After thoroughly researching Italian restaurants in Milwaukee, I took my girlfriend and another couple to Tenuta's for my girlfriend's surprise birthday on Nov 19th, 2020, . Tenuta's sounded like the overall best choice, and was very excited for the opportunity. I made reservations for four, advised them that we'd recently visited Italy and that this was a birthday celebration, and that we were coming from Sheboygan and were looking forward to an authentic experience.

We were seated at a small table adjacent to the bar, best suited for two. It was quite cramped. We were greeted by the hostess after a few minutes. We didn't see a server for at least 10 minutes, so I asked the hostess to put in a pizza for our group while we waited. Eventually a server appeared, and she seemed rather distracted and uninterested in our table. We had to sort of guide her through a basic dining experience (we had to ask about the specials, etc).

We understood that it might be a busy night, but even after the restaurant was half empty, the entire experience felt awkward. Each round of drinks came piecemeal, often waiting 10 minutes for a simple Guiness despite the fact that the reasonably-sized crowd had largely dissipated and we were less than 6 ft from the bar.

Essentially, we felt like an afterthought or a bother. We did order several pasta dishes and deserts, and honestly the flavors and portions of those were great. Hence the 2 stars. But the service seemed systemically dysfunctional to the point where I'd be hesitant to return.

Maybe the server/bartenders are new, or were both having bad nights. But some gesture or courtesy could have been made to smooth things out, especially since we again mentioned it was a birthday party and we'd traveled an hour to try the restaurant. But no effort was made. If this is their standard of service, and they seat people at tables clearly too small for the group, and don't offer a gesture or kind word when service is lacking, then I definitely wouldn't recommend it, despite a cute location and appealing menu.

There are just so many other highly rated options in Milwaukee that we're likely to try others before risking another trip to Tenuta's.