When I first started as the Journal Sentinel’s dining critic in June, I was relieved when my predecessor, Carol Deptolla, graciously offered advice about how to approach this all-important role. Of the many mental notes I took during our conversation, the one that stood out the most was the importance of visiting certain places multiple times to gain a fair perspective from all angles. “Even the best restaurants can have an off night,” she told me. 

Her words reverberated through my mind as I stepped in the elevator at The Trade Hotel and pressed the button for the ninth floor to visit the restaurant there for the third time in eight weeks. 

This is a place that is impossible to wrap your head around in one visit alone. 

Il Cervo, an upscale modern-Italian restaurant, opened on the rooftop level of the Trade Hotel, 420 W. Juneau Ave., in May. Its name means “the deer” in Italian, a play on the type of food served there and a nod to the beloved basketball team that plays across the street at Fiserv Forum. 

Il Cervo is the first Milwaukee location operated by the Food Fight Restaurant Group, which owns more than a dozen Madison-area restaurants, including Johnny Delmonico’s, Cento Ristorante and Cooper’s Tavern. 

With its prime location and picturesque patio boasting one of the best new views in the city, the restaurant created a lot of buzz from the start. It was one of the first I visited after that conversation with Carol. 

Boy, am I glad I took her advice. My first visit was spectacular, with warm and attentive service and a palpable buzz in the air. I took the server’s recommendations from the new menu and was treated to some stellar dishes.

My second trip, however, was entirely different, complete with water glasses that sat empty for nearly half the dinner and a truly confounding moment when a staff member offered to box up our entrees just minutes after they were served.

My third visit landed somewhere in the middle. It was perfectly pleasant, but I’ve had more memorable meals at Milwaukee-area Italian restaurants with a much lower price tag. 

So I’ve been a little confused as to how to approach this review. I’ve had excellent dishes that still stick with me months later, and I’ve had ones I only wanted a bite of. I’ve been enamored by the atmosphere and felt totally put off by it. I’ve felt pampered and passed over. 

Il Cervo has all the ingredients to be a beacon of Milwaukee’s downtown dining scene, it just needs a little finessing to rise above the view that brings people there in the first place. 

Multiple spaces for dining, drinking and socializing 

Il Cervo takes up the entire ninth floor of The Trade, with a variety of seating areas and different dining experiences to go with them. It feels like a place to see and be seen, with an open floor plan that morphs from refined restaurant to slinky lounge to rooftop nightspot. 

The main dining room is a sleek beauty, highlighted by teal and light wood accents with clean lines and modern design — elegant but not stuffy. A hybrid seating system includes full dining tables, a long banquette and luxe wraparound booths.

South-facing windows give diners a view of the adjacent Deer District and the downtown skyline, and on the other side of the room, the open-air kitchen offers bustling action that adds vibrancy to the otherwise relaxed atmosphere of the dining room. 

The bar-adjacent four-seasons room is also referred to as “the fishbowl.” As the name implies, it’s a glass-enclosed space with floor-to-ceiling windows that can open to the adjoining patio in warmer months. It has the same menu as in the dining room but served in a more casual setting. Think less fancy restaurant, more sports bar, complete with the wall-mounted TV.  

While seated in the fishbowl on one visit, I had to strain to hear my server and my dining companions over the echo of other diners’ conversations around me. The space is best suited for more casual get-togethers or larger parties that don’t mind higher decibels as they dine. Grabbing dinner before a Bucks game? This is your spot. 

Il Cervo’s brightest attraction is its wrap-around patio. With seating for around 60, including a casual outdoor lounge and fire table, it’s a primo spot to snag a glimmering view of the city while sipping cocktails or grabbing a late-night bite, and serves as a dreamy backdrop for date-night selfies.

A menu made for a crowd 

It takes some time to study Il Cervo’s dinner menu, which has eight categories: pane (bread), mozzarella a mano (hand-pulled mozzarella), spuntini (appetizers), insalate (salads), sourdough pizza, pasta, piatti (entrees) and contorni (sides). 

