Pasta Tree

The atmosphere at Pasta Tree was just what I expected. The cozy little spot has a great exterior that has been a "want to try there" for a long ti... more

I visited here recently with friends. We had bad salmon, there was a hair in one of the dishes, and the service was beyond horrible. Never returning- and neither are any of the friends that attended either. more

Scheduled a party of 13 people and we had a terrific time. People were sitting on benches of 4 and some... more

Scheduled a party of 13 people and we had a terrific time. People were sitting on benches of 4 and some others in chairs which made it really cozy... more

We have been here 3 times in the past year and each time it is AMAZING food. Great service. Beautiful presentation. more

The food was incredible- even my girlfriend who is very picky about italian food- was stunned and pleased!! Our waitress- Bridgette-was awesome! We were very pleasantly surprised and will definitely return!!! Nice romantic,intimate atmosphere!! more

The Pasta Tree has been consistently great for twenty-plus years. Wonderful, simple pasta dishes, friendly and attentive service, all very reasonably priced. Nice intimate atmosphere too. Definitely recommended! more

We took a couple of friends there after having a good experience a few years ago. What a difference! The wait staff must have been hired yesterday. They all looked like they were stressed out, but were not moving very quickly. They just looked liked it was thier first day.\r We waited for our table at the bar, which had a big bowl of stinky cheese sitting on it, along with a bunch of glasses they must have pulled out of the dishwasher and never bothered to put away. They seemed annoyed there were people in the restaurant. \r My pasta was SWIMMING in sauce, and tasted bland and fatty. None of us are overweight, but half of my body and one of my legs was hanging into the aisle. \r Won't go back. more

My husband and I have been starting to try new places so we thought we would bring another couple and try this place out. (March 4, 2011) WORST MISTAKE EVER. Our reservation was for 4 of us at 7pm. We waited 10 minutes just to get someone to come to our table and take drink orders. Took about another 10 minutes to actually get our drinks. We placed our order and then waited 2 HOURS ( NO LIE) for our food to arrive. The waitress was horrible never checked on us, when we asked for more bread we were ignored. Another order of drinks took the same about of time. This whol experience was horrible. The staff is obviously not well trained. If I saw a table sitting there for 2 hours with no food i would at least apologize. Nope, nothing. The food was nothing to brag about, very bland, and NOT worth about 20 dollars a plate. I wish we could get our money back!! more

I just wanted to share this with all of you. This is the letter I just mailed to the restaurant. I think it sums up our absolutely terrible experience. To Whom It May Concern On Wednesday, December 29th, 2010, my fiance, James and I decided to eat at your restaurant. We had heard FABULOUS things about it. Great food, great service great wine...it sounded like a perfect date night. We had made reservations for 8pm for 4 people, however, our dinner guests had to cancel so it was just the two of us. We decided to arrive early and sit at the bar and enjoy a cocktail. We were seated at 7:30pm at a nice, cozy table next to the fireplace. Since we spent half an hour at the bar, we already knew what we wanted. Our waiter, who never told us his name otherwise I would provide it for you, took our order, dropped off some bread and left. We continued to sip our cocktails, wondering when the bottle of wine and beef carpaccio would arrive. Suddenly, it was 8:30. We had been sitting at our table for a complete hour. Our bread basket was empty, our water glasses were empty and our wine hadn't even been delivered. What could possibly be going on? We thought. Surely, our waiter should be returning with an explanation. Alas, our waiter never even once stopped back to our table. We heard from the guests at the table next to us that your computer system had crashed. Well, it would have been LOVELY if someone had told us that. It was have been even LOVELIER if our bottle of wine had been delivered. Surely, that does not involve a computer system. At least wine and bread would have kept us in your establishment while your computer problems were sorted out. But no, we were not even given the courtesy of a refilled glass of water! We decided to wait another five minutes because someone HAD to be coming over to provide an explanation or an apology. Nope. We never saw our waiter again. I mean, we SAW him, he walked past our table many many times. I even tried to flag him down but to no avail. We were completely and totally ignored. So, after an hour and ten minutes of sitting at our table completely unattended, James and I decided to leave. Surely, as we left, at least the host would provide an apology or an explanation. Certainly, as two visibly confused and upset patrons were leaving your establishment SOMEONE would say SOMETHING to us! But no, we walked out completely unnoticed. I shouldn't say completely unnoticed. One of your other patrons stopped us to assure us that the restaurant was never like that and the service was usually amazing. ONE OF YOUR PATRONS APOLOGIZED TO US FOR YOU. I certainly hope that you see how this is a serious problem. We were going out that evening to celebrate me graduating from nursing school and passing my boards. Unfortunately, our night to celebrate was ruined by our experience at your restaurant. The staff was rude and inattentive. And you may have excellent food and wine, but we never got to have any. For a restaurant that has won so many awards and has been named the most romantic restaurant, you sure did kill the mood that night. All someone had to do was come over and ACKNOWLEDGE our presence! At least say ""I'm so sorry, we are having technical difficulties"", bring our bottle of wine over, bring more bread, hell, at least refill the water glass. Will we attempt to dine at your establishment again? Your menu looked impressive and I was incredibly excited to try the un-oaked Italian Chardonnay but I don't really know if the promise of good food and good wine can get the incredibly bitter taste out of my mouth. Brittany Gusho more

