Howard’s Pub & Grille

It is now Spanky’s Hideaway. It should be hidden further away. The food sucked. Deep fried didn’t appear to be hot enough. Half cooked mozzarella CHUNKS (how ridiculous, HUGE logs… not even warm in the middle) soggy homemade chips, and abominable half cooked fishy tasting perch. EXCELLENT service, however. Won’t go back.

Five years ago, I used to go to Howard’s at least once a week. They had the best Lobster Bisque. It was very surprising for a bar.
Now? I went once since the new owners took over and now it’s nowhere near as good. Very sad. I’m so disappointed that one of my favorite area restaurants has gone dreadfully downhill.

We used to love going to Howards for a fish fry… Eversince the new owners took over the food sucks! If you want to go for fun and spirits stop in, but I would avoid the food!

So I’m in Wisconsin and it’s Friday. What should we go eat? Fish fry of course – the TGIF staple in these parts. My sister recommended this place and I got my hopes up. Good appetizers and classic bar atmosphere, but bad fish fry. :-(Cause of that only 2.5 stars here.
Cost to worth it ratio: 4 stars (for aps)
Highlights:
— Atmosphere: classic bar with tables and sets of high tables. I felt true Wisconsiny and liked it a lot. My 2 year old nephew was able to scream and run about which was good for my sister to not have to contain him for a meal out.
— Fried bar food appetizers: you could get 3 on the list for 10.95 so we got 2 sets of 3. Hey, we had 7 people (ok yeah one was a toddler and 2 kids but a few big eaters) and the hub used the «we’re on vacation» excuse. Pic:
— Cheese curds: good size so you can really taste the cheese. We try to have cheese curds every day of our visit in Wisconsin. ;-) With their super yummy bbq sauce, they were fantastic.
— Breadsticks: reminded my of Olive Garden ones I used to like in high school but these one-​upped them cause they were crisp outside and soft inside.
— Potato cakes: like cross between Jewish potato pancakes and mashed potatoes – good with applesauce on top. Glad you could get these as a side option with your meal.
— Fries: great seasoning, large enough to be very crisp outside and potatoy inside like we like em.
— Root beer: Sprecher in bottles = very good especially in a chilled bottle.
— Steak sandwich: hugest sandwich I’ve ever seen – like 4xs the normal sandwich size. Good thin slices of beef, cheese, and an enormous bun.
Lowlights (my flip side to highlights):
— Fish fry: several fried pieces of cod for a total of 1 star. 2 were not great: too salty, not very tender. The others were inedible: hard as rock, dry, and looked like they were sitting there for days. As one of the places my sister has gone to for consistently good fish, we’re not quite sure what happened here. She and her hub ordered the same and agreed at its inferior quality. They are undergoing construction, but as far as I could see the kitchen was intact.
— Wings: ordered spicy but they weren’t. They were breaded and deep fried and didn’t have sauce like my wing loving nephew expected. My niece commented that they tasted like a hot dog. :-O
— Eggplant: over-​breaded to hide the vegetable which the hub probably appreciated and I figured it’d be strips parmigiana style, but I missed the eggplant
— Out of the pepperoni sandwich: the hub’s eyes lit up when he saw that on the menu, but alas they were out of pepperoni so he had to order something else.
Fun lunch experience, but super disappointing fish fry meal so doubt we’ll be back.