This famous restaurant in downtown Brussels has been a family-owned venue since it opened in 1893,when it was a modest "friterie" (a fried food place, typically seafood). Since it was grown into a maze of multiple levels, stairs and floors, à la E. M. Escher. The menu consists of a combination of typical Belgian dishes, like moules et frites (mussels and fries) served in different styles, croquettes de crevette (shrimp croquettes) and French dishes like steak et frites, raw oysters, and a number of other fried seafood dishes. The place was absolutely packed when we arrived as a party of six, and even more packed when we left around 7:30pm (there was a line outside, which I was told by our friends was not uncommon). We were quickly seated in the highest point of the restaurant, against a window, which was nice. The whole table ordered their "Léon spécial" which consisted of 600 gr of mussels in a classic Belgian sauce for mussels of, celery and wine, beer or house wine. I also ordered escargots (snails) in persillade (butter, gealic and parsley sauce). Bread was shared with the table. The escargots were very small, served in their shells. The persillade sauce was watery and thin, and not very good. I finished my escargots and was waiting for my mussels. I had to ask the waiter for water, bread and my glass of white wine. He seemed incredibly busy running all over the place (there were several other waiters equally busy). I know that the place was packed throughout its innumerable levels and floors, but the service was extremely lackluster. I finally got my mussels, which are traditionally served with fries and mayonnaise. Everyone at my table got their fries with mayonnaise servings; I didn't, so I had to again ask for it to our waiter, who was frantically running around. The mussels, were pretty small, but a decent amount. You order mussels because you want to get to the delicious juice on the bottom and sop it up with bread. There was a lot of sauce, but like the escargot persillade, was watery and had an incredible amount of shredded celery (I am not a fan of celery). Chez Léon seemed to me one of those incredibly touristy places that every city has that does not serve exactly the best food, but that they are famous and affordable. I substracted two stars out of five; one for the lackluster service and another for the lackluster food. There are many better places in Brussels to have a typical meal. Chez Léon may be one of the most famous, but not necessarily the best choice.