The Best Baked Lasagna In Michigan Might Be Hiding In This Tiny 60-Year-Old Italian Restaurant
A fire gutted this little Italian kitchen in 2019, and it reopened just 36 days later.
The family lifted the roof and trusses, tore out the floor, and still made it back for Fourth of July weekend.
That kind of stubbornness usually comes from somewhere. Here, it comes from family recipes carried over from the north side of Chicago in the 1950s.
The awning out front still says PIZZA SINCE 1957 in red, white, and green.
Inside, the lasagna arrives in generous portions with gooey cheese and a sauce worth protecting. It sits a short walk from the Lake Michigan shore in southwest Michigan.
Some families pass down jewelry. This one passed down a meat sauce and a very good contractor.
A Chicago Family Recipe Found Its Forever Home Near The Beach
Back in 1957, Tony and Madeline DiMaggio made a move that still feeds people today. They bought a little spot called Serpe’s Inn from Madeline’s sister, Mayme Serpe, and brought their family recipes along.
They had served pizza, pasta, sandwiches, and burgers near Belmont and Western avenues on Chicago’s North Side. They brought that cooking tradition to Coloma’s lakeshore community.
Keeping it in the family was always the plan. In 1972, Tony and Madeline retired, and their oldest son, Vince, took over the business.
The restaurant celebrated sixty years in April 2017 and has remained at its original Michigan address ever since.
Some staff have spent more than thirty years here, another link to the early days. That kind of continuity matters when a restaurant’s appeal rests on familiar dishes.
It means the old recipes have a place in the daily routine, rather than simply appearing on an anniversary menu. It’s a family tradition measured in pizza dough, Sunday dinners, and decades beside the lakeshore.
Order The Lasagna And Clear Some Room On The Table
Gooey cheese, flavorful sauce, and tender pasta layers. That trio is the reason the baked lasagna earns its spot at the center of this story.
Homemade baked lasagna remains a regular menu choice. The family recipes date back to the restaurant’s earliest years.
There’s also something reassuring about finding lasagna listed plainly among the regular dinners. It doesn’t need a complicated description or a dozen additions to explain why it belongs on an Italian-American menu.
Layers of pasta, meat sauce, and melted cheese create a substantial Italian-American dinner.
Here’s one practical detail worth remembering. Baked pasta holds its heat, especially beneath a layer of cheese. Give that first forkful a moment before diving in.
A tossed dinner salad or garlic bread rounds things out. Takeout is available if you’d rather enjoy the leftovers later.
For a place whose name puts pizza first, the lasagna makes a convincing case for ordering pasta instead. Either choice keeps the same family cooking tradition in view.
Meatballs And Spaghetti That Taste Like Sunday At Grandma’s
Spaghetti and meatballs might be the most honest test of any Italian kitchen. There’s nowhere for a homemade sauce to hide.
At DiMaggio’s, spaghetti with meatballs or sausage sits alongside spaghetti with meat sauce on the dinner menu. The restaurant’s Italian recipes date to its Chicago roots, and these familiar pasta combinations have remained central to the offerings.
Red sauce brings the family tradition to the plate, bringing the pasta and meatballs together in an uncomplicated combination.
Mostaccioli offers a different pasta shape, while meat-filled and cheese-filled ravioli can be ordered with meat sauce or meatballs.
Garlic bread and a simple salad offer easy additions. If you’re dining with children, spaghetti also makes the choice pleasantly uncomplicated.
For a group with different tastes, one person can order sauce and meatballs while another chooses ravioli or mostaccioli. Everyone ends up with the kind of comforting meal they came in hoping to find.
Forks turn, sauce gathers around the pasta, and dinner feels like an old-fashioned family ritual.
The Pizza Recipe Has Been Doing Its Thing Since 1957
Cheese stretching almost to the very edge of the crust. That’s the signature look of a DiMaggio’s pie, and it’s a confident move.
Pizza has been part of the restaurant since the move from Chicago. Homemade crust, red sauce, and plenty of cheese keep the focus on classic flavors.
Sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, and other toppings can be combined to suit your table. A meat combination pie brings several favorites together, while a vegetable choice gives diners another direction to explore.
