circa 1880

Over the past year or so, several friends have been asking me about my favorite restaurants and then asking me to join them for dinner at those restaurants. They usually don’t have to twist my arm to hard.
I’ve dined at c.1880 a few times since my October 2015 update, so I thought I’d add another update.
Dishes I’ve enjoyed include the Fois Gras, Smoked Salmon, Steak Tartare, and most recently the Waldorf and Gulf Shrimp from the appetizer list.
Entrees I’ve tasted or ordered myself include the Duck, Lamb, and Rabbit (last night). The Lamb was served three ways and the rabbit was served two ways and over house made spaetzle. Every dish was beautifully plated and perfectly executed!
Each of my dining mates thoroughly enjoyed their dinners.
Last night we shared a new dessert, white chocolate panna cotta with raspberry sorbet, grapefruit, pomelo (a citrus fruit), and mint. It was very refreshing and reminded me of summer.
The service is always outstanding and I’ve never had anything less than an excellent meal.
The chef/​owner Thomas Hauck recently purchased Karl Ratzch’s German Restaurant, which first opened in 1904. The restaurant is being remodeled and Chef Hauck will be taking the menu back to it’s German roots, as well as adding some exciting beer pairing dinners. When it opens this Spring, I expect it great things and can’t wait to visit! Keep your eyes and ears open for it!

Excellent, outstanding service from Joshua. Lovely wine list. Amazing Hamachi and beef tartar appetizers. Scallops perfectly cook, a mite on the salty side, though I’m sensitive to sodium. My friend had braised short ribs that melted in your mouth. Coffee to round out the meal, freshly brewed. Highly recommended

Came here for date night. For dinner, we ordered the Foie gras appetizer, Monkfish, and Duck plate. The foie gras was a cold pâté style appetizer that was very buttery and salty. I ordered the duck plate which was an interesting concept of 3 different ways of preparing duck. The most unique was duck bacon. While everything was quite good, nothing stood out. The atmosphere reminded me of some of the steakhouses I have gone to on the east coast, expensive fake casual and the waiters almost seem to explicitly extend this persona for the restaurant. While we had a decent dinner, it was not the most comfortable of experiences.

Came here a couple days ago. Everything went great! Will definitely be coming back in soon!

I emailed this to the manager last night:
Hi Joshua,
This evening, my wife and I had our first experience at C. 1880, after which I walked back into the restaurant to let you know that we were not entirely impressed. Thank you, first of all, for giving me the opportunity to detail our experience in writing.
I want you to know that I am not one to complain or focus solely on negative aspects of any experience. I know every restaurant and business has strengths and weaknesses, and for me, when all is said and done, I need to feel like my money was well spent, and unfortunately tonight didn’t end that way. That said, I would like to just run through all the details chronologically, good and not so good.
First, I want to talk about the atmosphere. The decorating inside the restaurant is just not good or cohesive at all. The chairs are very uncomfortable and the lights were too bright to create an inviting space. I just didn’t really get the aesthetic, and definitely didn’t feel comfortable.
Each item on the menu might as well just list the protein and stop there. I don’t know why it’s so popular, but one of the most obnoxious trends that so many restaurants have adopted is the single-​word descriptions that tell the diner absolutely nothing about how the dish is prepared or plated.
Our cocktails were all pretty solid; Nothing memorable; I don’t feel a desire to try to recreate any of them at home, but I can’t complain about how they tasted.
Our soup of the night was a duck confit/​mushroom/​chestnut — Great flavor and creative serving; over-​salted.
Pork belly was the highlight of the food for me, which I would give a solid ⁸⁄₁₀ — The flavors were balanced between smoky, sweet, tart, earthy; Very good. Every bite was a little different, nothing was very surprising. Good pork belly isn’t hard to find, generally speaking.
Our entrees were definitely the let-​down of the night, which included Guinea hen and duck cassoulet. I was surprised at how tough the duck was, which you explained after I came back to talk to you, but I definitely thought the dish as a whole lacked a cohesiveness that I was hoping for. The beans, the Andouille, and the duck didn’t really work well together or compliment one another. I had similar feelings about the guinea hen. I didn’t think a dehydrated cabbage leaf did much for the dish other than aesthetically. That’s the thing: all the food is plated creatively and beautifully, but when the fork reaches your mouth, it still has to taste really great to justify spending $ 180 for two people, and it definitely wasn’t there for me tonight.
For these reasons, I will not be returning or recommending c.1880 to friends. There is too much other great food with great atmosphere in Milwaukee.

