A supper club in a 1902 hotel, walleye at an English-style pub, brewpub patios on the lake and custard with gyros, mostly within a few blocks of the boats.
Most Port Washington restaurants sit within a few blocks of the marina, on Franklin Street, Main Street and Grand Avenue, so dinner rarely needs a car once you are downtown. The spread is wider than the town's size suggests: a supper club in the 1902 Port Hotel building, an English-style pub, a brewpub, Mexican with bar swings, sub shops, and custard with gyros on the side.
Below, the places are grouped by the kind of meal you are after: a dinner worth booking, lunch on the water, something casual, and dessert. Check a place's own page for hours before you set out.
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Dinner worth booking
For a sit-down dinner downtown, the two places to start with are Moonlight Tavern & Supper Club on East Main Street and Twisted Willow on North Franklin Street.
Supper clubs are a Wisconsin institution, and Moonlight also shows up in the Milwaukee-area supper club roundup for anyone planning a run of them.
The Steerage Dining Saloon, at 218 North Franklin Street, is the themed one: an English-style pub room with seafood, sandwiches and specials. Its listing singles out the clam chowder, fried walleye and Swedish meatballs, with a milkmaid square for dessert.
North of downtown, about 1.8 miles from the marina, Plier's Full Circle Pub & Restaurant on Highland Drive serves seafood, steaks and pub food. Visit Port Washington calls it a local supper club favorite, and The Port Hotel's guide credits Chef Rich Plier with running it. Its listing names fresh salmon, New York strip and fish fries, and says takeout is offered on select days.
Lunch on the water
The places with patios on the lake side of downtown are Dockside, Fork & Tap, Inventors Brewpub and Cavelier Wine Bar, all listed by Visit Port Washington with lakeside patios.
Nearby at 203 East Main, Fork & Tap does tavern food with a long list of gluten-free and vegan options. Its listing mentions breaded mushrooms, Brussels sprouts, a gluten-free blackberry and walnut crumble cheesecake and bottom-fill beer taps.
The Beacon Restaurant & Bar inside The Harborview hotel at 135 East Grand Avenue also has a lakeside patio, and Visit Port Washington says its seasonal deck has fire pits.
Cavelier Wine Bar on East Jackson Street has a deck facing the lake, and its listing says the food is snacks to go with drinks (cheese curds, cheese wedges) rather than full meals.
Casual: Mexican, subs and pub food
For a quick or cheap meal, Port Washington has a Mexican place, two sub shops, a deli inside an antiques shop and a burger bar, all close to downtown.
Subs come two ways: Big Baby Subs on North Franklin builds heavy sandwiches like the Italian Baby and takes orders online or on an in-store tablet. The chain option, Cousins Subs, is at 101 East Grand Avenue for counter-service subs and salads.
Breakwater Deli & Nostalgia on South Wisconsin Street makes tuna melts and Cubans with German potato salad, and the dining room doubles as a shop for antiques and collectibles.
A few blocks north at 551 North Wisconsin Street, Lucky Devils Bar & Grill is the burger bar, with smash burger nights and Monday tacos named in its listing.
Out by I-43, Seven Hills Pub & Grille in the Holiday Inn Express runs supper-club-style dinners Tuesday through Saturday, with prime rib, perch, bluegill and cod, per its listing. The full Friday picture is in the Port Washington fish fry.
Pizza, pasta and the rest of the downtown map
Several more places on Visit Port Washington's dining list round out downtown: pizza, pasta, Chinese, a grille and a patio bar.
On North Franklin Street, John's Pizzaria at No. 221 and The Pasta Shoppe at No. 323 both have sidewalk seating, per Visit Port Washington. China King is at 228 East Main Street, and Tello's Grille and Catering sits at 200 West Grand Avenue with sidewalk tables.
The Patio Bar and Grill at 601 North Wisconsin Street does pub food outside, and the American Legion post at 435 Lake Street has a lakeside patio of its own. Aathira Foods is the Indian option on Visit Port Washington's list, and the chain stops (Culver's, McDonald's, Arby's, Subway) sit on the edges of town.
A quick call or a look at a place's own page saves a walk to a dark door.
Custard, ice cream and chocolate
Port Washington has four dessert stops worth the trip, from an Airstream ice cream trailer to a chocolate maker on the south side.
Downtown, Frankie's scoops Cedarcrest ice cream and makes donuts from an Airstream trailer on North Franklin, and The Chocolate Chisel on West Grand makes its own ice cream and chocolates.
On South Spring Street, about 1.7 miles southwest of the marina, Hollander Chocolate Co. & Tulip Cafe pairs a chocolate shop with a cafe that serves breakfast bowls and sandwiches.
If you only have one evening
With one night in town, keep it on foot. Start with a drink on a deck that faces the lake, eat at one of the two downtown dinner rooms, then walk the breakwater toward the pierhead light while the harbor goes quiet.
In practice that means Cavelier Wine Bar or Schooner Pub to start, both with decks or patios on the water per their listings, then Moonlight Tavern or Twisted Willow, which sit less than a quarter mile apart on Main and Franklin. Families who would rather skip the bar can swap in Beanies for tacos and finish at Frankie's for ice cream, a block or two up Franklin Street.
Breakfast, bars and Friday fish
Mornings, nights and Friday fish each have their own pattern in Port Washington.
Breakfast in Port Washington runs from the marina deli to a bakery on North Franklin and coffee bars inside a music shop and a wine bar.
After dinner, Port Washington's bars include Schooner Pub, whose deck looks over the marina, and Sir James Pub with more than 900 beers by Travel Wisconsin's count.
If you are staying over, the two downtown hotels put you within a short walk of every downtown restaurant above, and the hotels in Port Washington also include a highway option with its own pub.
Dinner downtown pairs well with an evening walk out the breakwater, one of the things to do around the Port Washington harbor that starts right at the marina.
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Published August 3, 2026
