- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Movies |
- All
Leona's Restaurant
Categories: Restaurants Italian Restaurants Pizza Italian, Pizza [Edit]
1504 Miner StDes Plaines, IL 60016
(847) 759-0800
- Hours:
Mon-Thu 11:30 am - 10 pm
Fri 11:30 am - 10:30 pm
Sat 12 pm - 10:30 pm
Sun 12 pm - 9 pm
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Caters:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
George H. said: "I just had the Tuscan Chicken sandwich. The taste is very natural and seems mostly organic. It comes with a side of fries or chips which are decent but the real value is in the sandwich itself. Highly recommended. Very juicy :)" read more »
24 reviews for Leona's Restaurant
24 reviews in English
-
Review from Elizabeth W.
Des Plaines, IL
12/5/2011 6 Check-ins Here
The Leona's in Wheeling used to be my favorite Leona's. Now it's this one. It isn't because this one is better--the Wheeling location closed, and this one is just down the road from my home.
That may not sound like a ringing endorsement, but if you have a group of picky eaters, this is a good place to go. The service can be a mixed bag, with some waiters giving A+ service and others barely scraping by with a passing grade, but the variety in the menu and their ability to not screw up substitutions usually makes up for that. Few other restaurants consistently manage to get it right when I ask for no cheese, extra whatever on my food.
Beware! You will probably encounter a wait at 6 on a Friday or Saturday night. Parking in downtown Des Plaines at such a time is also not the easiest thing in the world. Go with the nearby garage over street parking. Also, like the menu warns, they do indeed sell out of the lasagna on super busy nights. You would probably have to wait just as long at a place like Friday's though, and this is better. Trust me.
The trivia cards on the tables are a really fun little extra this place has that other restaurants don't. If you're there with a group, you can play for "loser buys dessert" or something and make it interesting. You can also get coupons for this Leona's pretty easily, which isn't true of some other locations. Finally, if you like watching old commercials and Lionel Richie music videos, make sure you get a table by a TV. If you are allergic to Commodores, go for a table in the middle. -
Review from Matthew B.
Des Plaines, IL
12/17/2011
I really do like Leonas restaurant, just not the one in Des Plaines. The food is overpriced for the service you get, and it is not the same taste at this establishment. Some of the glaring issues I have had with the food was that the macaroni and cheese lasagna was cold and stale, the cheese lasagna was nasty, the pizza was tough and cold. The quality of it seems less intriguing as at other locations. Another service issue I had on one particular experience was when I was completed with our meal we sat (My wife and I) and waited for 15 minutes, I had to get up and speak with another gentleman who was not our server and he punched us out, he was very rude as if he was angry. No class. The waitress seemed lost as she was not perceptive to our needs. The only reason I gave it "2" stars is because I really like the Lotza Cheeseburger! I hope you have a better experience than we had.
Take lessons from the location in Chicago, on Sheffield! -
Review from Kim W.
Northbrook, IL
1/10/2012
I'm so bummed! I used to like this place, especially their Italian Beef sandwich. Went there on Saturday around noon and the 1st warning that something changed was that it was empty. One other table and then us. Uh oh. Service was slow (how, I'm not sure since there was no one there). Food was mediocre at best - lasagna & mac n cheese sides were cold and looked really old. But, worst of all, the Italian Beef sandwich was meh. I don't know what happened at this location but it's not good. The family needs to step up and intervene before this place goes out of business. Start with the quality of the food, then service, and maybe they've got a shot. Wouldn't bet on it, though. So sad.......
-
Review from Omar S.
Chicago, IL
12/5/2011
Unfortunately, not on the top of my list to visit back to dine in at this location =(
I was excited to try some italian cuisine and dont get me wrong the food was really good from our appetizer (calamari), bread service was great with the parmesan compound butter, and entree (got the Duo famous baked mac and cheese and 4 cheese lasagna with a side of meatball (huge piece of meat) lol...then the disappointment dessert...the turtle cheesecake...it was definitely from the freezer and nuked in the microwave...some of it was hot..some of it was warm, some cold and middle still frozen...Nicole...your turtle cheesecake is still #1 on my list! The 2 stars are for the awesome food, definitely great portions for the price and great flavors on the palate. However, the service was pretty horrible, no drink refills in time, entrees came out while just having a bite of the calamari, grr i dislike when someone drops the entree when the appz just came out! Then the Cheesecake issues...Oh I forgot to mention, the manager was not dressed appropriately unless it was casual friday for them...seriously...khakis and a bright colored polo? also when he collected dishes he dropped them into the bus pans and created loud clanking noises, making it uncomfortable to hold a conversation...The lighting was good, not too bright...food is really good and that what the 2 stars are for. Not a repeat restaurant for me, possibly makes for great carryout?? Looking around, other people seemed to enjoy the food at least... -
Review from MS L.
