American Serb Hall

I was just here for the Best Bloody in Milwaukee competition. Serb Hall is basically exactly what you would expect when you think of a banquet hall. No big complaints, but it could definitely use a refresh. A few simple updates would really do wonders. Otherwise, I appreciated that it was easy to get to and parking wasn’t hard to find.

I can’t count how many times I have been here. It’s part of any good Southsider’s upbringing. With that being said, I have had 50% good experiences and 50% meh or bad experiences, which explains the 3 stars. Got carry-​out tonight during the Lenten season and was pleased. The fries were soggy, but everything else was perfect. Love the bread, coleslaw, and of course, the fish! I have had every kind of fish they offer and shrimp too! One time the shrimp was completely undercooked, another time the perch was way too salty. I like the Serbian style for something different, but it can be messy. What I am trying to say is, this place is hit or miss. But it’s a staple of my childhood, so it shall remain one of my frequent fish fry locations.

We chose Serb Hall for our wedding reception. We had both good and bad experiences throughout our planning phase and reception. The reason we chose this as our hall was definitely the pricing. If your looking for a low-​budget wedding, this is a good option. Communication is definitely challenging with the manager. I had emailed a few questions to the manager; the replies were very short, incomplete sentences (sometimes one word responses). The manager would only answer one question, it was if he skimmed the email and only picked out the easy one to answer. Very unprofessional.
The food is ok, we ended up choosing the chicken and fish fry– the fish fry was definitely a favorite for our guests.
We signed our contract, and on it our decorate time for the day-​of was 830. Verbally, at our last meeting, the manager said that we could set up at 8 the day of. That meant that the hall would be clean and the table cloths would be put on, and we could just go in at 8 to decorate for our reception. Tim (manager) told us that he would be there at 8. We arrived to the hall at 8 in the morning to decorate. We went into the hall, and it was atrocious. The floors were dirty and there was garbage at the bar from the last event they had. The tables didn’t have tablecloths and the long buffet style tables had dirty table skirts. Tim was not there. The secretary tried calling him a few times– no answer. Our contract said 830, so we waited until then. Still no Tim. The secretary tried calling again, finally she got him on the phone, it was about 9:15. 9:30 he showed up to the hall. This was problematic because of the contract had been followed, we would have been done decorating by then. My bridal party had appointments to make, that’s why we wanted to set up that early. Tim arrived and he was apologetic, saying that the staff didn’t set up like he told them to. He said that he would rectify the situation and set up for us. We took a leap of faith and let him. Some of our guests went later to make sure that it was set up, and it was. We arrived at the hall to start our reception, and he followed through. The hall looked great! He set everything up and cleaned the floors, all new linen. I was pleasantly surprised.
All in all, if you’re looking to be budget friendly, this is the place to go. However, you get what you pay for.

Fish fry used to be good here. Now they have some buffet thing like a bad Old Country Buffet set up. Wasn’t even offered the fish fry as we were literally steered by the server towards the buffet. Probably so she wouldn’t have to do as much work as we barely saw her after that. Too many good restaurants in Milwaukee to waste your time and money here.

Not recommended.
We came at about 545 on a Friday for fish fry. After hearing it was in the top three of local fish fries, we were quite excited to try it out. Nothing was horrible; however, about the only thing I thought was good where the french fries. They do have beer, however only Miller Lite on tap. The food, furnishings, and clientele, were all about like what I would expect in a senior care living facility. As for the fish, the perch was OK, but cod was rubbery. I think our experience was tainted by the high expectations of a top flight place to get fried fish. The server was nice and, if what you’re looking for is local color, this could be worth a try. Just come early.

No reason to go there anymore. I have been going there since I was a kid. They have become very low quality and NOW THEY ONLY HAVE FRIED FISH EVERY OTHER WEEK!!!

Wow, so much hate on this place!
I came here for a few different work events and we were in different spaces each time. They offer reasonable prices for putting on an event for a large crowd and give you lots of freedom to keep things simple or add in your own effects as appropriate. They keep it simple and homey, and I think that’s the point.
The attached parking lot fills up quickly and can be a problem depending on the time of day, especially if there are services at the church around the same time.
Not having experienced the «true» Friday night fish fry nor growing up here may give me a biased opinion, but I didn’t think it was all that bad.

