Accompanying the building boom of Downtown condos has been an explosion of bars, clubs and restaurants in Milwaukee. Shuttered storefronts and surface parking lots have given way to kitchens dishing up great food of all kinds.

Joe Bartolotta, Johnny Vassallo, Marc Bianchini and others have built small dining empires in the city thanks to this growth. And the real winners have been Milwaukeeans who love to dine out.

But, Vassallo recently closed Mo's Cucina and Moceans Downtown, and last year Bartolotta closed the Ristorante Bartolotta on Downer. Holiday House is gone, and so is Barossa. After more than a decade, Gil's closed, too.

For a long time now, some have been asking how long the condo boom can last. Maybe a better question is how long can the dining scene can continue to explode? And is the restaurant scene here already oversaturated?

"Very much so," says Ristorante Bartolotta chef Juan Urbieta. "Not only in fine dining, but at any dining level. It's a very hard thing; everyone has a right to make a living. But in this particular field (the service industry), Milwaukee is not yet large enough to support so many restaurants, the arrival of the chain restaurants popping up everywhere doesn't help, either."

While the Milwaukee Health Dept. records 1,372 licensed establishments in 2005-'06, as compared to 1,308 in 2001-'02 -- not a huge difference -- there is clearly the perception that the market is awash in extra place settings.

"The Milwaukee market, in my opinion, hit saturation point a year or two ago," says Mike Eitel, the man behind Trocadero, The Nomad and other local hotspots.

Perhaps the problem isn't so much the number of restaurants as the number of diners willing and able to spend money at them.

"The pie wasn't getting any bigger for several reasons -- access for suburbanites has been difficult due to Park East and Marquette Interchange construction, city population has not been growing at the same pace as restaurant openings, post 9/11, Bush economy suppressed spending, etc. -- and all the while, that pie was getting cut up into smaller and smaller slices making it incredibly difficult for most operators to turn a profit," says Eitel.

Eitel also points to the number of chain restaurants that have opened in the suburbs recently, saying that many of those surbanites without easy access (or the perception of easy access) have taken refuge in regional malls.

"Milwaukee has been lucky to have such a huge variety of independent restaurateurs, and hopefully the rash of closings will come to an end soon," he says. "(But) the huge influx of chains in the suburbs -- at Mayfair and Bayshore in particular -- has added another 2,000 seats to the already swollen glut of restaurant seating."

Ed Lump, president and CEO of the Wisconsin Restaurant Association, has also noticed the suburban growth.

"If you look at the suburbs," he says, "you have an expansion of very nice restaurants in the suburban communities and it might be (drawing away from city restaurants)."

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Posted by Winegirl on Sept. 14, 2007 at 8:08 p.m. (report)

This is an interesting piece because it echos what I've been thinking recently, after seeing restaurant after restaurant close. We live in Brookfield and spend about $ 12,000 a year on dining. So we aren't out 6 nights a week like some others. I commute downtown to work every day, and it's an hour door to door. Given that, we don't often return downtown in the evening due to the excessive drive times caused by the freeway reconstruction. The seemingly permanent closure of Wisconsin Avenue in front of the Midwest Express Center adds to the problem. We now pretty much stick to restaurants on the west side and in Waukesha County. There are plenty of great independent places on this side of town: Eddie Martini's, Ristorante Bartolotta, Jake's, Union House, Andrews, the Pines, Mr. B's, Red Circle Inn, Palmer's, Kurt's--even venerable east side places like Carini's and North Star American Bistro have opened locations in the western 'burbs. It's not just national chains out here. I am wondering if the long term effect of the freeway construction will be the permanent alteration of dining habits of folks on this side of town, since we have so many great alternatives.

Posted by DowntownRed on Sept. 9, 2007 at 11:25 a.m. (report)

Park East and the Marquette Interchange are being blamed for restaurant closures? So I am guessing Mo's incredibly bad service and mediocre food had nothing to do with it? As for the chain restaurants, if they don't have good service and a good product they will die just like everybody else. Bartolotta's on Downer closed because weekday traffic was slow, which is a problem facing a lot of restaurants. X/O in Chicago closed for the same reason. Don't blame the closings on the interchange or chain restaurants. Blame in on bad food/service and some owners thinking they can just open any restaurant because it's them.

Posted by OlderWiser on Sept. 7, 2007 at 9:22 a.m. (report)

Bravo Mr. Woland. I could not agree with you more. BTW, when did Holiday House close? Ate there twice with friends and while the food did not blow me away, I really loved the bar. We often stopped there for drinks before or after eating elsewhere...while I enjoy unusual menus, most of my companions prefer more traditional offerings.

Posted by curlyboy1978 on Sept. 6, 2007 at 12:03 p.m. (report)

This is not just a Milwaukee thing. I hope the influx of chains in the suburbs ends soon or else the area will look more like Denver or Columbus - one big shopping center.

Posted by Mr.Woland on Sept. 5, 2007 at 10:45 p.m. (report)

Ugh. How about writing with something other than anecdotal evidence from four extraordinarily biased parties? Places opening and closing isn't necessarily a sign of saturation, it may be a sign that locals, with more options, are now demanding more from their restaurants. Many oft he places you mention in the article that have closed simply weren't very good, or had poor locations. There isn't supposed to be anything easy about the restaurant business, and even if you do set up something successful, there's no guarantee it will stay that way. Old gives way to new, etc. In any event, it would be nice to read an OMC "feature" one of these days that has more behind it than an author providing a sounding board for his frustrated buddies. How about talking to some people who study this stuff? Some statistics?