Milwaukee's Old World Third Street along (and just West of) the Milwaukee River has many of Milwaukee's best restaurants and night-clubbing locations. Brady Street, on the Northeast side, also has many nice restaurants and shops. Brady Street and Old World Third Street are undoubtedly the two best areas to get food in Milwaukee. Brady Street consists of relatively inexpensive but high-quality restaurants, bakeries, and bars. Old World Third Street provides a richer variety and also many of the more upscale restaurants (and clubs) in Milwaukee. Traditional Germanic and Mediterranean foods are the highlights.

Budget

Apollo's on Brady Street serves authentic Greek food that the whole family can enjoy: a variety of healthy yet tasty food. It'll make you wonder why these sorts of food aren't more popular.

The best place to eat Mexican food on a budget in Milwaukee is Conijito's Place on 6th Street just north of National Avenue. Food is cheap, drinks are cheap and the atmosphere is one of the best in the city as far as Mexican restaurants go. In most cases you can eat and get a couple drinks for $10 dollars.

Mid-range

Located on Milwaukee's Old World Third Street, the Safehouse is entered through an alley. It is infamous for requiring a password to enter. It can be entered even without the password, but you will be required to act silly to convince them to allow entrance. Once inside you will find one of the world's greatest museums to spying including numerous gadgets and displays. As you eat you will be able to watch video monitors of other patrons acting silly to gain entrance, just as you once did.

On the East Side, you can get some great pizza at Gil's on Downer Ave before or after a movie at the nearby Downer Theater, or head over to the intersection of North and Oakland Avenues, where you'll find local favorites like Beans & Barley (healthy/organic), Pizza Man, Von Trier's (German), the BBC (bar & grill), and the Twisted Fork (pasta).

A bit farther up Oakland Avenue near Locust Ave. (near the UW-Milwaukee Campus), you'll find an exciting variety of restaurants like the Oakland Trattoria (Mediterranean), Sharrazad (Middle Eastern), Lula's Cafe (East African), Thai-A-Kitchen, and Oakland Gyros (Greek).

Splurge

Mader's, also on Old-World Third, provides traditional German cuisine in a fancy atmosphere. It is expensive but exquisite - well worth it.

Mimma's, on Brady Street, serves the Americanized version Italian cuisine. But it is also incredible, well worth five stars. In addition to ever pasta you can imagine it comes with an excellent array of wines, albeit expensive.

Drink

There's no shortage of night life in the Brew City. Milwaukeeans spend more (per capita) on entertainment than the citizenry of any other major American city, and you can bet that a good percentage of that entertainment is served in liquid form.

Trendy night life areas include Water Street in the heart of the city's downtown area, Brady Street and North Avenue on the Lower and Upper East Sides, respectively, and National Avenue to the south. RiverWest, a local hipster enclave, also offers a large variety of artsy drinking holes.

The city is also the unofficial Capital of the Corner Bar; no matter where you go in Milwaukee, there's sure to be a neighborhood bar only a few blocks away.