It’s a Milwaukee experience. We know because being a pair of academics, we did the research. When we first moved to Milwaukee, we weren’t clear on the whole Friday night fish fry, even though the Chief of Staff is Catholic. So, we started with a documentary video, as not much is written about the subject (well not at the scholarly level at any rate). Ron Favola’s «Fish Fry Night Milwaukee» is the sort of video that Unilocalers should like, we visited each one in the movie. Much to our embarrassment, our favorite turned out to be right across the street from our house, somehow that took us over a year to discover.
American Serb Memorial Hall has been serving the same fish fry since around the time I was born, so most of the three stars are for the commitment to consistency. So, so many of the customers there are second generation regulars. For us, it wasn’t our favorite fish fry in terms of the taste of the food, we found it a bit on the bland side. The evening was fun enough that we’ve returned a couple of times with out of town visitors, it’s interesting to be part of such a large (in terms of local fame, attendance, amount of total food served, and longevity) tradition.
The Serbian Orthodox church is beautiful.

When I was a kid, this was THE place to go for a fish fry on Friday night. Nowadays, no way!
Fish is not normally my first choice, but as I hadn’t had it in a long time, I thought, why not? For two people who ordered the all you can eat, six pieces of 5 inch long «tubes» arrived at our table along with a bowl of runny coleslaw, a basket of fries, two scoops of mashed potatoes and a bread basket with 4 slices of very thinly sliced bread in it.
The breading on the fish had a kick to it. Now, I don’t mind hot food… I eat Mexican and Thai on a regular basis, but for a flaky white fish such as Haddock (not Cod, because it’s «too expensive»), I thought it was overkill. You couldn’t taste the fish at all and I felt like I paid to eat spicy bread that wasn’t even that good. I don’t eat coleslaw, but my husband does and he had to «drain» his plate from all the juice. He had the fries and ate them all, so I guess they were OK, and I had the mashed potatoes. Were they from a box? Probably, but I didn’t care; I love potatoes and unless you REALLY screw them up, I’ll mindlessly eat them. The rye bread, which I’m sure was not baked on the premises, was probably the best part of the meal. We ordered more fish and our server brought us 3 pieces, now 3 inches long. She asked if I wanted a refill on my drink and I said yes. It never came, which was fine, because we were ready to leave shortly thereafter.
What a disappointment! I won’t be back anytime soon. :(
³⁄₂₀₁₄

Look, I grew up around here and I have some attachment to this place so I don’t want to be to rough, but what the hell!!!
We stopped in for a fish fry after we found super long lines at our normal haunt. This wasn’t our first go around here, we’ve been coming here for years and when my wife was pregnant a year and a half ago we were here regularly. While it wasn’t what it was in the 90’s, it was still decent. Now it’s long gone.
We walked in and the guy told us it would be a thirty minute wait. No problem, we understand it’s the first Friday of Lent and that’s acceptable. What’s not acceptable is when I go up to the bar to try and order a beer and I’m straight up ignored. Even the guy who rudely yelled at a female bartender was served before me. After about fifteen minutes of waving my hands politely, I gave up and decided to drink when I got back home. Not good.
I went to go sit with the family, and about five minutes later we got the call that a table was waiting for us. They were ten minutes early. This would be the only good thing that happened.
We got to our table, sat down and waited. And waited. And waited. It was ten minutes before our server even acknowledged us. She took our drink orders and nothing came. She then took our drink orders again almost ten minutes later. It was TWENTY MINUTES before we got our first drinks after she took our order. We weren’t the only ones, I looked around and the three tables who were seated at the same time as us were also without drinks. I was almost done eating before I got a sip of anything. She did come give me a very odd pat on the back though. Was she trying to antagonize me?
When she took our food order, we asked what were our options for fried fish. She rattled off all the all-​you-​can-​eat options, and then mentioned the buffet. We both went for the buffet, grabbed some plates and guess what? No fried fish. No French fries. Just baked fish and mashed potatoes. When I asked the buffet attendant if they could bring out some fried fish, they said they don’t have fried fish on the buffet. Since when? And why did she mention this as a fried fish option?
I left that night probably giving the smallest tip I have ever gave any server. It was probably 7%, and I didn’t feel too bad considering it was probably too high for the level of service we received. If I would have at least got an apology, I would have tipped the normal 20%.
And this leads me to the worst part of this meal, and that’s the food. This isn’t the same quality of food from two years back and it isn’t even in the same atmosphere as it was in the 90’s. Why is the quality lacking here? The baked fish was ok, but everything else was bland, flavorless and most things were lukewarm instead of hot. I skipped the salad on the first go around because there was only a few brown leaves of lettuce left in the bowl. I came back around about ten minutes later, and it was a whole bowl of brownish-​looking lettuce. Gross. I passed, but my wife ate it and said it was the best part of the meal. That’s just sad.
What do you do in a neighborhood loaded with Polish and Mexican Catholics on the first Friday of Lent, when most Catholics give up all meat except for fish on Friday? You pack your buffet table with every other kind of meat besides fish and not much else. Honestly, there was like two kinds of pork, meat balls, fried chicken, etc. My wife said she saw more than one person leaving the buffet with potatoes and rice and nothing else. I wish I was more religious because everything I ate sucked. Then again, the beans and rice tasted like crap so I guess I didn’t have much of a choice.
What’s on the dessert table? Duncan Hines cake, or maybe it’s a brownie? I can’t tell! Oh, and slices of cherry and Apple pie that looks like somebody stepped on them, and tasted… well, like someone stepped on them.
There’s no excuse for this. You guys have been doing this for like what, 20 or 30 years?
Skip at all costs.

