Barbiere’s Offers Good Italian Comfort Food

Barbiere’s Italian Inn. Photo by Cari Taylor-Carlson.

You know you are in a restaurant where comfort food is on the menu as soon as your eyes adjust to the dimly lit dining room in this small Italian restaurant on W. Bluemound Rd. When you come for lunch or dinner you will discover it is also the home of the “Snack.”

The original Barbiere’s Italian Inn opened in 1963 at 106th and Bluemound where Sal Barbiere served his basic Italian dinners made with the best ingredients and a lot of love. Ten years later he moved the restaurant to 5844 W. Bluemound Rd., and that is where friends and I enjoyed two delicious lunches in December.

It is easy to miss Barbiere’s from Bluemound with its bland brick façade, but, come inside and you step into a dining room with a distinctive retro atmosphere: Dark wood, arched doorways, stucco walls, beamed ceilings, and red Naugahyde benches in the booths took friends and I back to the 60s and the anticipation of some classic Italian fare.

We were not disappointed. I will start with the Garlic Bread which was extraordinary and in our combined opinions, perhaps the best garlic bread in Milwaukee. Here is the reason why: It has heft, so when you pick it up you might say as my companion did, “I think it’s going to be like eating a brick.” Instead, it was light, buttery, and had just enough garlic. When we asked our server about the bread she said, “We make all the bread here and that’s why it’s light and fluffy in the middle.” We also learned that they use the same dough for the pizza, a favorite with many of the regulars, our server said.

You can order a regular or a deep-dish pizza and for the gluten-intolerant, there is an eleven-inch gluten-free crust for an additional charge. They offer a very long list of toppings, 21 to be exact, and that list includes Alfredo Sauce, Canned or Fresh Mushrooms, and Barbiere’s Italian Sausage.

My companion’s Pizza with Italian Sausage, green pepper, onion, and fresh mushrooms had a thick, chewy crust. The eight-inch size was loaded with cheese and toppings and added up to more than a generous meal for one.

The Chicken Tetrazzini, a dish seldom seen on local menus, was essentially Alfredo Sauce loaded with shredded chicken and served over spaghetti. This is a dish created by home cooks to make a meal from leftover chicken or Thanksgiving turkey. At Barbiere’s the tetrazzini was rich, creamy, and included a few mushrooms. To guarantee you leave with a full belly, it came with a piece of the garlic bread. If you order the dinner portion of the Tetrazzini or any of the other lunch and dinner entrees, you will also be served Minestrone Soup, Antipasto Salad, two pieces of Garlic Bread, and Spumoni. This dinner extravaganza will set you back $15.00!

You can order Lasagna two ways, veggie with cheese and fresh mushrooms or the regular with the addition of their delicious rich Meat Sauce. Both were tasty and the $10.00 lunch portion was more than enough with the addition of that Garlic Bread.

There is also something unique on the menu which they label simply “Snack.” A snack it is not. It was more like a full meal after my companion added melted cheese to two meatballs swimming in marinara sauce, the slab of Garlic Bread, and the small Antipasto Salad. This was a good way to sample without a full order of Meatballs or Salad thus it qualifies as a “snack.” For this meal in a bowl, they charge a mere $10.00

For the Meatball Sandwich, they slice the meatballs, layer the slices on an Italian roll, smother them with Meat Sauce, and if that is not enough, they add mozzarella, lots of mozzarella, and run the creation under the broiler. If you neglected to read the “open-faced” part of the description, you would be surprised. It was a knife and fork sandwich and memorable down to the last crisp edge of the melted cheese.

They do not make fancy food at Barbiere’s and they limit the menu to the basics. In addition to Chicken Tetrazzini, they offer Chicken Cacciatore, or chicken simmered in red sauce, Cheese-Filled Ravioli with a choice of sauces, an Italian Sausage Sandwich, and of course, dessert. You can order Spumoni, house made Tiramisu, or house made Cannoli.

They also offer party pans that include Lasagna or assorted varieties of pasta with a choice of five sauces, and again, more Garlic Bread.

Barbiere’s is the place to visit when you want Italian food the way Grandma made it. It is comfort food at its best, with no frills, tasty generous servings and home-cooked recipes from the Barbiere family.

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• Location: 5844 W. Bluemound  Rd.
• Phone: 414-453-3800
• Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 pm. Mon-Sun
• Website: https://barbieresitalianinn.com
• UM Rating: 4.15 stars (average of Yelp, Trip Advisor and Zomato)