Motor Bar and Restaurant - Harley Davidson Museum

Milwaukee and Harley go hand in hand.  They fairly new Harley Davidson Museum located at 400 W. Canal Street in Milwaukee had a lot to offer.  Obviously a generous history of Harley and Harley in Milwaukee and also so great shopping, great bike viewing and great eating!  They house a restaurant called Motor Bar and Restaurant.  They just started a year long party to celebrate their 110th anniversary and they are only about 15 days in so I highly recommend getting there before their 110th anniversary party REALLY kicks in!!  We went there with my brother and his wife.  There was some sort of party going on, like a school reunion or a company party or something so they had a lot of tables reserved and we had like a 45 minute wait, but we got some drinks at the bar and found a little corner of comfy chairs to sit in and wait.  I would highly recommend making a reservation!  Their number is 1-877-436-8738 or you can make reservations on opentable.com.  Also, if you're from out of town or a Harley fan I suggest coming early before the museum closes and check it out!
Now for the food and drink!  I ordered a glass of white wine, which they kept on top of the bar outside of a cooler, very weird.  I like my white wine chilled, as I think most people would.  They seemed to have a full bar with lots of options.  The bar was quite packed with lingerers from the party I spoke of earlier, but it took quite a while to get someones attention for drinks and when some seats at the bar opened up we decided to grab them and the bar tender tried to fill the old customers glasses for us to drink out of... yuck.  I know it was busy, but he didn't realize we were completely new people?
Once we were seated at our table our waitress came who was very pleasant.  We ordered some cheese curds (are you shocked?) and a big pretzel.  The cheese curds were battered which I love!  They were very good and a mixture between white and yellow cheese.  I can't say for sure they were cheddar and mozzarella or just a white and yellow cheddar, I really don't know.  They came with a good dipping ranch sauce.  The pretzels were quite large.  Very good.  Just salty enough and soft on the inside.  They came with two different dipping sauces, a Ground Mustard and a Beer Cheese.  I don't like mustard so I didn't try that one, but the beer cheese dip was good.  Light and flavorful. 

I ordered a BBQ Pork Flatbread.  It was HUGE!!!  I'm so glad I talked to the waitress before ordering a side of fries cause she warned me just how large the pizza was.  Fries were not necessary.  The crust was VERY good.  There was a lot of cheese on the pizza which some people like but I could have gone a little lighter on the cheese.  Also, the pieces of pork were quite large and I really wish they were smaller and more spread out.  It was good!!  Don't get me wrong!  I'm just being nit picky!
Aaron got a rack of ribs which he said were too saucey.  Hes not big on super saucey ribs so this didn't shock me.  He said they were cooked right and were plenty meaty.  He did finish the whole rack, so they were by no means bad.










Jamie and Elise (brother and sister-in-law) sent me their own reviews and I would like to share that with you

Jamie got the stuffed burger and this is what he had to say:

    "It wasn't as good as I was hoping it was going to be. There wasn't as much oozing cheeseness and bacon coming out of the center as I thought there would be. The beef of the burger was very good, juicy and a good flavor. I honestly wouldn't recommend it, a standard bacon cheeseburger would suffice just fine. Unless they pump more cheese in the middle it's just ok."



Elise got a BBQ pulled pork sandwich and this is what she had to say:
  " Let’s start with the pork – it was very juicy and tender. The barbeque sauce was very good - it was tangy and full-flavored. I liked that the pork wasn’t drenched in the sauce.  There was one small onion ring than came on top of the sandwich. It was a bit soggy but tasted good. The bun was really big, so I ended up only needing half of it."
Elise also gave me her opinion on the appetizers and her overall opinion of the restaurant, so here they are:

"Cheese curds: I really enjoyed them. They came out hot and fresh. Unlike many other restaurants where they give you a mound of curds, the Motor Bar provided a smaller portion. But I definitely prefer quality of quantity.  And these were quality. The batter was great – it was much lighter than other cheese curd coatings. It had a nice saltiness to it but wasn’t overpowering. I also liked that you couldn’t really taste a lot of the grease. It came with a buttermilk ranch dressing that was very light and tasty."

" Big pretzel: Delicious. It wasn’t too salty and it had a nice crust but was soft in the middle. I loved the beer cheese dipping sauce and mustard that accompanied the pretzel. The beer cheese was so good. It was much thinner and lighter than other cheese sauces that often come with pretzels. You could really taste the beer but it wasn’t overpowering. The mustard was stone ground and had a nice kick to it."

"My overall impression:  I really enjoyed the food and the ambiance of the restaurant. I think the chef did a good job of taking traditionally richer and greasier foods and making them taste lighter without compromising the flavor."

Check it out!  Let me know what you thought :)  Harley Davidson Museum Website