Maria’s Pizza closes, but is in talks with buyer

The founding family of Maria’s Pizza, one of Milwaukee’s oldest continually operating pizzerias, marked its last day at the restaurant June 26 amid a line of customers and the phone ringing off the hook with orders.

But the owner indicated the closing might be temporary, as the family is in talks with a buyer.

“It’s time for us to take a breath,” Bonnie Crivello said by phone. She owns it with her niece Maria Story.

“We have a lot of nice customers. We love them and everything else, but right now we want to rest,” she said, as phones rang nonstop in the background.

The restaurant’s dining room has been closed for the entirety of the pandemic; Maria’s has been open for takeout only, at reduced hours. As at many other businesses in the pandemic, finding workers has been a challenge, according to Crivello.

“It’s hard getting to people work for you,” she said. “It’s too much.”

Crivello indicated a potential buyer for the restaurant and its recipes is in the wings, so Maria’s might be closed only temporarily.

“We want somebody who knows how to do it,” she said.

Crivello is the daughter of founder Maria Traxel, who opened the restaurant in 1957 on Seventh Street near Greenfield Avenue. Story was born the same year the restaurant opened; her mother, Mickey Story, operated the restaurant with Crivello until Mickey Story’s passing in 2006.

Maria’s moved to Forest Home in 1971, taking its brick ovens and paintby-number religious art with it. It also continued its no-alcohol and cash-only policies on the southwest side.

Maria’s, known for its quirky decor, has had a devoted following for its rectangular, cracker-crust pizza. In the pandemic, it served an abbreviated menu because of the staffing crunch.

In the deluge of customers on Sunday, its last day, Maria’s Pizza ran out of dough and cheese around 6 p.m., about two hours ahead of its closing time. This, in spite of the handwritten sign on a cardboard pizza round that limited customers to two pizzas each. The restaurant also sold out of its T-shirts, as customers apparently wanted a souvenir that would last longer than dinner.

“We did very, very well” over the years, Crivello said. “We just want to rest now.”

MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL Customers wait in line Sunday, hoping to score a Maria's Pizza before the founding family closed the southwest side restaurant. A new buyer might take over the business, the daughter of the founder said.

/ MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL EBONY COX The large pizza from Maria's Pizza clocked in at 18 by 14 inches.