Leona's on Taylor: Are all Leona's the same?

OK, I should have listened to my inner voice, but hunger prevailed... plus I am on the Atkins.

We decided to order in tonight, since we were feeling particularly lazy, and Leona's was the only one who delivered and had an Atkins friendly menu.

We ordered:

1/2 slab of BBQ ribs with side salad and chicken soup (for him)

Steak and shrimp scampi with 2 veg skewers (for me)

We knew this would be bad the minute we saw the salad. Came with ranch instead of the french we ordered. But no big deal.. things happen. Then noticed that the broccoli at the bottom was all yellow and mushy... ewww....

Then I saw my steak. I ordered it medium rare, knowing that it would cook a little longer in transit. The steak I received as dry and hard and well-done. I had to feed it to the cats, and even they refuse to eat it. I guess they prefer Popeyes...

Well, I always have my shrimp scampi, right? Wrong... The shrimp was a little off, and that was not a scampi sauce. More like a pesto without basil. Bland and oily and funky tasting.

I called the restaurant hoping to get another order delivered. I am not out to get a free meal, and was willing to pay something to get a new order. I was informed that I could get a $20 credit instead, which did not make sense, since I was not going to order from them again. I requested another order be made, and I was informed that it would take 1 - 1.5 hours... and they are 10 minutes away. I said I could pick it up, and was given the same 1 - 1.5 hour wait... So, my grand total for this wonderful dinner?? $48...

So here is my question: Are all Leona's the same? Am I overreacting because I am in carb withdrawal? Next time, I am driving over to Papa's for chicken instead...

I think the whole chain has slid noticeably. Of course, they outright stopped making the main thing I liked, their deepest deep dish, which apparently hogged the oven too long for their idea of profitability. (I get a reasonable facsimile from La Gondola.) But other things I had gotten from there in recent years from both Sheffield and Elston had been distinctly average at best. In a city of a million pizza places, it may sometimes be hard to find an A+ but it's certainly not hard to beat a C-. (No relation to a Crazy C.)

La Gondola
2914 N. Ashland Ave.
Tel: (773) 248-4433

HI,

I am not a Leona's fan though I have gone to accomodate friends. I have not gone to Leona's in a while nor have I been to any beyond the Wheeling location to offer any comparatives.

What always comes to mind when I think of Leona's is their menu. I find the menu conceived and written by someone steeped in the drug culture. You just get the impression they just laugh their butts off while coming up with each odd name and story to support it. Problem is the rest of us are not as juiced up, so the joke just doesn't seem so apparent.

They have menu items where the name is roughly the same but on one page it is accompanied by salad greens, another page on your choice of pasta or it winds up between bread as a sandwich. My friend chose eccentric name item with pasta only to have it arrive as a sandwich. Rather than endure a confusing explanation to correct, they ate what they never really ordered never knowing if they caused the confusion, if the waitress lost track or the kitchen blew it. Too many opportunities for miscommunication, gee that menu sure is fun!

I have not been in many years because i don't like their tomato sauce. It's much too acidy and unrefined. Almost like eating uncooked tomato paste.

So I can't say I dislike Leona's. I like Leona's. But that's with the giant caveat that I haven't had their pizza but once, and don't think of Leona's as a pizza place.

That said, the Oak Park location has without a doubt the crappiest, slowest service I've experienced. Once many years ago, a delivery order never arrived (even after phone calls to the place asking what was up and assuring me that it was on its way) and that hurt. I figured it was a one-off thing and tried them again when I was in town a few months back.

Just as bad for the dine-in, if not worse. Our waiter took forever to do, well, anything. He brought wrong items. The check took even longer than our food. We were very close to just leaving without paying, because a 15-minute wait for a check just ain't right. It was all just ridiculous - particularly at a time when the restaurant wasn't even busy.

And when I ordered some for carry-out last week, I had to wait a good long time at the front counter before someone even noticed that I might be waiting for someone to help me.

So what keeps me coming back? Why do I like it? Those wedge fries and sour cream, and chicken strips. Darn them. The vegan burger is also quite good.

- Paul

pmcaleer wrote:So what keeps me coming back? Why do I like it? Those wedge fries and sour cream, and chicken strips. Darn them. The vegan burger is also quite good.

- Paul

You can get chicken strips and veggie burgers without as much as leaving your car at Burger King.

stevez wrote:You can get chicken strips and veggie burgers without as much as leaving your car at Burger King.

Well, the service might be faster too... Burger King, the supreme restaurant in Chicagoland!

- Paul

pmcaleer wrote:

stevez wrote:You can get chicken strips and veggie burgers without as much as leaving your car at Burger King.

Well, the service might be faster too... Burger King, the supreme restaurant in Chicagoland!

