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Walking through the large wooden door entrance, the aroma inside of Pizza Man, 2597 N. Downer Ave., is so intoxicating it can make your stomach quiver. This smell of Italian bliss, of course, stays with you throughout your visit.

On a recent visit, business was most certainly the opposite of disastrously slow. The clinking of glasses and mixed chatter filled the dining area where diners indulged in delicious specialty pizza and other delectable Italian cuisine from pasta to chicken parmesan.

I made my way past the bar where diners conversed and sipped on wine and beer. It may have been because the sun was going back into its slumber for the night.

Near the bar stood Tony Menzel, a waiter who has worked at Pizza Man since it re-opened in the summer of 2013 following a devastating fire at its previous location on Oakland and North Avenues.

Menzel took a short breather between helping hungry diners, and then checked on a table of four, who were digging into their large white pizza as if they were predators feeding on their prey.

When asked what he likes about his job, he said he enjoys it because he’s good while under pressure, a skill that’s important in the restaurant industry.

"I actually work better when it’s busy," Menzel said. "I mess up a little more when it’s slow. The main reason people can’t deal working at a restaurant is because it gets busy. It's hectic."

Menzel, who is studying microbiology at UW-Milwaukee, calls the time of falling victim to the busy atmosphere of the restaurant "stuck in the weeds," a term exclusively used within the restaurant.

"It just basically means that when you’re in trouble, or when you set three tables at a time so when you can’t get to them all at the same time, so you just get really busy and you start to get flustered," Menzel said. "That’s when you say when you’re in the weeds."

His calmness working an otherwise high-pressure job in the restaurant is one that is commented on a lot, especially by his co-workers, who Menzel jokingly nods are not as calm as he is.

"I think that’s the reason why the head chef likes me," Menzel joked. "He doesn’t like a lot of people, but he likes me."

Menzel said that he and his co-workers almost speak in their own special language.

"There are a lot of things we say in the restaurant, like a two-top table is a ‘deuce,’" Menzel explained. "I don’t think a lot of people have heard that before. ‘86’ means it’s out or there’s no more left. So when I say ‘86’ on merlot, then we don’t have any more merlot wine left, even though that’d never happen (merlot is the most popular wine on the menu, according to Menzel). ‘87’ means that we’re almost out."

It’s been a little over a year since he started at Pizza Man, and since then, he has been promoted to team leader, a title that requires him to train new employees. It’s a job that doesn’t add any more stress to his workload, however.

When a new employee isn’t shadowing him, Menzel works hard to make sure customers’ drinks are full and that they’re satisfied with their meal and overall experience during their visit.

To ensure this, he puts on a straight face and gets into the zone when he walks through the front door before his shifts, which usually start off mellow but then rapidly picks up as the night goes on.

"It can get a little chaotic, especially on the first floor where it’s always busy," Menzel said. "Everyone usually crowds around the bar trying to get a drink or when they’re waiting for their tables."

If it’s an especially busy night, which is usually on weekends and Monday evenings, Menzel said that he’d have tables right away and work non-stop throughout the night.

"Mondays are mostly busy because of the deep-dish pizza that’s offered exclusively on Mondays," Menzel said. "Also, there’s half-price wine."

At the beginning of his shifts, he finds himself in a relaxed state of mind when working with various customers at any given time.

"If it’s busier, I usually have to change my routine a little bit," Menzel said. "I read my tables faster like if they need drinks. I’ll try to get the appetizers too. I want to usually rush those things along and get those out of the way to what I call the auto-pilot phase, which is where they’re waiting for food, and I don’t really have to do much."

In every restaurant, there are always stories to tell about customers and their strange requests. I asked Menzel if he could recall any in particular. Without hesitation, he said he’d hear about a weird allergy that confuses him.

"There’s also the gluten-free fad that’s going around right now," Menzel said. "A lot of people don’t know what gluten is completely. They’ll ask if a salad has gluten in it. It’s like, ‘Uh, there’s no bread in there. There’s no grain. There’s no gluten.’"

Besides the gluten-free salads, Pizza Man offers a slew of appetizers, specialty pizzas and Italian entrées.

The most popular appetizer among diners to snack on before the entrée is the calamari and French-fried eggplant, which is served with marinara and a parmesan cheese sauce.

When it comes to the specialty pizzas, the most devoured is the Pizza Man special, which is a deluxe pizza pie with sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, black olives and green peppers.

Menzel recommended the Topher as his favorite, a pie with mozzarella cheese, jalapenos, Uncle Vinny’s sausage and cream cheese.

"It’s a little spicy, but the cream cheese cools it down," Menzel said. "I didn’t really know what to think of cream cheese on a pizza until I first tried it, and then I was blown away. It’s pretty phenomenal."

When pizza is out of the question, the most-selected entrée is either chicken or eggplant parmesan. Menzel’s favorite, however, is the Marsala, which he describes as peppery and creamy at the same time.

Of course, Italian food cannot be fully enjoyed without a drink or two to go along with the meal. The most poured is the tap wine, which is a merlot that’s stored like beer in aluminum kegs.

As he walks over to a table to refill a customer’s drink, Menzel revealed what makes Pizza Man stand out in Milwaukee, a city in which has its fair selection of Italian cuisine.

"I personally think it’s our chef, actually," Menzel said. "He went to Italy for a couple of years, and I think he knows how to make Italian food well. Besides that, we also have a legacy. Pizza Man was around for 40 years almost before it burned down. People come in because they know the restaurant."

It’s a legacy that not even a fire can damage.

As for Menzel, he plans to stay a part of the legacy until he finishes school. Until then, he hopes not to get caught up in the weeds.