First let me state that I am one who writes honest reviews both when I am dissatisfied and when I am pleased. While I usually post on Yelp or TripAdvisor, I wanted to post this review to Google so more people are aware of the poor experience we had.
Tonight we went to Leona's for dinner because my wife was interested in their gluten free pizza. I will say, she loved it her pizza. It had pepperoni and bacon on it and she said the crust tasted different than most GF pizza which made it have delicious flavor. She also had a long island ice tea which she said tasted good.
On the other hand, my experience was very poor. Our server, even the manager had a tendency to drop off stuff at our table and then walk away quickly so they couldn't hear us asking for what we needed. Leaving us sitting and staring at our food for 10 minutes unable to eat ir. After we received our food we had catch a manager passing by to get us cutlery so we could eat.
I ordered the garlic chicken with side salad and fettuccine alfredo and a lemonade to drink. Oh, where to begin. The garlic chicken was bland and very dry. It didn't have any flavor like promised on the menu. It needs to have sauce with it or on it or they need to do a better job with the breading. The side salad was not fresh and didn't come with dressing. The fettuccine alfredo had a bland flavor-no seasoning, and has serious room for improvement. The lemonade was what you can find at the grocery store for cheap, yet cost $3 because they put sugar around the rim to make it fancy. I really wanted a refill to help me eat the severely dry chicken, but our server was busy with other tables.
I was starving so I ate the fettuccine and some of the chicken, but that was all. My meal cost $15 but that is a rip off considering you get better quality and better tasting chicken at Popeye's for $5. I refused to pay for the food I didn't eat, explained to the manager how bad the food tasted and how dissatisfied I was. The manager seemed more interested in defending the food than hearing my explanation as to why it didn't taste good, which in my opinion means he has no idea what good customer service is. We placed our money on the table and left.
I'm sure there are plenty of other Italian restaurants where you can get a $15 chicken dinner that tastes much better than crap they serve at Leona's.
Since my wife enjoyed her pizza I will give them a star, but I feel that 1 star is even generous considering the poor service and poor tasting food I had. She may return for the pizza, but I will not be returning.
I also share with everyone I know both the positive and negative experiences I have at restaurants. Fortunately, this is our first bad experience while being in Chicago. With so many other dining options in Chicago, my advice is don't waste your time at Leona's on Western Ave.