We’ve never done a chef’s tasting menu before, so we decided to splurge for our anniversary. We always veered away from tasting menus because we weren’t sure if we’d be full after spending so much money on a multi-​course meal that consists of just a few bites. Here at C. 1880. We were blown away. It was amazing and we were STUFFED. That says a lot for my fiancé who eats a lot to get full.
The host sat us down and we were greeted with complimentary glasses of champagne and a sweet «Happy Anniversary» card signed by the staff! We also ordered drinks, which, btw is very reasonably priced for an upscale restaurant. Beers were like $ 5 – 7 and my wine $ 10 – 12.
The chef’s tasting is a 5-​course meal but there are 2 – 3 options per course. We started with amuse bouche. Then we had butternut squash soup. Then for appetizers, we got pork belly and hamachi. The fish dishes we got were monkfish and trout. The meat entrée, we got both the lamb and short rib. They then give you a palate cleanser of pomegranate soda. For dessert, we both got whatchamacallit. They even gave us a sample of the apple cider foam they use for the apple crisp bc I was intrigued. All of it was amazing. It was so hard to make room for dessert and I couldn’t even finish it because I was stuffed. I practically had to crawl home because I was so full. But again, all so good.
If you’re ever doubting spending the $ 75 for a tasting menu, don’t hesitate here. It was well worth the money and I had a happy & full fiancé when we left.

Wonderful décor. Interesting menu, to say the least. The staff could really boost up the friendly meter.
At our table, we had butternut squash soup (probably the best thing of the evening), steak tartare (more other stuff than tartare; maybe they should change the name to caramelized onions with some raw meat accompaniment), salmon (very good, straightforward dish), and the guinea hen (which did not taste or look anything like the guinea hen of our table’s collective childhood; this stuff tasted more like a veal pâté than the gamey fowl I was hoping to get; the spaetzle under the hen were squishy chewy, and the fried green leafy thing?). The best part of the guinea hen was the crispy piece of skin served with it.
Our server had a voice and manner that did not make us feel welcome in the least. And I noticed that few of the servers smiled at the guests. Actually, the only one who seemed genuine with her guests (I watched a lot of interactions from my vantage point in the middle of the restaurant for the 2 hours we were there), was the lone female on the floor.
While they are likely required to do this by the chef, I found the manner in which they described the dishes as we ordered them and when they delivered them to be over the top. The recited every single ingredient in each dish both times. Trying to impress us at how inventive the chef is? Making sure that we know what we’re getting? Checking for red flags and food allergies? I don’t know, but, again, the recitation was unnecessary to the members of my party.
Overall, I think that they’re trying just a little too hard to be unique. The recipe of unusual foods and unfriendly service must be working, though. Every table was filled and there were 10 people, at least, at the bar when we left. I guess Milwaukee is trying to show that they can pull off snobbery. And the people love it.

The name of this restaurant is this dining spot’s only mishap. However, once you have tasted the food, the name is superfluous. Located in Milwaukee’s Walker’s Point, c1880 showcases the culinary talents of Thomas Hauck, a chef trained at some of America’s finest restaurants. The food is American gourmet with a French touch. Everything tasted great and the food had just the correct amount of creativity, with little self indulgent innovation. The Cream of Butternut Squash soup was a bit sweet for my taste, but other folks just loved it. The pan seared scallops were done perfectly, and this dish had just the right amount of sweetness. My trout was fantastic and c1880 does lamb beautifully. With a multi faceted wine list, an attractive room with well spaced tables, c1880 does fine dining well. It is one of Milwaukee’s finest restaurants.

