Lisa’s on Oakland is Sweet

by

The never-ending “Milwaukee-style” pizza debate continues and today I chose Lisa’s on Oakland. I’m convinced favorites have a lot to do with proximity, but I have not been to Lisa’s enough for how much my friends talk about it. 

Lisa’s Pizzeria is a family-owned business that opened in 1960 and is highly regarded by Milwaukee pizza lovers. While sipping a glass of house red, I overheard some customers worried about a possible closure, but the waiter assured there’s no closing for the foreseeable future. Also, they’re hiring servers if anyone is looking to work at a locally beloved establishment. 

On vibe alone, Lisa’s has got it. It’s another business in an old house (as was noted by my friends who visited from Indianapolis) with dim lighting, aged carpet, and red walls—my absolute favorite kind of spot! And there’s TouchTunes on the wall which I had to restrain myself from using. The crowd was small when I was there, but I overheard the table next to me say, “this might be the best pizza ever!”

I wanted to order in a quintessentially Milwaukee way, so I went with the special pizza (sausage and mushrooms), adding onions and well done. Then I noticed mostaccioli on the menu and remembered a conversation I had recently had about how this might be a uniquely item menu prevalent around  Milwaukee. I don’t normally order pasta as an appetizer before pizza, but it’s all for the article, right?

Lisa’s sauce is noticeably sweet but not overly so. Personally, I like a little sweetness to my sauce but I’m really not discriminatory against red sauce. It’s something I crave often and have to forbid myself from having all the time. The pasta was a good holdover before the freshly baked pizza but there are also a number of fried foods and salads to have a more rounded-out meal. There are a lot of directions you can go on this menu that aren’t pizza: Friday fish fry, chicken dinner, and sandwiches galore. 

Then came the most special pizza. Unfortunately, I was alone (yet again) for this meal as I would have loved to go halfsies on the pie but a small one is better when committed to toppings throughout the whole pie. Mine was perfect. Just the right amount of toppings on each square and the best tiny triangle bites in the “corners.” The sausage is homemade and honestly some of the best I’ve ever had, for all the sausage lovers out there!

I would say I wish Lisa’s delivered but this kind of pizza is always best enjoyed in-house at the restaurant. But there was a lot of carry-out for the people who know what’s up. This is the kind of pizza you not only enjoy while eating, but you look forward to the leftovers, if there are any. I highly recommend an air fryer for leftovers of any kind, especially pizza. This spot is definitely in my top five of Milwaukee-style pizza along with some of the others I’ve covered previously. 

Tonight, I was killing time before getting a new tattoo at Valentine Electric) and couldn’t have been happier to land here. Sometimes I get stuck in the “Bay View bubble” but I’m really making a conserved effort to go back to the places I know and love and explore the new places popping up all over Milwaukee.