Photo from AJBombers.com
When I think of businesses that have used social media to successfully pump up their business, three Milwaukee businesses come to mind; Streetza Pizza, a travelling pizza truck who announces its location via Twitter, Blatz Liquor, who tweets special events and tastings as well as 140 word posts about interesting customer purchases, and AJ Bombers, who also publicizes events and specials via Twitter. Often times you’ll even find these three businesses doing events together like the recent Tweetup Meetup at Blatz Liquor.
After following them for a while I had a chance to check out A.J. Bombers last week. I had been hearing great things about their burgers from people, including JSOnline, OnMilwaukee.com and the handful of reviews on Yelp. AJ Bombers is one of those peanut shells on the floor places. Something I really don’t mind but has never really understood. Seems like a big pain in the ass for the workers to clean up. Nonetheless, its nice to snack on some peanuts while you peruse the menu and wait for your food. Also you need to check out the peanut bomber in action.
There is a burger for every appetite with options of up to four (!) 1/4 pound patties on your burger. I wasn’t that hungry so I went with the one patty AJ burger, which has American Cheese, tomato, bomber sauce, and onion. I added bacon and was rewarded with some nice, think slices of crispy smoky bacon. ($1.50 extra). The burger was cooked to a perfect medium with a touch of pink in the middle. It’s always disappointing when places won’t cook your burger to medium or medium rare (Sobleman’s and Mazos I am looking in your direction) so AJ Bombers gets extra points in that department. The burger was so good that I would put it up as one of the best in the City. Yes, even better than that place with the web domain proclaiming that they are Milwaukee’s Best Burger.
The burgers are ala carte so they don’t come with fries or chips however for 2 bucks you can add an order of fries or their own homemade sweet potato chips, which were absolutely perfect and quite addictive.
AJ Bombers may be the most vegetarian friendly burger restaurant around. They have a stuffed mushroom sandwich which consists of a crispy friend Portobello mushroom stuffed with Wisconsin Cheddar & Muenster cheeses, lettuce, tomato, and that delicious bomber sauce. They also have a veggie burger, a black bean burger, and grilled cheese (though vegetarians probably would want them to hold the bacon.
Like many new restaurant/bar combos opening the past year or so AJ Bombers is smoke free! My only complaint (and it’s just being nitpicky) is that there is no tap beer. Though they do have a great bottle selection including offerings from New Belgium (Fat Tire), Bells (Two Hearted and Amber), Lakefront, and New Glarus. For those who want a more traditional brew they have Schlitz, Pabst, Miller, and Bud products.
If you love burgers you need to get down to AJ Bombers. Even if you don’t make a special trip, check them out when you are downtown for a UWM, Marquette, or Bucks game or before attending the Nutcracker or A Christmas Carol this winter. If you love great burgers you will not leave disappointed.
AJ Bombers is located at 1247 N Water St., Milwaukee, WI Phone: 414-221-9999 Web: www.ajbombers.com.
Eat Wisconsin 
Honestly — I’ve heard nothing but great things about AJ Bombers. It’s crazy… normally I would hold their Water Street location against them (lots of drinking there, but generally not much quality foodstuffs), but I’m finding it really difficult to make that generalization these days.
Have heard there’s a legendary Thanksgiving burger going on over there… somebody needs to check that out and report back!!
Stopped at AJ Bombers Saturday for a burger. I am very, very fussy about burgers. They have to be exactly right for me to even begin to think that they are good.
Bombers was a pleasant surprise. The burgers were excellent. The meat was freshly ground, served medium. Good sauce, good toppings, and an excellent potato roll. I hate big rolls – the overwhelm the meat, which is what a good burger is all about.
The thing I noticed- the owner was there making certain that everything is right on every order and thanking everyone for their patronage.
Bombers relies on Twitter for part of its marketing. What this means is that word about the place spread quickly. It also means that every item that comes out of the kitchen has to be perfect, every time. One bad meal review on Twitter can make business turn bad, quickly. I hope Bombers’ attention to quality remains as high as it was on the day I was there.
Will I return to Bombers? Yes. It’s the best burger in town, at least for now.
I wonder why there’s no tap beer? They certainly had taps in place when they purchased the place, since it’s been a bar forever.
Yeah I am not sure why they would get rid of taps. I know the switched the layout, the bar was on the sound end of the building and now its on the north. Maybe they new layout didn’t work with the old tap lines?
Hi guys, thanks so much for the great comments, the support is much appreciated. The tap beer issue was a decision based on the sheer fact that we’ve not been able to get our hands around an efficient system to eliminate or minimize waste and driving up the cost of draft beer to our guests. So we decided to focus on localized craft bottles, so far seems that beer fans are pleased with that.
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