- Paul

Well, it's nearly equivilant to Leona's for the items mentioned IMO.

pmcaleer wrote:That said, the Oak Park location has without a doubt the crappiest, slowest service I've experienced. Once many years ago, a delivery order never arrived (even after phone calls to the place asking what was up and assuring me that it was on its way) and that hurt. I figured it was a one-off thing and tried them again when I was in town a few months back.
Paul

I went to the Oak Park Leona's out of desperation one evening two years ago (Jimmy's Place had stopped serving) and it was abyssmal. The best I can say is that the teenage greeter was perky, but it was downhill from there. We had a pasta (The Wife ordered it; I would never) that had raw sweet peppers on top...these lazy SOBs couldn't even be bothered to cook the ingredients before bringing them to the table.

I used to go to the place on Sheffield years ago, and I remember thinking it was a nice little neighborhood joint. In Leona's current incarnation, we see the dangers of franchising writ large.

The next time I'm hungry after 10:00 PM in Oak Park, I'll go to White Hen before I go to Leona's.

Hammond

I ordered some chicken thing and the chicken was not cooked through. I think I have a higher uncooked chicken gross-out factor then some, but I was grossed out. I don't think I made a concious decision, but I have never darkened the door of a Leona's again.

From the assembled responses it would appear that Leona's is certainly inconsistent.

Before they were an empire, I used to end up there from time to time with theatre folks because they were open late, relatively cheap. We also used to order their thin crust occasionally, finding it not great, but always tolerable.

After their expansion (both in number of locations and in menu girth and wackiness) things seemed to to get very inconsistent.

I recall being surprised at how decent a big triple decker sandwich I ordered one late night was. Actually yummy, not just something to eat.

Some years ago I arranged for a theatre opening party at a Leona's. Pre-arranged, pre-paid menu. They did fine on the execution, but accidentally (giving the benefit of the doubt) double-billed us. Correcting this (which they did not dispute) took forever and included much rudeness over the phone.

Years went by and I had no reason to try them, but my son's daycare is in the vicinity of the Loyola location. Have been there twice in the last year. (They have a kiddie play room with gym mats and movies on a big screen, so that while you're waiting for food, you don't have to keep the kid penned up in the booth growing ever more restive.)

On both occasions, the food has been large portions, decently priced and prefectly edible (if not exciting). The waitstaff has been very friendly as well as competent.

I don't dream of Leona's. It's not a first or even second choice. But they seem to do what they do (at Loyola anyway), pretty consistently, so I know what to expect and going in with appropriate expectations, am not disappointed.

The last time we were at Leona's was two years ago at the Rogers Park location's Mother's Day buffet when we joined my college son and his roommate's extended family from out of town. Nice-looking spread, consistently average-to-bland taste, which pretty much sums up all our Leona's experiences. The menu, and their family-shtick advertising, promises so much, yet the food always fails to deliver ("kickass" sandwiches that don't, interchangeble arribiata and marinara sauces, etc.)

We've really wanted to like this place over the years, but at best it's on our list of places to "go with a big group when nobody seems to agree of anything" -- and very low at that.
>>Brent

Dropped by Leona's in Oak Lawn for lunch today after driving around for a while and not really feeling a taste for greasy, stand food or sandwiches. I've never been there, but after seeing their ridiculously huge carryout menu in our office, I decided I would give the place a visit.

I went by myself, and found that I was the one solo diner in the restaurant - most of the people in the restaurant were in groups of 4 or more, which made me think maybe it was a mistake to come by myself. The saying on the sign "abundant Italian" kept ringing in my brain as I waited for someone to come seat me. Being by myself, I don't know if they thought I was waiting for someone, but I literally had to wait several minutes before someone came up to seat me. The restaurant wasn't overly busy, but it also didn't appear to be well-staffed, either. From what I could tell, there were maybe three people waiting, and two people that were hostesses / food runners / managers.

I waited another few minutes for someone to greet me and take my order -- I ordered a class of cabernet. I'm pretty sure I waited at least 7-8 minutes before the girl finally came back with the wine (and water - thank goodness). She did apologize for the wait to me, but then went over to another table to drop off a carryout box and then *another* table after that to take an order. That took another several minutes. Meanwhile, I'm looking at my watch thinking, Man, this is not going to be a short lunch, is it?

She came back to take my order and apologized again.

I ordered the ravioli duo where you choose the type and sauces you want. I chose a four cheese & the spinach/ricotta raviolis with tomato cream sauce & pesto sauce. I wondered after she left, since I hadn't specified, if the kitchen decides which sauces your pastas would go best with, or if she was supposed to ask and she didn't.

