Mickster’s Grill on Cloverleaf Lakes

After a few years away, Mick and Sandy Jesko are back as owners of Mickster’s Grill on Cloverleaf Lakes in Clintonville.

N2754 County Hwy Y, Clintonville
(715) 701-9375

After a four-year absence, Sandy and Mick Jesko are back serving drinks and cooking up customer favorites at Mickster’s Grill on Cloverleaf Lakes in Clintonville. Having owned and operated the business from 2005 to 2022 — when they sold it to a former employee — they became owners again and reopened on March 21.
Because they sold the bar business along with the Mickster’s Pub & Grill name, they had to go through all the legal work to start it up again as Sandster’s Inc., DBA Mickster’s Grill.
“We did not want to lose the Mickster’s name that we had worked so hard to build a good reputation with,” Sandy said.
Mick, who served in the Navy and worked in the papermaking industry before getting into the bar and grill business, is originally from the Menominee Indian Reservation. He moved to a foster home in Kimberly at age seven and ended up finishing his senior year of school in Keshena. After graduating in 1983, he joined the Navy and served for eight years. After the service, he worked at Proctor & Gamble and eventually decided to change his career.
That career change was made possible to some extent by his experience as a mess management specialist in the Navy, and also being a baker, as well as the captain’s cook.
Sandy, who is originally from De Pere, also worked a number of jobs including at Fort Howard Paper Company in De Pere, but it was one of her first jobs that prepared her for joining with Mick at Mickster’s.
“I started cooking when I was 15 at the Prairie Schooner in Cecil as a line cook, and cooked at many different places along the way,” she said. On her weekends off, she would go to help her mom cook in the bar at the resort her parents owned in Phelps.
According to Sandy, Mick had been thinking of buying a bar, so he got himself a bartending job at Gentlemen Jack’s in Little Chute and the owner helped him learn the trade.
“We met and started dating in 2003,” Sandy said. “Then, we started looking for bars to purchase — as long as it had a kitchen for me. Mick said buying a bar was like a mid-life crisis — his kids were grown, and he needed a change.
Orignally built in the 1920s, Mickster’s was known for years as the Shamrock. “It has changed names many times,” Sandy said, “but was always considered the Shamrock. There were many owners along the way. When we purchased the bar in 2005, it was closed and had been through many owners in the previous 5-10 years. We then changed the name to Mickster’s.”
At N2754 County Hwy Y, it is next to the public boat landing on Grass Lake, one of the three lakes that make up what is called Cloverleaf Lakes. The other two are Round Lake and Pine Lake.
“They say if you see it from the sky, it looks like a cloverleaf, hence the name,” Sandy said. “We have a beautiful patio with great seating that has a great view of Grass Lake and into the channel that leads to Pine Lake. We also have a side patio that is by the volleyball court.  The view from inside is beautiful; it is a bar full of windows.”
Outside the bar are two docks where customers can dock their pontoons or fishing boats to come for a drink or something to eat.
A variety of food options are available including burgers, wraps, salads, wings, steak sandwiches and broasted chicken dinners. There are also daily specials and homemade pizzas.
Daily specials include wings on Monday, tacos on Tuesday, and tips over mashed potatoes or noodles, as well as, 10” two-topping pizzas on Wednesday. On Thursday, there is alfredo with chicken or shrimp or both, and you can add broccoli or mushrooms. A $5-burger special is offered on Thursdays and there’s a fish fry on Friday. Saturday is a cook’s choice and Sunday is a chicken dinner with stuffing, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy and dinner roll.
When Mick and Sandy created their menu, they also added a Mickster sandwich and a Sandster sandwich.
“The Mickster is a chicken breast with bacon, mushrooms and swiss cheese,” Sandy said. “This was a sandwich that Mick and coworkers at Gentlemen Jack’s had to make the owner when he was hungover, so Mick wanted it on the menu. The Sandster (Sandy’s creation) is a chicken breast with bacon,  barbecue sauce and swiss cheese.”
Sandy said they could write a book on the good times that have been had in Mickster’s. “We like to say ‘everyday is a different movie,’ ” she said. “We have made numerous lifelong friends over the years.”
They also believe in supporting the community.
“Our longest running fundraiser is adopting several families for Christmas.” Sandy said.
“We generally adopt families that involve children being fostered by extended relatives.” Mickster’s also runs a bass tournament in August and have held a muskie tournament in October since the first year they opened.
“Mickster’s,” Sandy said, “is like one customer told us: ‘It’s like sitting in your living room with all your friends.’”