Don't Call it a Supper Club.
Posted Jun 18, 2025 - 23:14:21

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So I talked about it briefly in my entry earlier this week, but when I was in Wauwatosa last weekend to see family, we went out to dinner on Sunday night. Because it was Sunday, options were a bit more limited, so we ended up somewhere none of us had ever eaten at before: Buckatabon Tavern & Supper Club.

Now, if you know me, I'm a sucker for a supper club. I've spent my whole life going to various supper clubs across Northern Wisconsin, and the idea of a new place recreating that vibe in the Milwaukee suburbs sounded appealing. But here's the thing... this place is not a supper club.

Sure they have a relish tray on the menu (which has disappeared from most current operating supper clubs, but what the heck), but you're going to pay $15 for it. Most real supper clubs will provide at least a soup or salad with an entree (and in some cases, like the Fireside in Rhinelander, both), but you'll be paying extra for that experience.

There isn't even a French Onion Soup on the menu.

And look, the place is decorated in a kitschy way that somehow sits between the now-shuttered Al Gen in Rhinelander and maybe the Clearview Supper Club in St Germain, and the staff was friendly... it's just not a supper club.

And the thing is, if it hadn't advertised itself as a supper club, I might have liked it. The food was mostly good, but it wasn't perfect -- my burger was excellent, but several of my family members ordered their steaks medium rare and had them show up almost well. The broccolini that came with the pecan crusted trout was just... not good. All of it could be forgiven for just being a busy night, since it was Father's Day.

But they promised a supper club.

And it wasn't.

Like this is the Epcot version of a supper club -- it looks a lot like the thing, but it's all surface and in the end you're spending way more money than if you had just traveled to the real deal. I wanted to like this place, I really did. But it just misses the whole point of the thing it's trying to be.

I liked the pride stuff at the bar though. As a queer person it did make me feel relatively safe there.

I just wish it had been a supper club.
- Traegorn