Excellent food. I would have appreciated a more energetic server. However she was very polite.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
John Niedfeldt-Thomas
Amazing first meal at Sanford, but it will not be the last. Every bite of every dish was superb! Our server Carrie was extremely knowledgeable, informative, and a delight!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: The Drive in Hot Fudge Toffee Nut Ball with Open Faced Milk Chocolate Ganache Toffee Bar, Amuse Bouche, Grilled Pear and Roquefort Tart with Caramelized Onions and Walnuts, Grilled Duck Breast, Banana Butterscotch Toffee Tart
Jacob Nitz
My friend Andy is ditching me (life long friend) to spend time with his mistress and mother of his children. I’d give it 5 stars otherwise.
Nicholas Binder
Full fine dining experience, minus pretentiousness. Our service was incredible and made us feel like we'd been regular patrons for years. We went on a Saturday, so we only had the option of 4 course menu (7 is reserved for weeknights, we'll definitely be back). Not only was our food and service outstanding, but the wine pairings really took this experience over the top(I believe the wine person was Jeffrey, my hearing isn't so great) if you enjoy dining, and live in Milwaukee, don't wait as long as we did to visit, it's worth experiencing!(The photo I posted was when I was nearly finished, the presentation before I messed it up was beautiful)
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: The Drive in Hot Fudge Toffee Nut Ball with Open Faced Milk Chocolate Ganache Toffee Bar, Grilled Pear and Roquefort Tart with Caramelized Onions and Walnuts, Seared Scallops
Patrick Kennedy
I don’t understand all the positive reviews. We went to Sanford for the first time to celebrate our engagement, and each and every one of the 4 meal courses was so bad as to be inedible. Even the desserts. Anything served as a tart was so overdone they were inedible. It seems as though this restaurant is living on a reputation that is unearned. The kitchen clearly did care what they were serving. On the bright side, we didn’t order 5 courses. Just an awful experience, and a whole lot of money wasted.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 4
La Kesha Lawrence
Wonderful experience. Expensive but a wonderful and decadent treat!! We will definitely be
Visited for Valentine’s Day - did the 4 course meal but did not receive our entree until 2 HOURS AFTER being seated. I understand that it was a busy day and the staff was very friendly, but in my opinion for a restaurant of this caliber, this is unacceptable. For the price of the food you can find way better, elsewhere.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 5
Brian Sullivan
We had the 7 course surprise menu with wine pairings. The food and presentation were very good. The dishes were quite healthy, yet tasty. We enjoyed the duck and cheese dishes the best. The desert dish, while good, was not as good as I wished. This is part of the gamble with the surprise menu. We went to Alinea in Chicago last year around the same time. Not a fair comparison, but Sanford could make a couple adjustments based on what Alinea did. The last dish as Alinea was outstanding. That is the last impression best left for your customers. They also gave you a menu at the end saying what you had been given. That is a nice touch. Also in the wine pairings process the wine was poured at the table and you could examine the bottle and take a pic in case it was something you wanted to buy in the future. In my opinion, you should always be given the opportunity to taste test the wine before it is fully poured. It’s good etiquette. The introduction of the dishes and wine is an important part of the experience. Our server was very quiet and it was difficult to pick up on everything she said. I would go again. These are some easy adjustments that would better the experience.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Nicole Willoughby
The best restaurant in the City of Milwaukee. Hands down. Spectacular!
