Alioto’s

Had my Mother’s birthday party here. There were almost 30 guests for lunch. Service was great and the food was fantastic! Everything came out hot and timely. Everyone was raving about how great the food was. The guests had the option of selecting Sicilian Steak, Chicken Parmesan, Breaded Shrimp or Fish. I had the steak and it was cooked perfectly and came with a side of pasta. Delicious. They even cut our cake and served it. Service and food were both top notch!

We had our wedding reception here, 9 years ago. I received a call from them on our drive home from our honeymoon. They asked were our cake was from, it was so good. I thought it was odd at 8:30 AM. A half hour later the health department called regarding multiple complaints, requesting our guest list for the investigation. The end result was over half our guests very sick, missing work and a few elderly guests hospitalized. Aliotas never said a word, they clearly knew what was happening. No follow up, no attemp to remedy, nothing.
While I realize it can happen anyplace I would have expected them to act in a concerned, professional manner. They were unresponsive and rude.
At least our guest won’t forget that wedding. Stay away.

This is definitely old time/​old town Milwaukee. The fish is pretty good as long as you get the fried fish, you will be happy. Watch out for the baked cod it is way too dry.
The people there are really old and they will give you an idea of what Milwaukee was like fifty years ago!
I don’t think they remodeled the place in the last 30 years. My sister says it’s actually more like the last 50 years :-)
I wish they would have had potato pancakes to accompany the fish. But, just go ahead and enjoy a classic Milwaukee fish frie!

Every time I go here, I feel like I bring the average age down about 15 years at least. It’s definitely a crowd more for the senior citizens, but my parents like the fish fry, so I go with them once in a while. The fish fry is good, but avoid the salmon — the one time I got it, it was like soggy. Not sure what they did to it, but not good. Waitstaff is pretty slow and there can be a wait, but try the bar area if you don’t mind not sitting in the normal dining area and you can usually get a table faster.

Excellent fish fry. Been coming here for years. Always fast friendly service. Great food. The fish is always great. Their Stawberry Cham Torte is fantastic. Never a long wait. All in all a very pleasant dining experience. They always serve the best. Never had an unpleasant experience. Two thumbs up !

All of the bad reviews seem to be «filtered». Interesting, Unilocal.Very interesting.
Anyway, I went to Alioto’s a really long time ago when I was a kid. It was pretty darn good back then (okay by «back then» I mean 2003). The service was excellent from what I remember, and the food was stellar. Today I went for the fish fry, and let me say, I was utterly disappointed.
First, the crowd is old. Like I’m talking Perkins on a sunday morning kind of old. You are drowning in a sea of white hair and oxygen tanks. And the food caters to that generation. Bland and tasteless.
The menu is confusing. Let me explain the fish fry so that you will not be yelled at for asking about it. There is the fish plate. Its $ 9.99 and it comes with 2 pieces of (small) fish, fries, and coleslaw”. The «Alioto’s fish fry» is $ 11.99 and is supposed to be their equivalent of all you can eat. It is not family style regardless of what the menu claims. You start with 3 pieces, and you can have up to two more pieces after that IF they allow you to (you have to be the chosen one).
When I asked the waiter what the difference was between the «Alioto’s fish fry» and the «fish plate» was, he sighed rudely and spit out a confusing explanation about how you «Aren’t ALLOWED to share this meal family style» and how «There are no take home bags. You HAVE to eat the fish here». I’m sorry, I didn’t know eating fish had it’s own set of strict rules!
We proceeded to order and the waiter walked away without saying a word. Before we even had the chance to butter our bread, the waiter threw our plates down on our table and said «here!».
The fish was okay. Not a Kegel’s Inn or a Packing House kind of quality, but it was relatively satisfying. A little bland, and the breading was a corn meal breading which I was not too fond of. The fries were tasteless and not salted. And the coleslaw had some sort of seed on it that just ruined the dish.
I finished my 3 pieces of fish and had to eat it without anything to drink (the waiter did not refill our water cups until the end of the meal). We were completely ignored while we ate. The waiter never checked up on us, never refilled our water glasses, and never asked me if I wanted those hidden two pieces of fish.
INSTEAD, after I finished my meal and was waiting around for 10 minutes, he came over with another plate of fish and chips and said «here, I finally got your fish. Just take your fork off of your plate.» I was surprised because I didn’t even want it haha.
We were ignored for another 20 minutes before he finally gave us a bill and spit out the same uniform «thanks have a nice night» he gave the last four tables.
Just awful customer service.

