Leona's Pizzeria - Old Irving

When I was literally a kid growing up in Chicago, this is where my parents always ordered their pizza from! We are going back a lot of years! Lol.The pizza at Leona's has never left my memory. So as long as I can review on Yelp, I'm going to be remembering places from my long gone past that I couldn't have Yelped since Leona's pre-dates that! So bear with my childhood memories!The square-cut Chicago-style pizza pieces at Leona's are the perfect size for a small person's hand, and folding the piece makes a tidy couple of bites. The perfect pizza here contains sweet-ish red pizza sauce, savory chunk sausage with tiny flecks of fennel throughout, creamy melty mozzarella, and Italian spices such as a sprinkling of oregano. What more can your family dream of when it comes to tasty pizza. Suffice it to say: The reason they are still in business after alll these years is because they have the BEST CHICAGO PIZZA and people stilll notice their consistency!If you are ever visiting or live in Chicago and you are near the Irving Park/Wrigleyville area, give Leona's a try. I promise you your tummy will be pleased.

I visited Leona's restaurant after the long awaited reopening after their remodel. WHY DID I BOTHER?!?Not sure what they are trying to achieve here. Is it over priced food and bad service, or should I say lack of service?We ordered Italian beef which had zero flavor at all and a pizza that is to say the lease tasted like a frozen pizza. I've actually had frozen pizza taste better than their over priced menu.People, there are so many places to go that would be sooo much better than this place. This is a hard pass for me and I will be sure to let my friends know as well. BIG FAT ZERO!

Most likely last time coming here. Was here to use my $50 gift card won from trivia Tuesday otherwise i woulda walked out.. it's a shame, since i live literally walking distance and have been coming for years! I've been here for birthday dinners, celebration dinners, trivia Tuesdays, and just to sit at the bar have a drink and watch the bulls play! Loved the ambiance service and food but after yesterday wow never again. First off, there's no server or host nobody comes to your table and brings you water or asks to take your order. You're told to get water from the water station with plastic cups. Then you're given a QR code to order everything and Pay and tip all at once. Like if it's Uber eats but dine in lol never seen that before.So since there's no server, we had to get up multiple times to get water. Or ask for things. And such a nice bar is useless to have, because they couldn't make anything. Not a long island, not a lemon drop, no cocktails. Just beer or seltzer. The food was bland. No flavor. Italian beef asked for dip came dry and flavorless, The Alfredo pasta barely saucey dry as well. The pizza which we used to love, had NO cheese pull, crust wasn't crunchy, it was basically a frozen pizza not a hand tossed pizza. The worst.This place is way too nice and all the remodels are pointless for the service provided. And overpriced for the service and quality you will receive. (I tipped ONLY because i felt bad for the person working they looked miserable and stressed out) you're Better off going to Pete's pizza on western! Or Chicago Pizza on Irving park. Hell, even Giardanos. Ive had better service and experience at Bacci's.. I hope management reads the reviews and re-evaluates their restaurant and go back to the old way, or sadly this will be closed within the next year.

