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Categories: Mexican, Vegetarian, Juice Bars & Smoothies [Edit]
Neighborhood: Studio City
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I really love Leonors...I love EVERYTHING on Leonors menu (except the broccoli enchilada) and could, very possibly eat here every day.
If you go, here are few fool proof suggestions;
1. Nachos. HUGE. DELICIOUS. WONDERFUL.
2. The Green salad. Very simple chopped salad with beets and apple
cider vinegar. Also Huge.
3. The Chicken enchilada complete dinner (comes with soup or salad
and a Iced Flax Tea)
4. Iced Flax tea. SOO, SOO good.
5. Any of the pizzas...YUM!
Leonors is always clean, the service is always friendly and fast and the food is consistently good. This is my saturday morning stand by (yes, I love nachos for breakfast!)
*** To all the reviewers who say that Leonors food is too bland- As far
as I'm aware they don't use any salt in their food...so if you find it too
bland, take advantage of the salt shaker conveniently placed on your
table!****
Really good "chicken" quesadilla.
I've never been to a vegetarian Mexican food restaurant before, mostly because there are none I know of besides this one, but this was a very pleasant surprise. If you want some fresh, decently priced Mexican food go here.
The food I've had here is pretty bland and unremarkable. I wanted to like Leonor's more but there's far too many vegetarian and vegan places that I love, so it doesn't make the cut. Hugo's Taco's for example, which is spicy and out-of- this-world!
Leonor's gets four stars from me if not for the simple fact that they are a Mexican VEGETARIAN restaurant. That's awesome! While vegetarians can always find a way to make it work at most Mexican places, it's very rare to find a place that caters to you. Sure, the food here isn't exactly gourmet, but it's healthy and inexpensive. Don't miss the nachos.
Best whole wheat pizza with soy cheese ever, man.
I wish I had one closer to my house.
I guess I had higher expectations.
We got the chili burrito and the broccoli burrito. (walking to counter to order as the service was poor). The food was pretty bland. (also the photos on the wall look way more appetizing that what you actually get). Adding some hot sauce helped. It seems like pretty healthy food, maybe that is why it was bland. Why does vegetarian automatically mean using brown rice and tasteless beans and hardly any cheese or does it HAVE to be soy?
I will still probably try something else at another time at the other location because in theory the menu seems like it should be really good. haha.. wish me luck.
Leonor's is fantastic, whether you are a vegetarian or not.
The food here is delicious...secretly wholesome and with pizza and mexican food options, how can you go wrong?
Leonor's serves food with names like 'chicken dinner' etc, minus the meat part. All of the 'meat' served is actually soy based, including the cheese. Try this little test- if you have a friend who seems uninterested in healthier faire just say that you are picking up some food to bring over. Quietly watch as they eat healthy versions of tacos, enchiladas, pizzas or sandwiches and then tell them..."YOU ATE HEALTH FOOD!"
I think you'll find that most people won't detect the difference for themselves.
Oh...and the flax seed iced tea is DELICIOUS, addictive even.
Happy healthy eating!
Oh Leonor's how I used to love your "Mike's Special". It was a pretty good chicken quesadilla with quacamole. I loved it so much until I found out your cheese is NOT VEGAN!! You lied to me and broke my heart. The food at Leonors can be bland sometimes but there are a few gems I used to get on the menu. Mike's special & the BLT. They were my favorite. I don't eat there anymore because they told me the cheese was vegan a long time ago and then I found out that there is casein in it. For all vegans, be warned!
Having visited the original Leonor's in North Hollywood, I expected this location to be very similar. My friend and I made the commute to Leonor's for the soul purpose of trying all the great vegetarian fare - what we go instead was a great big bowl of bland.
Don't get me wrong, I love all things Flax, Whole Grain, Soy, Tempeh,Carob and even the occasional Wheatberry - but this was not good at all! Maybe I can blame my taste buds - I've come to really enjoy food that has....what's the word I'm looking for?
Flavor.
This review is coming from a girl who LALALALOVES her meat. And even with that said, I still will give this Veggie Mexican place 4 stars!
I can't believe how good the fake-O meat-O can taste. I ordered their mock chicken salad with soy cheese and I would order this over a real chicken salad anyday as it was fresh, zesty and the "chicken" tasted great. I'll be checking out more of their menu, so I'll report back and let you know what else is good here :)
Leonor's! Leonor's! Leonor's! Simply the best. Simple, wonderful Mexican food. Everything you'd expect from a down-home local kinda mexican restaurant w/out the cheese, meat or grease.
