I just found this receipt, I guess I forgot to update...

I liked this place, although it was a little surprising at first.

Balzac is more of a wine bar that a restaurant, which I didn't realize at first, and it is French, which I also didn't realize. But, that combination actually worked out pretty well, because I didn't know what half the stuff on the menu was, so we ended up ordering 7 different plates of appetizers.

We started with bruschetta, which was good, but very small. They were like the end pieces of a hot dog bun with 4 cubes of tomato on it and some cilantro. Good, but we needed more.

We ordered hot spicy shrimp, and a little later tuna tartar. The tuna tartar came first, and neither of us knew what it was. It tasted ok, but not what we expected at all. The shrimp was good, and then we got some gnocche that was good, but a little big and doughy.

So I guess we only had 4 dishes, but a lot of beer and wine, so we went home happy....
It gets an 8 because its not really a restaurant, and I was hungry later.

Balzac
1716 N. Arlington Place
Milwaukee, WI 53202

This pace is very cool. I went here with my girlfriend for her birthday dinner and had a great time.

We started off with appetizers, a Gorgonzola fondue with steak, bread, and shrimp to dip in. The dipees were great, but the fondue was a little thin. As it cooled off, it was was much better.

I got tenderloin since my friend got tenderloin last time we were out and I was jealous. It was a real good piece of meat, and the salt was sea salt in a grinder, which can be real nice if you don't overdue it.

The best part of this restaurant wasn't the food though, the best was the atmosphere. The restaurant was very spacious and we got a nice semi-circle booth/table. The front wall was all glass kind of overlooking Lake Michigan. Well, it was over looking the lake, but some parts of it were obscured by some trees or the museum.

The service was very good, but a bit over the top at times. I'm not super used to nice restaurants, so sometimes I wish they would tone it down a bit.

Very nice, not the best food around, but the rest of it makes up for it.


Coast
931 E. Wisconsin Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53202