I recently went for dinner and was very disappointed. We arrived a little after eight. The hostess was very pleasant and seated us promptly. After waiting 15 – 20 minutes without seeing a waitress, we finally asked another server if she could get our waitress. Our waitress was busy, so this one was kind enough to get us drinks and bring us bread. When our waitress finally showed up, she was rude the entire time. She never introduced herself, acted flustered, and rushed us out. I felt like she was practically pushing us out the door with her attitude. We ordered fish served «family style» and she never asked if we wanted more fish. When we were only halfway done she asked if we would be having dessert, I hadn’t even thought about dessert yet. She also brought us the bill and told us to pay up front if she wasn’t around. Basically her overall demeanor was unpleasant and it felt like she didn’t want us there. b
Side note on the fish fry, it wasn’t that great. I have had much better in Milwaukee.

Don’t waste your money. The to go fish fries are getting smaller and smaller. You get only 4 very little pieces of fish when you get a meal to go. If you eat in there, it is all you can eat most of the time. You can get one or two waitress (es) who will say it isn’t all you can eat, you can only have 5 pieces of fish. That is really, really bad when the people around you are getting all they want to eat. Sad! REALLY, REALLY SAD… How do they get away with these poor business practices?

Yes, ONE STAR for the mighty Aliotos… And oh, how the mighty have fallen. After our most recent — and last — experience here, we will never go back.
My mother in law called a month in in advance to reserve a table for our family dinner on December 23^rd. My husband and I arrived first, only to find they had no reservation. Somehow it never got written down. You’d think at that point, when my husband and I were standing in front of her and requested to have our name put down, she would have, right? No, she didn’t! The woman kept asking our name («Smith, party of 4? Are you Witner, party of 7? Jones, party of 8, is that you?»), but didn’t write it down when we (repeatedly) told her. This isn’t a guessing game. Did she forget her meds that day? How hard is it to remember a (somewhat) common last name and number of people, or to write it down when we requested it to be? When our in-​laws came, she STILL didn’t write it down. When my mother in law heard about the debacle, she had the woman check for the other reservations they made for Christmas Day. Yes, they had the reservations down in their name for that day. Thank God. There was a point we were thinking of just walking out of the restaurant at this point and finding another place to go. Good thing it wasn’t that busy at Alioto’s that night, since we had spent about 20 minutes at the reservation station at that point! Sheesh. The evening started out on a bad foot and continued to go downhill from there.
We were placed at a table back in the far corner, in no-​mans land. There were several open tables which would have sufficed. I’m really not sure what that was about. We didn’t request a private area — the area we were seated at was more akin to a wedding rehearsal dinner.
Now… the process of ordering proved to be a difficult one. 30 minutes after being seated, the waitress finally came by to take our DRINK orders. Yes, we didn’t even get our food orders in at this point! I ordered a drink that was apparently a summer drink (which I didn’t know at the time). The print on the drink menu said it was from the previous summer, but she still presented it to us, so I felt it was ok to order off of. This created a big issue. The waitress didn’t believe my drink was on the menu. She didn’t even know what my drink was. She came back several times to check exactly what it was — for a seasoned vet, as she appeared to be, this was really perplexing and disappointing. Not to mention embarrassing, since I just wanted a drink at that point! Next time around I got a brandy old fashioned — about the only thing she did right.
My mother in law had to repeatedly ask to see a senior menu. It took 3 times for the waitress to bring it. This is just unacceptable. On a BUSY day, I can understand. The restaurant was less than a third full though! There were hardly any people dining that night and the lack of the professionalism on Alioto’s part was frustrating.
Finally, we got our food. It took an hour just to get our order in! This was a ridiculously long time to get any sort of service at all despite slow night at the restaurant. Wow.
The food itself was good — albeit not that hot. It was probably waiting on a counter to be brought to our table. Once again, prior to receiving our food, we had considered leaving $ 20.00 on the table for the drinks and just walking out.
Now comes time to get the bill. IT TOOK ANOTHER 30 MINUTES TO GET OUR BILL! My husband and I had to leave, as we had to work the next day.
Unfortunately our in-​laws had to wait to get the bill…30 minutes later. COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE, ALIOTO’S! I’ve never experienced such horrendous and unacceptable service.
We laid down the law and said going forward, we will never do Christmas dinner (or Easter, or any other family dinner) here ever again.
Alioto’s was once a go-​to place for family dinners, funerals, etc — never again, at least not for me. This once great Italian family style restaurant /​supper club has now been replaced with places that can provide service the right way. Maggianos, although a chain, is right down the street. Next time, we’ll just make our reservations there and be done with it.

