Leonardo's Ristorante

Has anyone tried Leonardo's Ristorante on Clark?

Leonardo's Ristorante
5657 N Clark St
Chicago, IL 60660
773-561-5028

Yes, and I absolutely love it despite some minor service issues. First off, the room is beautiful - the relatively "hip" feel often scares me away, but here the food is very serious. The highlight for me was an unbelievable "poached" sea bass - in quotes because the poaching liquid is actually super high quality extra virgin olive oil - not the liquid I typically associate with this cooking method. I also really liked the butternut squash stuffed pasta, and enjoyed the pistaccio gelato immensely. The service issues had nothing to do with attitude, which was in fact quite friendly and knowledgeable. There were, however, some small issues with the timing of the dishes (on one visit, entrees took too long, on another they were ready before we finished our appetizers)

I haven't heard much about this place, it sounds really nice. I have to pick the next restaurant for our couples night out. Can you please tell me how the prices are and our the portions nice and is it conversation friendly. I always feel rushed when I dine in a bistro for it's size and people waiting for a table on top of you. Is it like that ? Also I did read it's a BYOB, do you know what the corkage fee is? Sorry for all the questions, there's not much on Google. Any more information would be very helpful. Thank You

The byob is corkage-free while they await their liquor licence. Entree prices range from 14-22. The place is bigger than your average "bistro" - tables are well spaced and service has not been rushed the 2X I've been there.

We went to Leonardo's last Saturday. My mom was in town and we didn't want to go anywhere with a long wait or that was too loud, and we definitely wanted pasta. We had never been before and I called to see if there would be a wait at 7 pm. They said no, and we headed in. Everyone was lovely to us, and the only complaint about the ambiance is the music is elevator jazz muzak. No biggie. We had:
-spinach salad with blue cheese filled pears. Delicious and different from the usual spinach/fruit/cheese mix; the pears were sliced into thin wafers with blue cheese in the middle where the seeds would normally sit.
-roasted pepper salad, served room temp. Three whole roasted yellow and red peppers dressed with high quality vinegar and oil.
-special pappardelle with shrimp, other bits of crabmeat, sundried tomatoes, and asparagus in a light cream sauce. Excellent excellent excellent.
-pappardelle with chicken in veloute sauce. Also wonderful, the dish described above beat it though. (All the pasta is handmade)
-ravioli filled with osso bucco and dressed with roasted cipolini onions and a silky wine sauce. Beautiful, large, perfect-density homemade raviolis. It's so nice to get something that I wouldn't make at home. (Technically, I would, but it would take me all day, and Leonardo's did it so well that I don't want to.)

They now have a wine list, not sure if you can still BYOB. Wine list is simple but good.

We're going back ASAP!

Leonardo's Tuscan Bistro
5657 N. Clark St., Chicago
(773) 561-5028

Messycook, thanks for the review. I'd forgotten about it as a neighborhood option and after reading your review will definitely try it. One question: how was the bread?

Fraggle wrote: One question: how was the bread?

The bread was very good, as was the OO for dipping - grassy, clean and fresh. I probably ate too much of it, as I had to take 3/4 of my entree home! (It was good for lunch the next day though )

The owner is from Moldova and he is at the restaurant almost every night.
He is very particular about where he gets his ingrediants.
I have tried -and with no reasonable limitations on budget- I can not find a better buffalo mozzarella. Their caprice salad is the best I have had. And yes, the olive oil is also fantastic as is the truffle oil, and mostly everything else Izzy uses there.

I really like the black ink risotto which you can usually get even if it is not on the menu.

The specials are usually very good and most things on the menu are well under 20 bucks.

I have known the restaurant to have occasional issues when very busy but the small kitchen will usually make it right if you expess your concerns and the staff is very accommodating.

Their wine list is very fairly priced (relative to other restaurants)

I would be very interested to hear other reports because Leonardos is one of those places that falls in a price categorie I am becoming more uncomfortable with.

There are a lo of places I can eat cheaper and when I decide to go big I will usually go for more of a destination / experience type place.

My very positive review upthread is outdated, and I wonder if others who've been here more recently feel the same way. Leonardo's has become a very different place from what it was a couple of years ago. Based on two recent visits, here's what I found:

Before: all pasta handmade
Now: only the fettucine alfredo contains pasta made in house

Before: really excellent tomatoes for the caprese, even off season
Now: cold, fresh from the icebox, underripe tomatoes

Before: high quality, pungeant and green-hued olive oil for dipping:
Now: pale-yellow, tasteless oil

Before: truly wonderful seafood dishes, including an olive-oil poached sea bass that was heavenly
Now: one adequate tilapia entree with some mixed veggies. That's it for seafood.

I know they've had a couple of chef turnovers - I'd love to find out where the opening guy went.

I'll second your assessment of the tomatoes. I went there for dinner over the summer and the tomatoes used for the caprese were undoubtedly the worst I'd ever eaten in a dish that was meant to foreground the tomato. They looked and tasted like they were purchased at the Jewel across the street at some point in the deepest, darkest depths of winter and then frozen for six months.

The rest of the meal was better than the caprese... passable fritto misto and the "24 hour" ravioli was fine, but it made me question whether they were worth an entire day's labor to make them. The verdict? No.

Kennyz wrote:Before: really excellent tomatoes for the caprese, even off season
Now: cold, fresh from the icebox, underripe tomatoes

I agree with your assessment. I really liked the place when it opened and had great meals there. Great ingredients, interesting menu, well-prepared, well-seasoned food was the norm. Then about a year ago I had a meal there and it was all very blah. The menu was much more "standard" and the food seemed less seasoned and overall just not as good. Haven't been back since.