I was really looking forward to our visit to the Safehouse during our Milwaukee trip. When the time came... it was not easy to find, but that just added to the mystique. After pulling on the locked exit door, we finally found the entrance where the shenanigans start. You see... there's a password to enter; which you can easily find out about from area locals. If you don't know it... you can still get in after perform the door person's bidding (which is conveniently displayed on big screens inside the venue to patrons who have already entered. The decor is fantastic and be sure to do the self guided tour either before or after your meal. We choose to do it before, while we waited for our table. Now for the bad news... the smell. As we toured the establishment looking at all the interesting memorabilia and displays, the smell of foul, moldy, urine... abounded. By the end of the tour, we were no longer able to take it and had to leave to dine elsewhere. It was sad, since we had really looked forward to this. read more

See all

Service is what yielded the 5 star review. Iris really worked to make sure that my party was having a good time. Thank you! Magician is a lot of fun as well, be sure to check it out. I've been to the SafeHouse probably a dozen times over the years, and it's always fun to see what you notice that you hadn't before. read more

What an incredibly fun concept for a bar! They had a lot of drink selections to choose from as well as some fun "girlie" drinks, which I like. My husband was impressed w/ their beer selection, so that kept him happy! The TVs to spy are fun. We didn't try any of the food since we were still stuffed from lunch, but it smelled pretty good! I would definitely return! read more

Good fun and is definitely a must stop kind of place when visiting Milwaukee with children one time only. The spy games and silly antics that take place is the only reason for the.two stars. Kids loved it. Mom and I not so much. Dont bother even eating here. We had a bad experience with our waitress and thier food. We asked her what her favorite thing on the appitizer menu was and she told us the nachos were awesome. Great, we'll take that who doesnt love a easy and usually super plate of nachos.. We even took her recommendation of beef over shredded chicken. Beef has no flavor or seasoning. Try using some taco seasoning and boiling ur hamburger meat in it. FOOD FOR THOUGHT! So here's what happend. Our nachos came with chips , beef, and shredded cheese that was not even melted. After she dropped them off and never returned for about 10 minutes i asked her where the sour cream was, the guacamole, Pico 'de gallo, lettuce and the cilantro. These are things that all came on the nachos according to the menu we orderd off that night. Written right on the menu plain as day. So when i asked her about this she had the nerve to tell me that the menu has not properly been changed to say no lettace. OK....... Well what about the other 5 missing ingredients. So she looked at our plates as if i was lying about the missing items. Really lady...... The freaking nachos are $15.00. If i wanted chips and salsa i would have asked for that. Our other food was lousy too. You think you would have said I'm sorry. let me remake it or sorry they made a mistake. Or we screwed up..... Maybe even just not make us feel like we did something wrong. Instead she continued to stand by the statement that there were made properly. Alot of excellant resturants around this beautiful downtown area. This is a cool one time stop. Otherwise old, and sort of corny. Dirty as hell. The secret exit by the phone booth smells of urine. Like people have been peeing on the floors and they wont spend the money to shampoo the carpets. Very poor...... This place is a huge let down..... read more

The night started off well enough. Paid $250+ for their private upper dinning area for a birthday. We pre-ordered our meal and drinks ahead of time. They messed up a salad leaving out the meat and black beans. They also messed up bacon cheese burger when they were told to hold the BBQ sauce (they didn't). By the time we got our food, 3 mins later, the rest of the party was done. That said, the salad was STILL messed up the second time when they brought a beef salad instead of the requested chicken salad. They offered to comp dessert, but only one person accepted and requested an oreo dessert and guess what happened? THEY GOT THAT WRONG TOO, and brought some caremel cheese cake of which the person was not a fan of either caremel or cheese cake. 2 Togo boxes were requested and it took 15 minutes to get those. When the final bill was requested, it took about 20 minutes to get that. I get that it is busy on a Friday evening, but if you can't get simple things right, don't be surprised when people don't come back again. On the food and appetizers they did get right, it was great. That's the only thing keeping this from being a 1-star review. *After review of the receipt (I wasn't the paying person) I did confirm there were discounts provided. That said, I've adjusted my rating. I hope things go off without a hitch our next visit. read more

Excellent service, our waitress agent Iris did an excellent job. Very interesting place with lots of things to look at on the walls.