Circa 1880 is an absolute treasure. Whether you are looking to celebrate a special occasion, after tough week, or just to enjoy a wonderfully prepared meal, this is the place. Chef Thomas is a world class chef. Joshua, the general manager, is professional, very welcoming and knowledgeable. The whole staff is superb, and every bite is a marvel. And Mom adds a warmth and finishing touch. Milwaukee is fortunate to have such a GREAT establishment.

Stopped by with friends after having dinner at another well known restaurant up the block. Place was buzzing with very good looking people. I decided to have a few drinks at the bar and a dessert with friends. Bartender was very knowledgeable and very professional. The dessert we ordered was similar to an apple crisp, but c1880 does it perfectly. It started with a shot of freshly made apple soda. Crisp, acidic and tart. Then the dessert came out… WOW! Very chic with about 8 inches of foam on top. It hit all the right notes and was very dramatic. One of the great things is they do pour over coffee which was delicious. The Chef and owner was back there right in the trenches running things and turning out beautiful food. cheers to him and his staff– WELL DONE.

I came here after seeing the Unilocal reviews, but in the end I was a bit ambivalent about my meal, not a feeling I wanted to have at these prices.
Got seated promptly for a 7:30 dinner reservation. Things started out well with a B+ IPA, other beer on draft looked fairly good. Drinks looked quite palatable, I was glad to see that the craft brew scene in Milwaukee is decently strong.
First on deck was one of the strangest tartares I have ever had. I have to give props to the kitchen here for imagination, but the spicy cream peanut theme had me scratching my head. I am not saying that it was flavorless, far from it. The tartare was gastronomically baffling. Interesting, but I don’t know that I would get behind it, especially after the mind blowing tsrtare at Ardent.
Black cod entrée was roundly disappointing. An oily fish served with oily romesco and oily (but incredibly fibrous) vegetation. The fillet I was served was slightly overcooked, and seemed a bit far from fresh.

Had dinner on Tuesday night. We started with a bowl of Butternut Squash Soup, with granola, Vadouvan and honey. It was creamy and not overly rich, and the granola mixture added a nice texture contrast.
Our next course was the Hamachi, served with thin sliced persimmon, Aleppo (pepper I believe), and pomegranate. It was incredibly fresh and offered several balanced layers of sweet and salty flavors.
The Steak Tartare might have been our favorite dish of the night. It was served with a bacon and onion marmalade and had an egg yolk in the center which we broke and spread out as much as we could. This dish provided a major wow factor and left a lasting impression!
Our entrees included the newly added Guinea Hen and the Monkfish. The monkfish was seasoned well and perfectly cooked. The Guinea Hen was served sliced, was incredibly tender and well seasoned with Moroccan spices, then served over house made spaetzle. A large piece of crispy skin was added as a perfect garnish.
Even though we were stuffed, we managed to split the ever popular Watchamacallit, containing the flavors and textures of the candy bar, but adding a few more to take the dessert to the next level. I will be visiting again soon and hope the apple crisp is still available for my next visit.
There was a good crowd for a Tuesday night, so it’s nice to see others also realize how special this place is.

I was really impressed with my first visit to circa 1880. We took a chance without a reservation but they were able to seat us, as it was the earlier side of the evening (but definitely opt for securing a reservation). We started with some great cocktails along with the date salad and beef tartare. Both were great, especially the tartare.
Our entrees took a while to come out so they served us complimentary butternut squash soups and they were AMAZING. We should have ordered them in the first place but they had us covered! I have taken note, circa 1880, I will not skip the soup next time!
Dan loved his guinea hen entrée and I liked my onion/​farro dish. I was so, so full that I had to wrap up half of it, though. Despite that, I knew I couldn’t skip the Watchamacalllit dessert, which is a staple on the menu. That too, did not disappoint.
I will definitely be back because I’d like to try their tasting menu now that I know I’m in such good hands. I’m also going to keep this in mind for when I’m craving an amazing dessert and after dinner cocktail.