Shortly thereafter, she brought out a huge bowl of minestrone soup. I'm not a huge fan of most soups, and this one was no exception -- not that interesting. Not bad, and not exactly tasteless, but not really anything to sing about. I ate about a 1/3 of it before giving up. I don't usually do this because it's not great restaurant etiquette, but today I put the soup on the other side of the table, to signify I was done. One of the manager/hostess girls came over and asked me if I didn't like the soup. I said yes, I liked it, and at that point, she seemed to understand that it was too much (!!) She asked if I wanted it wrapped up. I said no, but that it was good.

This brings up an ancillary point that I'm sure has been discussed before: the matter of taking home leftovers. Depending on what it is, I am very selective about taking stuff home: 1) because I very rarely ever eat leftovers. Once I've had it, I usually don't want it again that week. 2) Some items just don't make good leftovers, i.e., burgers. That being said, soup is an good leftover item, but it fell into the first category on this one - I wouldn't eat it later if I brought it home. It wasn't interesting enough to make another meal (or part of a meal) out of it.

They also served a large loaf of garlic-and-parmesan dusted bread with their "ricotta spread," maranara sauce, and butter. This place does certainly give you options, if nothing else. I found the bread to be slightly undercooked, as a lot of bread of this nature tends to be in most chain restaurants. However, I am a huge bread freak, so I made the best of it and liberally slathered the ricotta spread on every bite, trying it with the soup, with the maranara, alone ... it was pretty good, any way you sliced it. (Excuse the pun.)

The pastas came out in separate porcelain dishes on a plate, and were literally drowning in sauce. Don't get me wrong -- I like sauce just as much as the next person, but not that much. This is a common mistake most restaurants make when serving pasta in a small bowl rather than a large platter, or plate. There's no where for the sauce to go, or to be spread out into. I'll be honest: I found this slightly irritating. I also realize I'm nitpicking. Heh - I made the best of it by using the bread to soak up some of the sauce, which was also tasty.

I tried the spinach/ricotta ravioli first, which was made in a spinach ravioli, and then covered in a pesto (cream) sauce. It was very green. I wonder if I would have been better off choosing a simple maranara (or meat) sauce for the spinach ravioli. I think it was too much green. Plus, I wasn't that impressed with the pesto sauce. I expected more of a pesto "paste," I suppose than a sauce, but I do believe the menu specified that they were all "sauces." Wishful thinking on my part, I suppose.

The tomato cream sauce with four-cheese ravioli was definitely better. It was pretty standard fare all-around, but I definitely preferred it over the former. I had enough pasta leftover to take with me, so I took that and the bread home. The meal overall was priced around expectations in that sort of place -- with the glass of wine ($5), the meal came to $22 with tax and a 20% tip, and I did get a lot of food.

I don't know that I'd ever go there by myself again. I think it would be an okay place to go if I was with my coworkers and we wanted to go somewhere out of our usual rotation. I'd definitely share an entree as well, which would make it a better deal and more reasonable for one person to eat for lunch.

Leona's Restaurant
6616 W. 95th St .
Oak Lawn , IL 60453
708-430-7070

I don't think there is anything inconsistent about Leonas.

Your experinece is right in line with mine.

You can always absolutely count on that the Leona's menu descriptions will be far more satisfying than the food. Unless there is no place else open, they don't get my patronage.

I seem to remember it being decent in the old days before it was a huge chain, but maybe I was hungrier or less discriminating. I do find myself wondering how in the world they stay open. Who eats there when there are equally inexpensive and much tastier options?

It's the menu that gets you - it's an absolute delivery killer during periods of lazy Sunday evening indecision. "Oh that sounds good... maybe they'll be able to pull off burger this time." I took the drastic step of throwing away the Leona's menu, because my wife and I ordered at least 8 or 9 times the last couple years, and each time it left us wondering why... it's expensive and at best average food.

They also do a good job of direct marketing, which keeps them in the loop. Nevermore- I refuse to keep a menu around.

I have friends that absolutely require us to go out to Leona's anytime we get together with them. I dread hearing the words 'Oh, we're going to Leona's'. I've had such awful experiences at few of their different locations, the Oak lawn and the Oak Park (where they 'lost' a reservation for 20 that was booked a week in advance). I think that maybe they just try to do too much at once. The menu there sometimes seems to overwhelm the staff and they also seem to forget to enter parts of the order into their system so that your order comes out in parts sometimes with a huge lag inbetween courses.

The last time I ate at Leona's my friend and I both ordered pasta. We got about two bites in before we realized that we had similar pastas, but not actually what we ordered. We called the waitress over and told her she'd mixed up our orders - no big deal, she says. What followed I have never seen anywhere before and hope to never see again. She took our forks out of the dishes and delivered the plates directly to the correct table: right behind ours. Truly...I don't know, disgusting, audacious, unprofessional and need I say, unsanitary? Take your pick.

