All the sandwiches are great! Especially liked the black and blue. Also liked the poppers. Good selection of tap beer and whiskey. Bartenders friendly. read more

Stopped by for a quick lunch. Fabulous Italian beef sandwich and fantastic service! Will go again!

Under new management, since the previous owner retired. The outside beer garden is still in operation, and it's a great place to hang out on warm Summer evenings. Green ivy, climbs the walls, surrounded by outside tables and an outside bar. I had a cheeseburger and fries here, and all the food is awesome. Cooked to perfection! Hours go late on the weekend. Drink specials, daily, and plenty of parking. Plenty of televisions to watch sporting events. The staff is very polite and accommodating. read more

The Main Event - Bars Near Me - Burlington, Wisconsin

First visit was great! Wonderful bar area with good selection of draft beers. Our group ate in the outside back garden area. For a busy bar the service was good. Our food was also very good. I'll be back. read more

The service here was horrendous. The female bartender was cold and not very talkative and apparently this is another place in rural Wisconsin that the staff is only friendly the people that they know. The back kitchen the small kitchen looked totally dirty and I would not even trust having any food from this place likewise the bathrooms were ugly filthy and this place by some would describe as a dump the outside patio fill area was filthy overall this place was one of the most disappointed as from the outside it looks like it would be an upscale bar but inside is nothing but drunk trash and this includes the workers here read more

The olive burger was so different and delicious. One of the best burgers I've eaten. I ate it so fast I didn't get a picture! My husband enjoyed the beyond burger as well. Gluten free buns available. The onion rings were crisp and fresh without being greasy or undercooked. A delicious meal. The service was friendly and fast. The atmosphere was old-town perfect. A clean, beautiful restaurant. read more

Great food and staff. One of our go to gathering places in Burlington. Whether you are a local or just passing though, you will feel welcome. read more

Food was awesome, the service. Excellent, very cool outside bar in the back also. I highly recommend the BLT wrap

Food is great, much better than most in the area. Small town feel like going back in time when things were simpler.

Food was good - hot things hot and cold things cold. It's mostly if not all bar food. Service was minimum to get the job done in a matter of fact way. I would probably go back but only if someone else wanted to go- I don't think I would choose this place if asked. read more

I can't say it enough about how much I love their olive burger! They have the best "secret" olive spread everrr!!!! The bartenders are great the whole place is fun!!! I recommend this place to everyone read more

Excellent food and great service. Glad we stopped in. We had the daily special and ended up ordering more to go home.

Great pub food. Friendly staff, as I believe they have new owners (spring 2022) and have updated their beer lines and kitchen setup. Very clean with an old-school vintage feel that you expect. Nice hot food and ice cold beer selection. Wi-fi is a plus as cell phone service was inconsistent around downtown. Easy free on-street 2 hour parking. read more

Excellent burgers along with the old feeling of being in a cozy bar. Very friendly staff as well.

We went here for a quick bite to eat, with a party of 4, after waiting the first hour with no staff coming to ask for refills or if they could get us anything, we knew our trip would be going downhill from there fast. After the second hour our food finally came, over cooked and under seasoned, while one of our party guests found a pit in their olive. This place is terrible! The food is not worth the price, and the environment is aggressive and uncomfortable. I WILL NEVER BE EATING HERE AGAIN! read more

I wish I could give this place a zero. I went there this evening to meet up with some friends. My boyfriend who is 24 lost his ID and is waiting on a new one. He went up to the bar and ordered a drink and they denied him because of no ID (no big deal) so he nicely sat back down to enjoy the evening. I went up to order a drink and the guy said he refused to serve me since the guy I was with had no ID. He told us to leave, so we went back to our table, gathered our things and were telling our friends what happened and he shouted "get the f**k out, leave right f***ing now." I will never be going back there. It's a shame because I've gone there in the past and had a pleasant time. It's completely unacceptable to be swearing at customers. Period. Especially when they were doing nothing wrong and following their request. If you wanted to be treated with respect, please don't go here. Go down the street to the Brickyard. WAY better food, drinks, service, people and environment. read more

Nice service, nice food selection, friendly people. Try the bacc patio if you can. Would definitely recommend to friends and would visit again read more

