Capri di Nuovo — Restaurant in West Allis

FANTASTIC! Went for lunch today. My wife and daughter had the (what else) lasagna; I had the "West Allis" pizza - sausage, mushrooms and onions; son in law had the chicken parm sandwich.

No need to talk about the lasagna - its legendary and there are far more better written reviews out there.

The Stallis pie was wonderful. I opted for the Milwaukee crust, which for those that do not know is a thin, cracker-style. The also offer a thicker crust and (I believe) a pan style, but I'm not 100% on that because I already knew which one I'd be ordering, so I neglected to carefully read all options. The sausage was well seasoned, hints of fennel and garlic dotted each piece. The mushrooms appear to be canned - no big deal as not too many places use fresh unless specified. The onions were of the white variety, which work well on pizza, as red or Vidalia would overpower the pie. The sauce was the standout. Obviously house made, it was on the thicker, tomato-y side, with notes of garlic and oregano. Perfect.

The chicken parmesan sandwich was enormous. It was a butterflied breast, breaded and pan-seared, then given a bath in their wonderful homemade tomato sauce. Melted mozzarella topped the juicy and tender slab of poultry. However, and this is where I get ticky-tacky, Capri opts to use their famous garlic bread as the bun. If you love their garlic bread (and who doesn't), you will enjoy. I personally thought that it was a bit overkill, as after about halfway through, he opined that it was getting a bit "carby". In my opinion, using a roll from a local bakery like Sciortino's or Canfora would be a better choice.

We all ended up taking home about half of our respective portions, in addition to about half the family size Cobb salad that we ordered as a first course, so to speak.

Since my daughter treated her wonderful, loving parents, I do not know what the final tab was. Considering our entrées, the salad, my soft drink, one glass of house Metlot for my wife and two Caprihanas for the kiddos, I would estimate it ran about $85-$90 plus tax and tip. Taking into account it was providing us a total of eight meals including our leftovers, not to mention the three alcoholic beverages, it is well worth it. As I have been going here for 33 years, I...

Ate here over ten years ago and was not impressed. I drive by here almost daily so it was easy to notice the renovation and re-opening, as well as the uptick in customers since. Stopped in early on a Saturday, 5pm, and waited about 20 minutes for a table. The greeters/.bartenders showed great awareness of the dining room and good recognition of the customers shuffling in and out of their small waiting area. Once seated the service was prompt and no-nonsense. Beverages arrived quickly and special orders were handled with aplomb. The food we received, shrimp scampi with a substitution of gnocchi for linguini and lasagna, was tasty and hot. Nothing mind blowing or spectacular but good, delicious, basic Italian food served well. That said, this place and in this price range delivered far and above the local competition. As a 40 year veteran of the food service biz. I appreciated all of the little things that made this a great experience and am proud of the owner/owners? as well as the employees that made this a thriving. successful business and effected the turnaround of what I thought was a dying local business. Kudos to all of you. This is the 4th time I've eaten here since my first review. I'm very impressed by the level of service every time I visit. I know it's not fair to the rest, but Kylee was our server this last visit and was "out of the park" good! Knows the menu, has the grace and charm to make us feel like we were VIP's and just a great experience. I wish I remembered our other servers names but you can all hold your heads high as I haven't had a dud yet. Good...

Update: Multiple Re-visits -- 3 to 4

I chalk the original 3 star rating up to an off-day regarding the quality/dryness of the pizza, however if you're concerned, simply ask they bake it a few less minutes (and you can always pop it in your oven for 3-5 minutes to crisp it off). Although their Hand Tossed crust is thicker than the Milwaukee, it too seems be on the dryer side; I think their oven temp is a tad (25-50 deg F) too high. Personally, I enjoy both crust types with extra sauce, which doesn't quite balance out the lack of moisture in the crust but does make an enjoyable pie.

Lastly, Capri makes a delicious cannoli covered in chocolate chips and chocolate sauce.

Original Review: Two visits for take-out pizza. One for Chicago and anther for Milwaukee. The Chicago pizza wasn't too bad, however the Milwaukee was not as thin as I hoped it'd be but most importantly, the crust was way over-baked, dried out throughout, and burnt around the edges. I have a suspicion that I truly would have enjoyed that Milwaukee pizza if it weren't dried out, but it had zero moisture in the crust that the sauce and toppings couldn't overcome. This was disappointing, and I know that the various flavors from the sauce, cheese, toppings and sprinkling of (I believe) Parmesan, were trying to come through.

Overall, I'd give Capri another chance at producing a quality thin crust pizza; I'm simply dissatisfied with that initial product. Perhaps next time I'll request they bake it for less time --...