Shuttered restaurant UPDATE: Three years later, still no takers at this jinxed location in Middleton WI

First Quaker Steak & Lube.  Then Point Burger Bar.  What's next?

Photos and video by Retiring Guy

7/6/2021 update, "At this Point, no one is interested in taking on this jinxed location", starts here.

Photos and video by Retiring Guy

8/4/2020 update, "Getting to the Point", starts here.

It's a jinxed location.  The original three restaurants fronting University Avenue but accessible only via Deming Way are all closed.  Two of the locations remain unoccupied, and thanks to Covid-19, are likely to remain so for quite awhile.

Photos and video by Retiring Guy

Google Maps (red arrows added)

11/12/2019 update starts here

Photos by Retiring Guy

Point Burger Bar closes, never recovered from flood damage.  (Wisconsin State Journal, 11/4/2019)

The damage required costly repairs and the restaurant lost revenue and was never able to recover, owner Brian Ward said. 

"We're disappointed, but some things you can't work out," he said. "And we tried to do a new deal with the landlord and they were not receptive to that. So there's not much we can do." 

Ward expected to open Point Burger Bar in early September last year, but its opening got delayed by flooding that he said at the time caused $800,000 in damages. 

Instead, he opened Nov. 28 in what used to be Quaker Steak & Lube, 2259 Deming Way.

12/6/2018 update, "Open for business", starts here.

Photo by Retiring Guy

After $800K in flood damage, Point Burger Bar to open.  (Wisconsin State Journal, 11/28/2018)

Opening delayed by August 20 deluge.  Ward lost 37 70-inch TVs worth about $1,000 each, and had major damage to video games, equipment and walls. The flooding happened two weeks before the restaurant was set to open. 

Neither Ward nor his landlord had flood insurance. His only option was to rebuild, he said, since he put $1.6 million into the build-out. 

"If we didn't rebuild, we'd lose $1.6 million dollars," he said. All of his video games -- 19 -- needed to be rebuilt. One, worth $45,000, was a total loss, Ward said. All the booths in the restaurant suffered water damage.

Point Burger Bar

Opening soon

Photo by Retiring Guy

Point Burger Bar.  Other locations in Milwaukee, Pewaukee, and New Berlin.


Original 6/25/2018 post, "Yes, the Quaker Steak & Lube in Middleton is closed", starts here.

Photos by Retiring Guy

Is Quaker Steak & Lube closing? Point Burger Bar set to go in.  (Wisconsin State Journal, 6/16/2018) 

Mum's the word at Quaker Steak.  [Brian] Ward [owner of Point Burger Bar] said that restaurant is closing Sunday, but an employee at Quaker Steak & Lube couldn't confirm that. "There's been a lot of rumors. We haven't been officially told anything by management yet." 

A manager who only gave his name as Mike, said he couldn't confirm the restaurant's closing, either.