Formerly: Bentley's Whitefish Bay Inn
Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin · Founded 1915 · Building: circa 1903
The Pandl family has operated Whitefish Bay's historic lakeside inn since buying George Bentley's earlier restaurant-and-tavern business in 1915.
John and Anna Pandl bought the existing Whitefish Bay Inn in 1915, beginning more than a century of Pandl family ownership at Lake Drive and East Henry Clay Street. The business itself predated their purchase: George Bentley had opened a combination tavern, restaurant, and grocery at the site around 1900. Today, John Pandl and his wife Laura represent the third generation of ownership, while their son Ryan represents the fourth generation in management.
George Bentley opened a combination tavern, restaurant, and grocery known as Bentley's Whitefish Bay Inn near Lake Drive and East Henry Clay Street.
Source: OnMilwaukee, 'Urban spelunking: More than 100 years of Jack Pandl's Whitefish Bay Inn,' October 16, 2019; Milwaukee Record, '220 consecutive Friday fish frys and counting,' March 23, 2018.
The building now occupied by Jack Pandl's Whitefish Bay Inn is generally reported as having been erected around 1903.
Source: Milwaukee Magazine, 'Jack Pandl's Whitefish Bay Inn Has Been Serving Fish Fries For More Than 100 Years,' September 4, 2018.
Johann 'Jack' Pandl and Anna Pandl bought the existing Whitefish Bay Inn and business from George Bentley.
Source: OnMilwaukee, October 16, 2019; Milwaukee Magazine, September 4, 2018; Jack Pandl's Whitefish Bay Inn, About page.
Whitefish Bay trustees attempted to close the inn during Prohibition while John Pandl and his partner John Schuch were operating it; later reporting says the business continued as a restaurant and service station.
Source: OnMilwaukee, 'Urban spelunking: More than 100 years of Jack Pandl's Whitefish Bay Inn,' October 16, 2019.
John Pandl died, leaving Anna Pandl to run the restaurant while raising their children. In the same era, local reporting describes a beer sale to undercover prohibition agents at the inn.
Source: Jack Pandl's Whitefish Bay Inn, About page; OnMilwaukee, October 16, 2019.
Whitefish Bay officials granted the inn permission to remain open for 10 years, according to local reporting, one day before national repeal of Prohibition.
Source: OnMilwaukee, 'Urban spelunking: More than 100 years of Jack Pandl's Whitefish Bay Inn,' October 16, 2019.
Jack Pandl's widow Elaine, their son John Pandl, and John's wife Laura took over ownership of the restaurant.
Source: Milwaukee Magazine, 'Jack Pandl's Whitefish Bay Inn Has Been Serving Fish Fries For More Than 100 Years,' September 4, 2018.
TMJ4 identified John Pandl as owner and Ryan Pandl as general manager, representing a fourth generation active in the family business.
Source: TMJ4, 'We're Open: Jack Pandl's has been serving the Whitefish Bay community for over 100 years,' September 14, 2023.
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
Local Milwaukee reporting and the restaurant's own history agree that John and Anna Pandl bought the existing Whitefish Bay Inn in 1915. The documented family succession includes Anna after John's 1932 death, later ownership by Jack and George Pandl, and the 1992 transition to Elaine, John, and Laura Pandl; John and Laura remain identified as the current ownership generation.
OnMilwaukee and later local writing call Pandl's Wisconsin's oldest family-owned and continuously operated business in the same location. The family lineage since 1915 is well supported, but the record does not provide a statewide comparison of competing restaurants, define the claim consistently as restaurant versus business, or independently test continuity at each rival. The register therefore does not certify the statewide title.
OnMilwaukee reports that during Prohibition the Pandls ran a restaurant and service station on the corner property, and it documents disputes with village officials as well as a 1932 illegal beer sale. This is strong evidence of continuing commercial activity, but it does not provide a complete day-by-day operating record or establish that the business simply converted into a soda parlor.
OnMilwaukee identifies John and Laura Pandl as owners and operators since about 1992. TMJ4 identified John as owner and Ryan Pandl as general manager in 2023, supporting the current multigenerational operating role without making a claim about ownership of the real estate.