My non-vegetarian friends ADORE this place. You must stop in and just explore for yourself, but BE HUNGRY. I always recommend the Mike's Special to my newbie friends - (soy cheese quesadilla w/ faux meat and huge side of fresh guac - @ $6.50 - I add spinach) -awesome! The guacamole is the best, if you like it fresh and chunky and the salsa trio that accompanies it, rules. (Ask for the hot green!). The beet salad is huge and delicious. The green salad is divine. The empanads, decadent and cheap (@$3).
If you are a vegan/vegetarian you'll love the fact that you can order quesadillas or nachos! Both, great.
They also have a Leonor's (the original, where if you're lucky, you'll get waited on by Leonor herself!) in North Hollywood on Tujunga/Victory.
GO!go!go! you won't regret it.
oh. Good hangover food....OR good 'healthy' eats, too. and good place to bring your non-vegetarian friends OR veg friends new to town. I can't believe I haven't purchased a t-shirt yet...
Sometimes I want to stick my face in something big and meaty. At those times I go to Leonor's and get their Octavio's Fiesta (do not mistake this for the chili Leslie Gordita, which is flavor-free). Their chicken salad is also good and seems really authentic, from what I can recall from my chicken-eating days. Warning: this is not food to eat in the car, unless you want more on your pants than in your mouth. Very messy stuff.
This is not a place for ambiance, however. The inside is reminiscent of a cafeteria. Outside, there are two teeny tables nuzzling the boxed-in parking lot. Exhaust fumes don't enhance the flavor of the food, so I usually just take my goodies to go.
Parking gets tight, so I usually grab a spot on the street.
I'll say this place definitely has the right idea. Big big menu all Vegan or vegetarian. Better for take-out than sittin' down. The pizza with everything was good, full of veggies, fake meat, and soy cheese. The mexican style dishes were not bad. Mostly this place tastes like homemade. But not that homemade grandma style secret recipe flavor, more like the college dorm room microwave style. Prices are pretty good though.
Basically, stick to the enchiladas!
The food seems fresh but is a bit on the flavorless side but smother it in some Tapatio and you're good to go. It's a little dreary inside and the fluorescent overhead lighting doesn't lend much to the ambiance but it seemed clean and the people are friendly. The guacamole was very fresh but once again had very little flavor. The pizza was OK but I really don't have much to gauge it on since I'm new to my vegetarian way of life. The flax seed tea was not very refreshing but I'm sure it would be great hot. Overall Leonor's is a bit bland for my tastes and Mexican food should be anything but bland. I'm sure I will have a hard time finding vegetarian Mexican food that rocks but I will continue my quest. Any suggestions??
I really wanted to love this place. I even gave it three chances to make a first impression. Alas, it was all for naught. The concept is appealing, and the effort is much appreciated, but the the experience was just not something I would come back for.
The food is disappointingly bland, and no amount of hot sauce helps matters. I ordered a couple dishes with the fake chicken, and both of them incorporated what looked like Morningstar breaded chicken burger patties cut into strips. Expecting plain soy chicken, which would make more sense with the food I got, it was an odd choice, and not complementary. I also ate a watery mixed vegetable dish. I kept chewing bean stems which hadn't been cut off and had to classily pull them out of my mouth.
The service is good-natured and they have worked with the hole-in-the-wall location pretty well, but unfortunately the food just doesn't measure up. Sorry, Leonor's.
How happy I was to see Leonor's in the weekly yelp! Being a vegetarian is a whole lot easier with places like this around.
The food is freaking fantastic. I'm a huge fan of the chicken salad. Not only is it delish, it feeds me for the entire day (no skimping on the portion size at this place). Actually, I have loved everything I've ordered here. This is also the only place I have ever seen Flax Tea on the menu and it is "the bomb". Yes, the bomb.
Leonor's ALMOST makes we want to consider moving back the the Valley. Here's a little tip though: good, healthy food take some time to prepare so if you're hungry and doing take-out, call ahead instead of ordering when you get there. Your hungry belly will thank you.
There are two Leonor's, not that far from each other.
Both restaurants are owned by separate owners. I believe one was sold off, but the menu for both is incredibly similar.
The North Hollywood location has the soy shrimp taco, sorely lacking at the Studio City location. The Studio City location seems to have slightly bigger portions, which is good and bad. The bad being I tend to over-eat.
If you bring along a carnivore, I recommend the pizza. It performs well with the meat-centric types I have brought along.
It is true that the food is under salted and under spiced. As one who likes spicy foods, I actually don't mind it as they provide hot sauce to prep it to the level that is suitable for you palate.
