Santino's Little Italy — Restaurant in Milwaukee

Please note they are reservation only. You can call, but Open Table is the best way so you can see what's available and when.

The atmosphere is just fabulous. Very Rat Pack including the movie on the TV screen. No sound though because the music playing during dinner was of the same era. Same is true for the décor. What a wonderful environment in which to have dinner.

The service was impeccable and Rayann (sp?) was just lovely. She explained how their pizza is cooked and why the crust is the consistency it is. Certainly nothing bad, but I guess some people might have very specific tastes. Personally I thought it was awesome. Our group of six did separate checks with a lot of food and she was a rock star. She monitored us for beverage needs, asked how each course was, but did not hover around interrupting. Very friendly. Would definitely like her as a server again.

The food is simply amazing. Our orders included Arancini x 2, The Bocce Ball x 2, Pasta Carbonara, Pasto Bolognese x 2, Canicatti Pizza, Tiramisu, and Galliano Cake. There was one more pizza ordered, but she was at the other end of the table so I couldn't ear which one she ordered. Everyone absolutely loved everything. I went whole hog because I wanted to try a few things. I have enough leftovers for dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow. The Bocce Ball is so very tasty. The combinations of the meat, sauce, cheeses, and olives is so interesting and SO delicious. After a few bites I had it boxed so I wouldn't pick at it because next I had the Canicatta Pizza. OH MY WORD. I usually stick to traditional pizzas that we all know, but I decided that for this year, if I'm trying a restaurant I've never been to, I need to try dishes I've never had. The garlic white sauce on this pizza is sublime and the sausage was wonderfully seasoned. After a few slices, this too went in a box and was set aside because I also wanted to taste the Galliano Cake. Although the cake was moist and delicious, I WAS disappointed in the flavor. The description on the menu and by Rayann included orange juice. No orange flavor. Just vanilla. I'm not taking stars off for this because it was still VERY good. Just a little disappointing that it wasn't what I was expecting.

Overall it was outstanding!

Will definitely schedule...

We had such a fun time at a friend's farewell dinner, and I assume most of the people in the party enjoyed their mainly pizza entrees, but being the lone vegan there and generally not having good luck at Italian restaurant because they like to put cheese on everything, I was expecting to have a hard time getting a vegan meal as there was only one salad on the menu that seemed to be vegan. Luckily, our great waiter mentioned that there were some vegans on the staff, so they are very conscious of vegans and can make a pasta dish that's just pasta and red sauce, which is not on the menu. Great! Any Italian restaurant that can't throw two ingredients together that they always have on hand - pasta and red sauce - isn't worth a bean in my book. So out comes this beautiful dish, pasta, red sauce, with some basil and cherry tomatoes, gorgeous. I must give them credit for 1: knowing vegans exist (you'd be surprised how many restaurants still don't know we exist), 2: having waitstaff be so nice about accommodating us when their menu doesn't, and 3: presenting a beautiful entree (you'd be surprised how many chefs just slap together mush on a plate thinking that's good enough). I want to give this place high marks because we did have fun, we did have a wonderful waiter, the place was clean and had a fun atmosphere, they let us laugh as loud as we wanted with no dirty looks, but the pasta and red sauce was dry and bland. So vegans might want to skip this place, but for everyone else, I'm sure your orders will be tasty. It was a bit pricey for me considering what I got, but I don't mind as I was there for the camaraderie of the evening...

Dined with friends a week ago and have had time now to process this experience. The place is dingy and hardly any lighting to even read your menus. Maybe offer QR codes, we ended up looking online at your menu at the table. Staff was completely short that night as it seemed our waitress was more interested in the two large groups in the dining room that evening rather that our 4 top. Waitress was so softspoken could barely understand a thing she said, let alone her accent. Took forever to get our order in. We ordered appetizers and wine to start. A glass of wine came in a small juice glass, how tacky for an Italian restaurant. It was such a small pour it equals about 3 sips. Eggplant appetizer we had was decent, but we had to ask for lemons. The bruschetta was soggy. Salads overpriced at 15$ we thought they were table portion sized. Entrees were horrible. Lasagna special cold in the middle, waitress never came back to check on us so we couldn't even send it back if we wanted. We were just ready to get out of there. All she offered us was 2 free pieces of dessert for the hassles. The flourless cake was hard, so we didn't even eat that. They don't split bills, so we had one check. I think that is rude if you are not a group of 6 or more. This was my second time dining here and it will be my last. I went there like a year ago for a birthday party dinner and tried the pizzas back then, had no real issues but I was there for a party so someone else paid. There are so many better places in town...