Sources consistently place the Pandls at 1319 E Henry Clay Street after their 1915 purchase and identify the restaurant as remaining in its original location. The building, however, was occupied by Bentley's earlier business before the Pandls arrived and should not be described as built for the Pandl family in 1915.
The restaurant is widely associated with Wisconsin fish fries, German-American food, and a longstanding family dining tradition. The reviewed sources do not establish a historical definition or comparative evidence sufficient to call it the prototype of the Wisconsin supper-club form.
John and Anna Pandl opened the Whitefish Bay Inn from scratch in 1915.
John and Anna Pandl bought the existing Whitefish Bay Inn and business from George Bentley in 1915. Local histories identify Bentley's earlier combination tavern, restaurant, and grocery as dating to around 1900.
Source: OnMilwaukee, 'Urban spelunking: More than 100 years of Jack Pandl's Whitefish Bay Inn,' October 16, 2019; Milwaukee Record, March 23, 2018.
The current Jack Pandl's building was built in 1915.
The building and restaurant business predate the Pandl family purchase. Milwaukee Magazine describes the building as erected circa 1903.
Source: Milwaukee Magazine, 'Jack Pandl's Whitefish Bay Inn Has Been Serving Fish Fries For More Than 100 Years,' September 4, 2018.
The inn survived Prohibition simply by converting into a soda parlor.
The reviewed record describes a more complicated Prohibition period: the Pandls operated a restaurant and service station, faced an attempted village shutdown in 1922, and were reportedly caught selling beer to undercover dry agents in 1932.
Source: OnMilwaukee, 'Urban spelunking: More than 100 years of Jack Pandl's Whitefish Bay Inn,' October 16, 2019.
Pandl's survived because each generation treated the restaurant as a neighborhood institution rather than an inherited artifact. Anna Pandl kept it operating after John Pandl died in 1932, Jack and George Pandl carried it through the next family transition, and John and Laura Pandl took ownership in 1992. The business still draws on durable North Shore rituals—fish fries, whitefish, German-American cooking, and multigenerational family dining—while Ryan Pandl prepares the next succession.
John and Anna Pandl bought the existing Whitefish Bay Inn in Whitefish Bay in 1915, beginning the Pandl family's ownership of the restaurant. The business already existed as George Bentley's combination tavern, restaurant, and grocery, which local histories date to around 1900. The property remained in the Pandl family through Anna's leadership after John's 1932 death, later management by their son Jack, and the 1992 transition to John and Laura Pandl.
No verified evidence establishes Jack Pandl's as Wisconsin's oldest restaurant. The restaurant has been in the Pandl family since 1915 and is a strong contender for a long-running single-family restaurant lineage, but the business itself began earlier under George Bentley around 1900. A statewide comparison of older Wisconsin restaurants, family ownership histories, and operating continuity is still needed before awarding any oldest-family-owned title.
The Pandl family connection began in 1915, when John and Anna Pandl bought the existing Whitefish Bay Inn from George Bentley. The inn itself predated their purchase: local histories say Bentley had opened a tavern, restaurant, and grocery at the site around 1900, and the present building is generally dated to circa 1903.
The available evidence indicates that the Pandls kept commercial operations going during Prohibition through restaurant and service-station activity, despite village conflict and a reported 1932 beer sale to undercover dry agents. That evidence supports continued business activity, but it does not prove that the restaurant was open without any interruption every day from 1920 through 1933.
Local reporting identifies John Pandl and his wife Laura as the ownership generation that took over the restaurant in 1992. Their son Ryan Pandl was identified as general manager in 2023, representing the fourth generation active in the family business. This record does not independently establish ownership of the building or the current legal operating entity.
1319 E Henry Clay St, Whitefish Bay, WI 53217
(414) 964-3800
The official site lists lunch and dinner Tuesday through Saturday and brunch/dinner on Sunday, with Monday closure; confirm current hours, reservations, and fish-fry availability before visiting.