Great simple food. Quality meat locally sourced. Definitely…read morerecommend for even family style Wisconsin bar. Not the new modern place but the traditional style of local bar.

my partner and I are new to the portage area so we've been trying to stop into as many local places…read moreas we can. today we stumbled upon the saloon and thought we would give it a try. we walked in and sat at the bar and after about 4 minutes the bartender came over and i asked if we could see a food menu and she asked for ID. I am 21, I am actually sober and had no interest in drinking, I often don't carry my ID on me because of this reason. I said I might have a photo of it but my phone was dead so i couldn't give her that. she refused to serve us after asking if we knew the owner (as if we had known the owner it would be fine?) so we ended up leaving. the only reason I'm writing this review is because there was a 7 year old sitting at the bar right next to us. We made it very clear we just wanted food and we're still refused service for lack of ID despite having a child sit there at the bar eating. I wish I would've lied and said I knew the owner because then I would be knee deep in some fries right now. Super disappointing. #WEDONTCARDANYONEUNDER10 #BRINGIDFORFRIES

Came here for an after dinner drink right before the movie, what a great concept! Great local tap…read morebeers and the price is in line with local pubs. We don't get out often but this was a nice change in our routine!

The only place open on Christmas day that serves food (I'm being kind by calling it food) and…read moreshowing football. Definitely a dive bar! Kind of a shady clientele. I ordered my burger rare but unfortunately they only know one way (shoe leather)! The bartender (didn'tgethername) Was sooo slow and had the personality of a doily! I guess maybe my expectations were too high for Christmas dayl

My fiancee Kym Thompson have enjoyed their drinks and it is close to our home in Portage. Wi.read more

A surprisingly friendly local watering hole…read more Things have been going pretty rough for me lately. I was in Portage on sorta a whim, placing myself in the care of close friends and family to help deal with a few things. I ended up going bar hopping with my best friend and a bud from high school that I haven't seen for awhile. We're about as different, the three of us, as people can be in terms of personality and I think it's fair to say we all had a pretty decent time. Drink options are pretty standard. Nothing to write home about there. I was a bit hesitant to stop in here at first because the crowd seemed a bit on the older side. Some folks closer to our age filtered in as we drank our drinks. The crowd was pretty friendly and struck up some great conversation about football and folks we all knew from around town. (Full disclosure: We found out halfway through our drink that the bartender was the mother of someone we went to high school with and we ended up sharing a lot of laughs relating to that. He wasn't a close friend or anything, but it's worth mentioning.)

From the owner: Small Downtown Barread more

I enjoyed going there and would go back again. It was an enjoyable experience and close to my home…read morein Lodi, Wisconsin. I would recommend it to anyone.

This is a very casual bar with "typical" bar food. Being vegetarian, I didn't think I would be able…read moreto eat anything there -- they had the Beyond burger patty on their menu but they didn't actually have it available so I resigned myself to ordering a salad which is usually not my number one choice because I don't find them filling unless they include grains, nuts, etc. Anywho, I ordered their chopped salad sans bacon and ham and I wasn't really expecting much but it turned out to be pretty darn good. The dressing was tasty and the salt itself seemed fresh, it packed quite a crunch! I was pleasantly surprised. As far as the atmosphere -- it's super chill and it's a good place to hang out. You can play an hour of pool for only $5!

Hands down one of the best restaurants ever!…read more The bruschetta was excellent. The salad was tasty. The Reuben left a lasting memory. My friend had the Philly Steak sandwich and said it was the best meal she'd ever eaten. The exterior is absolutely gorgeous with all the flowers. The interior is tastefully decorated and cozy. The service was excellent from the minute we arrived until we departed. I wish so much I lived closer to Neil's!

We needed a place for dinner while we were staying at our rental and drove past this place and…read morethought it looked interesting. Yelp and google gave it pretty decent reviews, so we stopped in. One thing that was cool was last night the patio was reserved for only those who had dogs. It would have been neat to know that ahead of time and we could have brought our dog. Not sure if that's a daily thing or special for Saturday nights. The inside was cool, you can see the historic charm in this place. We got immediate seating, which was really nice. We were told multiple times the kitchen was backed up and we would have to wait about 45 minutes for our food. That was fine. We figured if we ordered an appetizer to go with dinner it would come out earlier. Our friends appetizers came out nearly an hour later. My husband and I each ordered a cup of the French onion soup and we got it 30 minutes after our friends got theirs. Our main courses came out shortly after that. Two of us ordered the chicken masala, one ordered a steak, and I ordered the salmon. All of our food was amazing. My husband said hands down the best meal in a restaurant in 2026. It would have been nice if the restaurant offered us a free dessert or round of drinks for the extremely long wait. Honestly I was about to ask if they even started making our meals when the soups finally came out, because if they hadn't I'd have said forget it. If I'm being honest, I'd have rated our experience lower, because that wait time was awful. But the food was delicious and this surely can't be something that happens regularly, because if it was, this place would have way less 5 star reviews. If I'm in the area again I'd give this place another shot, and hopefully our wait time is much shorter and the food is just as good.

My friends graduation party was held here. The environment is warm and friendly. The staff are…read morefunny and know how to take and make a good joke! The alcohol they have is perfect for my taste. I always get spotted cow or a mikes hard strawberry lemonade!

New owners are sending this once amazing bar into the ground. Got rid of the soda gun and went to…read morewarm room temp soda cans? Brita water filter that they are changing with bare hands and no gloves? They are changing the vibe of the down to earth place we go to hangout and talk into a noisy sports bar with giant TVs all over. Some may view these changes as a benefit but not me. I'll take my business elsewhere

The staff has a poor attitude the bathroom totally match the staffs attitude there are other places…read moreto go in portage i wouldn't go there again.

I mean... It's ok... for Portage... I guess. It's just, if you're going to be named the Whiskey…read moreBarrel, you should have something more than Kesslers and Makers Mark. ‍

Service was decent. Prices are reasonable. Food was solid. My husband said the sweet potato fries…read morewere some of the best he's ever had. Overall a solid experience.

It's been well over 45 minutes since we ordered and no food yet. Servers are working hard but…read moregrossly inefficient. The kitchen is the biggest bottleneck though. We got some of our food after 50 minutes and we've finished eating. We're leaving without receiving our corn fritters. I hate to leave negative reviews but this was ridiculous. I feel sorry for the Door Dasher that's been waiting since shortly after we got here.

Went here because it is near our house and in walking distance. Found out it has fantastic bloody…read moreMary's and kickass food at a great price. $35 for two meals and an appetizer with 2 drinks. Highly recommend.

We found this place on a chance. The peeps here are very nice. Grate service and awesome food. We…read morewill be back. 5 stars