The Bay Restaurant Review

Restaurant name: The Bay

Restaurant address: 342 E Silver Spring Dr, Whitefish Bay, WI 53217

Phone number of restaurant: (414) 455-3045

Business hours: Sunday-Monday 11am-9pm | Tuesday-Thursday 11am-12am | Friday 11am-1am

Cuisine type: American

Price per entrée: $10.00-$28.50

Attire: Casual

Reservations: Yes

Payment: Credit Card, Cash

Service: 5 Aprons

Setting: 5 Aprons

Food: 4 Aprons

Value: 3 Aprons

Overall: 4 Aprons

As someone who grew up eating nothing but chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese, it shocked almost everyone I knew when I grew up to be the world’s least picky eater. I’ll try almost any kind of food once, and I’ll never turn down the opportunity to go to food places I’ve never been to before. So, when my parents called me and asked if I wanted to go out to eat with them at a restaurant I didn’t recognize the name of, I was pretty excited. Going to new restaurants is one of my favorite things to do, as I never know when I’ll find my new favorite spot.

They picked me up and we headed to The Bay, located on Silver Spring Dr. in Whitefish Bay. The Bay, owned by James McMahon, has been in business since 2013. The chef is Erik Hansen, who worked at Distil on Milwaukee St. before moving to The Bay. The menu offers varieties of appetizers, pastas, sandwiches, salads, burgers and chicken, pizzas, entrées, fish fry items for Fridays and BBQ dishes for Saturdays. The Bay is located in a cute, rural area, and is a great place for families to dine.

Upon walking into the restaurant at around 6pm on Thursday night, I noticed first how dim the lights were. Lights were strung up around the room and overhead lights were dimmed, creating a romantic sort of atmosphere. The holiday garlands I saw hanging up added a cute theme to the room. The next thing I noticed was there weren’t many people there, the restaurant didn’t start filling up until about 6:30pm. There is a big open space in the front where the hostess stands to greet incomers, and I learned that this open space is used for musicians on nights when The Bay offers live music. There are some normal tables and some elevated ones, and we were placed at one of the high-top tables.

The Bay had a cozy atmosphere, with the lights dimmed and music playing softly enough in the background, so we didn’t have to shout over each other. We quickly noticed that the music was exclusively from the 80s, with the Eagles, Queen, Billy Joel and Journey singing their hits while we talked.

We ordered our drinks and I was delighted to see that my Coke had come with a paper straw. It’s always fun noticing the small changes business are trying to make to help make the world a better, more eco-friendly place. After we got our drinks, we put in an order for an appetizer. We decided on the Spinach Artichoke Dip. It arrived in less than 10 minutes, and we dug in. It was prepared nicely and came out hot and with warm pita chips that had been seasoned perfectly. The dip was thick, gooey and rich. We found it amusing to watch each other try and scoop up the dip with the chips when the cheese was so stretchy and stuck together. This, in my opinion, is the best consistency for the dip to be. We went through the pita chips quickly, and our waitress came back with more so we could finish the dip. The dip was a great way to start the meal.

We had ordered our meals in the middle of eating the spinach artichoke dip, and our food arrived shortly after we had finished the appetizer. It took the kitchen less than 20 minutes to prepare our food, so we didn’t have to wait long at all. I ordered the Baystack Burger, which came with cheddar cheese, deep-fried sliced onion rings and creamy onion dip. I requested it be cooked medium-well, with fries on the side and a cup of ranch dressing for dipping my fries in. The burger was cooked close to how I liked it, with a little more pink in it than what I would have liked. But it was juicy and seasoned well, and I enjoyed it a lot. The onion rings added a good crunch to the burger, and the onion sauce was rich and creamy. I had never tried onion dip on a burger before, but I am now a huge fan of it. Overall, I really enjoyed this burger and think the onion dip is what made a lasting impression. I would definitely get this burger again.

My dad ordered the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich with a side salad, but scarfed that down before I was able to steal a bite. I’ll have to take his word for it that it was good. Fortunately, I was able to steal some of my mom’s food and enjoyed that a lot as well. She had ordered the Chicken Pesto Caprese which was served with garlic bread on the side. It was served with melted mozzarella and balsamic vinegar on top on the dish. The mozzarella added a nice extra flavor to the dish, but my mom and I agreed that the vinegar added a sweet flavor that we weren’t too fond of. The pesto sauce was a bit more soupy and watery in consistency than we liked; it seemed like the noodles were swimming in the sauce instead of the sauce sticking to them. Overall, we enjoyed the dish, with exception of the sweet vinegar flavor and the consistency of the pesto sauce.

The service was exceptionally good. Our waitress was very friendly, checked on us frequently and kept our drinks full. Our appetizer and meals came quickly and were presented nicely. If we needed anything, we didn’t have to wait for very long to ask for it. I would recommend this spot to others, because my parents and I really enjoyed our meals here, as it was quick and not terribly expensive (there were a few items we felt could have been cheaper). It hit the spot and we all left satisfied.

Final rating: 4 Aprons / 5 Aprons