Voted ''Favorite Italian Restaurant'' by Isthmus & Madison Magazine readers, Lombardino's Restaurant & Bar features authentic Italian cuisine, local raised produce & meats and a friendly neighborhood atmosphere.

Lombardino’s Restaurant was originally located on State Street in Madison, Wisconsin. Matteo Lombardino moved his operation to our current location in 1952. Here on University Avenue, Matt opened a spaghetti house with décor that was imported from Italy. Much of the original design and kitsch of the 1950’s remains in the restaurant today.

In the 1970s, Lombardino’s was sold to the Maglio family. The Maglios carried on the tradition of Lombardino’s as a classic Italian-American red sauce joint. For a short stint in the 1990s, the Viviani family owned Lombardino’s.

It wasn’t until the year 2000 that Lombardino’s would come to life under the construct of the modern Italian restaurant by combining the best of Wisconsin with the excellence of Italy. Chef Patrick O’Halloran imagined a restaurant that respected Lombardino’s as the Madison institution that it had become, but sought to breathe new life into its menus with a more authentic Italian experience.

I describe our cuisine as the way Italians would cook if they lived in the midwest. To me, this means we combine locally-sourced ingredients from Wisconsin’s rich farm culture with Italian food traditions, new and old, to create one-of-a-kind menus that showcases the best of both cultures.

Buon Appetito!
--Michael Banas, Fifth Generation Owner

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