Editor’s Note: This is an updated version of our story on Hotel Seyour. Check out the original story here!
By Peter Lindblad & David Brierley
Merely a stopover for travelers heading to Green Bay in the days of horse-drawn carriages, the Hotel Seymour used to be known more for its comfortable lodgings.
Nowadays, as a popular supper club in Seymour, it’s a destination for other reasons – namely, the beautiful horseshoe-shaped bar and sense of nostalgia, the mouth-watering steaks and other delectable dishes, and a vast array of drinks, including every kind of old fashioned cocktail imaginable. (Just take a look at https://www.youtube.com/shorts/o9wf17bOzhs.)
You might even see a ghost or two. There are tales of the hotel, built in 1898, being haunted.
“If these walls could talk, I bet they’d be telling tons of stories,” said Brady Jackson, son of the owner, Tom Jackson.
Brady is the manager and a chef. His father bought Hotel Seymour in 2004, with the idea of turning it back to a supper club that’s open every night, just like it was in the 1940s and ‘50s, said Brady. (Get an insider’s perspective at https://youtu.be/vz_V-MoGKPo.)
As a youth, Brady often got to hang out and take in all the good times.
“A lot of my favorite memories of this place are from when my dad bought the place,” said Brady. “The first few years, and I was only like 14 or 15, he would let me stay up late sometimes in the summer, sit at the bar with him and talk to his friends and stuff like that. And that was one of my favorite things.”
As a hotel, it used to have 28 rooms. Two rooms are still available for overnight stays upstairs, where there are also four apartments. There used to be a barbershop in the basement. In the ‘60s, there was a public shower and sauna there, too.
Flash forward to today, and the Hotel Seymour is a bustling restaurant, serving anywhere from 150 to 200 people a night in the summer and upwards of 300 in the winter. While the place is a favorite dining spot among locals, Hotel Seymour also packs them in from Green Bay and Appleton. (See where the customers come from at https://youtube.com/shorts/ijk8dPd4Z74.) The advent of social media has brought more first-timers to dine there.
Missy Hagel is a bartender at Hotel Seymour. She’s been working there for two and a half years, and not just for the extra paycheck. The employee discount was the big draw, as she’s been eating there for the past 15 years.
“I am a very, very picky eater, and every single time, the food is phenomenal,” said Hagel. “I go to many other supper clubs. I travel around the state to eat at many of them, and all the time, I’m comparing them in my head to this place, and this place is by far the best all the time.”
Her favorite drink at the Hotel Seymour is a Jameson orange old fashioned sour with brussels sprouts. And she can probably name all the wonderful ice cream drinks that perfectly cap off a meal, including the grasshopper, pink squirrels, blue-tail flies, banana banshees, the golden Cadillac … there’s probably 10 on the menu, according to Brady. (Get a review at https://www.youtube.com/shorts/NwD5oYVAFPc.)
“If you’re too full for dessert, you’re never too full for an ice cream drink,” said Brady.
As for the meals themselves, expect a mix of standard supper club fare, plus some more adventurous items.
For appetizers, there’s panko chicken tenders, battered sweet onions (onion rings), battered brick cheese cubes (cheese curds), shrimp cocktail, and bruschetta, but don’t pass by the crab and spinach dip, sriracha steak bites, meatballs marinara, loaded baked potato chips, and bang bang shrimp.
“Another thing, too, that draws a big crowd are the pastas we have,” said Brady. “They’re all homemade pastas. All the sauces are made from scratch.”
Brady is a big fan of Hotel Seymour’s alfredo sauce. The tenderloin trottole mixes some of the supper club’s best elements.
“It’s got chunks of our tenderloin. It’s got mushrooms, onions and peppers sautéed with our homemade alfredo sauce mixed into it, and that is an awesome dish,” said Brady.
Don’t sleep on the others, though, as the tenderloin Bolognese, spaghetti and meatballs, cheese ravioli, sautéed shrimp alfredo, chicken parmesan, and good old chicken alfredo are all top-notch.
One section on the menu is saved for Hotel Seymour Favorites, like steaks, ribs, and chicken. To Hagel, the steaks grab the spotlight.
“Our chef Brady makes his own au jus, which is unbelievably delightful,” said Hagel. “It is somewhere between a gravy and a brothy au jour.”
Correcting herself, she said it’s probably the owner Tom’s au jus. Whatever the case, the au jus combined with the choice cuts the Hotel Seymour makes for a flavor explosion. There’s choice New York strips, tenderloin and ribeye, plus a tenderloin Oscar and bits a pieces, which blend tenderloin, New York Strip, and ribeye bits to choose from. But the tenderloin medallions are special.
