Milton, Wisconsin. A small town about 25 minutes southeast from where we live in Stoughton. If I had to pick one word to describe Milton, it would be this: common.
Scott and I had planned to go to downtown Stoughton tonight to watch the canoe race that's part of the Syttende Mai celebration going on this weekend (a story for another time). The weather didn't cooperate. It has been extremely rainy (and cold!) today. They still had the canoe race; we just didn't go down to watch it. Instead, we decided to finally drive over to Milton and see what all the hype is about with the pizza at Georgio's.
As I mentioned, Milton is common. Looking at Georgio's on the outside, it's pretty darn common too.
And it's located in a pretty darn common area.
If I didn't know a little something ahead of time about Giorgio's, it's not the kind of place I would have just ventured into. (Hell, for that matter Milton isn't the kind of place I would have just ventured into.) In the absence of some knowledge about Georgio's, it wouldn't be nearly appealing enough on the outside to entice me to go in on a whim.
But, I did know something about it. I knew I read or heard somewhere that it's one of the top ten best pizza places in the country. And I knew reservations were recommended. If I read or heard about it somewhere and it's popular enough that reservations are recommended, that was enough for us to go ahead and go in.
Once inside, we realized at least part of the reason reservations are recommended is because the place is tiny. I think there were only a total of about 10 tables. We found it to be quaint and cozy, in spite of the fishing decor.
In the picture above, that fish looks like it's swimming right through the air in Georgio's. I'm not sure I get the Italian restaurant-fish decor concept, but whatever.
Scott and I had followed the recommendation and made a reservation. No fancy system here. The way your table is reserved is via your name and the time you'll arrive being written on an order form and set out on the table.
Scott and I each ordered a beer, which was kept in a cooler right out in the restaurant. Nothing like a good beer cooler. Of course this one also has "Green Bay Blvd" sign on it. It is Packer Country after all.
After ordering a couple brews, we perused the menu.
You'll notice on the top of the menu that Georgio's is voted the best pizza in Wisconsin. I could have sworn I read or heard somewhere that it was named one of the top ten pizza joints in the country. Oh well. Best in the country. Best in Wisconsin. Whatever. We were in Milton at Georgio's so we were going to see what it's all about.
We ordered a large, thin crust with pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms and easy on the black olives. It looked damn good when it arrived to the table.
The toppings weren't too heavy, which was good. I don't really care for pizzas that are overly loaded down with toppings. In this case, however, "easy on the black olives" apparently was interpreted as about 5 black olive slices on the whole pie. The other thing that we didn't like about the toppings was the fact that the mushrooms came from a can. We definitely prefer fresh mushrooms on our pizza.
Overall, we liked the pizza well enough, but neither Scott nor I would call it the "best" of anything. Good, for sure. But not the "best" of anything. Honestly, there are a number of places in Columbus that I think have much better pizza. Planks. Rotolo's. Sparano's. Iacono's. To name a few.
I remember my friend, Stefanie, said that after she left Columbus and moved to Florida she could no longer find good wings or pizza; she had to come back to Columbus for that. Since moving to Wisconsin, I've come to understand what she meant.
But, back to the subject at hand: Georgio's. Apparently there is a main dude in the back who makes the pies. I sneaked a shot of him.
Could that be Georgio? My guess is that it's George. AKA Georgio, because that sounds more Italian.
Our server pointed out that Georgio's is known for their cheesecake. They have a different variety every week made by the owner, who she pointed to as one of the women in the restaurant waiting tables. A neon Bud Light sign in the restaurant highlighted this weeks selection. $6.50 of a slice of classic New York style cheesecake with strawberries.
Sounded too good to pass up, so we ordered a slice to share.
We weren't impressed. It was uninspiring at best. Not much flavor. Downright bland. Nothing special at all. Of course that didn't stop us from eating it. All of it.
So that was our big Friday night out in Milton, Wisconsin at Georgio's pizza. Was it more grand and more exciting than watching the canoe race for the Syttende Mai celebration? Hard to say. Pizza in Milton. Canoe racein Stoughton. Either way, we're really livin' on the edge here.
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