This flashback in time lives up to 5 stars with great Italian food, attentive service and a kitsch super club atmosphere. If there’s a band playing– definitely try to book a table in the bar.

The only reason that we ended up at Alioto’s was that Eddie Martini’s is closed on Sundays and it was Mother’s Day. It smelled like smoke was coming from the bar, which confused me, since smoking has not been allowed indoors for years now thanks to the law. The food was of poor quality for the expensive cost. Way too much food, except for the paltry salad, and then they include dessert, clearly contributing to the obesity epidemic of the country. A lot of the others there were senior citizens.

Alioto’s is a Milwaukee landmark, having served my grandparents years ago. It has a large senior’s menu that for $ 12.95 offers soup or salad, entrée with potato, ice cream and coffee. In addition, they gave us a card for $ 10 off at the next meal because of the nuisance of all the construction on Highway 100. The service is always great and the food is well-​prepared. I’ve been here for banquets and private dinners. They have a very loyal clientele and a great separate bar room.

5−12−12 Excellent food and service! I needed a place for a luncheon for my mom’s 90^th birthday party, and everyone at Alioto’s was extremely accommodating. Initially we were told that we would have to be in the main dining room, but then I received a call that a private banquet room was available, and it was wonderful! I chose 4 entrees for our group — the filet mignon, breaded shrimp, chicken parmesan and breaded pork chops. Each entrée was delicious, served piping hot and the portions were very generous. The timing of the salad and entrees was perfect, and they even cut the cake that I brought in. I wish I knew our waitress’ name, because she was extremely friendly and competent, as were all of the wait staff that helped with our event. The total cost was only $ 16 per person, and this included salad, bread, the main entrée, and choice of coffee, hot or iced tea, or milk. The $ 16 per person cost included tax and gratuity as well! Everything was awesome and my mom will have very fond memories of her 90^th birthday! We have also gone there numerous times for the fish fry or just regular meals. Every time the food and service have been exceptional. The bar also serves a «blended» amaretto stone sour (my favorite drink) which is hard to find anywhere else. Outstanding in every way — Highly Recommended!

My husband and I originally set out for red lobster on sweetest day 2011, but refused to sit out a 1 ½ hour wait, So a friend suggested that we try Aliotos because they had seafood selections on the menu. Thank God we did!
I ordered a seafood sampler tray which included a lobster tail, shrimp scampi, fish filet, scallops, and king crab legs, Yummy! The meal was accompanied by drawn garlic butter heated with a continuos flame, choice of potato, soup, and salad. for $ 30. this was a steal! I could not finish this large portion so I brought it home for a late night snack!
My husband ordered the duck which we were amazed by the large portion size (a whole half of a duck) with the same accompaniments that I was served. He also raved about the flavors. His meal was $ 15.95.
The service was fast, friendly and warm. Our waitress was attentive, yet not overbearing. We equally enjoyed our dining experience at Aliotos and will be returning for a repeat order!