The fish fry is COMPLETELY overrated. The price is too high for the portion size. The majority of the items on the buffet are flavorless. It seems like people just go there because someone told them they liked it 20 years ago. The fish is always soggy, if not cold. Not worth the trip.
I will say this — the staff is very friendly. And flirtatious. I like flirtatious servers.

Last night we ventured out for out first and last visit to Serb Hall for the Friday Fish Fry. At first, I was having a blast. The place just seemed so out of the ordinary. I couldn’t tell if the hosts/​waitstaff were actual employees or volunteers since their was so much miscommunication taking place. Both of the first 2 waitresses made sure to complain to us how poorly the hosts were doing in seating people in the waitresses sections. It was funny at first but they kept doing it in front of us which got old pretty quick.
When you walk in the place has all the frills you’d expect at a community center, a bland bar and carpeted floors that could use a good cleaning. We went around 6 – 7 pm so it seemed like they were transitioning from their makeshift buffet to dinner service. Due to the miscommunication between waitstaff, it took about 10 minutes for us to get our order in. We told them we were there for the fish fry and the waitress told us there had been a change to the type of COD that they were serving and after we told her it was our first time there, she said, «oh, never mind.» That should have been a red flag but we were already there so we went ahead and ordered.
The food came in family style with generous portions for 2 people. I had to laugh at the breadbasket that came in like a crime scene victim (covered in a bag) which made we wonder how long food was prepared in advance. After my first bites into the fish, I could see why she was explaining it ahead of time. I’m guessing the fish meat is not the cod loin which produces a tastier, flakier fish. I had to use my knife to cut it into pieces and afterwards I had to get floss to get the fish out of my teeth.
Even after all this, the deal breaker came with the mashed potatoes. Clearly from a box. There was a small plastic cup that came with what I thought was clarified butter. It was only too later after pouring it on the potatoes that we discovered that it was some kind of oil. 8 – 0 !
This is a very quirky spot to go to if you’re looking for a Wisconsin meets Fargo experience. Otherwise save yourself the trip and go elsewhere. Our 2 beers and all you can eat fish fry came out to $ 30 before tip.
Would I go back?
I’ve already had the experience and given the price, I will not be going back.

Dig this place.
Their fish fry is phenomenal. I’ve been here a handful of times for auctions, comic book shows, and it never fails to entertain. It’s a little dank, a little moldy, and it still smells of smoke but it’s an institution in its own right.

The fish fry is flavorless and expensive, especially given that the portions are tiny now! The excuse of the manager is that the price of cod has increased so much that they don’t want to isolate the patrons by increasing prices. I guess why not cut portions by ½ then? To add to the insult, the food was cold!
If the buffet has stuffed cabbage rolls, it’s semi-​worthy. Aside from the rolls, everything else is processed and from boxes. The fried fish on the buffet is of the frozen commercially prepared fish stick variety. Why not just hit your local Golden Corral or Old Country Buffet, and you won’t even have to deal with the wait.
And if the food wasn’t bad enough, the service here absolutely sucks! The Serbian dude who works the main dining room is the only exception, but I’ve never been to a place with such an incompetent staff.
This place is definitely on a steep decline, even within the past year! Hate to say this place easily could deserve a single star.