Yesterday, Nov. 5, 2010, my husband called The Pasta Tree in Milwaukee, WI, to make a reservation for last night. He left a message with their answering machine with the time, number in party, etc. The answering machine said they would contact us if there was a problem. Our group of four arrived on time, 2 hours before our theater time. The first person we spoke with said we did not have a reservation if they had not confirmed it. There was nothing in the recorded message that said they would confirm it. The hostess arrived while I was reading the reservation sheet to see if our name was there. The hostess rudely grabbed the sheet out of my hand with no, ""May I have that please"". I again explained about our reservation. She reiterated that we did not have a confirmed reservation, and that they had been booked for days. I inquired as to why they didn't call us to let us know. She said something about their phones dying during the day, and so they couldn't call. I'm not sure how a land line dies, and most people have cell phones. As a last result, someone could have gone to a different location to make those calls. The hostess was not apologetic and came off as this was our fault. We have a gift coupon for The Pasta Tree, but won't return to use it. Luckily, Trocadero, a few blocks away, was most gracious about our dilemma. They served us quickly and graciously, and we got to the theater in time. more

The first time I visited the Pasta Tree I was very impressed. Then I took my Mom there for her birthday and... more

The first time I visited the Pasta Tree I was very impressed. Then I took my Mom there for her birthday and both of our dishes were just "ok" and ... more

I live in the Brady street area and have been to the Pasta Tree twice now. The first time was enjoyable, as I was seated in their small outside area and had a friendly waitress. My most recent experience lacked many of the things I would expect when eating at an upscale Italian restaurant. My fiance and I arrived around 9:00pm for a late Friday evening dinner and were seated at one of the two nice window tables. Throughout the meal I wouldn't consider our server bad, but maybe tired and a little unwelcoming. The atmosphere is generally fine, however around 9:30 the staff had their meals (normally I wouldn't care) and started socializing. It wasn't obnoxious, but definitely negated any ""romantic atmosphere"" that might have otherwise been present. The hostess also sat while wishing people a good night, which seemed tacky/lazy. We shared the caprese salad, which was interesting with pesto and balsamic, but nothing special. The bread seemed to lack some freshness. I ordered the smoked salmon with spinach noodles and would not order it again. In fact, the taste was moderately unappetizing and the sauce turned into a heavy mush about half way through. My fiance loved the shrimp with vegetable cream (5 very large shrimp) and says she would recommend it. Overall, for $18 a plate (average) the Pasta Tree is mediocre in my opinion. There are probably worse Italian places to have a nice meal in Milwaukee, but with the combination of ok service, hit-or-miss food, and a so-so atmosphere, this place is by no means going to wow you into raving about your experience. Pros: central location Cons: food just ok, little pricy more

