Description: Palms Bistro Bar is located in the hip and trendy Historic Third Ward neighborhood of downtown Milwaukee, just a couple blocks south of the heart of downtown. It's on Broadway, a great boulevard-like street with art galleries and amazing restaurants leading to a part at the end of the run.
It's a typical historic Milwaukee building lined on the inside with Cream City brick dating back to the early 20th century.
The walls are lined with goofy, yet sophisticated, paintings of monkeys in human situations by a local artist at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, just down the street from the restaurant. That style is reflected throughout the restaurant with tropical side-blowing fans and animal-print chairs.
The restaurant is very dim inside with candles on the tables and a few modern lights hung from the ceiling on long wires.
The restaurant has a small but great selection of wines, with the best Riesling ($6 a glass) I've ever had (first selection on white-wine list) They also have a good selection of local micro beers, including Lakefront Brewery Cream City Pale Ale and Fransenkahner Hefeweiss.
The food ranges from homemade pizzas and calzones to great seafood ($21, I highly recommend the sea bass served with sweet potato, shrimp hash, and plantain chips), exotic sandwiches, and some quite healthy selections, like a Strawberry Gorgonzola Salad and Crunchy Asian Vegetable salad with shaved grilled chicken ($9, also very good).
If you're still hungry for dessert, they have great homemade chocolate-chip cookies (they are big; order them with a glass of milk for dipping).
The restaurant is divided in two, with nonsmoking dining on one side and a large bar with café tables on the other side for dining as well. The large windows in the front of the restaurant have nice tall café tables available for dining in both nonsmoking and smoking sections that give you a nice view for people-watching in this historic neighborhood.
There is plenty of parking in the area, including a very small parking lot next to the building. The Historic Third Ward is an easily walkable neighborhood and never seems busy, so parking is not a hassle, even on a Saturday night.
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