State Street Pizza Pub Opens This Weekend

Milwaukee’s newest bar and restaurant will open its doors this weekend in one of downtown’s oldest tavern buildings.

State Street Pizza Pub, 322 W. State St., is focused on quick service and personal pizzas.

“You will come in, you will order your pizza and it will be ready in less than 10 minutes,” said co-owner Jake Dehne in an April interview.

We tested the claim during a soft opening this week. Turns out, Dehne undersold the speed. Our pizza arrived in just over seven minutes.

The strategy is designed to take advantage of the crowds that attend events at Fiserv Forum, Turner Hall or the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, each of which is only a block away.

While you wait you can watch any of the 16 60-inch televisions, which will show a large rotation of sporting events. The tap beer list is predominantly craft offerings from both local and national breweries.

“It’s a sports bar with a focus on beer,” said Dehne in pitching the original vision.

The build-your-own seven-inch pizzas on which the place is built around start at $8.50. Larger pizzas, as well as salads, wraps and appetizers, are also available.

You can order at a table, the bar or get a quick to-go meal from the door.

Dehne is opening the business with his brother Seth and operating partner James Sanchez.

The partners are very familiar with the nightlife scene in the adjacent Old World Third bar district (now officially renamed N. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr.) and throughout Downtown. Through the Sydra Group, they own and operate Red, White and Blue (RWB) and Buckhead Saloon. They’re seeking a new home for Nicole’s Third Ward Social, and plan to launch The Lucky Clover Irish Pub later this year.

State Street Pizza Pub occupies the first floor of a 133-year-old tavern building originally built for the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company.

The Dehnes know the Westown bar well. They opened Upper 90 Sports Pub in the space in 2011 and acquired the building in 2015. But Upper 90 was closed in 2017 in favor of a new partnership, Point Burger Express, which itself closed amidst the pandemic in 2020. They spent the past two years searching for a tenant before deciding to again give it a go themselves.

The decor has been overhauled since Point closed. Gone are the overwhelmingly blue fixtures, replaced by a new, wood bar and a more natural color scheme.

The pizza pub is open Wednesday and Thursday from 3 p.m. to midnight, Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to midnight and Sunday from 11 a.m. to midnight. It opens June 10.

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