Look I'm a eastside baddie so I go to Koppa to get all my daily needs and if I get off work early enough I go in for a quick bottle of wine or beers. The girls are so friendly I think and it's very convenient to us locals. I just wish the deli was better but overall I love our little shop.

Have you stopped in to have some of the best sandwiches in the world? If you haven't, what are you waiting for? All of them are delicious. You may be thinking, you probably haven't tried them all, but I'm pretty sure I have. Koppa's is a neighborhood dream. From the banana tree, to the taxidermy and Jesus tributes scattered around, this place is a true jem. I come here for an occasional sandwich, ice cream fix and alcohol run. They have a great selection of beers and liquors. I feel the prices are fair for a corner store and the staff is always friendly! They are fully stocked with essential produce -- some of it doesn't always look the best, but it gets the job done if you are in a bind. Also make sure to check expiration dates in here as well!

I will be honest, I have had them bookmarked for a long time, dined a few doors down and driven by them many times but I have never stopped because the sandwich pictures look like the have very little meat on them but I'm changing that today. I don't get to the east side often because I hate the parking situation and I hate even more that the east side has so many great places crammed in it. The place looks like an old school neighborhood grocery store that has been on the corner for a long time. As you walk in there is a small ghetto looking seating area to the left with writing all over the cubicle walls separating it from the store. The store it self is small with limited variety of the basics like produce, frozen, dry, deli, liquor, can, paper products etc etc. The old school 2 player video game station was cool but I can't imagine anyone today playing 40 year old technology on a 12 inch tube tv today, that time is long gone. The taxidermy animals/decor is unique which makes the place a neighborhood cult classic I imagine. The sandwich's come from the deli in the back but none of them appealed to me until I saw the panini menu with the Dittlecus panini. The Dittlecus panini is hard salami, smoked ham, provolone cheese, red onion, green peppers, mayo, Italian herbs/oil on whole grain Italian bread. I was handed a nice deli white paper package that was marked $6.49, for $6.49 it was bigger and weightier than I expected. The whole grain bread was a great choice because it held up to all that meaty melty cheese/saucy goodness, this was a tasty comfort food sandwich if there is such a thing. Toasted bread holding all that cheesey meaty panini was way better than the posted pictures of the other sandwich's and had I saw this earlier I would have got in sooner. Bottom line is that I was pleasantly surprised with my comfort food lunch panini because it was good quality and not skimpy at all which was very satisfying, I can't speak for the sandwiches but I would definitely go back and try more of the menu.

I was in the area and I was hungry. I opened my handy Yelp app to see what I had bookmarked in the area and several places came up. My first choice was Osaka because I wanted to try their ramen, but they were closed between lunch and dinner, even though their posted hours said they'd be open. It would be 30 more minutes before they opened, so I went to Plan B, Koppa's. After I parked, I glanced around and was impressed by the options that are available in the intersection with Koppa's, Comet Cafe, Stone Bowl, and the new Rice n Roll. I saw myself coming back to this block again and soon. Walking into Koppa's, I noticed a small dining area on the left and the cashiers set up ahead. There was a small liquor section along the south wall, the deli along the east wall, and the rest of the store had a bit of everything: isles of standard grocery fare, a few specialty items, t-shirts, and a station where you can sit and play old Atari games. Wait - Atari games?! Get out! Ok, that's actually pretty cool! I was there for a sandwich, so I focused, pulled up the Yelp app again for your tips and reviews and made my decision, a Hodag. What's a Hodag? The guy behind the counter told me he believes it was named for some creature up north. It was hard to hear him, so I looked it up. Wiki says it is "a folkloric animal of the American state of Wisconsin. Its history is focused mainly around the city of Rhinelander in northern Wisconsin, where it was said to have been discovered....It had "the head of a frog, the grinning face of a giant elephant, thick short legs set off by huge claws, the back of a dinosaur, and a long tail with spears at the end". The story goes back to 1893, an interesting choice for a sandwich name. Koppa's Hodag is essentially a build-your-own breakfast sandwich, available all day. There are laminated cards with various options for you to select for your unique version of the Hodag, from cheeses, to bread, to meats, to sauces, veggies, etc. Next to the cards is a small container of crayons, which you use to mark your choices on the card. Hand it in and a few minutes later, your sandwich arrives. Menu boards above the deli counter offer lots of other choices, both meat and vegetarian friendly. I was overwhlemed by all of the choices, even when selecting them for the Hodag, but one of the guys behind the counter make a few suggestions to help narrow my choices. I went with one egg, bacon, and smoked gouda on a croissant. The sandwich was delicious and a great value, since all of the prices of the sandwich components were low to reasonable. My Hodag was around $4.50. I paid at the register, sat in the small dining area, and went back in to complete my mini tour of the store. Since I don't live in the area, I wouldn't trek down to go grocery shopping. However, I would go back to order another sandwich or stop in to buy deli meats when I'm on the east side visiting family, since they carry Boar's Head meats at a lower price than the store closer to my house. I believe Koppa's falls under the category of unofficial Milwaukee landmarks. If it doesn't it should, and you should see it for yourself.