Meh. I went to an event here and wasn’t impressed. It smells like stale fish fry. Walls are crumbling. Overall gritty feel. With a deep clean and some updates, I think it could a much better venue.

I come here because a friend is obsessed with their fish fry. Their all you can eat fish fry is decent for the price but it’s just as good as Long John Silver except with slower service. I come here in a large group and it takes them f-​o-​r-​e-​v-​e-​r for them to get us the basket of fish. Unfortunately, the basket of fish is enough to feed one of us… SO, we have to wait one more f-​o-​r-​e-​v-​r again before we get another basket of fish.
The décor depresses me a tid bit… so dark and gloomy

Went to Serb Hall tonight because I have heard many people say it is great. That was a mistake.
We should have known that the service would be bad when we walked in and were greeted with a «What?». When I told the man that we were there for the fish fry, I was pointed through a door and told to wait.
When the waitress took our drink orders and delivered them 10 minutes later (kids drinks filled TO THE BRIM, and no straws), and informed us that our food would be right out, it should have been our second hint, since we hadn’t even ordered yet.
My daughter and I ordered the cod, and it came out «family style». Seemed strange, but whatever. We were all given «spare» plates before the meal came out. My youngest’s chicken strips tasted more like fish than the fish did. After 4 requests and trips back to the kitchen, we finally received my husband’s potatoes, the bread basket, and cole slaw (about 10 minutes after our food arrived).
The tables around us were served improperly mixed drinks (a «vodka cranberry» clearly had squirt in it, and I could tell from 2 tables over and a bicardi and coke was served with whiskey instead?).
At the end, the server got up from the table she was sitting at with her boyfriend, to give us the bill, before we were done eating, and informed us that she was giving it to us early, and I quote, «Because I’m lazy».
We will never be back, which is sad, since we had a great experience when my sister got married there years ago. As an event planner, I will never suggest that anyone hold any kind of event there.

DO NOT GO HERE!
Worst food around. Mashed Potatoes were from a box, beef tasted like the sole of an old shoe. This place needs either a new owner or a spot on kitchen nightmares! If I could give it negative stars I would.

Ah, Serb Hall where do I start?
Hmmm, rye bread served to our table inside a plastic bag. .. now that’s class. At least it matched the coleslaw, also served inside a plastic bag. Whaaaaa. .. ??
It was the best rye bread I ever had that came from the grocery store down the block. OK, in the spirit of full disclosure I don’t know if the bread really came from the grocery store down the block.
I became suspect when I realized the all you can eat was only 8 or 9 dollars. It arrived moments after the bagged bread and coleslaw. «Wow, that was quick!»
They were about 8 (7 to 8 inches long) sticks of fish, aprox an inch in diameter. I could picture all 4000 of them sitting in a freezer somewhere. .. in Chicago. .. Cisco food suppliers. .. their low end fish. Hmmm, at $ 8.95 for all you can eat those 8 sticks of fish must have cost at least 50 or 60 cents.
Well let’s be fair, they tasted like they must have cost at least 75 to 80 cents for those 8 sticks of fish.
Really though I’ll bet the french fries would have been pretty decent if they weren’t sitting under a heat lamp in the kitchen and served cold. Alright I’m exaggerating a bit. .. they had some warmth to them.
As some reviewers mentioned, this place has been in the top fish fries in Milwaukee for quite some time. I made it a point to go because of those mentions. I don’t get it. Needless to say we did not finish our initial order of fish let alone get another serving. It was some of the worst fish I’ve had. Please, if you want to take someone to see what fish fry in Milwaukee is about this is NOT the place to go.

I was invited to the Friday fish fry by friends and decided to give it a try. It was certainly packed, mostly the older generations. It reminded me of the VFW in Madison. Very blah looking, but the atmosphere was definitely bustling.
I LOVE fish fry, have been to plenty in my life. I come from the type of German/​Croatian blooded family that went to Friday fish fry ALMOST every week, in Madison. My Dad and my brother are avid fishermen who catch, fillet, and cook their own fish, fresh. Walleye, Perch, Bluegill, Catfish, you name it.
With the background I come from, I have to say this place is more than lacking for me. The fish come out in large square chunks, resembling any form of a real fish? Uhh, no… I had the cod, btw. They give plenty, in fact they give heaps! The fries were bottomless, too bad they were not better than even a fast food restaurant.
Just not a place I would consider good fish fry. Sorry Serb Hall! I swear I wanted to like you! What is all the hype about, again?