If you are a grandson, this is where you go to eat with your grandparents. And you’ll be happy, trust me.
I have been coming here for years with both sets of my grandparents. I’m down to just my 98 year old grandma now, and this is where we go about every 2 – 3 months.
The waitress remembers us each time, include that my grandmother is blind and won’t need a menu, and that she’s diabetic so will need soup right away. We are always impressed.
The food is great! It has an old-​time supper club feel almost. Every time i go i get the Steak Romano which is amazing. comes with soup and a salad and a pasta side. my lord that’s enough food for me to eat!
There are always banquettes going on int he other rooms, I’ve only been in the main dining room which is filled with Christmas lights, white table cloths and candles at each table.
I feel like I’m the youngest person by 30 years when i look around the dining room.
But to be honest, what makes this place so great for me is that i get to spend time with my 98 year old grandmother and talk to her about the many stories she has about her life. Not to mention she’s a Brewers fanatic, so we spend time breaking down the season.

I’m pretty confident I got the best service I’ve ever received in Milwaukee at Alioto’s last night. We were originally planning on dining at Maggiano’s Little Italy, but the 45 minute wait for a table was a little longer than we were willing to deal with.
We were seated immediately at Alioto’s. Our waitress was incredibly friendly and somewhat telepathic… I had things before I realized I actually wanted them. Strange, but incredibly nice.
We snacked on some mozzarella logs before our meal… pretty good stuff. Our French onion soup was tasty without being overwhelming where sodium was concerned. My roommate has his 3^rd martini ordered before dinner arrived, so I’m pretty sure he approved. Salads were… well…salads nothing special about them to mention.
I had the cheese ravs, which were nothing to write home about. Same can be said for the red sauce, edible but nothing special. The meatballs were something worth mentioning though… so damned good. Moist and incredibly tasty! I followed my dinner with a cup o’ joe and bowl of spumoni. Both exactly what I hoped to receive.
Alioto’s was an extremely pleasant experience. It’s not a place you’re going to bring a date to, nor is it a place to celebrate a special event. What it is though is a nice little supper club that serves a decent meal and leaves you feeling like your money was well spent.

This seems the place to go for after funeral banquets. They do a very good job at this and I wouldn’t hesitate to use their services for such an occasion.
We stopped by here for lunch recently and everyone had very good meals. Parmesan Chicken, Fried Perch, Fried Cod, Chicken Cob Salad, Fish Sandwich and two soups. All five meals with coffee came to 65.00.
The tables all have white tablecloths and crystal drinking glasses so it may look a little more formal and also old fashioned that what many people are used to. But don’t let that scare you away. This restaurant has good food, good service, good atmosphere and appropriate prices. They make their own salad dressings and it shows in their dressing’s excellent flavors. I didn’t ask but it would surprise me if they didn’t make their own soup which was of good construction and delicious.
The portion sizes were quite good. The Cob Salad was quite large. Though the perch was done very well I have had more flavorful perch in the past.

This is yet another long-​time stand-​by for my husband’s Italian-​American family. He says he’s been to the Alioto restaurant after every family funeral; their facility includes several banquet halls. But the way we use/​know them is for their Friday fish fry. We’ve had it for take-​out a couple of times, and for the money, you can’t beat the amount of food they cram into the styrofoam to-​go box. They include quite a few chunks of lightly battered cod and a huge portion of fries in the box, as well as a separate small container of very fresh coleslaw. It’s an impressive amount of food, which, despite the fact that they don’t take phone orders is worth the few minutes’ wait by their front entry.