Pizza Man cannot catch a break. It’s been close to a year since the East Side pizzeria reopened on Downer Avenue. At Pizza Man’s pre-pandemic height, under previous owners, it had two additional locations – Tosa and Oak Creek. The one in the O.C. closed in late December 2020. Now the Tosa location (11500 W. Burleigh St.) is closing, per a press release from “Pizza Man Management.”
The closure will be permanent and effective Aug. 25, according to the release, which attributes the closing to “unsuccessful negotiations with the landlord regarding a lease extension.” The release adds this is “in addition to the present economical difficulties the restaurant industry endures.” Pizza Man has operated its restaurant inside the Mayfair Collection since 2015.
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“We are heartbroken to close our Wauwatosa location,” the press release continues, “but we are immensely grateful for the incredible support we’ve received here. Despite our efforts to extend the lease, we could not reach an agreement that supported our vision moving forward.”
For the week leading up to the closing (Aug. 19-24), Pizza Man Tosa will offer daily specials. Diners can check Pizza Man’s Instagram and Facebook pages for details on what are “designed to celebrate the community’s support over the years.”
The Downer location will now be the only spot to get a Pizza Man fix. Before it re-opened (September 2024), new co-owner Krys Zielinski told me his goal was to bring Pizza Man “back to what it used to be.”
Three years after the 2010 arson fire that destroyed the original restaurant on North Avenue, it reopened at 2597 N. Downer Ave. In 2023, by then under different owners, Pizza Man left Downer for a space in Riverwest (the former Stubby’s Gastropub), which closed a year later.
Before the most recent Downer reopening, Zielinski told me he wasn’t able to get the original recipes from the previous owner. They had to recreate them.
Pizza Man has such a long history in Milwaukee – the first, the original North Avenue restaurant opened in 1970. It’s up to Downer alone to carry it forward.
