What is the best restaurant in Monroe, Wisconsin?

It depends on the meal. Baumgartner's Cheese Store & Tavern, open since 1931, is the best-known for its Limburger sandwich. Bullet's Restaurant is the supper-club pick, with prime rib and a salad bar, and Vince's Restaurant & Pizzeria is the sit-down Italian choice.

Where can I eat on the Monroe square?

Baumgartner's (1023 16th Avenue), The Garden Deli (11th Street), Pancho and Lefty's Outlaw Grill (1018 17th Avenue) and the Ratskeller at Turner Hall (1217 17th Avenue) are all within about 0.05 to 0.15 miles of the courthouse square.

Is there a Friday fish fry in Monroe?

Several places list one: the Ratskeller at Turner Hall, Suisse Haus at 1602 12th Street and Minhas Kitchen and Wine Garden at 1408 13th Street. Confirm hours before you go.

What is Limburger cheese and where do I try it in Monroe?

Limburger is a strong-smelling washed-rind cheese made in Green County. Baumgartner's serves it on rye with raw red onion and mustard, often with braunschweiger, and a sign inside suggests you don't eat it with your nose.

Restaurants in Monroe WI: Limburger, Supper Clubs & More

Q: Where do I eat breakfast in Monroe?

Amy's Corner Cafe at 1127 16th Avenue is a corner diner with counter seating. It takes cash, not cards, and its Google hours show a 5:30 a.m. opening Monday through Saturday and a Sunday closure. Visitors mention a wait on Saturday mornings.

Where to eat in Cheese Capital country: a Limburger tavern, a Swiss Ratskeller, an 1860s hotel supper club and a cash-only diner.

The best meal in Monroe may come wrapped in rye bread and smell like a barn. That is the Limburger sandwich at Baumgartner's, and it explains why the restaurants in Monroe, Wisconsin, read differently from the ones in a town twice its size. Monroe has about 10,661 residents and sits in Green County, where Swiss settlers built the cheese trade that the city still advertises as the Cheese Capital of the USA. The result is a dining scene with a Swiss gathering hall, an 1860s hotel turned supper club, a breakfast counter that takes cash and a family-run pizzeria.

This guide walks the options in the order a hungry visitor meets them: the courthouse square, then the supper club and the pizza place, then the quick stops. For the wider picture, start with the things to do in Monroe, then use this page to plan where you eat between them.

On the square: Limburger, soup and a Swiss hall

Four of the places in this guide sit within about 0.05 to 0.15 miles of the courthouse square, so you can park once and eat your way across it. The square is also where the festival crowds gather, with Green County Cheese Days drawing over 100,000 people across its three days in even-numbered years.

Baumgartner's Cheese Store & Tavern

Baumgartner's Cheese Store & Tavern, 1023 16th Avenue, opened in 1931 and is billed as Wisconsin's oldest cheese store. The Limburger sandwich is the draw: three slices of the cheese on rye with raw red onion and mustard, often with braunschweiger, and a sign inside tells diners not to eat Limburger with their nose. Visitors also write about the Italian beef, the Lindbergh cheese sandwiches with spicy mustard and a locally brewed root beer on tap.

Google's profile shows a wheelchair accessible entrance, free street parking and a lot, takeout and outdoor seating. The Travel Wisconsin page mentions seasonal outdoor seating it calls a streetery.

Pick the Limburger if the town's reputation is the reason you came, and order the Italian beef if it is not. A Milwaukee Magazine piece from May 2025 adds a Baumgartner Burger topped with Limburger, and suggests pairing it with a Spotted Cow from New Glarus.

Anyone loading a cooler for the drive home can compare the cheese shops in Monroe before choosing where to spend.

The Garden Deli

The Garden Deli on 11th Street is the lunch counter for people who want a baked potato, a bowl of soup or a made-to-order sandwich instead of a pub plate. The owners say the kitchen has operated for more than 30 years, and Travel Wisconsin adds that it serves Chocolate Shoppe ice cream and offers gluten-free options.

Reviewers are split here: one calls it a Monroe favorite for fresh sandwiches and hearty baked potatoes, while others describe cold hot sandwiches and slow service, so go in with measured expectations. The Google hours show a 4 p.m. close on weekdays, so it is a lunch stop, not a dinner plan.

Around the corner on 17th Avenue, Pancho and Lefty's Outlaw Grill is the square's answer to the question of what to eat when the group cannot agree.

Pancho and Lefty's Outlaw Grill

Travel Wisconsin lists it as International and New American with a Tex-Mex influence, naming burgers, Cobb salads, hand-rolled burritos and wood-fired smoked pork. The page says it buys Green County cheese, beer and bakery items locally and calls Chef Russ legendary.

The owners describe a Western-themed room with sidewalk tables.

It sits at 1018 17th Avenue, about 0.05 miles from the courthouse square.

Tacos fans can weigh the Mexican restaurants in Monroe against each other, starting with Tacos Martinez, which the owners place just off the square on 11th Street.

Turner Hall of Monroe

The Ratskeller at Turner Hall, 1217 17th Avenue, is the most Swiss meal in town, set in a Swiss Emmentaler-style chalet that Travel Wisconsin describes as having authentic Old World charm. The first Turner Hall went up in 1868, the current building dates to 1938, and it is on both the state and national historic registers.

Menu items named in coverage include a Wisconsin fish fry, fondue and raclette, sausages and schnitzels, spatzli and Swiss cheese pie, plus a Swiss buffet on the second Tuesday of each month. That article carries a note that the restaurant was temporarily closed when it was written, so confirm it is serving before you plan around it.