A large menu means there are options for everyone: Pizza for friends on a casual night out, shareable appetizers for a late-night nibble or quick nosh before a concert, accessible pastas for the picky, and hearty entrees for chops, chicken and steak lovers. 

But the menu is so extensive it can be tricky to navigate. I love options, but with 16 starters, seven pizzas, nine pastas, seven entrees and six sides, it’s difficult to know where to begin, and how much to order to build a balanced meal. A little streamlining is in order — first, to cut down on confusion, and second, to focus on the dishes the restaurant gets right. 

A sizeable selection of starters 

Il Cervo taps local baker Rocket Baby for their fluffy sourdough and cranberry walnut breads, but it’s the roasted garlic focaccia that stands out in the bread category. Oil-brushed slices of thick-but-airy focaccia are shingled over a velvety mascarpone fontina fondue sauce studded with soft, roasted garlic cloves. Yes, it’s a heavy way to start your meal, but I dare you to drag those bread slices through the fondue, take a bite and tell me it was a mistake.  

Hand-pulled mozzarellas are a specialty here, with four varieties made in-house. You’ll find comfort in the polenta tempura mozzarella, a high-style wink at classic deep-fried curds, battered with a light tempura and served over sweet macerated plums and apricots. 

But my top pick is the burrata-style Calabrian chili crisp mozzarella: a cool and creamy ball of burrata chilling on a pool of crunchy, mildly spicy chili crisp made with dried Calabrian peppers. It’s like an all-in-one cheese plate, complete with a crown of salami, made for crafting the perfect bite when paired with a side of rosemary sea salt focaccia. 

The starters listed under the spuntini category could be meals in themselves: large portions and a sweeping variety from fried olives with Lake Michigan white fish dip to crisped artichokes with lemon aioli to steak tartare. They’re more like small plates, and if your game plan is to share plates with your pals, this is where you should focus.  

If you do, go for the grilled octopus ($19), which comes charred and tender served over a bed of crisp chickpeas with preserved tomatoes and pickled fennel that add just the right amount of acid to balance the smoky flavor. The dry-aged meatballs ($18) are another good bet, supple and savory with a light coating of peppy marinara. 

The Medjool dates ($21) seem like a fun splurge, but they’re not so fun to slice into. Four large dates come stuffed with Italian sausage, wrapped in bacon and swimming in a rich piquillo pepper sauce. They’re big balls of excess — too dry, too sweet, too salty. Too much. 

Fresh-made pastas and slow-rise sourdough pizzas 

One of the first things you see at Il Cervo are the racks of fresh-made noodles drying in the window behind the host stand. It’s a first impression that puts the restaurant’s pasta in the spotlight, and the pasta is made beautifully, rolled and extracted into elegant shapes made to complement their respective sauces. 

The creste de gallo ($30) is a mushroom-lover’s dream, with meaty royal trumpet, hen of the woods, oyster mushrooms and shaved black summer truffles mingling with short, ruffled noodles in a creamy pecorino cheese sauce. It’s a rich dish, but the graceful addition of bright and crisp-tender stalks of asparagus lends a little lightness. 

The mafaldi ($30) is a standout, too. Like a deconstructed lasagna, it’s made with long, frilly-edged ribbons of pasta dressed in a saucy dry-aged beef bolognese that tastes like it came from Nonna’s kitchen. Creamy dollops of whole-milk ricotta cut the deep flavor of the beefy sauce. 

But not all the pastas hit the same highs. I so wanted to love the squid ink gnocchi with lobster and cream sauce ($33) but was let down by the oil-slick sauce that slipped off the soft gnocchi. And though the shrimp in the conchiglie alla vodka ($29) was perfectly plump and tender, it wasn’t enough to elevate the mild vodka sauce. These aren’t bad dishes, but with a price tag hovering around $30, I want to be wowed.  

