Grafton Restaurants: Fish Fry to Thai

For a town its size, Grafton eats well. The range of Grafton restaurants is wider than a first drive down the highway would suggest. There are old taverns turning out a Friday fish fry, a genuine supper club built around prime rib, a craft brewpub on the river, and Thai, Indian and Chinese kitchens for a weeknight. What follows is where locals actually go, organised by the kind of meal you are after, with what to order and when the kitchens are open.

Where locals go for a proper dinner

For a sit-down dinner, three names come up first, and they do different jobs. 13 North Kitchen and Cocktails is the closest thing Grafton has to a special-occasion restaurant: an American menu that runs to bacon-wrapped meatloaf, Nashville chicken and pecan chicken, a serious cocktail list, and a heated outdoor deck that looks straight out over the Milwaukee River. The upper level is a proper event space that has seated a hundred for a dinner, so weekends fill; book ahead on a Friday or Saturday. The Stillery, over on 12th Avenue, is the crowd-pleaser: a broad menu from the Stillery Burger and Cuban egg rolls to the thin dipper sandwich and a blackened chicken salad, and a kitchen known for squeezing in large groups without dropping a beat. Juice's Ghost Town, out on Ulao Road, is the town's supper club, built around steak and a prime rib that regulars order by name, with an old-fashioned bar, a Monday Schnitzel Night, and the kind of unhurried Wisconsin dinner the format was invented for.

Pick by mood: 13 North for a date, The Stillery for a group, Juice's for an old-fashioned steak dinner that takes its time.

Fish fry Fridays

This is Wisconsin, so Friday means fish fry, and Grafton has several worth the trip. The best-known is at The Bunkers, the restaurant inside Edgewater Golf Club, which runs a popular Friday fish fry and a full lunch and dinner menu you do not need a tee time to enjoy. The pan-fried walleye is the pick, along with a tenderloin special served on a pretzel bun, and the golf-course setting makes it a pleasant lunch stop in summer. The taverns get in on it too. Redheads Tavern is a small, friendly bar with billiards and dart leagues that turns out a classic Sheboygan crispy cracker-crust pizza the rest of the week. Casey Key Pub runs a Florida theme, all Sunshine State decor and Mai Tais, and covers the neighbourhood-bar side with an easy crowd. The Bridge leans into live music, karaoke and music bingo alongside its bar menu, a classic small-town Wisconsin tavern with late hours. And The Hutch is the reliable burger-and-a-beer room, known for a Swiss-and-mushroom burger and weekend hours that run late.

Between them, the taverns cover most of a week: pizza at Redheads, a game and a drink at Casey Key or The Bridge, a late burger at The Hutch, and a fish fry somewhere on Friday.

Thai, Indian and Chinese

For a town this size, Grafton has a real spread of cooking from farther afield, and these are among the most-recommended kitchens in town. Bamboo Bistro is the local favourite for Thai, with masaman curry, fried rice, pho, spring rolls and crab rangoons, a mango-sticky-rice regulars mention by name, and a Thai iced tea to finish; the dipping sauce comes up in review after review, and prices stay reasonable. Dragon Gourmet covers Chinese with both a buffet and made-to-order plates, drawing a steady crowd for lo mein and fried dumplings with a dipping sauce, turned out hot and fast for dine-in or takeout. BSG Lounge and Indian Cafe rounds it out with Indian plates, chicken tikka, garlic naan and saffron rice, alongside a lounge menu and a broad beer list, which is not something anywhere else in Grafton offers.

Alongside them, BSG Lounge and Indian Cafe is the only place in town pairing a full Indian menu with a lounge and a beer list, worth knowing when you want something different from a tavern.

Casual and family standbys

Some nights you just want something quick and reliable, and Grafton has the Wisconsin standards covered. Culver's is the local stop for ButterBurgers and frozen custard, with the day's Flavor of the Day posted out front and a drive-thru that moves. Dave's Hot Chicken brings the Nashville heat, with seven spice levels running from no-spice to Reaper for anyone chasing a challenge, and a fast, lively counter. Big Apple Bagels handles breakfast and lunch on fresh-baked bagels, coffee and sandwiches, an easy morning stop. None of these will surprise you, and on a busy weeknight that is exactly the point.

For breakfast on the go, Big Apple Bagels covers fresh-baked bagels and coffee, and it is an easy add-on before a morning at the parks or the river.

Pizza in Grafton

Grafton has enough pizza to deserve its own rundown. Eaton's does thin-crust and take-and-bake with a rotating pizza of the month, Even Odds turns out thin, hand-tossed and Detroit-style with quick delivery, and Redheads adds that Sheboygan cracker crust. Water Street and 13 North both run pizza too. If you are deciding between styles and who delivers, the town's take-and-bake, Detroit-style and cracker-crust options are worth a closer look.

Breweries and brewpub food

Several of Grafton's best places to eat are also where it drinks. Sahale Ale Works pours house-brewed beer with a dog-friendly patio and food trucks in the heart of downtown, and its Paramount Stout is named for the record label that made Grafton briefly famous a century ago. Water Street Brewery does a full brewpub menu, from tempura Korean cauliflower and short-rib paninis to parmesan-crusted salmon and a Wisconsin fish fry, alongside beer it has brewed since the late 1980s, in a building on the Milwaukee River. Between them, Sahale and Water Street make up most of the town's craft-beer and taproom scene.

Coffee and a sweet stop

A morning coffee is easy: the town's roasteries and cafes run from a Milwaukee roaster to a roastery inside the historic Arts Mill. For something sweet, in warm weather Pete's Pops sets the standard, with real-fruit and inventive-flavour popsicles, and even pup pops for the dog, sold from a downtown stand. It is an easy add-on to a meal rather than a destination on its own, but it rounds out a day of eating in Grafton.

More to do while you are here

Dinner is usually the anchor of a Grafton visit, not the whole of it. The town's parks, the Milwaukee River, and the blues history at Paramount Plaza round out the rest of a day here.