After more than a year of delayed timelines, Lebnani House has a firm date for its Shorewood debut: the Lebanese and Mediterranean restaurant will open at 4185 N. Oakland Ave. on Wednesday, with a soft opening running from noon to 10 p.m.
The announcement, reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, confirms the opening comes well after earlier projections. Those projections had pointed to spring 2026 or, per a later estimate, late spring to early summer — timelines that have now clearly slipped by several months. Once the soft opening wraps, Lebnani House plans to settle into regular hours of 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, the same report notes.
Lebnani House isn't new to the Milwaukee area. The restaurant first opened in Greenfield in 2022 and has since built a following, landing on the Journal Sentinel's top restaurants lists in both 2024 and 2025. The Shorewood location marks its second outpost, expanding the brand's reach into the North Shore.
What's on the Menu
The Shorewood menu mirrors the Lebanese and Mediterranean focus that built Lebnani House's reputation in Greenfield, per the Journal Sentinel's report. Expect fattoush salad, grilled kebabs, fukhara, hummus, fried halloumi, fatteh, flatbreads and grilled fish, alongside desserts including baklava, umm ali, New York-style cheesecake and kunafa.
Diners won't find alcohol on the menu — the restaurant serves none — but it does prepare scratch-made flavored lemonades and mocktails in-house, according to the same report. A Shepherd Express review of the original Greenfield location praised its abundant menu choices and authentic preparation shortly after that spot opened.
A Storefront With a Winding History
The Oakland Avenue address has sat through several concepts in recent years. It most recently housed Buttermint Finer Dining & Cocktails, which closed in July 2024 after three years in business, leaving the space vacant for roughly two years before Lebnani House's arrival. Before Buttermint, the storefront held a mid-century-themed restaurant that opened in 2021, following the closure of Blue's Egg in 2020.
Earlier reporting also showed some uncertainty about the project's timeline and even its exact address — an OnMilwaukee report once listed the planned site as 4195 N. Oakland Ave., while the Journal Sentinel's earlier coverage and this week's opening announcement both give the address as 4185 N. Oakland Ave. As of last November, the restaurant's owners had signed a lease and submitted signage plans to the village but had not yet applied for occupancy, underscoring how long the project has been in motion before finally reaching an opening date.
