Balistreri's Italian-American Ristorante — Restaurant in Wauwatosa

It used to be a fun place with great food and a good atmosphere to take family to. Now not so much, unless you don't mind waiting forever for cold food and somewhat mediocre service. I normally love going to Balistreri's, so much so that it was almost a weekly occurrence. The tempura style deep-fried eggplant and standard, to die for cracker thin crusted, pepperoni special pizza are favourites. Unfortunately, the last couple of times I have gone it has left me somewhat lacking. The service is almost always hospitable, however it seems as though recently it has been really sluggish. My family and I have had to wait extended periods to be seated and served even though tables are open and dine in service does not seem that busy. Servers have forgotten to bring items. Most recently the appetizer took forever and was done at the same time as the entree either that or it was forgotten about by the server until the pizza was up. As there really wasn't enough room at the table with the four of us sitting around it with a picture of beer,four glasses, four plates and the large order of eggplant the pizza was put on hold until we got the eggplant put away. Then it took several passes for our server to bring the pizza back out. I understand that she was busy with other customers but as we had already been slighted you'd think she would have been a little more attentive. Upon the pizza being served it was noted it was actually missing a topping, pepperoni. How do you forget the pepperoni on a pepperoni special?!? Well to rectify the situation our pizza was taken back to the kitchen for an extended period, some pepperoni was slapped on it haphazardly and very little attempt was made to warm it back up, as when it finally arrived with the strewn about pepperoni it was luke warm to cold. The only remedy that was offered to this was to take the cost of eggplant off of the bill. Which we were grateful for but as I actually enjoyed the eggplant I really wouldn't have minded paying for it, where as for the pizza, not so much. The kicker though was we were sitting pretty much right in front of what I believed to be was the manager and as she watched the situation transpire before her not a single word or attempt was made by her to rectify any part of the situation. In their defense I will admit that take away was busy however our host and server didn't seem to have any interaction with the take away orders as far as I could...

We came in as a table of 7 today. It was the middle of the afternoon and the day was perfect outside. 75 & sunny. So I was not surprised it was slow in the restaurant at 2:30 in the afternoon. We started with appetizers. Kalamari & onion rings. The kalamari was awesome. The flavor was fresh, the breading was thin & they were cooked to perfection. The onion rings were breaded in a beer batter base which only added added to the flavor. Fantastic. Our entrees were fabulous. I had the grilled chicken alfredo. Good lord that was by far the best I have ever had. In many places the alfredo sauce is runny & overly salted. Not here. This was perfectly seasoned, the chicken was moist & delicious & the noodles were cooked to perfection. The other dishes we had were chicken parmigiano, shrimp scampi, spaghetti with meat sauce & lasagna. In our family we share food so I got to try everything else but the scampi. ( I am allergic to shrimp. Bummer for me)

I'll start with the lasagna. When we go back, I will be ordering that. The meat was succulent, the noodles were perfect, I loved the mushrooms. That is the first time I've ever had mushrooms in lasagna. Great addition. The sauce had the perfect amount of zing but was simple. I like a simple sauce. Let me taste the ingredients in my lasagna. If I want an overpowering sauce I'll drink a can of Prego before I eat.

The chicken parmigiano was incredible. Many places over cook the breaded chicken which makes it crunchy. This was lightly battered and again, the sauce was great.

Lastly, I'll talk about the service. We were fortunate to get Matt. This guy was a beast. Our drink glasses never dropped below half full. Having 7 of us at the table can be hectic for a server. This guy handled it like a champ. We gave him lots of requests & he was prompt & courteous in his responses. The rest of the servers were busy prepping for the evening rush so he had no help with us. He didn't miss a beat. What a pro.

Thank you Balisteri's. My wife & our 5 daughters (ages ranging 14-20) thoroughly enjoyed our visit. We WILL be back to...

My family and I have always enjoyed the experience here, until this evening. True, we are not 'regulars' in that we do not go every week. We have been to the restaurant maybe two dozen times over the last 5 years. It will be a very, very, very long time before I come back here. I did not appreciate being plunked in the middle of the room, at a table not big enough for 5 after an open booth where our party of five was going to go was taken by a 'regular' party of two. Really? I also did not appreciate your front of house staff talking about me right in front of my face, as though I was troubling them by daring to request a table. I have not been there in a long time. That doesn't mean I need to wait 17 minutes for a waitress to appear with soft drinks. Then, while the fried eggplant strips were outstanding, the pizza itself was underdone in the middle yet managed to have burned black edges. And all for the low low price of $53 for 4 Cokes, 1 milk for the toddler, an order of eggplant, half order of onion rings, and a large cheese & sausage pizza. Wow. You can afford to offend people like that? Must be nice to be so secure in your business and 'regulars' that treating occasional customers so badly they will not return is a great business model. Continue to assume word of mouth is only positive, and continue to treat casual customers as third class. Especially assume that negative experiences won't be shared with others. Rest assured I won't trouble this place with...