High class place to go out for a nice dinner. I went on a Wednesday and was one of just a few tables, so it’s a great time of week to give this place a try. I’ve heard weekends are difficult to get reservations.
I shared and ate multiple appetizers for dinner, so I can’t really speak to the entrées. I can say that the shrimp was very flavorful. If you’re squeamish about seeing the whole shrimp – eyes and all – stay away from this dish. The meaty area of the shrimp was exposed so you don’t have to peel them.
The soup was also excellent. The presentation and serving of it is high class.
My only disappointment was not being able to sit in the bench seating area in the back. They would allow us to sit there; I’m guessing because it would spread the few people apart and make it feel empty.
All in all I’d go back. Good was well prepared and tasty.

I hate to move c1880 down to four stars but my latest visit was very good but not great. The service was good but not as impeccable to give them five stars again. Bread service used to be on-​going and considering we both had appetizers that required bread it was a little disappointing. Water service as well was not as prompt and the restaurant was not really full.
We started with the foie gras and the beef tartare appetizers. The foie gras was perfectly silky smooth with a delightful apricot spread underneath. Since you only get one toasted brioche it would have been nice to have additional bread served with this appetizer.
The steak tartare was definitely not what I anticipated. I have never had a tartare that was so spicy it was barely edible. The ingredients spelled out on the menu were onion marmalade and peanut served on rye bread. Never did it say «hotter than hell» with it. Also, the onion flavor took over the star of the appetizer which was the steak. The positive is that the waiter saw that we really didn’t eat much of it and took it off the bill. I was hoping for something amazing with the beautiful egg yolk cracked in the middle but it just wasn’t a good flavor pairing.
My friend got the duck with this amazing cascara, chocolate and cherry sauce. I tried a little taste and this is the type of dish that I remember from c1880. The unexpected flavors worked so well together I was jealous that I didn’t order this dish. The duck was a perfect medium rare with a «lick off your plate» delicious sauce.
My scallop dish was good but didn’t have the «wow» factor like the duck. Two of the scallops didn’t have a nice golden sear but were cooked to the right temperature and texture. The scallops were on a bed of heirloom tomatoes with roasted garlic slivers. I LOVE garlic but the slivers seemed out of place and were a little large to eat with the bite of tomato and scallop. The dish was well executed but just lacked the signature c1880 adventure.
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE c1880 and maybe I have set the bar too high based on past dining experiences. I loved the edgy flavor combinations that used to be prevalent through most of the menu. It seems that some of it was toned down… maybe for good reason and more mass appeal. Next time I return I will opt for a adventurous dinner selection!

We went here with another couple recently and took advantage of their tasting menu. The food was good but not great and we had good service. With a price point between Wolf Peach and Ardent, i expected a bit more. Nonetheless, it wasn’t terrible and I may try again but it won’t be my first choice.

We went for happy hour. On a night of touring restaurants. You know, kid-​less for 24hrs.
We started with a hamachi salad. Nope. Bad.
The bread service — white top — was awesome.
And then…
Oh man. A gnocchi dish. And then this place came alive. The reason it bares the 4. xx starts. Ugh. Yes.

So I will go ahead and happily give this restaurant four stars. Wife and I decided to try it out before an MSO performance. Really nice place from a design standpoint. I’m not one for describing the aesthetics of a restaurant, but it was very tasteful — a lot of dark wood, great lighting, etc…
For starters we had the asparagus appetizer. I honestly wasn’t expecting much from the dish, but I was pleasantly surprised. The steamed/​poached the asparagus to the point where it was fluffed up to double the size I would expect. Perhaps it had something to do with them removing the skin. Very soft and tender. The accompanying hollandaise sauce had great depth. I spoke with our server about the sauce, asking if they were open for brunch. Unfortunately, they’re not. A shame really, because with that hollandaise you could make an outstanding eggs benedict. It was upon eating this dish that I really started to take this place seriously as a fine dining establishment.
I ordered the duck a l’orange with some trepidation. In my experience, this entrée is always a risk because you could get the improperly cooked duck, the improperly rendered duck fat, or the too sweet orange sauce. They knocked this one out of the park. Duck was perfectly cooked, with great richness from the slightly liver-​like earthiness. Duck fat seared properly and rendered where I didn’t have to suffer through too much chew. And the orange sauce, just spectacular. I highly, highly, highly, recommend this dish.
Desserts were good. My wife had a whatchamacallit, and I had the ice cream quartet. Good, but I’ll probably wrap things up with a cheese plate this time. I wasn’t a huge fan of the wines by the glass, the pinot was weak, and it stand up to the richness of the duck. You’re better off sticking with the mixed drinks, which are incredibly good. Four drinks, an appetizer, two entrees, and two desserts. Damage was around $ 170…well worth the money. Can’t wait to go back.

