Bartolotta's Lake Park Bistro — Restaurant in Milwaukee

We (my partner and I) have eaten at two other Bartolotta restaurants and have had Lake Park Bistro on our list to try out. We had 5:45 reservations on a Saturday; from seating through paying, the night was two and a half hours.

Lake Park Bistro has “award-winning cuisine” and is a “premier dining” destination per their website. This description and the cost put this in the fine dining category of a restaurant.

In fine dining, we look for an experience of creativity using quality ingredients, creating flavors and wine pairings in a unique location with attentive service. These experiences can be very expensive, but you should be able to find quality and value within the $200 to $300 per person range. To gauge value, we couple this standard cost with the location, food, and service. This is similar to going to a concert or other unique event.

We chose Lake Park Bistro to celebrate my birthday; this was our experience and observations.

Location & Space Unique and beautiful location perched on a hill overlooking Lake Michigan. It was a waxing gibbous and slightly cloudy night, so not bright. This would be an amazing experience on a cloudless full moon night. There was ample parking close to the entrance. This was nice as it was a very windy and cold night. Inside, the space was interesting, with good spacing between the tables, so it did not feel cramped with ample private space. The room had a lot of echo, making conversation difficult across the table and difficult to hear our serving team.

Food We like doing the Chief’s tasting menu with wine pairing. The tasting menu on the website did not match what was being served. The server explained they had extended the previous week’s Valentine’s week menu, which told me we ate last week’s leftovers. The menu was not memorable, so I will not waste time reviewing its entirety. Here are the highlights. The scallop was mushy and overcooked. It’s hard to correlate, but the next day, my partner’s stomach was in distress. The tenderloin was cooked medium-rare; the color was a pale pink, lacking any juices or taste. The wine pairing was adequate and slightly off. The double chocolate and port desert were good with a miss on the port pairing. The port was soft and should have been much bolder, given the chocolate’s amount and richness.

Service Utensils were swapped between courses, which was a nice surprise as, based on the service and initial food quality, we were expecting to be asked to keep a single set throughout the meal. It took 45 minutes for the first course to come out. The wine was served 5 to 10 minutes before the food delivery for each course. This issue is because half of the wine was chilled, which warmed when we received our food, killing the pairing experience. The meal took over 2.5 hours from seating to finishing due to course delays. This would not have been an issue if we did not feel rushed when they dropped off the check with the final dessert course - Tacky. While leaving, they lost my coat because the person checking coats forgot to take the tag. They took me back to the coat check to sort through everyone’s coats to find mine, again Tacky.

Minor but noticeable, the staff at every other fine dining experience did a little something to recognize our birthdays. When my partner made the reservation, this was known. There was little to no recognition by the staff here.

This is the third Bartolotta restaurant we have dined at. My observation is that they are corporate and serve manufactured ingredients at fine dining prices. It simply comes down to value; this value is not there. When paying fine dining prices, you expect an experience that is uniquely prepared and to a level that you cannot do at home. Bartolotta locations have a nice ambiance, but that is where the...

Lake Park Bistro has always been a beautiful restaurant, enhancing Milwaukee’s restaurant scene. I think the food, service, and elegance have become even better. LPB is often thought of as a special occasion dining option; however, because the gestalt pricing is reasonable, when drinks, wine, etc., are taken into consideration, it can be considered a place to go anytime. When the bill came, I thought there was a mistake. I split the check with a friend for four people, and each of us had an appetizer, an entree, three had two glasses of wine each, and I had one cocktail. The bill came to $167.00 before tip. That’s reasonable for a meal of this quality. I’ve been to several restaurants in Milwaukee where the check was infinitely higher for a mediocre experience. Yes, the places were more casual, but why avoid a high-end establishment if the prices are lower? Milwaukee can be odd in that way.

The steak with frites was done in the French way, rare and delicious. Escargot was terrific, the puff pastry done perfectly. My salmon rillettes tasted amazing, as did the duck liver paté. Ooh la la! We all had a great time, enjoying the well-trained service.

Hey, once in a while, take a step on the wild side, Milwaukee, and have an elegant dinner. You can even wear your baseball cap. No one will care.

Lake Park Bistro was always a beautiful space, and the kitchen served very good food. It has been over a decade since I dined at LPB, and changes have occurred. Joe passed on and his award winning brother, Chef Paul Bartolotta has taken over the Bartolotta restaurant empire. Paul’s kitchen experience is mind boggling, stretching from Michelin starred icons in Italy and France, to the Tony May restaurant San Domenico in NYC, and Spiaggia in Chicago. He mentored dozens of chefs, including Marc Bianchini of Osteria del Mondo fame.

The three of us sat at the bar and had a wonderful time. The service was gracious and the wine list eclectic. Our Dover Sole entrees, all three, were filleted at the bar and tasted delicious. Our appetizers were Parisian good. Prices were high for Milwaukee, but the dinner was worth every penny. Paul, a notable presence at Lake Park Bistro, greets each diner to thank them for their patronage. Charming and informative, his stories added much to our experience. Lake Park Bistro would be a great restaurant in any city in the...

Myself and 5 friends went tonight to celebrate our good friend's engagement and wedding coming up next month with something a little different! We had an amazing time, the food was totally different than what we normally would find but so good, we had a ton of fun picking out our meals, trying all the different things, and just enjoying the experience. The wait staff was phenomenal, I honestly think Allison was a highlight of our evening. She was very personable, made us feel entirely comfortable, and had great tips and information on the menu.

We were gifted with extras at dessert, champagne for those of us that partook in cocktails and N/A sparkling juice for those that didn't and it was SO good! Super refreshing! We also (seriously, they were so amazing) were gifted a bite of something delicious - I apologize for not remembering what it was by the pastry chef this evening - but it had almonds, was a dessert bar of some sort and it was really good - not super sweet, honestly would have gone great with coffee if any of us had room for it - which we most certainly did not.

The atmosphere was wonderful, even being in proximity to other tables it still felt intimate enough that we couldn't hear other parties' conversations, nor could they hear ours, and I feel like we were a little rambunctious at times. Also, my friends that had cocktails said nothing but high praise for them - my coke with lime was also top notch * in case anyone cared ;)

Food. That's why you're reading this, yeah? It was good. Like, really great. It also felt like a performance at times. Lots of fun pouring, super attentive taking items away, never once had to ask for anything, be it water, napkin, silverware, etc etc. Maybe we're cheap dates but I'm fairly certain everyone went above and beyond, exceeding our expectations. Thanks for a great experience!

In case my photo captions don't save: Scallops Surprise Carrot & Cardamom Soup option (big fan of this, you don't know unless you KNOW) Beef Medallion Filet - my favorite of the 3 savory dishes The best dang dessert option there is - even though the mousse looked and sounded amazing - I will DIE on this chocolatey-citrus hill any day. Any. Day. This chocolate cake (better than the chocolate cake in your head, bet) and orange sorbet -...