We had a pretty decent experience at the safe house last weekend. Except the service was fairly slow which wasn't great, the food was amazing, but our service was just unnecessarily slow. read more

The food is good, the drinks are good (if pricey), and the theme is unique. The downside is that the service is slow--polite, but slow. Takes away from a great experience. read more

As everyone else has said before this place is a unique place that must be visited at least once. I brought some friends from out of town and they loved it. Make sure to find the butt camera and sit at the first stool at the bar. trust me this is a fun place, with normal bar food! read more

Epic Flail. That's about the best way to describe The Safe House, especially the first time you go there. I'm sure there's hundreds of reviews on this establishment which all say a lot of the same, but all of that praise is true. Allow me to take you on a journey of what to expect, because that's the only way you can give proper credo to this great attraction. When you first go about finding the Safe House, hopefully you'll hear about it from a friend rather than this review, because the best way to approach it is via word of mouth. And by that I mean you first have to find where it is and go in through one of its two crazy entrances. The first, and most proper way, is to go in through the Alley door where you wait until it is your party's turn to enter. Upon entering, you see a room with different mechanical devices, older furnishings, and some technical operations. You're asked for a password, which hopefully wasn't given out in some review on yelp or by a silly friend, and if you can't provide it it's time for you to get embarrassed on closed-circuit TV. There are several TVs in the bar and restaurant, and people can watch you from there. I've seen a whole range of things happen, from forcing someone to hula-hoop to making someone get down on all fours and bark, etc etc. Some of it's cheese, but it's mostly all fun. When you enter, your greeted to one of the most unique bars you'll see. If your a James Bond fan, you'll be ecstatic over all the collector's items they have on display and all the trap-door shenanigans. If your a guy, be sure to go to each of the bathrooms, because you'll be in for a surprise heh. Also make sure to sit on a couple of the first few stools at the bar; again more treats are in order. Some of the drinks you order will also have cool surprises, so make sure to try a lot of them. Hail to the Chief is a nice birthday drink that comes with a little "ride" as well. Speaking of drinks, almost all the drinks you order at the Safe House come with a Bond-Themed glass that you get to keep afterwards, and some of the shot glasses as well. They have other souvenirs too, so if you really like the place there's no lack of stuff to pick-up. Make sure you walk around everywhere in the bar and restaurant, there's no shortage of things to see either. The one thing you don't want to go to the Safe House for is a night out on the town. The dance floor is a joke, with middle-aged adults in strange clothing who think it's still a different era as they dance to music from that era. They have tables which are somewhat ok for a small group of friends, but it depends on which one you're seated at and how big your party is. There's some that are stowed away behind iron gates, others that are nice and open, and others that can barely fit 2 people. All that aside, this bar is a must visit if you come to Milwaukee or even if you just live there and have never been. I won't tell you where the other entrance is :D . read more

"You have to go to Safe House" "You're going to Milwaukee? Oh my god you have to check out Safe House" These words were said not once, not twice, but countless times by friends and acquaintances when they found out we would be passing through Milwaukee in October. I looked it up and read reviews here on Yelp and figured, why not? This bar is tucked into an alley way with not markings on the outside that say "HERE WE ARE!!" and you have to know a password to get in... Because of Google it was not hard to get the password so when we walked in and were greeted by a woman in a scantily clad police uniform (it was the Saturday before Halloween) we whispered the password into her ear, showed her our IDs, and watched the walls behind her open up. This place, while cheesy and extremely outdated, was fun. On a normal night when patrons arrive in normal clothes its probably not as funny. We were there for a Halloween party so everyone had on something silly and cheesy. We were the only two normal looking folks in the whole building. When we got there the bar was full except for one loan seat at the end. I should have known better but I sat in it anyway and acted confused as the seat lowered to the ground. I jumped up and was convinced I did something wrong so as it raised itself back up, I sat back down again and of course it lowered itself again. I looked around and saw multiple people staring at me laughing.. I did it, I fell for one of their stupid tricks! All in good fun though, right? I ordered a crappy cocktail and Chris ordered a crappy beer and we took a seat near the entrance. We watched the closed circuit TV as bar hoppers dressed as Beeker, slutty nurses, and more piled into the bar for their share of the awkward action. If you do not know the password the woman at the front will make you dance like an idiot, cluck like a chicken, or maybe turn you away. You are not a customer... you will be called a spy. Good evening, spies! It was an interesting evening. After we felt that we received our fill of the strange, we made our way to the phone booth exit we read about online. Put in a quarter, dialed the "code" and watched as the wall opened up revealing a basement like exit out the back. My experience with Safehouse was definitely not negative. It was interesting and I have enjoyed telling the story of this strange place to anyone that asks about my time in Milwaukee. Would I go again? Maybe. If I find myself in town with friends who have never been, sure. Would I go out of my way to go there for it? No. But if I happen to hear someone is heading to Milwaukee, I will throw it out as my list of places to checkout... read more

A very cool place to go to at least once in your life. This will be an experience you'll not soon forget. I won't spill the beans on what you may encounter while there, but know that it is full of fun surprises and mysteries. The fun is in exploring it all in between mouthfuls of satisfying food. read more

