Food & Drink in Sturgeon Bay

52 places, each with a quick take from us — kept current as hours and seasons change.

• 5th and Jefferson Coffee House

  A former house on the corner of 5th and Jefferson, converted room by room into a coffee house where you can hide away with a book in a small room or sink into a couch. The coffee is Rusty Dog, roasted in Madison, and the signature pulled pork burrito is the one to order.

• Birmingham's Bar and Cottages

  Order the hand-formed burger on white bread. Yes, white bread, not a bun: that is the house rule at this third-generation family bar on Bay Shore Drive, where the rental cottages out back sit right on the water.

• Bluefront Cafe

  Order the banh mi. Five-spice grilled pork, pickled daikon and carrot, cucumber, and Sriracha-lime mayo on a roll, it's the sandwich reviewers say they can't stop thinking about. This year-round Sturgeon Bay breakfast-and-lunch cafe leans organic and natural, down to the Waseda Farms grass-fed beef in the burger.

• Brick Lot Pub & Grill

  A casual pub and grill on historic Third Avenue, a short walk from the downtown marinas. Go for the broasted chicken dinner, served Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Sundays with mashed potatoes, gravy, and stuffing.

• Brygga Plates & Pours

  Brygga is Scandinavian for a pier or dock, and the name fits: this is the on-the-water dining room of Stone Harbor Resort, set beside Sturgeon Bay's Steel Bridge downtown. Order the walleye, either herb-crusted on a plate or folded into the beer-battered "wrapala" with sweet cabbage and guacamola.

• Cedar Crossing Restaurant

  The Inn at Cedar Crossing occupies an 1884 building in downtown Sturgeon Bay that once held a tailor shop, an apothecary, and a doctor's office. Its restaurant and bar have served there since 1989, cooking from scratch with as many local ingredients as they can get. Don't skip the in-house bakery: the morning buns are the standout, and the Door County cherry pie is worth saving room for.

• Cherry Lanes Arcade Bar

  Pinball, vintage arcade cabinets (most still a quarter to play), and one of Wisconsin's oldest bowling alleys, all under one roof in downtown Sturgeon Bay. Grab a craft beer or a cocktail and a hand-tossed pizza: family-friendly by day, a proper night out after dark.

• Crate

  Sturgeon Bay's dress-up dinner spot, a sushi-and-steak room on downtown's historic Third Avenue that opens only for the evening. Order the Crate-ifornia, the kitchen's play on its own name: a tempura California roll crowned with salmon and ahi.

• Donny's Glidden Lodge Restaurant

  $$$

  A classic Door County supper club on the quiet lake side: relish tray, Friday fish fry, prime rib on weekends, in the genre's unhurried, old-school style.

• Door County Fire Company

  Firefighter patches from all over the world cover the walls of this old downtown fire station, now a bar and grill. The Friday fish fry has won awards, Sundays bring broasted chicken, and there are 17 taps to get through. Come Saturday morning after the farmers market and order the Bloody Mary.

• Door County Gelato

  Order the stracciatella, thin strands of chocolate stirred through a sweet cream base. Every tub of gelato and sorbetto is made from scratch in the back of this Madison Avenue shop, eighteen flavors deep.

• Door County Sandbox

  A grill-and-games complex where six axe-throwing lanes and indoor golf simulators share the floor with a full bar and kitchen. Order the Tailgater Burger, a brat and beef patty stacked into one, then settle in for pool, darts, or a round in the throwing cage.

• dromhus

  Part wine bar, part rotating art gallery, set inside a repurposed Sturgeon Bay chapel that hangs a new local artist each season. Drömhus is Swedish for "dream house"; order the Swedish meatballs over Grandma Ingeborg's gravy and mashed potatoes, and time a visit for Sunday jazz.

• Fatzo's

  Order the southwest chicken sub, the reliable local pick off a long menu of hot and cold subs. This Sturgeon Bay carryout has baked its bread fresh daily and sliced its own meats since 2002, and every sub comes as a half (8 inch) or the full 16 incher the shop bills itself as home of.

• Get Real Cafe

  Order the GRC tuna melt, sustainably caught skipjack on house-baked bread. Owner Veronica Ripp is a Cordon Bleu-trained chef who keeps much of the menu organic and made from scratch, down to the gluten-free sourdough she bakes from her own recipe and the fresh organic juices.

• Gloria's Authentic Mexican Restaurant

  Order the pollo Chihuahua: grilled chicken breast under mushrooms, peppers, onions, and crumbled bacon, blanketed in sharp Chihuahua cheese and poblano sauce. The Ramirez family named the place for German's mother, Gloria, and built the kitchen around her recipes from Chihuahua and Michoacán, in the old Andre's Supper Club building on West Oak Street.

• Gnoshery, The

  Order the Monte Cristo: ham, turkey, and Swiss on French toast brioche with a side of blueberry sauce for dipping. It comes out of the kitchen at this downtown Sturgeon Bay board game café, an offshoot of the Gnome Games tabletop shop, where you eat with a game from the library of 100-plus titles open on the table.