This was my first time at c. 1880 and it won’t be my last. While at first I was hesitant due to the fact it always looks empty, I had heard great things. Once we were seated, it was clear why it looks empty; not only do they seem to seat you in the back first, but it’s one of those later dinner places, where most of the diners were arriving at 8 and 9pm.
The food was unbelievable. One of the best meals I have ever had (short rib with polenta.) Our waiter JP was ridiculously fantastic and attentive. He knew the menu inside and out. The ambience was wonderful, although I actually found myself wishing the lighting was dimmer. I don’t have a single complaint about anything. From the moment we walked in, we felt welcomed.
Be forewarned you will be spending a pretty penny, but you will have no regrets. (The entrees vary from about the $ 25 – 35 range). I have eaten gourmet meals all over the world, and this one was on par with them all.

Oh my goodness. This place. I stumbled upon c. 1880 during a last-​minute Unilocal search for a nice spot to have our anniversary dinner (which happened to coincide with Valentine’s Day) that still had an open reservation. Having procrastinated, my boyfriend and I didn’t know how successful we would be. Thankfully c. 1880 was the first restaurant we found, and I am SO glad that we did!
Our reservation was at 10 pm, but this made the experience more intimate. The restaurant is decorated with vintage hanging Edison bulbs which set the tone nicely, and by the end of dinner we basically had the restaurant to ourselves. The amuse bouche was a bright, refreshing little bite which left me excited for the next courses. We then had a deconstructed mushroom soup which was wonderfully rich. J was particularly fond of this dish and raved about it for days. For course 3, I had a crab and fruit salad and J had pork belly with polenta, which we each loved. We each had trout for course 3, which was also very good– the fish was covered with a rich broth made from its sweat, which tasted much better than it sounds. Course 4 was short ribs with root vegetables for me and baba ganoush for J. By this point I was getting VERY full (and very tipsy) but I still enjoyed my plate. J’s lamb was UH-​mazing– I will be ordering that when we go back. The next phase was dessert: we started with a fun, bubbly house-​made palate cleanser which was essentially a little sorbet shot. Dessert was «The Financier» for me– a sweet, buttery shortbread balanced with pleasantly tart cranberries and white chocolate shavings on top. J had the Whatchamacallit– a peanut buttery, chocolatey, ice-​creamy plate of goodness. (We each tried all of each other’s courses, if you couldn’t tell.) Holy wow.
Also worth noting: our waiter was very pleasant, patient, and informative when taking our orders and when introducing each course; this was even after what I imagine was quite a difficult day for restaurant staff everywhere. Bravo to him.
c. 1880 is so worth the splurge.