“They are smothered in hollandaise sauce, so that makes everything better, and topped with a whole bunch of mushrooms sautéed, and it is our tenderloin – melt in your mouth,” said Brady, talking about his go-to dish. “So, with those three combinations of flavors, you can’t go wrong.”
Other selections from the Favorites include baby back ribs, chicken Oscar, and a homemade chicken cordon bleu.
For sandwich and flatbread connoisseurs, many options are available. Seymour being the home of the hamburger, the Hotel Seymour boasts a tasty pub burger, along with a pub steak sandwich, crispy chicken club flatbread, Philly beef, pub chicken sandwich, a meatball sub, the hotel rodeo burger, southern pulled pork, and chicken alfredo flatbread pizza.
Swim on over to the seafood section for an ocean-sized menu of choices, including a center cut cod loin, hand breaded lake perch, cod Oscar, cod supreme (topped with shrimp, crab meat, and a creamy white sauce), jumbo scallops, broiled or chargrilled salmon, fresh shrimp, a seafood combo platter, Alaskan king crab legs, or broiled cold water lobster.
The Friday fish fry has long been a staple of the Hotel Seymour, going back years.
“We have perch, yellow lake perch, so it’s the good stuff,” said Brady. “We have garlic roasted walleye. We do broiled or deep-fried cod, and we also have other seafood on the menu.”
Most meals are accompanied by the soup and salad bar, with the Favorites and seafood sections offering a choice of side, too. You can choose from battered wedge fries, French fries, American fries, hash browns, baked potato, loaded baked potato, twice baked, steamed veggies, or fettuccini alfredo.
Nightly specials offer a variety, too, depending on the day of the week. Go on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays and enjoy dinner for two, which includes two entrees and an appetizer or dessert. Saturdays also include a steak and seafood combo, while prime rib is available on Saturdays and Sundays.
Need another reason to go? Check out the ambience. Go through the main door, under the dark red awning, and you’re in the barroom. That’s where you might find Hagel mixing drinks and chatting up the customers. The hardwood floors, wood-paneled walls, and a tin ceiling framed in wood are eye-catching features. So are the ornate chandeliers above the bar. A massive mural painted in 1966 features real customers from the Hotel Seymour’s past. Brady said that one of them is still alive, and she still frequents the place.
“It’s definitely a piece of history for this place,” said Brady.
Walk past the bar and in the next room is the host station. Check in there if you have a reservation. Then, it’s back to the bar, perhaps to sip on a cocktail. If the main barroom is full, there’s probably space in the lounge area, which features high-top bar tables and stools, along with couches and chairs, and another bar – this one smaller, and it is cash only.
The horseshoe bar is impossible to miss. (Check it out at https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Bl1VACe9wYg.)
“Back in the day, supper clubs were the places to come to meet with your neighbors, meet with the banker, meet with your lawyer, meet with whoever you had to meet with that day,” said Brady. “And you could talk to everyone at the bar, across the bar. Everyone was just super friendly and enjoying each other’s company. It wasn’t the place to be private. It was a place to come and talk to everyone you could possibly talk to and just have a good time at the bar. We brought that horseshoe back just for that purpose.”
Brady added, “I think we have one of the prettiest bars out there.”
When the table is ready, you sit at tables with heavy tablecloths and padded chairs, surrounded by yellow walls and dim wall sconces for the ideal supper club setting.
Belly up to the salad bar for fresh, crisp lettuce, a wide variety of toppings and dressings, including hot bacon dressing, and pasta salads and Jello salads. Soups and a food warmer full of delicious breadsticks awaits around the corner.
What about desserts? Homemade options such as apple crisp, carrot cake, hot fudge lava cake, a chocolate chip cookie skillet, cheesecake, and Andes mint cream pie are impossible to pass up. But then there are those ice cream drinks.
The Hotel Seymour is a place with a diverse crowd, and customers always return. Brady thinks he knows why. And it’s a diverse crowd.
“People keep coming back mainly for the quality and consistency, and the quality of food and drinks that we’re serving,” said Brady. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had people come in and say, ‘I got the steak 10 times, and it was the same exact way 10 times. Those drinks are the same way I order them every time,’ and I think consistency is a major factor in bringing people back to every restaurant.”
Where in Wisconsin is this supper club?
Address: 210 S Main St., Seymour, WI 54165
Nearby landmarks: Located in downtown Seymour. About 20 minutes west of Green Bay and 25 minutes north of Appleton.
Website: https://hotelseymour.com/
Three can’t-miss features:
1. History dating back to the 1800s
2. Beautiful, well-preserved interior
3. Still an actual hotel (partially)