are its customers. Today I sat at the bar valiantly struggling to disguise myself as a “local” and enjoyed the 5 dollar nachos and the Riverwest Stein. To my right was gentleman who, he told me matter-of-factly, has been a customer of the place for 30 years. Unlike the geographic location of this pub, he was not the least bit inaccessible. We both celebrated together watching on the “big screen” the Milwaukee Brewers absolutely decimate the Miami Marlins 12-3.
The Vally Inn ornaments Milwaukee with conviviality and damned good nachos.