After years of hearing about this place, my husband and I finally went to check it out. We went on my birthday, and were planning to see a movie afterword. Big mistake! We were seated promptly, but then the waiter didn't come to help us for nearly half an hour. When we finally flagged him down, he said that he thought another waitress was helping us. There was no other waitress in the entire section! They were out of everything that I wanted on the menu. I finally settled for some bland, tasteless ravioli. It took another half hour for us to get our food. The waiter was rude and couldn't have cared less that we were unhappy. We missed our movie, even though we were so anxious to get out of there we scarfed our food down. I was very disappointed because I've lived on the East Side for 10 years and always heard good things about it. We will never go there again!!! more

Enjoyed a lovely supper on a Tuesday evening. The food was fresh and well prepared. \r The Cioppino (House Specialty) was so large it could have fed two people. The prices compare to chain restaurants but not in quality. Pasta Tree's freshly prepared to order meals were super. The bread was the best we've had in a very long time. I ordered a scallop dinner and was in heaven. They melted in your mouth. My husband had the Cioppino and I have to admit the homemade pasta warms up very well as a leftover. There is also a very nice wine bar as you enter. The servers, Andrea and Mike, were great and very welcoming. Thanks for a great experience and hope to return soon. So if you read this - stop in, sit back and relax. You will have a great time. Pros: top notch food cooked to order. Cons: parking, but worth looking for a spot! more

We had to check out what all of the hoopla is regarding this restaurant. After eating there, my wife and I don't get it. The dining area is too small. The tables are too small and very unstable. The decor is something out of a bordello. The service was very bad. The food was adequate. For those of you who think this is the best restaurant in town - you need to get out more. Pros: nothing Cons: way too many to list. more

In town for the weekend from Minneapolis, we decided to dine here based on the recommendations from this site. Wish we hadn't. The restaurant, described as charming, reminded me of my grandmother's parlor. Walls are faux finish purple with vintage posters, two old couches against the wall serve as seating for several rocky tables. Plates are pink fiestaware, silverware is purposely mismatched. Normally would sound right up my alley but the result was more tired & dingy than charming & vintage. \r The other disappointment was the food. Lettuce leaves left wet made the creamy garlic dressing seem watery. My boyfriend ordered a house specialty- a pasta with a mix of seafood. He praised the quality of the seafood but complained that there was no flavor or seasonings (plus no salt & pepper on the tables). My pesto was very good, fresh & earthy but I was tired of the flavor after 5 bites. The one high point was the service-our waitress was great especially as we arrived 50 minutes before closing. Pros: service was good, seated 50 minutes before closing Cons: flavorless entree, tired decor more

I'm not sure where everyone else has gotten the idea that the food here is good. The salad looked like it had been prepared the day before- tons of brown, wilted lettuce that hadn't been properly dried. The tortellini wasn't bad, but the sauce (tomato-meat) was horrid. The meat hadn't been seasoned at all, and the sauce was so thin and watery there was a deep pool of standing liquid- much more and it would have looked like soup. Sure, the portions were very large, but if the food's not that good, why would you want so much of it? For $40 for two people (without any alcohol!), I expect much much better than this. Pros: Nice atmosphere Cons: Very overpriced, food not well prepared, mediocre service more

First of all the servers are great, know everything about the menus/wines and are extremely professional, the chef(s) (I heard it was one guy who cooks everyday) can make some AMAZING dishes, my fav is the smoked salmon with alfredo in spinnich noodles. The seating is close together but from what i have heard that is how it is in Italy. The atmosphere is outstanding and going to the Pasta Tree is just a great time all around. ****I saw some people mention this is a great place to take a date, I don't know if I would suggest this place for a first date, it may be too much and too romantic for at first date**** Pros: Everything Cons: Not sure there are any, is a bit pricey but well worth it more