• Greystone Castle

  The Ebel family's trophy mounts crowd every wall: bear, boar, elk, and the only stuffed sturgeon in Door County. It's been a saloon by the west-side bridges since 1898, it pours late every night while the rest of the peninsula goes dark for winter, and the kitchen is known for a prime rib sandwich and a creamy prime rib soup.

• Harbor House Waterfront Bar & Grill

  A waterfront grill set on Little Sturgeon Bay at the quiet south end of the county, tucked inside Wave Pointe Marina & Resort. You can cruise in by boat and tie up dockside or just drive in for a bite, with water-view seating indoors and out.

• Hidden Bridge Pub

  A country pub out on County Road S, in the former Stage Road Inn, now run by Misty Peck and her husband, who kept the longtime menu almost intact. Order the broasted chicken: crisp, juicy, and one of the dishes regulars single out, with made-to-order thin-crust pizza close behind.

• Hong Kong Buffet

  An all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet tucked into Sturgeon Bay's Cherry Point Mall, budget-priced and closed Mondays. It is the workaday choice when you want a fast, kid-friendly plate of the familiars (orange chicken, chicken and broccoli, fried rice) rather than a sit-down meal.

• Kick Coffee

  This year-round coffee shop on Third Avenue pours Colectivo, the Milwaukee roaster, and builds its lattes on house-made syrups like honey pistachio and orange white chocolate. Owners Dave and Kate lean local, and the walls rotate through work by area artists.

• Kitty O'Reilly's Irish Pub

  $$

  A downtown Irish pub built around a good pour and solid pub fare rather than a fussy menu.

• Kitty's Hideaway

  The beer garden behind Kitty O'Reillys Irish Pub on Sturgeon Bay's historic west side, with fire pit tables, live music, and garage doors that roll open all summer. Order the Bee Sting pizza: double pepperoni under a hot honey drizzle.

• Kona Bay Fish House at Lodge at Leathem Smith

  A tropical-twist fish house at the Lodge at Leathem Smith, a 13-acre waterfront resort beside Madelyn Marina on Sturgeon Bay. The kitchen flies its seafood in for freshness, and the Kona Bay patio pours fresh fruit mojitos by the heated pool.

• Lawlss Coffee - Sturgeon Bay

  Sturgeon Bay's original third-wave coffee roaster, pouring its own beans and lemonades built on from-scratch syrups. The café sits in a restored century-old former bank downtown, with the old vault repurposed as a lounge to drink your latte in.

• Mauricio's

  Order the fish tacos. Mauricio's is a seasonal Mexican taco trailer on E. Maple in Sturgeon Bay, now in its fifth summer, frying its own chips and mixing its own salsas.

• Morning Glory by the Bay

  The downtown Sturgeon Bay outpost of Morning Glory Restaurant, opened in September 2020 by German and Nery Ramirez in the former Lola May space on Third Avenue. It's a small room with harbor-view windows serving the same all-day breakfast and lunch as the original south of town; the hash brown omelette is a reliable full-plate pick.

• Morning Glory Of Door County Restaurant

  The hash brown omelette is the plate to get: two eggs and ham loaded with onions, green peppers, and mushrooms, then buried under a heap of hash browns and cheese sauce. The kitchen off Highway 42-57 opens at 6 a.m., which makes it a solid first stop before a day up the peninsula.

• Nightingale Supper Club

  Start with an old fashioned at the bar, then carry it under the neon Dining Room sign to the white tablecloths. Nightingale has been Sturgeon Bay's supper club since 1913, and the prime rib is what regulars come for. Dinner from five, Monday through Saturday, with a fish fry Wednesdays and Fridays.

• Pinky Promise Coffee

  Sturgeon Bay's first coffee roastery, where two brothers roast small batches in-house and you sip within view of the roaster. The cafe leans Spanish: order the Cortadito with brown sugar, or the iced Spanish latte finished with sweetened condensed milk.

• Poh’s Corner Pub

  A corner tavern on Sturgeon Bay's Third Avenue that runs like the town's living room, with a pool table, darts, and a jukebox. Order a charbroiled burger and a Spotted Cow, or the sandwich the bar named after itself, the Poh's Special.

• Red Room

  A working man's bar on the corner of Third and Nebraska, run by the Hoffman family since 1949 and now in its third generation. It was the old shipbuilders' tavern, the place where payroll checks got cashed on Thursdays and Fridays. Order the cheeseburger, ground fresh, the one Harley Hoffman made the Red Room's name on.

• Roadhouse Carlsville

  A roadside bar and grill on Highway 42 in Carlsville, cooking from scratch with a full bar. Order the broasted chicken, the thing this place is built around.

