Friday 24th of October 2014 11:22:34 AM

link
Stonefly does English-style ales very well. I can't vouch for other styles, but my wife liked a sour ale they did. A good kitchen, with vegetarian options with some thought in them, and good carnivorous options, too. The room is a giant corner room with concrete floors, high ceiling, giant windows that let lots of light in on sunny days, and local art on the walls. A mix of college kids and neighborhood regulars. I like Saturday lunch, where folks alternate between beer and coffee... There's a stage, so I assume there's live music/events.

EDIT, September 2016: Stonefly is closed, but the space lives on as a different brewery/restaurant: Company Brewing. I haven't been to Company as of yet.

Tuesday 26th of April 2011 02:26:48 PM

link
Stopped in here with the little lady today. I've been wanting to check this place out for awhile now.

Nestled in the trendy/ghetto neighborhood of Riverwest. Where hipsters meet gangsters. The place itself is very wide open and almost bare feeling. I'm not sure what it was but it just seemed too big for what was in it. A few booths up front some pub tables scattered through out. A stage to the left and some pool table sin the back. Bar on the right. A few random art pieces adorned the walls. We grabbed a pub table and ordered some beer and food.

The beers were pretty good. I had the english ale and RIS. The lady had a dopplebock. Our server was pleasant but rather pokey. We weren't in a hurry so no big deal but it could have been maddening.

The selection was decent for a small brew pub. 10 beers listed 3 of which were out.

The food was very good. I had the pub burger which was cooked to a perfect medium. The beer cheese sauce gave it a great complexity.

Overall a nice little brew pub. I will head back sometime and try the beer flight for sure.

Friday 4th of February 2011 04:28:08 PM

link
The beers were good, and the beer selection was fine. Their Mustache Ride Pale Ale (hilariously named) is really a great example of an American Pale Ale, teeming with Cascade hop aroma and grapefruity goodness. I wasn't happy that they don't have a predefined beer sampler - you can pick out as many 5 oz. samples as you like for $2 a piece, but that's kind of a hassle. I'd rather see eight 3-oz. samples for $8 so I can try them all. Note to self...

Their food was good also, although not particularly my favorite kind of food - it was greasy, pub-style food. Good burgers, prepared in interesting ways. They had an appetizer of deep-fat-fried bacon... if that doesn't get your arteries a little concerned, I don't know what will. The prices were nice - burgers ranging from $8.25 to $8.75.

The ambiance left a lot to be desired for my tastes. It is one of the industrial, artsy brewpubs, covered with local art for sale on the wall, big industrial ventilation running through the rafters -- that sort of thing. The bathrooms were ... well ... downright disgusting really. The brewery is sort of off the path and you have to go out of your way to see it. Since it was evening, we could hardly see anything in the darkened room where the equipment is housed. It looked like a smaller system, something less than 7 bbl.

The service was ok. We didn't get napkins or silverware, even when our appetizer arrived. Our server was friendly enough, but knew nothing about the brewery when we asked her a couple of basic questions -- like, "how often does the brewer come in to brew beer?"

The parking is not so great - street parking only it seems.

They do have live music - although not on Thursday nights I guess. They also have a Sunday brunch. They're not open for lunch, but have a happy hour from 4-7pm every day, when their tap beers are $3 for a pint. Nice.

Overall, in a word: Eclectic. I wouldn't go out of my way, but if I was in the neighborhood (not likely), I'd probably stop by.

Thursday 19th of November 2009 09:45:49 PM

link
We arrived here in the early evening and things were already pretty busy. We ordered the 6-beer sampler which included an IPA, blonde ale, pale ale, English ale, a bitter, and a stout. All were very good. They have a pretty interesting menu, worth checking out just for the menu. We sat at the bar and the service was excellent. We parked around the corner on a side street. We didn’t stay too long; the smoking in the place made everything pretty hazy. I’m sure the place was rocking later on.

Sunday 17th of August 2008 11:30:43 PM

link
Stonefly is one of Milwaukee's lesser known brew pubs. A few miles away from the downtown area, Stonefly offers several different beers. The most memorable and the best I sampled there was the milk stout. It's perhaps the best milk stout I've ever had. It's not listed as a milk stout on the menu, just a stout.

The service was excellent and there is a small beer garden outside of Stonefly.

I recommend a stop at Stonefly for their milk stout.