I don't even know where to begin... this was the worst experience I've ever had coming to Leona's in all the times I came before their "remodel".They didn't accept dine-in service for months due to the remodel, so today while out and about with my elderly mother we decided to call and they told us yes they're open! FINALLY. We'd been anticipating coming back.We came in and the woman at the front told us we could sit anywhere, so we went towards the back but a lady setting up said there was a private party coming and we needed to move. Fine, no problem. We moved towards the front of the place. They asked us to use the QR code to scan and order our food. We had to ask for paper menus as my mom is better with physical menus. The prices are ridiculous for some items but we figured we hadn't been for a while, why not?! Moving on, the QR code is thru "Toast" and it's not just ordering! It's paying! Before you even get your food! Including gratuity! Okay fine, let's see how this works. So we spent $120 including gratuity before we even got our food! I still don't know how.We expected water to be brought to us as any restaurant, Nope. They have a water station that you have to go to get water in plastic cups. Asked for coffee and it seemed like that was a big ask, but it came. Had to ask for napkins and silverware. I mean what?!So we ordered Calamari, garlic bread, pizza, and chicken fettuccine Alfredo. We waited a good 20 minutes before we asked where our food was. The pizza came out first. They didn't give us plates or the crushed red pepper and parm cheese like they used to. The woman tells me "oh the plates are behind me"! Again, what?! I had to go and grab our plates! I just CANNOT. What happened to this place? The food is good, overpriced but good. Pizza is worth it if you're picking up or having it delivered.The biggest failure: Customer ServiceDue to this "big" party, we were insanely overlooked. No other people were dining in. No "sorry for the inconvenience". No "please accept or apologies". no "have this coupon or deduction from the bill". We got "oh you guys came in when we're having a big party". And??? Restaurants have parties and take dine ins on Saturdays. They clearly cannot handle multiple guests. (1 table of 2 ppl and the "party" of 20 ppl). My mom complained to the host/waitress (I still don't know what she did there). She told us to "complain to the manager and maybe he'll give us something free" I kid you not. I bluntly told her no thanks we're past that and that's what reviews are for.When we're finally wrapping this nightmare of a dinner up, the bartender (a long hair red headed guy) asked if we needed boxes and was nice, but too little too late really. Upon leaving, no one thanked us for coming in or told acknowledged us leaving. After spending $120 on mediocre food at best!So disappointed and I definitely won't be back. Please do better!Also forcing gratuity on the QR code seems sketchy af. Who did I just pay that too when NO ONE helped us? Nor was appreciated by our business.Please Beware of dining in.

Yes it's the same Leona's you're probably thinking about. Yes they have a lot of your favorites. Yes they may not have some of your favorites. Yes, it's still definitely worth the visit!Their spaghetti and meatballs hit the spot! I can't express the frustration I have had in satisfying this particular craving. So much has to be done right. I have eaten many from cheap, modest, and questionable cost or unique combination (peep my eventual Eppel's review on their spaghetti with braised rib au jus). If the pasta, meatballs, or sauce aren't good and in harmony it just doesn't work. And only here have I had all the elements combine in a delicious unity that just kept delivering fork after fork.Service was very good and the ambiance was casual and comfortable.

It's like a trip down memory lane. This is the only Leona's I've never been to. Sure it's the last one, but makes no difference. They have meatballs. Now part of my meatball challenge. The host is also the sever and bartender tonight. But it's slow so, makes sense. Cubs are in The tv and enjoying TVs In the bar area. Cool and good tunes. Will make sure to come back and eat at the bar next time and not just get the meatballs to go. Nice conversations with the two gentlemen at the bar and have to come back soon to get a pizza for happy hour

Solid meh. Ordered a catfish dinner and a spaghetti dinner. The spaghetti dinner says it comes with either marinara or meat sauce (but there is no option to choose which one you want when ordering through DD). They gave me marinara which was not delicious. Also came with two large meatballs which were good. The catfish dinner was just OK. The fish was soggy by the time it got to me which may be attributed to it being a delivery order. I got a salad instead of fries which was OK but they didnt send our coleslaw. Probably wouldnt order again but it wasnt horrible.

Amazing pizza! Had the thin crust and it 100% hit! Unreal ingredients very high quality. Worth the drive from ANYWHERE! Cant wait to come back and try the mac and cheese lasagna. I was stuffed to the gills but i had to have the chocolate mouse cake-mind blowing!!!!!

Excellent service delicious food. What more can you ask for? And a delivery that didn't take all night.

We used to go to Leona's every Tuesday for Trivia night before the remodel and while it was a casual atmosphere, we had no complaints. Since the remodel...??I've never had worse service. Not only was the food bland, but the waiter never checked on us, we waited 30 minutes for a sandwich, and when we asked the bartender for an espresso martini he said it wasn't on the menu (it was) and he didn't know how to make it. Apparently he was the owner's brother and his friend at the bar had to go back and make his own drinks since he doesn't know how to make "fancy drinks". We will never be going back, which is a real shame.