The Ratskeller is about 0.15 miles from the courthouse square, and the Grand Hall upstairs hosts dances and Swiss heritage events. A squeezebox jam session is among the hall's traditional events.

Prime rib and pizza: the sit-down dinners

Monroe's dinner picks split between a supper-club room in a building from the 1860s and a family-run pizzeria.

Bullet's Restaurant

Bullet's Restaurant, 1301 15th Avenue, occupies the old Green County House, which the Monroe Times traces to 1865, when Swiss immigrant Rudolf Greenwald bought the lot in February and opened his hotel that October. The owners describe a supper-club menu built on prime rib, steaks, lobster and broasted chicken, with house pizzas, coconut shrimp and a self-serve salad bar.

Doyle's Irish Pub shares the main floor, and Bonnie's, upstairs, opens weekends and hosts private gatherings. Visitors mention the salad bar, the broasted chicken, the Bullet's special pizza and photos of the original bar and building on the north wall.

Opinions run hot and cold on value, since one reviewer called the prime rib delicious but the twice-baked potatoes dry at around $70 a person, and another was unhappy with the steak quality. Treat it as a special-occasion booking, not a cheap Friday. Google's profile lists reservations and wheelchair accessible parking, entrance and seating. Bullet's is about 0.18 miles from the courthouse square and about 0.05 miles from the Minhas taproom.

A beer afterward is easy, since Minhas Craft Brewery is a short walk from the dining room.

Vince's Restaurant & Pizzeria

Vince's Restaurant & Pizzeria, 619 4th Avenue, is run by Fabio and Maria Grado, who chose Monroe in 1998 for a second restaurant after years in Beloit, according to a Monroe Times profile.

The owners say the dough is made from scratch, the sauces follow family recipes, the wings are prepared in-house and the pastas, pizzas and sandwiches are topped with Wisconsin cheeses. The same profile describes a 4,000-square-foot building seating 90, with patio seating for 20 more, and a separate room for groups.

Visitors mention a group of 14 being accommodated, a server who checked an allergy question, generous portions and music that gave the room an authentic feel. Google's profile lists reservations, takeout, outdoor seating and wheelchair accessibility. Vince's is about 0.8 miles west of the courthouse square, and the nearest other place on this page is Culver's, about 0.24 miles away.

Early starts and quick stops

Amy's Corner Cafe

Amy's Corner Cafe, 1127 16th Avenue, is a corner diner with counter seating, fresh coffee refills and a breakfast and lunch menu. It takes cash, not cards, and its Google hours show a 5:30 a.m. opening Monday through Saturday and a Sunday closure.

Reviewers describe a throwback diner where the coffee cup never empties, and one visitor warned of a 20 to 45 minute wait on a Saturday morning, with counter and communal-table seats moving faster. The Google profile lists a wheelchair accessible parking space but no accessible entrance.

Amy's sits about 0.08 miles from Baumgartner's, so a diner breakfast and a Limburger lunch can share one parking spot. Bring bills, not a card.

Culver’s

Culver's, 252 West 8th Street, is the chain pick, and a Wisconsin one: Craig and Lea Culver opened the first restaurant in Sauk City in 1984, serving ButterBurgers beside fresh frozen custard. Visitors say the drive-through moves fast, and the Google profile lists outdoor seating, takeout and a children's menu.

Reviewers are mixed on consistency, with a few complaints about missing items on large orders and a cold side with a fish dinner.

It is the easy answer for families with a car full of kids, roughly 0.86 miles from the courthouse square. Vince's is about 0.24 miles away if the kids would rather have pizza.

For Chinese food, New Chopsticks at 1021 16th Avenue serves sweet and sour chicken, Szechuan chicken, chicken lo mein, hot and sour soup and egg rolls for lunch and dinner and is closed on Mondays. The New Chopsticks menu draws split reviews: one diner called the sweet and sour chicken and hot and sour soup the best in years, while another found the crab rangoon thinly filled.

Fish frys, patios and other places to know

Friday fish fry is a Wisconsin fixture and Monroe has a few options beyond the Ratskeller. Suisse Haus, at 1602 12th Street, lists a Friday fish fry plus hamburgers, hoagies, homemade pizza, soup and chili, and a back patio in summer. Minhas Kitchen and Wine Garden, 1408 13th Street, lists flatbreads, salads, burgers and a Friday fish fry, with a patio and a wine and beer garden.

Golfers and anyone who wants a view of the fairways can try The Fat Badger Pub & Grill, which the owners place inside the Monroe Golf Club and open to the public, with burgers, cheese curds and fried or baked cod. Both Suisse Haus and Minhas Kitchen are described only in Travel Wisconsin's directory, so check current hours by phone.

Planning the day: festival weekends, parking and timing

The 2026 Green County Cheese Days ran September 18 to 20 on the square, and the festival repeats in even-numbered years, so the next falls in 2028. The festival is free to enter and sells deep-fried cheese curds, cheesecake on a stick and gourmet grilled cheese from stands around the square. On a Cheese Days weekend, expect the sit-down restaurants near the square to fill early.

Anyone timing a trip around Green County Cheese Days should book early.

Visitors staying overnight can look at the hotels in Monroe before the festival rooms fill.

Parking is simple: Google lists a free lot and free street parking at every restaurant carded in this guide. Main Street Monroe's farmers market, which ran Wednesdays and Saturdays through October 31 this year, is the other place locals pick up food near the square.

After the kitchens close, the bars in Monroe keep the evening going.

Start with the Limburger, keep the cash for Amy's, and Monroe's tables will make the Swiss part of the town's reputation easy to believe.