• Rouer's Roadhouse

  A roadhouse bar and grill where Stevenson Pier Road meets County C in Little Sturgeon Bay, an 1880s tavern that's one of the oldest in Door County and a magnet for local anglers. Order the house burger: a third-pound patty with cracked-pepper mayo and green olives.

• Samuelson's Creek Pub & Grill

  The in-house restaurant at the White Birch Inn on Sturgeon Bay's west side, casual and unfussy. The kitchen smokes its own meats: order the Q Platter, a pile of ribs, pork sliders, and smoked chicken drumsticks.

• Sawyer Harbor Pub & Grill

  A tucked-away neighborhood tavern on County Road M, out toward Potawatomi State Park on the Sawyer Harbor side of Sturgeon Bay. Order the thin cracker-crust pizza.

• Scaturo's Baking Co. & Cafe

  $$

  A downtown bakery and cafe covering breakfast, lunch, and coffee in one easy stop.

• Scotty's Pub and Grub

  A roadside pub on Highway 57 in Jacksonport, in the space that was Mike's Port Pub until the bar manager and three partners bought it in 2025. Order the broasted chicken.

• Sonny's Pizzeria

  $$

  Sturgeon Bay's go-to for Chicago-style pizza since 1996: order the Old Chicago deep dish, layered with Italian Roma tomatoes and sausage. The waterfront setting comes with an outdoor tiki bar and Bridge Up Brewing pouring craft beer on-site.

• Starboard Brewing Company

  A one-barrel nanobrewery on Third Avenue that has poured more than 340 original beers since opening in 2014, many brewed once and never again. Ask for Admiral Klutz, a house English-style ale, and pair it with Wisconsin cheese and smoked salmon.

• Steel Bridge Gelato Co.

  A gelato cart named for Sturgeon Bay's steel bridge, parked on the Bay Shore Outfitters patio at 59 N. Madison and run by two young locals who started it in 2025. They scoop Sara's Artisan Gelato out of Green Bay, picking four rotating flavors a day, so ask whether the Biscoff cookie butter made the cut.

• Sunrise Food & Drinks

  A family-run spot on the Egg Harbor Road edge of Sturgeon Bay serving Mexican and American breakfast and lunch, open daily from 7 to 3. Order a proper Mexican breakfast (the huevos rancheros), and note the street tacos don't start until 11.

• Sunset on Rileys Point

  It sits on Little Sturgeon Bay, a west-facing arm of Green Bay, so the sunset really is the main event: on clear evenings the sun drops into the water just off the outdoor tables, and it's what the place is named for. You can boat up to the private dock, and the pan-fried lake perch is the thing to order.

• The Hitching Post Bar & Grill

  A log cabin bar and grill on Glidden Drive, out where the road hugs the Lake Michigan shore southeast of Sturgeon Bay. There's a fireplace inside, and the Friday fish fry runs year-round.

• The Mill Supper Club

  This 1930 supper club three miles north of Sturgeon Bay pours a serious old fashioned and breads its own German Wiener Schnitzel, the thing to order. Family-style baked chicken shows up on Thursdays and Sundays.

• Town Hall Bakery

  A scratch bakery and cafe on Highway 57 north of Sturgeon Bay, family-run for more than thirty years. Order a caramel pecan sticky bun and go early, because the morning bakes sell out.

• Trattoria Dal Santo

  A dozen tables, one Northern Italian menu, and an owner who'll steer your wine. The chicken-and-cheese ravioli comes in brown butter and sage; save room for the cannoli. Dinner only, Tuesday through Saturday, five to eight-thirty.

• Valmy Happy Hour

  Valmy takes its name from the tiny Sevastopol crossroads, christened by the local post office around 1899 and most likely borrowed from the French Revolution's 1792 Battle of Valmy. This crossroads bar sits on Whitefish Bay Road near the turn for Whitefish Dunes and Cave Point; order the broasted chicken with mashed potatoes and stuffing, which regulars rate among the best broasted chicken in Door County.

• Waterfront Mary's Bar & Grill

  Sit at the water's edge on Sturgeon Bay at the Beach Harbor Resort, where you can pull up and come in by boat. Order the waterfront fish boil, made with cod and boned out, billed as the only fish boil right on Sturgeon Bay's water.

• West Side Commons

  A newer elevated-comfort-food spot on Sturgeon Bay's west side, opened by Northern Door native Eric Leyendecker, who trained at Sister Bay's Hotel du Nord under Bruce Alexander (now chef-owner of Alexander's in Fish Creek). The house seasoning is Leyendecker's own Kitchen Daddy's blend, a years-in-the-making recipe he now sells at the restaurant, and it's what dresses the fries.

• Wickman's 2 Brews

  The two brews are coffee and beer: Intelligentsia by the cup and 16 rotating taps that pour only Wisconsin breweries. The Wickman family behind the counter started Door County's first commercial fish boil at Ellison Bay's Viking Grill in 1959. Thursday nights they fire the Green Egg and smoke pork and chicken.