Chicago, IL
9/30/2011
This is the worst Leonas. I've placed about 5 delivery orders with them every time something is wrong with my order. I figured maybe it was a language issue with the guy who takes the phone orders. My family went to the restaurant and found that this is just the worst Leonas. The waiter was terribly slow, he kept dropping things, we had to keep asking other servers for help because he would disappear for such long periods of time, my niece ordered pizza which was burned. I ordered a salad as an appetizer for the table and explained that to the waiter but still the salad came out just before our meal. We had to beg for bread and drink refills. Oh but he was quick to bring the check and to collect payment.
-
Review from Jennifer C.
Schaumburg, IL
6/21/2011 1 Check-in Here
Went to Leona's on Sunday for Father's day. I joined their email club so I had a 1/2 off Father's meal coupon on Father's day. I love coupons so I was sold. The food was extremely good, definitely 4 stars. The bread and herb butter were tasty. I had the mac & cheese lasagna (yummy!) and the italian meat lasagna (also yummy!), it came with soup or salad and I got salad with garlic parmesan dressing which was very enjoyable (even though I ordered it without tomato and it came with tomato on it). My husband had the romano chicken with sides of penne with meat sauce and red & white lasagna. His food was pretty good too and he said the red & white lasagna was especially yummy as leftovers the next day. My hubby got one of the Lenacakes with his meal and I got one for like 89 cents. For the price they were very good.
The reason I'm not giving 4 stars though is because of the menu and service. My husband's menu was absolutely filthy even our waiter was pretty shocked by it. Our waiter was very odd and creepy. Some people are meant to be in the service industry and others aren't. He was fairly nice, but he seemed uncomfortable interacting with others. I would probably go back to another Leona's before this one, but if I was in the area I would come back. -
Review from Laura N.
8/19/2010
Today was my first day back to school for the fall for meetings (I'm an educator), and we had an hour lunch break. A friend and I decided to meet up during this hour lunch break at Leona's (ironically, another co-worker was meeting her friends there too). Aside from us, there were only about three other tables occupied in the whole restaurant. An hour for lunch should be enough time to get some food, eat, and have quick conversation, right?
Not here.
We both ordered lunch off the 'quick lunch' menu which advertises that it will be available in 12 minutes. Perfect. That would leave us with about a half hour to eat. She ordered a salad and I ordered pasta with pesto, which comes with a salad.
Our bread arrived right away. The bread was yummy.
My salad arrived about ten minutes later. The salad was... normal.
Minutes passed.
Minutes turned into a half hour.
Half hour turned into "oh my gosh, I really have to go, where is our food!?"
At this point, I told the waitress that I needed to leave to get back to work - therefore, pack up the food and hope that I have time to eat it at work! My friend was in no hurry, so she stayed to wait for her food and pay our bill since it wasn't ready yet.
A couple minutes later (after a few light stares from me) the waitress hands me my lunch in a brown paper bag and I rush out the door back to work.
My friend later informed me that her salad arrived about five minutes later and it wasn't even that good. What in the world took the salad nearly an hour to arrive!?
12 minutes? Yeah, right.
Plus, $7.95 for a mediocre salad at lunch after already waiting nearly an hour for it to arrive? What a rip-off.
(I also had my pasta later at work, and it was OK.)
You're not seeing me again. -
Review from Cat D.
Chicago, IL
11/5/2011
The service here is seriously lacking. You would think with a chain they would have someone come in and fix these problems. When stopping in with my family, we were greeted by a sign saying "please wait to be seated". We waited, and waited and finally i suggested we just sit at the bar. You ever stepped in to one of those old dive bars and you can smell the years of people spilling their beers and no one cleaning it. well, that's what it smelled like in this restaurants bar area. ew. The food is OK, we've gotten it delivered when visiting my in-laws in the area, but the Restaurant seems dirty, so i didn't feel comfortable staying. We ordered to go anyway. This place creeps me out. The staff there aren't very helpful. The servers don't seem to care at all about customer service. The girl helping us seemed put out by having to do the job she chose to do. With so many options near by where you don't have to tip, you'd think they'd be grateful for business. maybe if they closed down, cleaned up and got new management it might be better. Oh, and I don't and wouldn't work for Leona's
Comment from Bill T. of Leona's Restaurant 11/6/2011
Review submitted by a disgruntled ex-employee is what we… More » -
Review from Stacy D.
Des Plaines, IL
3/16/2011
I'm not sure why Leona's got bad reviews. I really like this place!