My favorite. Outstanding food, service and atmosphere. There is no place that compares to Sanford.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Warm Cherry Clafoutis, Citrus Seared Alaskan Halibut, Grilled Scallops, Duck Breast, Macadamia Nut Tart Coconut Ice Cream, Bread Sticks, Amuse Bouche, Breast, Grilled Pear and Roquefort Tart with Caramelized Onions and Walnuts, Molasses Glazed Squab, Seared Scallops
Scott V
Omylort was this good.We chose the 7 course tasting with pairing and could not have been more pleased.Of all the dishes the scallop was probably my favorite for one simple reason... I liked it. Normally I will not eat scallops because the texture or flavor or both are a turn off, but not with these. These had enough firmness to not be jell-o-ie, yet still weren't tough. They didn't have a 'dirty' flavor that I often experience, but had a very nice caramel crisp from being seared. Talking to our waiter, it turns out they get them "dry packed" and that maintains the freshness as though straight off the boat.Whatever the reason, WOW.Now for what was my real favorite turned out to be the goose sausage and duck, although personal preference is that the duck be just slightly more cooked, that did not take away from the dish.Every bit of love a chef could put into their profession went into this meal. Were it proper to give a huge to the person that pleased the tastes this well, I'd go back just to give a firm embrace of thanks.Amazing, thank you.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Grilled Pear and Roquefort Tart with Caramelized Onions and Walnuts, Grilled Duck Breast, Seared Scallops
Andrew Carver
Of the four courses, we had a few lackluster choices across our group. For myself, I found the prosciutto salad to be lacking when it came to the dressing and the salad was hard to politely cut. The fennel tenderloin, while seasoned wonderfully, came out mostly "blue rare" much to my surprise. The house manager agreed that it was incredibly underdone and immediately had it remade, and unfortunately another small piece still had this problem. I wish the tenderloin had an extra piece overall. My wife found the first course tart to be a bit more over caramelized for her preference and found the duck to be underwhelming.The staff was incredibly kind and welcoming overall and the atmosphere is wonderful for the setting. The cocktails are creative and the "Gata" Armenian dessert was absolutely incredible.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Colleen Taylor
Went to NYE, our server took great care of us and the food was incredible. The scallops were the best
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Elizabeth Byrnes
We were beyond excited to visit this place again. Even just making the reservation, they are welcoming and accommodating of food allergies.After arriving, our server was friendly at the start and gave us some time to settle in, but that turned into nearly 45 minutes before we got our drinks - Manhattans, which we consider a classic cocktail, but they were made incorrectly the first time. We then had to wait for them to be remade, and they still came out wrong, but we just let it go this time around.The food finally started to arrive - we chose the four-course tasting menu. We got our first dish after about an hour and a half. The food was very good, and they accommodated our allergies, but no one explained the meals to us. They would just set the dishes down and walk away, and our server hardly stopped by to check in. At one point, we were without water for about 10 minutes until we could finally request a refill from someone. For a place with such unique and high-end fair, we expected an overview of the dishes we ordered and more touch points.We knew this was meant to be a slow dining experience, but our entire meal took about three hours, which is what they tell you to plan for the seven courses, and we only had four. Since we were nearing closing time, everyone was cleaning up around us. Our server seemed more concerned about replacing the tablecloths than checking in with us. This night was meant to be a treat, but it turned out to be an incredibly expensive disappointing experience.
It was best restaurant that I’ve been to in
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Excellent food. I would have appreciated a more energetic server. However she was very polite.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Amazing first meal at Sanford, but it will not be the last. Every bite of every dish was superb! Our server Carrie was extremely knowledgeable, informative, and a delight!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: The Drive in Hot Fudge Toffee Nut Ball with Open Faced Milk Chocolate Ganache Toffee Bar, Amuse Bouche, Grilled Pear and Roquefort Tart with Caramelized Onions and Walnuts, Grilled Duck Breast, Banana Butterscotch Toffee Tart
My friend Andy is ditching me (life long friend) to spend time with his mistress and mother of his children. I’d give it 5 stars otherwise.
Full fine dining experience, minus pretentiousness. Our service was incredible and made us feel like we'd been regular patrons for years. We went on a Saturday, so we only had the option of 4 course menu (7 is reserved for weeknights, we'll definitely be back). Not only was our food and service outstanding, but the wine pairings really took this experience over the top(I believe the wine person was Jeffrey, my hearing isn't so great) if you enjoy dining, and live in Milwaukee, don't wait as long as we did to visit, it's worth experiencing!(The photo I posted was when I was nearly finished, the presentation before I messed it up was beautiful)
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: The Drive in Hot Fudge Toffee Nut Ball with Open Faced Milk Chocolate Ganache Toffee Bar, Grilled Pear and Roquefort Tart with Caramelized Onions and Walnuts, Seared Scallops
I don’t understand all the positive reviews. We went to Sanford for the first time to celebrate our engagement, and each and every one of the 4 meal courses was so bad as to be inedible. Even the desserts. Anything served as a tart was so overdone they were inedible. It seems as though this restaurant is living on a reputation that is unearned. The kitchen clearly did care what they were serving. On the bright side, we didn’t order 5 courses. Just an awful experience, and a whole lot of money wasted.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 4