I've been coming to Leonor's for over 10 years now. No one does a better soy cheese pizza, that's for sure. Actually, their soy cheese is so good that they sell it by the pound!
The salads & veggie juices are good too, especially if you're in the mood for some MAJOR vegetable action. Vitamin pills are no substitute for the real thing.
Their flax seed tea is the stuff of legends; you can't find it anywhere else, they won't reveal its secret recipe, and only the regulars know about it. Order it, iced or hot. It's a cult classic! And, it's mega tasty with all that delicious cinnamon flavor.
Other than pizza and their green salads, I used to always get the "Joy's Golden Nugget" sandwich and the "Mike's Special" soy quesadilla with guacamole. Watch out for that "Forever Young" bread with soy butter - yum. The lentil soup's pretty good, too.
One thing to note about Leonor's: since it's a vegetarian health restaurant, the food can be really bland. I stick with the few items I really love (the pizza keeps bringing me back), and even then I use salt, pepper, Spike and Tapatio with a heavy hand. Don't be afraid to spice it up!
Also, the service can be slow since only one server works at a time. Don't be afraid to walk over and get her attention when you come in. Also, I pay my bill at the register almost every time I eat there. Otherwise, I'd be waiting all day for her to come back around. It's no big deal for me; I don't come here to be wined and dined. It's all about the food and that flaxseed tea!
I'm not even vegetarian and I love this place. However, I will admit to sticking with the good stuff -- the fake chicken is great, the soy cheese in the quesadilla is melty and convincing, the salad is fresh with some amazing dressing and the pizza with meatballs is pretty damn good.
Service with a smile, and that flax tea is weirdly good (I could do without the cinnamon flavor, but that's nitpicky). A great place to pick up some food or grab a quick lunch (it's nice enough on the inside, in a slightly upgraded fast food restaurant kind of way -- no atmosphere and not a lot of seating). Eating outside on the sidewalk and staring into the parking lot is actually a better option. A great find in the Valley whether you're vegetarian or not.
I really like Leonor's, enough to make the drive out to the valley from the Westside. Don't let the appearance of the restaurant turn you off. I would have never guessed this hole-in-the-wall served yummy vegetarian/vegan Mexican. I didn't even know a place like this existed. Now, it's not as good as the real thing but if you're trying to stick to a vegetarian/vegan diet, this is a good place to go. Their burritos are monsterous like all good Mexican joints. More than the Mexican food, I really enjoy their whole wheat pizza. And their nachos are great.
I'm not really sure what I ate, but I still feel odd. I ordered a quesadilla, and it came with steamed, unseasoned broccoli and the most tasteless guacamole I've ever encountered. The broccoli I could deal with - it didn't taste like much, but it was fresh and crisp - but the guac was a gift that kept on giving. We even asked the server what was in it, since it seemed to have been stretched with some mystery ingredient - whey? water? - that made it go further while removing all flavor. Neat trick.
I might try a sandwich here again, but that's about it.
Leonors is a veggie staple in my life.... good veggie food, not too expensive, and pictures on the wall so you always know what you're getting!! My faves are the Joy's Golden Nugget sandwich and the chicken enchiladas. Good place to get take out, since the inside lacks any sort of ambiance.
I've actually ate at this place a couple of times and at the other location close by. Why is Mexican veg food bland? I can make it better at home. I give up on this place, unless I want soy cheese pizza. (then again it's not pizza unless it's mozzarella.)
Leonor's offers great vegetarian food.
It doesn't look like much from the street, but the sandwiches are crazy delicious. They make their own bread and use it for nearly everything. This results in a giant sandwich filled with the faux meat of your choice, a ton of soy cheese, veggies, sauces, and craziness. Unless you're extra sandwich dexterous, you'll need a fork to eat the damn things. This is not a bad thing.
Their nachos are enough for three people, or one hungry donkey. Homemade crunchy corn tortillas layered with soy cheeses, fresh guacamole, and other awesomeness. This is a staple at my household. If you try to finish off a full plate by yourself, be prepared for laying around on the floor for a while. They also have some great vegetarian pizza options.
As for the Mexican fare, I recommend the broccoli burrito or the "Wendy's Special" quesadilla: veg bacon, broccoli, soy cheese and maybe a pound of guacamole.
The parking lot is nasty tight, sharing some 10 spaces with a dance studio and a nail place. I just park across the street and walk over. You can call in your order for pick up. Usually takes about 15-20 minutes.
I've heard rumors about Leonor's not being 100% vegan, so do your homework first if that's what you're looking for.