There are seven pizzas on the menu, all made with sourdough starters from Rocket Baby. The 13-inch pies ($22-$28) are baked in a massive gas-fired pizza oven heated to 600 degrees, churning out chewy crusts with bubbly, lightly torched edges. The crust is sturdy, if slightly bland, but it’s a solid base for the bevy of toppings that get piled on top, which is where Il Cervo’s pizzas shine.

The calabrese salami is loaded with alto adige speck — a type of dry-cured ham — and gets an extra kick from a tangy, spicy, house-made giardiniera. Vegetarian options go beyond typical peppers and onions, too, with a squash blossom pizza scattered with crunchy pepitas and deliciously creamy dollops of stracciatella cheese.

Elevated entrees round out the menu 

You’ll find all the usual suspects on the entree portion: fish, pork chops, chicken and steak (including a 36-ounce prime rib porterhouse for $110). The whole branzino ($48) is a welcome lighter addition to the menu, crispy on the outside and stuffed with fresh lemon and dill.  

There’s a modern spin on chicken parmesan ($27), too, pounded thin while still maintaining a juiciness inside. You can order it hot or spicy, and if you go hot, it packs a surprising amount of heat. The risotto it’s served with, however, could stand to be pepped up by more seasoning. 

Wine, beer and cocktails abound 

The bevy of choices continues at Il Cervo’s bar, which hosts a collection of more than 100 wines, mostly Italian varietals. Purchase by the bottle or choose from more than 20 by the glass. The restaurant’s short beer list includes drafts, bottles and cans from Wisconsin breweries like Eagle Park, New Glarus, Third Space and Raised Grain. 

The cocktail list has plenty to please, too. There are three types of negroni, four bright and bubbly Venetian spritzes and two espresso martinis, along with cocktail classics like the Paper Plane, Paloma and Black Manhattan.  

Il Cervo’s signature cocktails are playful and inventive, like the pink and puckery The Way Home ($15), which blends bitter Campari with grapefruit, lime, Twisted Path chai liqueur and Batavia Arrack, an Indonesian rum variant made from sugar cane and fermented red rice. If you’re drawn to warmer flavors, go for the Scorch the Earth ($16), a mezcal-forward drink with a fiery heat from Bittermens Hellfire Habanero Shrub. 

The takeaway 

There’s a built-in audience for Il Cervo with the folks who flock to the Fiserv Forum — not to mention the guests staying at The Trade. But the restaurant needs to strive for consistency in order to bring back repeat customers. 

Everything’s almost there: A glam look, killer patio, fun cocktails and a menu that has the potential to wow. With minor edits and a touch more attention to detail, Il Cervo has what it takes to become the next great Deer District resident to cheer for. 

What to know about Il Cervo 

Address: 420 W. Juneau Ave. 

More information: (414) 279-6660, ilcervorestaurant.com 

Fare: Modern Italian 

Atmosphere: Modern and elegant but relaxed 

Hours: Dinner daily from 4 p.m. to midnight; late-night menu from 10:30 p.m. to close nightly; weekend brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday 

Prices: Small plates, $14 to $28; salads, 13 to $18; pastas, $28 to $33; pizzas, $22 to $28; sides, $8 to $12; entrees $27 to $110; desserts, $8 to $12 

Wheelchair access: Yes, from hotel lobby 

Parking: Available at the 5th Street Parking Ramp adjacent to The Trade Hotel; street parking available  

Reservations: Recommended online, walk-ins available  

Rachel Bernhard joined the Journal Sentinel as dining critic in June 2023. She’s been busy exploring the Milwaukee-area food scene to share her favorite finds with readers along the way. Like all Journal Sentinel reporters, she buys all meals, accepts no gifts and is independent of all establishments she covers.   

What should she cover next? Contact her at[email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @rachelbernhard or on Instagram at @rach.eats.mke.