Wonderful experience. Expensive but a wonderful and decadent treat!! We will definitely be
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Bread Sticks, Amuse Bouche, Seared Scallops
Visited for Valentine’s Day - did the 4 course meal but did not receive our entree until 2 HOURS AFTER being seated. I understand that it was a busy day and the staff was very friendly, but in my opinion for a restaurant of this caliber, this is unacceptable. For the price of the food you can find way better, elsewhere.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 5
We had the 7 course surprise menu with wine pairings. The food and presentation were very good. The dishes were quite healthy, yet tasty. We enjoyed the duck and cheese dishes the best. The desert dish, while good, was not as good as I wished. This is part of the gamble with the surprise menu. We went to Alinea in Chicago last year around the same time. Not a fair comparison, but Sanford could make a couple adjustments based on what Alinea did. The last dish as Alinea was outstanding. That is the last impression best left for your customers. They also gave you a menu at the end saying what you had been given. That is a nice touch. Also in the wine pairings process the wine was poured at the table and you could examine the bottle and take a pic in case it was something you wanted to buy in the future. In my opinion, you should always be given the opportunity to taste test the wine before it is fully poured. It’s good etiquette. The introduction of the dishes and wine is an important part of the experience. Our server was very quiet and it was difficult to pick up on everything she said. I would go again. These are some easy adjustments that would better the experience.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
The best restaurant in the City of Milwaukee. Hands down. Spectacular!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
My favorite. Outstanding food, service and atmosphere. There is no place that compares to Sanford.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Warm Cherry Clafoutis, Citrus Seared Alaskan Halibut, Grilled Scallops, Duck Breast, Macadamia Nut Tart Coconut Ice Cream, Bread Sticks, Amuse Bouche, Breast, Grilled Pear and Roquefort Tart with Caramelized Onions and Walnuts, Molasses Glazed Squab, Seared Scallops
Omylort was this good.We chose the 7 course tasting with pairing and could not have been more pleased.Of all the dishes the scallop was probably my favorite for one simple reason... I liked it. Normally I will not eat scallops because the texture or flavor or both are a turn off, but not with these. These had enough firmness to not be jell-o-ie, yet still weren't tough. They didn't have a 'dirty' flavor that I often experience, but had a very nice caramel crisp from being seared. Talking to our waiter, it turns out they get them "dry packed" and that maintains the freshness as though straight off the boat.Whatever the reason, WOW.Now for what was my real favorite turned out to be the goose sausage and duck, although personal preference is that the duck be just slightly more cooked, that did not take away from the dish.Every bit of love a chef could put into their profession went into this meal. Were it proper to give a huge to the person that pleased the tastes this well, I'd go back just to give a firm embrace of thanks.Amazing, thank you.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Grilled Pear and Roquefort Tart with Caramelized Onions and Walnuts, Grilled Duck Breast, Seared Scallops
Of the four courses, we had a few lackluster choices across our group. For myself, I found the prosciutto salad to be lacking when it came to the dressing and the salad was hard to politely cut. The fennel tenderloin, while seasoned wonderfully, came out mostly "blue rare" much to my surprise. The house manager agreed that it was incredibly underdone and immediately had it remade, and unfortunately another small piece still had this problem. I wish the tenderloin had an extra piece overall. My wife found the first course tart to be a bit more over caramelized for her preference and found the duck to be underwhelming.The staff was incredibly kind and welcoming overall and the atmosphere is wonderful for the setting. The cocktails are creative and the "Gata" Armenian dessert was absolutely incredible.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Went to NYE, our server took great care of us and the food was incredible. The scallops were the best
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
We were beyond excited to visit this place again. Even just making the reservation, they are welcoming and accommodating of food allergies.After arriving, our server was friendly at the start and gave us some time to settle in, but that turned into nearly 45 minutes before we got our drinks - Manhattans, which we consider a classic cocktail, but they were made incorrectly the first time. We then had to wait for them to be remade, and they still came out wrong, but we just let it go this time around.The food finally started to arrive - we chose the four-course tasting menu. We got our first dish after about an hour and a half. The food was very good, and they accommodated our allergies, but no one explained the meals to us. They would just set the dishes down and walk away, and our server hardly stopped by to check in. At one point, we were without water for about 10 minutes until we could finally request a refill from someone. For a place with such unique and high-end fair, we expected an overview of the dishes we ordered and more touch points.We knew this was meant to be a slow dining experience, but our entire meal took about three hours, which is what they tell you to plan for the seven courses, and we only had four. Since we were nearing closing time, everyone was cleaning up around us. Our server seemed more concerned about replacing the tablecloths than checking in with us. This night was meant to be a treat, but it turned out to be an incredibly expensive disappointing experience.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 2