Meals are delicious and for a great price! I usually get the Macaroni and Cheese Lasagna, which comes with a fresh salad, and garlic bread. I actually stopped by here the other day with some friends. My boyfriend got the little cheeseburgers which are a perfect portion. It came with seasoned fries, and it also came with the Lenacake--which is a chocolate cupcake with cheesecake on top. Delicious. My other friend got the Duo. He couldn't decide between two types of lasagna, and this option is a perfect way to get the best of both worlds.
Leona's is the finest restaurant in downtown Des Plaines, and I've never left disappointed. Service was quick and waiter was attentive. Definitely will be back again. -
Review from Kat Q.
Palatine, IL
4/12/2011
Went there on a Saturday evening about 6:30. Only about two other parties in the restaurant. Ordered basic pasta. Huge bowl of penne pasta with sauce. But the food was less then impressive. Ragu makes a better sauce. We had to wait about 40 minutes for pasta in an empty restaurant. I see other reviews about the surley slow service too. Tip to the owner. Get better staff. Make a few of your pasta's from scratch daily. Better yet go to Amore Mio's in North Hoffman estates and taste what real italian food is like. Not going here again.
-
Review from Matt M.
2/9/2010
The staff, to their credit, quite make up for this overly pretentious and run-of-the-mill place. It aspires to be a mixture of classy cocktail lounge and chic dining establishment that touts family ownership and eclectic dishes. However, the dishes are so "racey" that its difficult to find anything worth eating.
Not impressed. Worth 1/2 of what they are charging. You are paying 100% for overhyped atmosphere. Enjoy! -
Review from Carol K.
Des Plaines, IL
12/14/2010 1 Check-in Here
The fact that this place has managed to stay open longer than a year in Des Plaines without changing their name says that they must be doing SOMETHING right. The food is decent but quite pricey. I appreciate that they offer delivery for when we're in the mood for something other than pizza at home, but we know that when we order, we're spending upwards of $50.00 for dinner for two. If it wasn't for these factors, I'd probably be giving this place one star based on our recent visit there for dinner.
We walked in at around 7:00 pm to a dining room that was decently busy, but not close to being full. We sat down, and waited five or more minutes for someone to bring us water and some bread...and then SHE showed up.
Our waitress was a TRAIN WRECK. She walked up to our booth and immediately started to complain LOUDLY about another table she had and how difficult they were. She SAT DOWN in the booth next to Matt and proceeded to chat very candidly with us about her other tables, how tired she was, and how she was "this close" to quitting her job that night. This is before she even asked us what we wanted to drink! At some point she took our drink order, which another server brought us, and came back probably 10 minutes later and took our dinner order - after complaining AGAIN about a neighboring table, and using very colorful language the whole time - there WERE children at the table adjacent to us, and Leona's has always been described as a "family" restaurant. Matt and I are very laid back people and both swear like truck drivers, but our waitress certainly didn't know this, and I took offense to the fact that she made that sort of assumption to paying customers whom she knew nothing about.
She promptly forgot our food order, so she took it again and promised that the food would be ready quickly. It showed up, but at this point the food was inconsequential. We were both so mind blown at this waitress that we kept one eye on her through our whole meal and got out of there as fast as we could - but not before our waitress promised to meet us for a drink at the neighboring bar later that night.
All I can say is that this lady is lucky that she got US for her patrons that night, and not a family or someone more uptight. -
Review from Dave S.
Des Plaines, IL
8/28/2008
I had dinner there last week.
I went in alone, and got put in a two top in the bar, where the bar stools crowded the walkway so much that everyone had to lean over me when they came by. Not that it was necessary to seat me there, the place was only moderately busy.
The interior was dark and dim conveying more of a we want to lower our electricity bill than a we want to be romantic vibe.
I ordered the veggie burger. It came out very large, and very dry and tasteless. -
Review from Linda N.
8/16/2007
Leonas is a good place for huge burgers with a choice of many toppings. Pricier than your usual place, but portions are good.
I have also had their REAL chicken strips...divine.
Psychedelic salad w ranch is a staple.
Pesto is yummy.
In winter, chicken soup can't be beat. -
Review from Gail c.
10/5/2009
Excellent!
After reading some people in talk recommend the cheese and macaroni lasagna, I decided to try it! yeaha!
Very good.
complaint? I ordered the small turtle sundae. The ice cream was refrozen and in the crunchy phase. Yick!
Oh, also don't order the deep nutty beer - don't remember the name, cost $5.00 - not good
Geez, it seems like I didn't like this place. I really do! -
Review from Stacey D.
Schaumburg, IL
1/13/2008
I hate to give this place 3 stars. Because I really like their food.