Katie: I assume you clued the patrons at the table behind you into what had just happened. What was their reaction when you did? The story feels incomplete--I need closure on this!

I'd like to know too.Surely you said something to them right? I would have been all over that one.What happened?

Man. That's bad.

I really try to like Leona's, I really do. I've had a couple better-than-average sandwiches there, but their pesto always tastes like it's had soap added to it, and I've from tried a couple different locations (Lakeview and Rogers Park).

Maybe I just have lingering affection from my days as a Loyola-an, but I remember the buffalo wings being pretty good; other than that, I too have to give Leona's a grudgingly down-turned thumb.

SoylentKatie:

I can honestly say that your story absolutely horrified me. Honestly: what could have been going through your server's head?

Eeek.

My experience at Leona's was not nearly so horrible (or horrifying, perhaps), and I probably wouldn't go back there unless we got really bored. It's unfortunate, but the dining options in the area surrounding my office are fairly limited....

Oh yeah, upon our immediate exit out we informed the appropriate parties. Unfortunately, we were so creeped out we didn't stay to see the aftermath. I can only hope that she's still not working there.

Like others who have posted, I'll echo the thought that they have a great copywriter. Honestly, tons of items on their menu sound terrific. You read through it and think..."How will I pick just one item?" Then you actually start to try things, and it's all uniformly blah.

I'll admit, I don't think I've ever eaten there (if I did, it was only once and it was the location near Loyola), but I gave them too many chances with delivery. I like garlic, but I found things to be poorly seasoned with garlic--it wasn't a well-balanced garlic flavor, a bit raw-flavored, a bit heavy handed. These days, when the menu arrives on my doorstep, I toss it without even looking.

To say something good about Leona's - their huge fried mozzarella sticks are certainly a guilty pleasure!

Nothing else stands out about the place in my mind, after visiting a couple locations (Belmont and Wheeling).

My first post all... I just felt I needed to respond to this as Leona's used to be one of my favorite places when I was still a UIC student several years back...

I hadn't eaten there since graduation (over 10 years ago) and I remember their thin crust "garbage" pizza, their kickass garlic bread, and this bbq chicken (fried chicken slathered with a sweet smoky bbq sauce) that me and my roomates used to order when we had the cash... Not great food, but better than spam and ramen noodles.. We never had a problem with a delivery order, never had an issue with service when we went to the restauraunt even when it was busy. That was years ago though.... It might have been a good idea to search this site before going back.

When I went back a few weeks ago after a bulls game, I noticed the menu was revamped. The restaurant was a lot more empty than I remembered on a Saturday night. The service was ok (this was our waitresses last night, she could have been a lot less cordial!!) as we were the last group in there prior to closing . I ordered a burger with one of their lasagna's and it was pretty good.. Again not great but I would go there again.. It is either my standards aren't as high as alot of you on this board, or that I have been lucky to not have the experiences that you all have had!!!

Again, I think it's more a matter of the rest of the world passing Leona's by. 15 or so years back when we lived near the lakefront you could count on Leona's for reliable delivery and pretty consistent food. Since then any number of places have popped up that made me forget Leona's existed. As robflux suggests, maybe it's just a place that's just good in your college/recent grad years.

I used to live around the corner from the original Leona's in the eighties and it was a decent neighborhood joint although I preferred the pizza from Pat's (evidently Leona's brother) that was a half block south. But by the end of the eighties when they started to franchise things started to slip, food became more inconsistent, orders screwed up, etc. After consistent bad experiences it slipped into my "never again" file. I'd go to Pizza Hut before Leona's.

Welcome, robflux! I, too, have been lucky at Leona's. Although the food was never great -- excepting, of course, those monstrous cheese sticks, oh, and the blue cheese bacon fries -- it has always been edible, not wrong any more often than other restaurants, served politely and usually in a timely manner, and I enjoy the trivia cards on the tables WAY more than I ought to. It's not in the regular rotation of restaurants Llama and I go to, but Leona's in Lansing has never been the terrible experience you folks have had.

I wish they still had their ravioli; the fresh mozzarella was usually pretty good, though, like most of their food, waaay too filling. The red and white lasagna is really damn good, actually: I don't like their red sauce or their white sauce very much, but when you put them together they transmute into sauce gold. The ribs are nothing to write home about, even for oven-baked ribs. The burgers are usually cooked too well-done for me, so I rarely bother asking. I don't eat the pizza. I totally enjoy the bread board, served with decent bread, compound butter, and tomato sauce for dipping; it's half the reason I go there, the other half being enormous cheese sticks.

I guess what I'm saying is, stick to the junk food and the lasagna and you should be alright. Honestly, I could (and have ) make a meal out of their appetizers.