The crust’s edges brown in the oven while the center holds the toppings. Sharing is an easy decision.
Takeout works well after an afternoon near the water. Burgers and Italian sandwiches offer alternatives.
A meatball sandwich offers another way to enjoy the kitchen’s red sauce without ordering pasta.
The sandwich selection also includes Italian sausage and beef, giving the non-pizza side of the menu an identity of its own. It’s a useful detail when you’re ordering for several people.
Pizza helped establish the restaurant in 1957, and it remains at the heart of the business.
A 2019 Rebuild Brought Fresh Life To The Dining Room
A neighborhood restaurant can change its dining room without changing what makes it familiar. That was the idea behind DiMaggio’s return in the summer of 2019.
A fire prompted several months of repairs and renovations, and the restaurant was serving diners again by July.
The refurbished interior kept its casual, family-oriented character, with the original recipes still central to the menu.
What stays the same after a major makeover? Here, it’s the pizza, the pasta, and the family-meal atmosphere.
By 2026, the restaurant had been part of the community for nearly seventy years. That’s a remarkable stretch for a single dining address in a small lakeshore community.
A new look can be exciting, but the lasagna and pizza offer another kind of reassurance. It’s possible to refresh a room while keeping its everyday purpose intact.
The room feels renewed, while the cooking still connects generations of Michigan summers. Picture a family returning after several seasons away and ordering the same pizza they remember.
The interior may have fresh finishes, but the point of the visit is still a familiar meal shared together.
An Old-School Dining Room With Plenty Of Character
The food comes first, but the surroundings have their own personality. DiMaggio’s is a casual, longtime roadside restaurant rather than a formal Italian dining room.
Old-fashioned details share the room with updates from the 2019 renovation. Tables and booths suit a relaxed meal after a day along the shore.
A shared pizza and a bowl of pasta are quite enough to turn a casual stop into an occasion.
The family operation and long-serving staff provide the continuity that gives the restaurant its character. There’s room for a simple lunch, a family dinner, or a stop on the way back from the beach. The menu makes each of those visits equally sensible.
With pizza, burgers, pasta, and Italian sandwiches all on the menu, groups can order very different meals without making separate stops. That variety helps everyone at the table choose a different kind of comfort food.
Come comfortably dressed and take your time. Familiar recipes and easygoing meals are what matter here.
Bring Cash Before You Pull Into The Lot
Plastic won’t help you here. DiMaggio’s accepts cash and checks rather than credit cards, an old-school detail worth sorting out before dinner.
An on-site ATM offers a backup, though arriving prepared is simpler.
Hours are straightforward. The restaurant generally opens at eleven Tuesday through Saturday and at noon on Sunday. Monday is the regular closing day, while Friday and Saturday offer later evening service.
Holiday schedules can differ. Calling ahead for takeout is helpful on busy lakeshore weekends, particularly for pizza.
There are choices beyond the headline lasagna, including ravioli, mostaccioli, sandwiches, and burgers. That variety can make ordering easier when several people have different cravings.
Bring your payment and leave enough time to enjoy the meal. A few old-fashioned traditions are part of the outing. If you’re meeting a group, it’s worth agreeing on the payment arrangement ahead of time.
That small bit of planning leaves everyone free to concentrate on the pizza, pasta, and conversation once the food arrives.
Your Beach Day And Your Dinner Plans Are Neighbors
Sand on your shoes is practically part of the summer routine around here. DiMaggio’s sits within walking distance of Lake Michigan in the small community of Lake Michigan Beach.
You’ll find the restaurant at 6410 M-63, Coloma, MI 49038, near the intersection of M-63 and West Hagar Shore Road.
Interstate 196 is less than half a mile away, making the stop convenient for travelers following the southwest shoreline.
Roughly nine miles north of Benton Harbor and St. Joseph, it’s a convenient stop on a shoreline drive toward South Haven.
Choose a public beach access point for a lakeside walk, then return for lasagna, pizza, or spaghetti.
Takeout also makes sense for a rental-house dinner after a long day outdoors. You can bring dinner back to your own table without adding another complicated stop to the itinerary.
The restaurant operates year-round. When beach season ends, Italian-American comfort food still gives you a reason to drive this stretch of the coast.