Overall, this place makes some serious chow. As my grandfather used to say: If you walk away hungry, it's your own damn fault.
3.7. Anyone worth their salt know that Leonor's is the place in the studio city area to go for healthy food. While they call themselves Mexican food, some of the main ingredients are lacking--namely, grease! And I promise, you won't miss it. Pretty much everything is good--better, in fact, than you'll think when you order it. The house salad's got tangy cabbage, and on the whole the place is just wonderful. Skip obnoxious places like real food daily, and hit up Leonor's. It's vegetarian/vegan food for people who like to eat.
I love coming to Leonor's even though I love my meat. The food is really good, really cheap and the best part is whenever I leave I always feel great. I can't say the same thing after leaving a lot of restaurants. The reason i didn't give 5 stars is that sometimes the service can be a little slow.
i'm a carnivore, and i still crave this restaurant more than chocolate.
(oh leonor's, why don't i live next door to you?)
Although Leonor's is advertised as Vegetarian it is a 100% Vegan restaurant. Like other reviewers, I am not Vegan but Leonor's is awesome. My favorite is the broccoli burrito wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla and covered in a tomato-based "Ranchero" sauce. I prefer a very veggie juice on the side which consists of beets, carrots, and celery. Healthy, fresh, delicious even for carnivores, and modestly priced with large portions. It is tucked away in a little strip mall just west of Whitsett on Moorpark. A little hard to find but well worth it. There is certainly no other place like it.
This place first entered my radar screen when I moved to the Valley and was looking for vegetarian-friendly places to eat. I was looking forward to a Mexican place that had more than one menu item I could order. I didn't get a chance to eat there until about two years later after hearing several people rave about it but was sadly disappointed.
My Mexican dish was quite bland. One thing to note is that it's not only vegetarian but oriented toward healthy eaters (not the same thing although there's often overlap). The rice was brown with an unusual flat shape, and the veggies on the side were plentiful but unseasoned, save for the Bragg's you could splash on. I like healthy food but would like some flavor as well.
The atmosphere was sorely lacking as well, with fast-food style bench tables and flourescent lighting. Perhaps if I'm in the area (I've since moved to another part of the city) I'll give it another try for the pizza, since other reviewers seem to find that more tasty than the Mexican food, but I wouldn't recommend it based on my experience.
I absolutely LOVE this place. They have the best "chicken" tacos ever!!! I have tried some other things on the menu, but I keep comin' back for those tacos. I agree with the other reviews that the guac. is bland - but I still recommend Leonor's.
Parking is a real pain in the ass though
On the recommendation of a fellow yelper, I tried the pizza and flax seed ice tea. Wow! The "special" pizza was loaded with wholesome items and plenty of cilantro. It wasn't overly spicy, but very balanced with some subtle flavors. The whole wheat crust was delicious and made me feel all healthy inside. It was actually a beautiful creation with some attention to detail like carefully sliced avocado and tomatoes. I like to take pictures of pretty food so I'm kickin' myself for not getting a shot before I dug in. I'll just have to go back for that I guess. The "small" was actually pretty big and I was stuffed on half of it and took the other half home. The flax seed tea was wonderfully fragrant and slightly sweet with plenty of ice. I like how they have pictures of the food on the wall I guess since I'm an amateur food photographer myself. The place is pretty small inside...let's call it cozy. I sat in one of the cozy booths near the door and filled that empty space in me with some nutricious love. I'm gonna have to go back for their veggie tamales.
My boyfriend introduced me to this place.
Even for a non vegetarian at the time, it's a bit irritating to hear people talk about vegetarian food in hyphens. The place is very small, you can easily hear other peoples conversations. It's interesting how people can isolate themselves from a vegatarian menu, by ordering a salad. But then, maybe those people are cutting down on carbs. I don't know. I realize I shouldn't be so judgemental, or even listen in on peoples conversations in the first place. The special pizza is pretty good. They put avocado slices on each slice of pizza. Maybe you should ask for cilantro on the side. Tastes even better cold. It's pizza! What makes everything so great here is the cheese. Cheese quesadillas with cold guacomole on the side. Empanadas, big enough for one person. I've heard that the cheese is a mystery, which isn't good for purists out there. But, I eat cheese.
Also, the flax tea is even better hot.
Neighborhood: North Hollywood
Category: Mexican
Neighborhood: North Hollywood
Category: Mexican
Neighborhood: Studio City
Category: Vegan
Neighborhood: Burbank
Category: Health Markets
Artesia, CA
Category: Vegetarian
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