Restaurants & dining in Superior, Wisconsin, Wisconsin
Part of the Superior, Wisconsin neighborhood guide. Back to the full guide.
Superior's food scene is taverns, brewpubs, and supper clubs, and it is better than outsiders expect once you know where to go.
The Anchor Bar at 413 Tower Avenue is the institution and the one recommendation everyone in the Twin Ports gives: a low-lit room hung with maritime salvage, including a life ring off the Edmund Fitzgerald, serving cheap, generously built burgers and fresh-cut fries. Tom Anderson bought it in 1977, when it was still a longshoremen's bar on the north end, and his sons Adam and Aaron run it now. Food arrived in the early 1980s as soup and sandwiches, then a griddle, then the burgers that made its name. Thirsty Pagan Brewing moved in 2019 into the 1908 Soo Line Freight Depot at 1615 Winter Street, where it does hand-stretched pizza, house beer, and regular live music, and it is the default group dinner in the city.
The brewery story is the more recent development. Earth Rider brews at 1617 North 3rd Street with Lake Superior water and has built out an outdoor festival ground and a music calendar, and its official taproom is the Cedar Lounge across the festival grounds, a building put up in 1912 for Superior's Northern Brewing Company and billed as the longest continually operating tavern in the Twin Ports. That combination has made the north end of Tower Avenue a destination rather than a pass-through.
Beyond that, Gronk's Grill and Bar at 4909 East 2nd Street covers the east-end neighborhood bar and grill slot, the Choo Choo Bar and Grill at 5002 East 3rd Street is a long-running local room best known for its Bloody Mary, and Hammond Steak House at 1402 North 5th Street carries the Wisconsin supper club tradition. What Superior does not have much of is fine dining or wide cuisine variety. For that, Duluth's Canal Park and Lincoln Park craft district are 12 minutes over the bridge, which is how most people here treat the situation.
The Twin Ports institution at 413 Tower Avenue, run by the Anderson family since 1977, serving cheap generous burgers and fresh-cut fries in a room hung with maritime salvage including a life ring from the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Brewpub at 1615 Winter Street in the 1908 Soo Line Freight Depot, doing hand-stretched pizza, house beer, and regular live music.
Neighborhood bar and grill at 4909 East 2nd Street, south of Barker's Island on the lower east end.
Longtime east-end bar and grill at 5002 East 3rd Street, best known locally for its Bloody Mary.
Old-school Wisconsin steak and supper club dining at 1402 North 5th Street, with a banquet facility attached.
Superior's flagship brewery at 1617 North 3rd Street, brewing with Lake Superior water and anchoring a taproom, outdoor festival grounds, and a live music calendar.
Built in 1912 for Superior's Northern Brewing Company and billed as the longest continually operating tavern in the Twin Ports, now Earth Rider's official taproom and music venue across the festival grounds from the brewery.
Hours and menus change, confirm with each business.
Restaurants & dining next door
Straight across the Bong Bridge in west Duluth, a similar price tier and housing era on the Minnesota side of the tax line.
Canal ParkTwelve minutes over the Blatnik Bridge, where most Superior residents go for a restaurant night out.
Lincoln ParkDuluth's craft district across the harbor, the closest comparison for older housing plus appreciation potential.
Morgan ParkThe old US Steel company town on the Duluth side of the St. Louis River, similar era and similar industrial roots.