The Butler Inn is back open for business at 12400 W. Hampton Ave. in Butler, serving up its familiar lineup of soup, seafood, shrimp, pasta and steaks after a 15-month closure caused by flood damage. The supper club shut its doors in August 2025 after record-breaking rainfall and flooding tore through the Milwaukee area, and it has only now reopened with a remodeled dining space.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, reporter Cathy Kozlowicz detailed how the restaurant closed due to substantial water damage and spent well over a year working through repairs, renovations, setbacks and delays before welcoming diners back. In an August 15, 2025 Facebook post cited in the report, the Butler Inn said it planned to work on repairs for some time and promised to return “better than ever.” The restaurant is now open daily starting at 11 a.m., with the kitchen closing at 9 p.m., according to its confirmation to the newspaper.
A Historic Flood Behind the Long Closure
The flooding that shuttered the Butler Inn was part of a broader disaster across southeastern Wisconsin. The Wisconsin State Climatology Office has called the August 9-10, 2025 storms the worst flash-flooding event the region has seen since 2008, with widespread rainfall totals of five to ten inches across Waukesha, Washington, Milwaukee and Ozaukee counties. The climatology office also reported that a location on Milwaukee's northwest side recorded 14.5 inches of rain in 24 hours, which it determined to be a new state record for largest 24-hour rainfall; a separate Yahoo report citing the National Weather Service put the figure at 14.55 inches recorded at James Madison High School in northwest Milwaukee.
The scale of the damage went far beyond one restaurant's dining room. WISN reported that Milwaukee County officials said the floods destroyed or significantly damaged more than 1,800 homes and caused more than $30 million in damage, and the station's reporting a year after the storms found residents in some of the hardest-hit neighborhoods still grappling with rebuilding their homes and lives. The climatology office also noted that seven of Milwaukee's 11 recorded days with more than four inches of rain since 1871 have occurred in just the last 30 years.
What's Different Inside the Remodeled Restaurant
Per the restaurant's Facebook post announcing the reopening, the Butler Inn said it was excited to welcome everyone back and asked diners to be patient and understanding over the next few weeks. The post explained that the team is adjusting to a new point-of-sale system and warned that seating, food and service wait times may run longer than usual as staff get back into a rhythm, encouraging diners to plan accordingly, especially during busier times. The remodeled space still serves the restaurant's traditional menu, including salads and pizza alongside its classic steak and seafood dishes.
The Journal Sentinel reported it attempted to reach the Butler Inn's manager or owner for comment about the reopening but had not received a response by its story deadline. The flood's financial toll on homeowners offers some sense of the broader recovery costs still facing the region: Spectrum News 1 reported that a West Allis homeowner estimated she had spent between $80,000 and $100,000 to repair and replace what her family lost in the flooding, though that figure applies only to her household and not to the Butler Inn's own repair costs. The same outlet reported that Wisconsin's Office of the Commissioner of Insurance found 40% of National Flood Insurance Program claims statewide come from outside FEMA-designated flood plains, underscoring how unpredictable the damage from last year's storms turned out to be for property owners across the region.
