Dan F.
Yelp
Absolutely the worst experience -- and judging by the reviews, we're not alone. Should be 0 stars.
We were in town picking up my daughter from college and decided to stop into Tony's Packer Bar. Being from Wisconsin, we were excited to check out a place that claimed to offer a "Wisconsin experience." What a joke.
It was a quiet Sunday afternoon -- barely a dozen people inside, bar stools mostly empty. The man and woman behind the bar were laughing, clearly not busy. When the bartender asked how he could help us, I simply said that I was looking for something to drink. His response? "I need IDs first." Fine, even though we hadn't ordered anything yet.
We handed over our IDs. My daughter's boyfriend, who is 22 and active military, had his ID glanced at and flipped back to him like it was trash. Then the bartender looks at my daughter's -- she turns 21 next month -- and it's fake. Admittedly, not a great decision, but the overreaction that followed was absurd. She wasn't even drinking. Instead of handling it like a professional, the bartender tosses the ID behind the bar and tells all of us to get out or he's calling the police. Over what? We weren't causing trouble. We were just trying to enjoy a quiet afternoon and check out the memorabilia.
When I calmly asked what just happened, and if a could get a beer, he started yelled at us and accused me of being condescending -- which I absolutely wasn't. He made reference to me being the dad, and my daughter having a fake id, inferring that I'm some kind of terrible parent. In Wisconsin, this would've been handled with some common sense and human decency. But not here.
This place is nothing like a Wisconsin bar. Rude staff, an unnecessarily hostile attitude, and zero hospitality. I wish I had read the reviews before walking in -- they would've saved us the trouble. If you're looking for a true Wisconsin experience, go literally anywhere else. Good luck keeping a business running with that kind of treatment toward guests.