Craft Restaurant Is ‘Old Milwaukee Cleaned’

Inside Craft. Photo taken May 27, 2026 by Cari Taylor-Carlson.

If you are looking for an elegant dining room filled with memories of Milwaukee’s past, consider a visit to Craft, located across the street from Fiserv Forum in The Trade hotel. As soon as you enter from West Juneau Avenue, you will see the large square bar with seating on all sides and topped with stunning copper lighting fixtures that had past lives as the tops of brew kettles. In addition to that nod to Milwaukee’s brewing industry, you will see a Harley, a lovely photo of the Hoan Bridge, and a Cream City brick border in the hotel lobby.

“This old-school look refers to anything that has to do with old Milwaukee,” according to our server Bryan Gonzalez. The fresh industrial vibe, he told us, is “old Milwaukee cleaned up.”

The menu is brief, but that suggested quality, not quantity. The D.L.T., a duck sandwich and takeoff on a B.L.T., had a large mound of shredded duck breast packed into grilled buttery brioche bread. It also included bacon, tiny pieces mixed into the duck, which made the sandwich a true B.L.T. plus duck. It was delightful. The accompanying house chips had a subtle seasoning that added interest to the nongreasy, thick, crisp chips. They quickly disappeared.

The chipotle chicken grilled cheese, a mash-up of caramelized onions, shredded chicken and Gruyere, was mixed with chipotle mayo and served in buttery grilled sourdough. You won’t want to count calories when you dive into this sandwich. Every bite oozed with cheese and butter and, of course, chicken.

If you are craving carbs, order the jumbo pretzel with three sauces: beer cheese, grainy mustard and root beer BBQ. The pretzel was warm, easy to pull apart and exactly as advertised: “jumbo.” You could add to the basic pretzel by ordering it stuffed with jalapeno cheddar, cream cheese and bacon, and then dip it in the three sauces.

For the Craft smash burger, an array of choices awaited a decision. My companion chose a “smashable”: sauteed onions, cheddar cheese, Craft sauce, lettuce, tomato and Usinger’s bacon. The bacon was thick and crisp, and the smash burger, made with chuck, brisket and short rib, had the appropriate lacy fringe surrounding a medium-well burger. The Craft sauce was spicy. You can order a double or a triple for an additional $2 charge for each quarter-pound burger.

The Trade salad had multiple parts that came together to make a tasty, healthy bowl filled with bacon, grated cheddar, black olives, red onion, chopped romaine and multiple herb croutons. It was dressed with a light red wine vinegar, just enough to coat everything in the bowl.

The Third Space beer cheese soup made with aged cheddar was thick and filled with bacon. I wanted to dip everything in it — the pretzel, the croutons and even the edges of the smash burger. It was that good.

On the lunch menu, there were two more “handhelds”: a crispy chicken sandwich and a Trade club wrap with turkey, ham, bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado and Craft sauce. Also on the lunch menu were shaved Brussels sprouts and kale salad and the Craft Caesar salad. Because this is Wisconsin, you can also order Weyauwega Star Dairy cheese curds and wings with Sprecher BBQ sauce.

Because Craft is located across the street from Fiserv Forum in the Deer District, it’s an ideal venue for a pre- or post-meal when attending an event at the Forum. Our lunches were tasty, and the old Milwaukee ambiance was delightful.

On the Menu

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• Location: 420 W. Juneau Ave.
• Phone: 414-644-5470
• Hours: Breakfast: 6:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Mon-Fri, 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. Sat-Sun; Lunch: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mon-Sun; Dinner: 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Mon-Thu, 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. Fri-Sun
• Website: https://thetradehotel.com/dining/craft/

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