East Side gaming bar The Familiar Place will celebrate grand opening this Saturday

It’s been a long time coming—more than a year, in fact—but Milwaukee’s newest gaming bar and lounge, The Familiar Place, is now open on Oakland Avenue.

Actually, The Familiar Place has been open for a couple of months, but owners Sheenna Kleveno and Michael Taylor will make it official on Saturday, July 11 with a grand opening celebration. Folks are invited to stop by 2856 N. Oakland Ave.—a.k.a. the old Black Rose space—for drinks, specials, geeky goodness, and, of course, geeky games.

“We just want to have a place for people to come and hang out, be themselves, play games, have fun, and meet other people,” Taylor told us earlier this year.

In the gaming realm, the all-ages Familiar Place offers oodles of free space for board games, card games, and more. Patrons are invited to reserve table space for their own games, or choose games from The Familiar Place’s growing library. (Regulars have already been enjoying Magic: The Gathering open-plays and nights dedicated to Dungeons & Dragons and miniature painting.) There are classic arcade cabinets, retro Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis stations, and a Nintendo Switch hooked up to a larger screen.

As for the “bar” aspect of the gaming bar, Kleveno has crafted a menu that features both mocktails (“Rated ‘E’ For Everyone”) and alcoholic cocktails (“Rated ‘M’ For Mature”). Early drink favorites include the butterscotch-y Butterbeer and the Bacardi-coconut Blue Potion. We’ve had both, and both are GOOD.

As for the name, Kleveno and Taylor explain that “The Familiar Place” has two meanings.

“We’re big cat people. We’re owned by five cats,” Kleveno told us last year. “Our oldest one has always been the ‘familiar’ of the family. It loves my daughter, and it was my daughter who came up with the idea to have the cat be a mascot for the bar. So the ‘familiar’ in The Familiar Place represents the ‘familiar’ that is the cat. But it’s also a play on words, because The Familiar Place will be a place to familiarize yourself with and come back to.”

Need more convincing? Take a look at the following photos, which include glimpses of the full drink menu. The Familiar Place is open Wednesdays through Sundays, 3-10 p.m.