We attempted to eat lunch at John's yesterday (Sunday 1/31 around 1:30ish), because friends had told us they have great food. We also have been wanting to try local places for lunch. I say "attempted" to eat here because we ended up walking out. We arrived and it was not busy. Only four people seated at the bar and one other table of 4 who had finished eating. The bartender saw us walk in and sit down...never once said hello or anything. We looked over the menus, decided what we wanted, and sat there. The bartender - who we assume also acts as a server - was not very busy and was even leisurely washing glassware. We kept looking in his direction, attempting to make eye contact, but were ignored. We waited at the table for roughly 7 minutes (we eventually started to time it), then left. If your establishment is set up such that you are supposed to order at the bar, then it would be really helpful if there was a sign at the table or on the menus that told customers to do so. Or maybe the bartender could have actually said been friendly, said hello, and told us to order at the bar when we were ready. Or maybe just stop washing glassware for a minute and come take our order. We were really looking forward to eating here and instead left disappointed and opted for a chain restaurant a block away. It does not take a lot for staff to say HELLO. You see someone walk in, you say hello. We were obviously looking at menus, so come take our order. That's pretty simple. Honestly, the 3 old timers that were standing right outside the door smoking were more friendly than the bartender (who ignored us completely). Maybe it's just THAT difficult for these establishments to find decent help these days. We won't be returning. read more

We went there for lunch today. I had their 1/2 pound cheese burger abs my girlfriend had the Buffalo chicken wrap. Both sandwiches didn't come with and fries or chips. The chicken wrap was actually pretty tasty. For the people who say John's Main Event has the best burger in Burlington, YOU'RE PLAIN IDIOTS! The burger was dry and flavorless. Our bartender gave us our receipt and said to sign it and leave it on the bar she had other things to do. I doubt we'll be going back any time soon. read more

The Main Event - 1/2lb burger - Bars Near Me - Burlington, Wisconsin

See all

John's keeps it real in Btown. If you're looking for decent food with a cold beer then X marks the spot.

Ordered take out food at 10pm on a Wednesday night, picked it up at 10:30pm and the bartender was nice as can be! Will definitely be back, food was REALLY good. Thanks for the great service and the great food! read more

Antique atmosphere. Great service from the bartenders. We had the 1/2 pound burgers & cheese curds, which were truly amazing! Charbroiled with a crispy grilled bun that was cooked perfectly. Our food was delivered quickly and the prices were very reasonable. We will definitely make this our "go to" lunch destination. read more

Consistently good as a burger and beer joint. Atmosphere reminds me of the old bars we would go to with mom and dad in rural Wisconsin, friendly local hangout very supportive of charities to help out the area. read more

Great for a casual beer-and-burger dinner. The 1/2 lb burgers are made fresh and were recommended to me by an inside source. The beer selection is fairly large with a good variety of micro-brews. read more

Always friendly. Great place for a burger and beers! Frequented there while traveling for work. Always welcomed and comfortable. Amanda is awesome! read more

Awesome place to go, the black angus burgers done on the grill are WAY, better than greasy ones fried at Freds! And the chicken sandwich is the best around, nobody has one that good! The bartenders are all fun and freindly. Cant wait for the beer garden to open up, so much fun drinking and eating out there too! Gotta try this place out, don't be fooled by the goofy sign at freds that says worlds best burgers because are no way near the best! read more

Best burger in Burlington. I found out about this place because I had gone to the other place in Burlington that advertises the best burger in this world. This is way better. It is only a couple doors down from the other place. Definitely go here if you have the choice. read more

This place was really good! I was not expecting to be this impressed. We wanted to grab a quick bite to eat before grocery shopping (never grocery shop hungry). I ordered the grilled chicken buffalo wrap and my husband ordered a patty melt. Both were delicious! And the owner John made all the food right in front of us. The beer was cold. No complaints!! Really good food for a place that is primarily a bar! read more

I recommend the ranch chicken wrap! We enjoy coming here in summer and hanging out in the beer garden. Friendly staff and laid back atmosphere. read more

Best burgers in Burlington? I don't think so! I was grossed out to see the bartender/cook cut the top off a plastic bag and pull a patty out with her fingers that was soaking in red liquid. It's disgusting to me to have one person handling money, serving drinks, smoking outside and touching raw meat. I hope there was a lot of hand washing going on behind the bar but that is doubtful. I did eat it anyway and would have rather had a fast food burger. read more

I agree with Smokey O., go here instead, much tastier - better burgers and fries. We loved these burgers and the fries were awesome. Burger was just right, and I keep thinking about the fries - yum. Inexpensive too. Nice atmosphere. Only downside - we were ready to order and the bartender said she'd be right with us. She went down two stools to two guys and ended up chatting away with them while we sat there a while. Finally a bartender/cook came out and helped us right away. Would definitely go back for a burger and fries soon. read more

Not good! The burgers were hockey pucks the rye bread was dry wirh not much cheese. We had nachos that had bacos foe bacon on them. Its wisconsin not a lot of cheese fake bacon. If this is the best burger in Burlington i hate to see the worst. Is a nice local bar for drinks just not food. read more