What can I really say, that hasn't already been said? There's a reason this place has been featured on the Travel Channel, and the Food Channel so much.... It's freakin' awesome. It's an experience, and I believe everyone should live it, at least once in their life. Now.... I've never eaten here, and I noticed that most of the bad reviews were about food quality. Understandable, but I have noting to compare or contrast. Obviously, this place isn't really famous for their food, and the way I always look at it is..... if you go to a burger joint, and order a taco and it turns out being terrible..... what did you really expect!?!?!??! If you go to a really sweet spy-bar with tasty drinks and adventures (such as the "Mission Impossible," and the telephone booth..... why the hell are you eating to food? Order a martini. Girls- get friendly with Burt Reynolds. Try the Code Beer Enjoy the awesome. There's a piece of the freakin' Berlin wall in there, not to mention, tons of other photos of fans all around the world. So go, my friends. Go to Safe House. Live, love, drink, and SPY. read more

This was my second visit to the Safe House...I love it the first time but now they have new owners and it just sucked. Food was awful... I will never go back... read more

It's a nice place to take people from out of town, if you're looking for a safe house ;) But it's really pricey and is really only worth visiting a few times. read more

Yuck If you like Magic Time Machine, you'll love this place. Food & drinks are horrible. Bartender ignores you. Waitress disappears after your food arrives & the food is mediocre at best. I will never return to this place. I enjoy GOOD food and at the very least decent service. This place has neither. It's all built on a "spy theme." Disneyland for food. read more

We were there today. I was so excited to come to the Safe House, it was our first time. We were downtown for a play and figured we'd swing on by. After waiting 45+ minutes to get a table we sat and waited... and waited.. and waited for someone to greet us. We got Agent Zero. He apologized as he just got in and no one told him he had tables lined up. We then were able to place our order. Once we placed our order we waited another good 30-35 minutes for our food to arrive at our table. The food was just "ok," service was just "ok" as well. My fiancé ordered french fries with his meal and was given coleslaw. This was fixed after flagging our server down. There were several times he walked past us and didn't ask how the food was, or said that he was going to fill our glass back up and did not. From start to finish our lunch took over 2 and half hours to get through, this was not what I was expecting. Pretty disappointed over all and probably won't be back.. read more

What happened to this place? Everything that used to be special is gone. The food is not good and it looks like a corporate place came in and put their twist on it. Honestly, I expected more from the Marcus corporation. Smh ‍ read more

This place is a blast. The food is so-so but you're not coming here for a culinary experience. It's all about the fun. Don't fret if they tell you it will be an hour+ wait. Plenty to see and do. read more

Funny gimmick for a restaurant. Great place to take kids and visitors but food isn't that great and everything is overpriced.

Had agent hawkeye as my server, pretty smooth guy, I was trying to flirt with him the whole time but he wouldn't get out of his spy role. All I'm saying is that if I go back I'm for sure requesting him as my server. Food was pretty great but again the server was so so cute. read more

I give this place two stars for meaning well. As a vegetarian I had french fries and some overpriced martinis or something. Cute but not my thing. I'd recommend it to tourists though because most people aren't so uptight as I am and would think it was fun instead of gimmicky. read more

I'll recommend anyone to come here. I'll bring any newbie here anytime I visit. I love coming here. It's so much more fun than a regular bar experience. You could easily spend a few hours here with friends and have a great time. There's plenty to explore and see. The staff is friendly and entertaining. The drinks are creative and well made. They have good bar food and fun activities throughout the place. Definitely a must to check it out if you've never been! read more

Was too drunk to drink when we arrived, to be honest, but it was a silly kitschy place. Lots of things to look at. A bit hard to navigate whilst plastered ;) read more

Too loud, temperature is way to hot and uncomfortable.... not sure why there is a dance floor. And they did not do any maintenance to the interior... removed some of the features i used to love... and the covercharge is ridiculous. ..not fun anymore.. read more

If you aren't charmed by this silly old place, you have no soul, or at least I don't want to know you. The Safe House, as I learned from my research, is the brainchild of David Baldwin, a man obsessed with pop-culture spy stuff, and he really poured his heart into it. It's like a mini House on the Rock devoted to James Bond and the like. And it's much more than memorabilia. There are moving parts, including a pneumatic tube running through the restaurant that mixes the martinis, a booth that rotates, a telephone box with a secret passage that (for a quarter) leads you through a corridor that... well, I won't tell. I admit I would like this less if it opened in 2006 or 1996, but being from 1966 gives the place good age and an intimate connection to the very first wave of spy pop that you can feel. It's slightly shabby--please, please NEVER remodel. Without the age, it would lose nearly everything. As for the food, it seems things have improved. I learned (again from post-visit research) that a new owner took over in early 2013 and recognized that the food was a problem. Our family had about as basic as you could get: four burgers. But they were more than respectable. I ordered mine medium rare and medium rare it was, not cafeteria gray. Very juicy and appetizing and the fries were good too. So you can go there at least hoping for improvement with the other dishes. One thing to note: we were on a crazy traveling schedule, arrived at around 8:30 on a Thursday night, and were each charged a $5 cover, including for our 8-year-olds, who aren't exactly heavy into the club scene. But then again, we had no wait for a table and didn't have to deal with any touristy crowds. We got to explore the place (there's plenty to explore) at leisure. I really hope this place never goes away. read more

