Here’s how to best experience Milwaukee for March Madness

If you find yourself visiting for the 2025 NCAA tournament, we break down everything you need to know

If you find yourself in the great state of Wisconsin for the first and second rounds of the 2025 men’s NCAA tournament we break down the best ways for college basketball fans to experience Milwaukee.

The games in Milwaukee will be played this Friday and Sunday. Below is everything you need to know:

• Best place to eat before the game – a diner drive-ins and dives vibe

With games tipping off as early as 11:15 a.m. Central, you might need to start fueling up in the morning hours. No worries, though: Milwaukee is one of the best cities on earth for brunch. Uncle Wolfie’s Breakfast Tavern is my favorite spot in the city for that, and you have two choices: their original location in Brewer’s Hill or their new downtown location. They serve brunch until 2 or 3 p.m., so you can tank up even for an evening game.

Milwaukee is definitely the Bloody Mary capital of the world, and Uncle Wolfie’s has a great one. If you want to try the wild ones that come garnished with full meals—you know, rotisserie chickens, sliders, or mini-pizzas on skewers—you’ve seen on Instagram or the Travel Channel, that’s Sobelman’s. Wherever you have one, make sure you have it with a beer back, AKA a chaser. It’s the Wisconsin way. A shorty of Miller High Life is the Milwaukee preference.

• Best place to celebrate a victory – i.e. the sports bar that is fun.

There are good spots to stick around after in the Deer District immediately outside Fiserv Forum with plenty of screens to catch other action. But do not miss Old World Third Street, an historic German retail district literally one block east of Fiserv Forum. Milwaukee still celebrates its nearly two centuries of German heritage, and this is where it was centered for generations. Nowadays, it’s known as a few blocks of fun bars and eateries, and you’ll still find that German vibe at several places.

But none would be better for toasting a W than the Old German Beer Hall. While it’s not styled as a sports bar, rather based on Munich’s Hofbräuhaus, it’s a common spot to hang before and after Bucks or Marquette games and they’ll be showing March Madness too. Both imports from Deutschland and local beers are on tap, for your enjoyment in a boot, stein, or mini stein. Usinger’s—Ameriks feinste Wurster (RIP Ueck)—sausages are served so you can snack on Milwaukee’s best brat. Also try a Bavarian pretzel with obatzda. Sing the Beer Barrel Polka like it’s the seventh inning stretch (no, we don’t know what tarrarel means). Prost!

• Best place to bounce back after a loss (this can be ice cream/dessert focused to eat away our feelings)

Wisconsin is America’s Dairyland, and while we have plenty of great ice cream, frozen custard is more our thing. If you’re unfamiliar, it’s a creamier and richer version because it uses egg yolks, unlike ice cream. Kopp’s and Gillies are Milwaukee classics, but on the side of my family that all hails from the Cream City, Leon’s is the choice. My mother swears by their vanilla, and do you know just how good a place’s vanilla has to be for them to be known for vanilla?

• Best place to visit outside the arena i.e. Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indy or the Coca-Cola Museum in Atlanta.

Obviously, Milwaukee is known for beer. Your grandpa’s favorite beers like Miller, Schlitz, Pabst, and Blatz all originated here. But today, there are dozens of outstanding craft brewers in the city whose products you can sample all over town, some even in the arena. Many of them offer tours, but one’s is head and shoulders above the rest: Lakefront Brewery. Entertaining, hilarious, and informative are all adjectives I’d use to describe it. Plus you get a free glass and two free pints of beer afterwards! If you’re there on Friday after 4, stay for their fish fry, a longtime staple of Upper Midwest dining. You can even eat in Bernie Brewer’s chalet from old County Stadium!

• Where the true Wisconsin sports fan hangs for fun

Major Goolsby’s is just a couple blocks from Fiserv and is the Wisconsin sports bar, dating back to 1970. As much a museum as it is a watering hole and pre/postgame dining spot, you’ll find no better collection of Wisconsin sports memorabilia lining its walls. Back when SI was still the paragon of sports journalism, I recall them rating Goolsby’s one of the nation’s best sports bars, and I even found the list ranking it fourth. Not sure if they still have that exact beer deal, though!