This Cafe Has Pets

Much like Jefferson Street, Water Street and the nearby streets in the Third Ward have a plethora of restaurants. Some of them are huge (Milwaukee Ale House) and some are skinny, able to stride past in a few steps (Rustico). And some are sort of hard to find like the Third Ward Café. Maybe it is too good at blending in or easily missed because it is across the street from the Milwaukee Public Market.

If it weren’t for our friends standing inside the door, my wife and I would have walked right past the entrance. Once inside we found ourselves in a very intimate dining setting with lots of candles, huge booths and a plate of olives waiting for us at the table. The service and atmosphere were promising starts to the evening and I was looking forward to having my taste buds stimulated when I saw a sizable, dark object scurrying down the brick wall I was facing, roughly ten feet away. When I realized it was a two-inch long cockroach I gently nudged my wife. Our friends knew something was up when my wife’s eyes widened like she had seen a ghost. As one of our friends caught sight of the cockroach and let out an audible gasp of surprise, it ran toward the ground and disappeared out of sight.

There was a moment in which we thought of leaving. We didn’t and we all made a gallant attempt at acting like the roach didn’t bother us. However, throughout the meal I kept my eye in the corner for the cockroach. It didn’t show itself again and, luckily, the food and wine was enjoyable enough to keep our minds off the roach for a bit. As for the food, it was good, but not exceptional. I had the minestrone with the salmon and noodles. The Chilean Sea Bass my wife had was delicious, but it was half the size of my salmon and nine dollars more which made me feel bad for giving the restaurant the money we did. Going out is such a risk. You are going to pay for it whether you like it or not and when it was all said and done, we left feeling like the Third Ward Café was just a scant overpriced. It is not that we didn’t like it. The food was fine. Service was excellent and the restaurant appeared to be clean. It was the roach that sort of spoiled the night. Look, I know a lot of restaurants have roaches, but keep them out of the sight of customers. If I hadn’t seen it, maybe I would feel completely different about the experience, but for now, the Third Ward Café is filed under the good, but not likely to return label.