This is a great place to take people who've never been to Milwaukee. It's part of our history and culture. The drinks are fun and they even have a bartender that does magic tricks. The food was delicious and the staff was friendly. I would recommend to come during the day if you are with kids and come in the evening if you are with your buddies. read more

Always a fun place! Great food and great service by Agent Solo! This was written after our lunch on February 2/20/2018. Thanks for a wonderful day, Secret Agent 008 read more

Well I finally made it to the Safe House! It has been on my Bookmarks for a long time, but I needed a group of friends to make it fun. We were disappointed when they let us in without a password or funny request. A late arrival to our group did somewhat save the day because we were able to watch him make a fool of himself on the bar TV. The beer selection was good, but we didn't stay to eat. As much hype as this place gets, you would think they would play up the fun stuff a lot more. They should of met our group outside the door and come up with some sort of story to get us to split up and come in a one or two at a time. This would have made for a hilarious and fun night. We probably would of ended up staying for dinner. This place has potential to be a major tourist draw, but they are going to have to work at it quite a bit more and I agree, it needs some serious cleaning and sprucing up. The biggest thing however is paying attention to what made them famous to begin with... read more

Very interesting place. Double agent burger was great (and I usually don't eat burgers). IPA was exciting.

We stopped at the Newsroom Pub for beers and went next door to the safe house for dinner. It was horrible. The "fresh" salmon was frozen. Garlic mashed potatoes were obviously from a box, and bland. I had the ribs, over cooked, dry. We were very disappointed. It's got a kitschy spy theme that some might find entertaining. The restaurant itself is cool, basement with twists, turns, and unique seats but, that's about it. Prices would be reasonable if the food was good. read more

Wow! I went to the Safe House this past weekend for the first time in about 15 years. And, surprisingly (or not so surprisingly) nothing has changed. Luckily I still remembered the password. It is a cool pace to take visitors from out of town, or better yet just suggest they go. The food was OK. Nothing to write home about, but not horrible. Not sure anyone actually goes to the Safe House for their menu. If you have never been, check it out. If you have been before, you know the drill. read more

I take every guest that comes to the Milwaukee area here, it's a hoot! Watch them dance their way in while you sip on a great cocktail, or host your next dinner here while taking in the unique ambiance. A must-go at least once! read more

This place is a blast! I can't divulge too much information about this place as it will ruin the experience. This entire bar is rather large but it is divided up into several different smaller "rooms" In one "room" they have a dance club and they have many different other lounge "rooms'" All of these rooms are connected by staircases and long hallways. Beware you should try to find out the password to enter this place or else. I could tell you what it is but I'd have to kill you. This is a great change of pace from your typical bar or club. read more

This place is absolutely crazy! If you can find at least... I've been going here since I was a kid and am really amazed every time I go back, the food is amazing, you have to get a burger if you're there and be sure to check out all the really fantastic memorabilia on the walls, I heard Chicago was going to get one too, can not wait to see what it turns out like. read more

The must stop bar in Milwaukee when you swing through. From alarms in the bathrooms to secret passageways, this place is a total riot when you've been drinking. Tip your spot I had down and order the mission impossible the largest drink you'll come across in a bar. Make sure you ask how much the drinks are in case you have a light wallet, spies don't worry about how much things cost. read more

Great ambiance. Love the decor and the great service. Food is ok. Burgers are good but the menu is a bit limited.

At 5:30 on a Saturday, the wait was more than 1.5 hours - that was kind-of bogus, but it hardly mattered. It's fun. You know, for kids!

If you are planning to go, PLEASE don't go for the food! We paid almost thirty dollars for our meals and the portion sizes along with the quality of food didn't match what we were charged. Our waitress was awful and she never paid attention to our table. We had to complain to a manger about the lack of attention we were getting. I'm giving it 3 stars for the experience, but I'm really more at a 2.5. Password to get in is hidden in the restaurant , but if you don't know it when you arrive, you have to do something silly to get in. There's a lot to do and read and touch and see. They have a magic bar which was really cool and enjoyable and all of the staff do a really good job at staying in spy character. read more

Good to experience the restaurant which is something I had been wanting to do for a while. Concept is definitely unique. However I was not impressed by the service or the food. We had to wait 10 min to be seated (when there were lots of tables open), took forever to get someone at our table so we could order drinks, food took a while, waitress never came to refill my water (which was my only drink) and burger was just ok. my waitress did not seem to be wanting to serve our table for some reason and was almost annoyed to be there. Disappointing... read more