Wine Spectator has released the list of winners of the 2025 Restaurant Awards, which honor outstanding eateries with extraordinary wine lists.

The awards are given on three levels: the Award of Excellence, the Best of Award of Excellence and the Grand Award. This year, the program recognized 3,811 restaurants in the U.S. and more than 80 other countries, including 40 in the state of Wisconsin and 21 in the Milwaukee Metro area.

Best of Award of Excellence

Three Milwaukee restaurants were awarded the Best of Award of Excellence. This award is granted for venues offering a wine list of typically 350 or more quality selections with significant vintage depth or superior breadth in one or more major wine regions. Those restaurants include Bacchus, Bartolotta’s Lake Park Bistro and Carnevor.

Wisconsin-wide, winners also included the Immigrant Restaurant at the American Club (Kohler); The Black Pig (Sheboygan); Lake Street Cafe (Elkhart Lake); Santé Wine Bar & Bistro (Neenah); Muse at Sentry (Steven’s Point) and TJ’s Highland Steakhouse (Oshkosh).

Award of Excellence

Meanwhile 18 venues in Milwaukee and its surrounding suburbs were honored with the Award of Excellence, which recognizes wine lists offering an interesting and diverse selection of wines (90 selections+) that are well-presented and thematically match the restaurant's cuisine in both price and style.

1. Ash at the Iron Horse Hotel (Milwaukee)
2. The Commodore – A Bartolotta Restaurant (Hartland)
3. The Capital Grille (Milwaukee)
4. Five O’Clock Steakhouse (Milwaukee)
5. Harbor House (Milwaukee)
6. i.d. (Delafield)
7. Johnny Manhattan’s (Hubertus)
8. Lago Su Bella (Oconomowoc)
9. Mason Street Grill (Milwaukee)
10. Mr. B’s, A Bartolotta Steakhouse (Brookfield)
11. Mr. B’s, A Bartolotta Steakhouse (Mequon)
12. Palmer’s Steakhouse (Hartland)
13. Rare Steakhouse (Milwaukee)
14. Ristorante Bartolotta dal 1993 (Wauwatosa)
15. Sanford (Milwaukee)
16. Story Hill BKC
17. The Union House (Genesee Depot)
18. Ward’s House of Prime (Milwaukee)

Other notable winners in the State of Wisconsin include The Bottle Room (Green Bay), Bootlegger’s Lodge (Chetek), Canoe Bay (Chetek); Draper Brothers Chophouse (Madison), Fratello’s Riverfront Restaurant (Appleton), Green Acres Restaurant (Sauk City); Johnny’s Italian Steakhouse (Eau Claire); Mary Kate’s Wine Bar (Eagle River); Opus at the Belfry House (Delavan); Pier 290 (Williams Bay), Rare Steakhouse (Madison); The Wisconsin Room (American Club) and Velvet Buffalo Modern Italian (Beloit).

The Grand Award

The Grand Award represents the program's highest honor. Those in this elite group generally offer more than 1,000 selections, with superior breadth and depth in many of the world's classic wine-producing regions. No restaurants in the Midwest were Grand Award recipients. View the list of recipients here.

A full list of honored restaurants can be found using Wine Spectator's restaurant search, which features information about wine selections, cuisine, prices, key staff and more.

The Restaurant Awards issue, which includes a tribute to American chef and restaurateur Charlie Trotter, will be available July 15, 2025.