Growlers East Tosa will be a gastropub 'you really want to watch the game at,' owner says
The owner of a new sports-themed gastropub coming to Wauwatosa is putting the final touches on the bar at 6715 W. North Ave.
Owner Jason Growel said Growlers East Tosa will have a soft opening for friends and family in late February before its grand opening in early May.
The 2,450-square-foot bar and restaurant will have a full-service kitchen, local beers on tap and a projector screen and 75-inch televisions for customers to watch local and international sports.
In line with both the business and owner's names, the walls of the bar will be decorated with beer growlers from Growel's personal collection.
Growlers East Tosa will have a game room with space for darts and shuffleboard, and Growel has plans to bring a golf simulator to the bar in March, too.
The bar will also have an outdoor, dog-friendly patio.
Owner Jason Growel's newest business will focus on the sports viewing experience
Growel previously owned the now-closed Eastsider in Milwaukee, which is now the Upper East Bar. He also opened Wauwatiki in 2016, a Tiki bar and grill still operating at 6502 W. North Ave.
Growel hopes Growlers East Tosa will become a go-to bar for sports fans in Wauwatosa and Milwaukee.
“I want to bring (people) a place you really want to watch the game at,” he said.
Whether its Premier League soccer matches overseas or Bucks, Brewers and Packers games, he said he'll broadcast games onto the projector and televisions with "no bad angle" for customers to watch.
Growel bought a sports ticker that will scroll the odds of games going on across the screen. He hopes that will appeal to customers who place sports bets at Potawatomi Casino, which opened a temporary sportsbook venue last year and is constructing a permanent home for sports betting.
Growlers East Tosa to take over former Red Dot building
Growlers East Tosa was approved by the City of Wauwatosa in June 2023. Growel hoped to open in 2023, but the building needed much more work than expected after sitting vacant for years, he said.
Growlers will bring life back into the building that once held Red Dot, which was shut down by a fire in 2018, and despite promises to reopen, never did.
Customers who loved Red Dot have asked him if any of the beloved bar’s interior was salvaged in its former building, and the answer is no.
“The place was completely emptied and gutted” because of the fire, Growel said.
Reporter Bridget Fogarty can be reached at bfogarty@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Growlers East Tosa gastropub to focus on sports-watching experience
