Tosa Village Began as a Sawmill on the Menomonee

Cross the pedestrian bridge at dusk and the Village looks its best. Tosa Village is the historic heart of Wauwatosa, one of the city's five districts, with its restaurants, small shops and parks clustered along the Menomonee River. Its center is the meeting of Harwood Avenue, State Street and Wauwatosa Avenue, and the restaurants, chocolate shop and market lot in this guide all sit within about 0.1 miles of one another.

How a sawmill became Tosa Village

Tosa Village started as Hart's Mills in the 1830s, when Charles Hart built a sawmill on the river and then Milwaukee County's first grist mill. Discover Wauwatosa tells the same story, describing 17 settlers who built the sawmill to turn hardwood trees into homes. In 2018 Milwaukee Magazine traced the Dittmar Building to 1897 and the Hemsing Building, now Cafe Hollander, to 1910, two of the old buildings still in use.

For the full story, the Wauwatosa Historical Society publishes a self-guided walking tour of historic sites in the Village. Its home, the Kneeland-Walker House on Hillcrest Drive, is about half a mile north of the market lot.

Milwaukee Magazine's 2018 history of the Village also names a general store from the 1890s settlement that later became Lefeber's Department Store, and Niemann's Candies, which opened in Milwaukee in 1919 and moved to the Village in the 1930s. Milwaukee Magazine's March 2018 insider's guide said a three-year beautification project had already brought fairy lights, a brick pedestrian plaza and firefly-inspired signs, a nod to the city's name.

Where to eat in Tosa Village

Two restaurants anchor the Village, and both are worth booking ahead on a weekend.

Buckatabon appears in the regional Milwaukee supper clubs guide and Bartolotta in the Milwaukee fine dining guide. The Village also has Mexican at Jose's Blue Sombrero, French pastry at Le Reve Patisserie & Cafe, and soup flights at Loup Soups, none of them on Local Eyes yet.

Ristorante Bartolotta also has an outdoor terrace, La Terrazza, and Discover Wauwatosa recalls that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel gave it four stars when it opened. Buckatabon keeps the longer hours of the two: its website lists 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. from Monday to Thursday, and until 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Its bar pours a house Buckatabon Brandy, which matters in a state where the brandy Old Fashioned is the default cocktail. For a smaller plate, the Village guide from Discover Wauwatosa adds R&R Poke, Kin by Rice N Roll and the small plates at Lucky Joe's.

Chocolate and sweets

Tabal's website lists late opening, to 7 p.m., from Thursday to Saturday and shorter days early in the week, but the times differ between its header and footer, so call ahead on a Monday.

Tabal also runs a Tea 101 class with Rishi Tea & Botanicals and a chocolate and cocktail tasting with Dancing Goat Distillery. Its blog posts from March 2026 cover a sourcing trip to Peru the previous fall, which is where some of the single-origin bars start. For pastry, Discover Wauwatosa points to Le Reve Patisserie & Cafe and Black Twig Bakery, both in the Village.

The Saturday market and coffee

From June to late October, Saturday mornings in the Village belong to the Tosa Farmers Market, in the Hart Mills lot at 7720 Harwood Avenue from 8 a.m. to noon.

For coffee, Vendetta Coffee Bar at 7613 West State Street leans Italian, with espresso and imported pastries. Stone Creek Coffee's Harwood cafe at 7954 Harwood Avenue sits between the Village and the hospital campus and opens at 6 a.m. on weekdays. Beyond these two, the North Avenue coffee shops are about a mile north.

Shops and a hot yoga class

Discover Wauwatosa's Village guide names women's boutiques Salamander and Shop Privy, The Flannel Fox, Magpie Jewelry & Metal Studio, The Flower Lady for plants and gifts, and Heinsight Leather, which it calls the oldest shop in the Village. None of these are on Local Eyes yet, so check their own pages for hours before a trip built around them.

For something active, Get Hot Yoga teaches vinyasa and power yoga upstairs at 1417 North Wauwatosa Avenue, in a room heated to between 85 and 95 degrees with infrared heat. It is about a block north of the market lot.

Arte Wine & Painting Studio runs paint-and-sip classes for all ages and skill levels, according to the Village guide.

Parks along the river

Hart Park, the Oak Leaf Trail and the Menomonee River Parkway all run close to the Village, and Discover Wauwatosa suggests them for walking, running and biking. A loop along the river path is a good way to finish an evening here.

Small parks and seasonal events

In 2018 Milwaukee Magazine described two small parks at Harwood and Wauwatosa Avenues: a pocket park that hosted the Village's tree lighting, and Root Common Park, with a World War I memorial and a summer concert series called The Root Series. The same article mentioned a September Tosa Village Harvest Festival run by the Village business improvement district. Event schedules change from year to year, so check the Village business district's own pages for this season's dates.

Cafe Hollander, in the 1910 Hemsing Building, and Buckatabon both serve full brunch, according to Discover Wauwatosa, which makes the Village a weekend-morning destination as much as a dinner one.

Parking in the Village

Milwaukee Magazine counted more than 500 free public parking spaces in the Village in 2018, including eight public lots, with free street parking limited to two or three hours. That count is from 2018, so treat the signs on the day as the rule. For the rest of the city, from golf to the zoo next door, see these things to do in Wauwatosa.