Stadium View Sports Bar: Review

Right down the lane from Lambeau Field sits Stadium View Sports Bar, an Iconic location during a COVID-19 free NFL season. This time last year I was pressed up against the fence with a can of beer in hand, barely able to fit inside. Getting to a bar for that beer was so insane that I personally couldn’t do it, and my taller and louder husband had to wrestle his way through other thirsty Packers fans to get us hooked up for a post game toast. The Washington Redskins were still a thing, and they had just lost.

I went back on the first day of 2021 with some friends that came into town to visit. Friday night at a sports bar while the College Football playoffs are occurring sounds like a bad idea during the pandemic, but as has been the case with most restaurants in the city of Green Bay, I did not feel at risk. The tables were spaced out, and so was the bar. Parties sitting at the bar had two or three chair lengths between them to encourage social distancing. No communal items such as ketchup items were at the tables, and they were only presented to us-- freshly cleaned-- when the actual food arrived.

It had been a long day for my husband and I, and our friends were super hungry. Together, we ordered the ultimate sampler platter that was covered edge to edge in some of my favorite appetizers from Stadium View. Their brussels sprouts, boneless buffalo chicken, nachos, southwest egg rolls, balsamic pesto fries, and pretzel sticks… oh my god. They do appetizers well over there, as all good sports bars should.

I’ve been familiar with their pretzel sticks since a cold December visit in the simpler time of 2021. They pair wonderfully with their beer cheese, of course. The glazed brussels sprouts were a wonderful mouth full between bites of warm and soothing buffalo chicken, but these things weren’t the best things on that sampler platter.

The sleeper hit of the plate for me is their balsamic pesto fries. The sour, syrupy balsamic going to play with the garlicky basil pesto on a nice hot french fry is one of my favorite bites in town. I could have probably made due with just the sampler platter and not ordered myself any kind of entre, but like a fool, I went ahead and got myself even more food by ordering their mac and cheese flight.

The very idea of a mac and cheese flight just sounded so fun to me. There’s a small trend popping up in town of locations like Stadium View and Mr. Brews Taphouse running a ‘flight’ special to mimic their beer offerings. Mr. Brews had a burger flight, and Stadium View had the mac and cheese. On deck were all three of their house mac and cheese creations: buffalo ranch, triple pub cheese, and pulled BBQ.

I discovered during the sampler platter that I absolutely adored their buffalo style boneless chicken, and pairing smaller pieces with a ranchy mac and cheese was the perfect bite of food on a cold night. I could eat it every day for the rest of my life and only regret it when my lactose intolerance decided to remind me that it is an actual thing and ignoring it won’t get me anywhere. Oh well. My love for mac and cheese is greater than a stomach cramp.

Their buffalo chicken isn’t necessarily spicy. The way they make the sauce creates a warmth in the mouth that spread all the way through my body and just made me comfortable. I wanted to keep shoveling it in my mouth even though I knew my body would be angry at me for it later. It may be too much for some people who prefer very mild buffalo sauces, as that warmth definitely comes from a good hot sauce, but when it coupled with ranch and mac and cheese, it was exactly what the doctor ordered.

The triple pub cheese is exactly what it sounds like: a cup of mac and cheese with a nice blend of cheeses over the top, very classic and undisturbed by the finery of buffalo chicken or pulled pork. I’d recommend it to any picky eater stopping in for a bite on any day of the week, but there is more to life than cheese and pasta.

The BBQ pulled pork mac and cheese achieved a slight bitterness with the pork that fought the richness of the mac and cheese beneath it to create a balanced bite of food. Little french fried onion bits are sprinkled over the top to help the pork in that endeavor, and it’s a nice way to come up the flight from super flavorful buffalo mac, to a mellow classic mac, and into a balanced bite. It may be my favorite of the three for this reason. It’s intensely flavorful, but it’s not going to knock anyone out.

Stadium View remains a Green Bay destination even with Lambeau Field closed to the public, opening all three bars on game day to help maintain social distancing for fans that still want to get out and support their Packers. If you aren’t one of those people that are comfortable getting out to a sports bar right now, they offer delivery! You can order through toasttab on their website, or use EatStreet for your delivery needs. Toasttab is the most up to date on what’s being offered, as their special features are active there while I didn’t see them on the EatStreet menu.

Head over to their Facebook page, give them a like, and continue to support our local restaurants in 2021. The fight to keep them all open isn’t over. Thanks, Stadium View staff for a delicious and safe meal.