But the last few times I've been here, the service has been appalling. Rickety table due to a short leg, we asked to move to an open table. Server said no, and shoved the trivia cards underneath. Appetizing, since I'm sure they'll be yanked out at the end of the night. They're slow to seat, take orders, bring out the food, bring and take the check.
But the food is so good. I like the garlic chicken, salads, fries with sour cream, pasta, pizza, beer (learned how to properly pour a boddington!), kick ass garlic bread really is kick ass. But service takes it down for me.
Update 2/2007: Went here last week and I take it all back! Anything bad I've ever said - I take it back! It was crowded and therefore service slow, but the waitress apologized and it was packed. So it explains it. We had a reservation, and they actually seated us before other people who were there waiting before us. We were in a booth -- had some beer (Miller Lite on tap: $3.50). Kick ass garlic bread is still kick ass. They changed their tablecloths, coverings on their chairs and booths, and may have painted. That, with no smoking = great improvement.
Their bread was slightly different, but for the better. I thought it was good before, this is realllly good. I got the garlic chicken and it was smothered with roasted garlic. Unbelieveable. I was too full to eat it by the time it came though, but I made myself have a bite.
The broccoli has also changed, it's no longer fresh with a lemon wedge, but drenched with Italian dressing. I'd pass on this.
New desserts looked awesome, but I had to pass. Chocolate covered bananas with ice cream? Bananas and chocolate and ice cream and nuts and brownies? Next time! -
Review from Jinette G.
Des Plaines, IL
4/30/2011
BEWARE!!!!!! Horrible Service! And half the items on the menu are not available! My husband and I went to Leonas on Miner St. in Des Plaines and waited half an hour for our food. The female waitress never came by to apologize for the wait or offer us bread and butter. When the food arrived, it was the wrong order. I ordered chicken sliders and was served two small Steak Burgers. I had to go to the kitchen to look for our waitress and let her know she served me the wrong food! Then I had to wait another 20 minutes for the new order! We will never return to this Leonas! I had to ask the waitress for a discount on the tab due to the inconvenience! They were not courteous enough to offer it.
-
Review from Patty V.
10/27/2006
HUGE menu-makes it difficult to decide! I would not recommend the pizza,much better items on the menu.You have to get the Kick-Ass Garlic Bread!!Great stuff!I really like the Fusili with Pesto,almost as good as mine.I have also had the Spinach Lasagna and was happy with that as well. This is not a cheap eats place,but you do get GINORMOUS portions-have half wrapped before you get it and have lunch for the next day.
-
Review from Michael A.
Mt Prospect, IL
12/7/2010
Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this restaurant. The service is poor, the food is mediocre, and obviously the management does not care. Instead of filling up their menu with cute anecdotes about all the colorful characters that make up Leona's "family", they should try getting the food out while it's still warm and to the right person. Absolutely, pathetic!
-
Review from Roberto F.
Chicago, IL
11/19/2008
This place is hit or miss with the food and quality of service. The first time I went here, I would have given it a three because my burger was huge and delicious and we had decent service. But the last two times my co-workers and I have come here somethings been missing. Either our waiter/waitress was slow at getting our orders put in, didn't come back to check on us or the food had to much sauce. Two our dishes were swimming in Tomato basil and Alfredo. More then likely I will be coming back. Why you ask, well some co-workers are pickier then other and this tends to limit choices on places to go. I'll update if anything changes.
-
Review from Sarah A.
Buffalo Grove, IL
8/8/2009
We had a group of 5 and we visited Leona's around 7:30pm on a Friday night. The place was only about 1/3 full. The service was a bit lacking--our drinks ran dry and stayed that way for quite some time before we ever got any refills. The menu is very large. Probably too large. The pricing of the food wasn't too bad for the size of the portions. Unfortunately the food really lacked inspiration. I ordered a garlic chicken entree which was ok, not quite good. For sides I had angel hair pasta with marinara, meh, and wedge fries which were very good. I definitely could have eaten many more wedge fries! I also tried the five cheese lasagna which I flat out did not like. So overall, I probably won't visit Leona's again.
-
Review from Dave S.
Albuquerque, NM
6/22/2009
Good if you're not in a rush. The servers take their time. I ordered the Italian Meat Lasagna, which was tasty, but the portion was tiny for the price. Noodles and tomato sauce are not that expensive and there was not a lot of meat in it. The beer selection seems random. Some beers they offer are from Europe and one is from Mississippi. Over all a good experience and I would go back. I would not go back overly hungry though.
-
Review from Jay V.
West Hollywood, CA
10/8/2010 1 Check-in Here
been eating at the chain for over 20 years now. food is still good. i had a nice lunch after the lunch crowd one weekday at this location and it was enjoyable.
-
Review from Stella N.
Park Ridge, IL
7/29/2010
never again.