The place: the curb appeal (or lack thereof) doesn’t let on to the subdued ambiance inside. The bathrooms for one have old time-​y articles (half naked men) on the walls. Not a huge place, but bigger than it initially seemed. We made reservations for 7:30 pm on a Saturday night, a month prior. We were finally seated at 8:07, and offered our first morsel of food at 8:29pm. That’s where a star is lost. With a 7:30 reservation, I didn’t anticipate staying until 11pm, but that is when we left.
The taste: we were celebrating things all around the table, so we all opted for the 5 course tasting menu with the wine pairings, for a total of $ 466 for 4 people, pre-​tip. There was a 3-​bite salad with some special foam for the amuse bouche, the corn soup which they poured over a crunchy garnish of jalapeño, corn, possibly some carrot threads… the soup– creamy, rich, warming. From there, our choices diverged, but I had the crab, the trout, the lamb (cooked 3 ways, including this sort of lamb jerky that was divine), — then surprise, an anise smelling, pineapple tasting palette cleanser, followed by dessert. I opted for the plum over an olive oil cake, while my fellow diners got the whatchamacallit. Everyone was satisfied with pretty much every bite — we could have probably done without one of the protein courses, we were absolutely stuffed by the end. The next morning, I still didn’t feel hungry, but I felt like I should eat breakfast.
My face: a wine induced smile, followed by a yawn. (It was a long evening) the wine pairings were pretty great– I’m not a huge drinker, but I drank and enjoyed all of them, except for the very last one. I am impressed with how many dishes came across our table throughout the course of the evening — new silverware and glasses with every course. Pleased with the service… Oh and the white chocolate mini cookie at the end was a great surprise. $ 280 later… This is definitely a place for a special occasion, but I would definitely consider going back if we ever have anything to celebrate again.

Save your shiny pennies for something extraordinary at Circa 1880. It’s definitely high-​end here so be prepared accordingly. I’d call this a perfect spot to have a work/​colleague dinner or a special night with significant others and/​or good friends.
This was my third time at Circa. First time was just an appetizer for the Walkers Point food crawl and second was just for dessert.
The ambience is very cool and the staff is classy & top-​notch. The lights on the ceiling give that rustic, repurposed feel. Every time I look up, they remind me of spider legs in a totally cool and artistic way of design. I love it. Circa has that nostalgic feeling that a house with tons of character has.
I dined with two others so when they both decided the chef’s tasting was the way to go, I did not want to be the «odd man» out and to share in that experience together. For me the chef’s tasting is so personal, carefully selected.
One word before I go much further: Monkfish! My favorite if the evening.
It was delectable and the sauce consisted of the ingredients that dreams are made of.
5 courses: (included an amuse bouche) melon/​tomatillo/​cucumber cool gazpacho, smoked salmon with pickled onions and dill, MONKFISH!, lamb three ways, strawberry dessert.
The gazpacho was a pretty, refreshing and fun start to the meal with cool, clean, fresh flavors.
The salmon was also one of my favorites, it was so delicate and balanced, the pickled sides were just enough to complete the dish. Just perfect. Not a spec too much or too little of any flavor.
As mentioned above, I really enjoyed the monkfish most and would highly recommend ordering that as a meal. I’m still dreaming about the buttery, brown flavorful sauce.
The boys loved the lamb dish. It was two slices of roasted lamb rounds with a nice char on the outside, lamb meatballs and a lamb jerky/​bacon belly.
Lastly was a choice of dessert between the whatchamacallit, which I’ve had before so I went with option 2: strawberry. It was a sugary cookie underneath topped with strawberries, strawberry ice cream and a 1,000 vanilla bean ice cream. That 1,000 vanilla bean was so fabulous! It had texture and crunch because it had so much vanilla bean. I would love a dessert that was centered around that ice cream, featuring vanilla flavor with a buttery and creamy surrounding, where it’s sweet enough to be a dessert — but sugar is not the star.
For my palate, the desserts at Circa are enormously sweet and I’ve now tried four of them. I might be more sensitive to sugar than the average person, just not a big fan of it across the board. I much prefer either a more buttery or slightly salty or spicy/​herbaceous type of dessert. In-​your-​face-​sweet I can’t handle as much. But, lots of people can, so I wouldn’t want to say that one or the other is necessarily right or wrong. It’s be nice to offer a variance, though for people like me.
The Sprecher Triple Abbey ($ 7) was delicious and I recommend that highly.
My Chef’s tasting meal with two Sprecher beers, tax + tip was $ 115. Definitely one of the highest bills I’ve ever paid for an individual dinner and not something I can swing on a regular basis. It was completely satisfying, however, and I was full even before the end.
When I visit again, I’d like to order off of the menu and check out the portion sizes and I anticipate experiencing just as much flavor and satisfaction as I did with the chef’s tasting.