Leone’s Elverson, PA BYOB — Restaurant in Caernarvon Township

First time here and it was a sad sight. Our group of four people came in at 5:45pm, was immediately sat, but didn’t receive our entrees until 7:15. We ordered one salad and a pizza as an appetizer. Water took 10 minutes to arrive. Salad took 20 minutes after the water to arrive and was not tossed but rather drowned in excess dressing. The small 10 inch pizza took an additional 25 minutes after the salad to arrive. Which, somehow, defied the laws of physics as the crust was charred black yet the center was raw dough. We actually had to roll the slices up before biting to keep it from falling apart. Then for the following 30-40 minutes, we watched SEVERAL tables steadily walk out from lack of food and attentive service. I couldn’t help but notice during that time, only ONE PERSON was cooking for a full house on a Friday night. That was before another worker rushed into the restaurant to help assist. As predicted based off the other tables around us, we each got our entrees 5 minutes apart from each other. So by the time our last guest got her entree, everyone else’s was cold. Not just cold though. We all had pasta specials. Every one of them was served as stiff/undercooked pasta with overcooked rubbery chicken. Ricotta cheese is meant to be a garnish because its rich but it was more cheese than sauce. I had a lemon ricotta linguine that tasted like it was seasoned with Pine Sole cleaner. No salt, herbs, or spices otherwise. It was bland, chemically lemon zest, and tough all around. Three of us gave our entrees a generous few bites before deciding we’d rather leave hungry than be sick later. This was a quick decision we made but then had to wait another 15 minutes to catch even a glimpse of our server to have her check us out. Our server was apologetic and we don’t blame her for the owner’s mismanagement. However, like the other young servers there, when things like this happen they tend to hide from their guests because they don’t know how to answer everyone’s questions about what’s going wrong. So for awhile there, I saw no servers in this packed room.

I write this review from the viewpoint of a server, cook, host, busser, expo, bartender, and manager who’s worked in various types of restaurants for 15 years. If there’s anything I’ve learned, there’s no such thing as a “small restaurant”. Regardless of the size of the building and/or the menu itself, you do not staff 1 or even 2 cooks on a Friday night. The owner’s should also understand how important it is for servers to be attentive even when a situation is out of their control. An example being open communication. Our server apologized to us for the wait but then ran away without ever telling us why. The confusion made the wait awkward and unsettling since we’re given no indication on how much longer to anticipate. Servers should always greet their tables within 2 minutes of being seated. Even just to introduce themselves if they still don’t have time to take a drink order. Otherwise people feel invisible or ignored and unfortunately, will end up being forgotten. As one table I watched leave, sat for 15 minutes with no greeting and given no drinks prior. This place needs to improve on many levels but the food above everything. People can forgive poor service if the food is worth the wait but this was instead the worst part.

As locals, we hope this family-owned spot pulls it together and hires actual professionals to cook and manage it. Too many first-time restaurant owners assume having a small setup and small menu means they can do it all themselves but it very rarely happens. Restaurants like these burn out and sell within a year because it takes a village to properly run one. Not something a family and a handful of teenagers can pull off. We won’t be back personally, but if they can get themselves situated by springtime they might survive by avoiding driving away all the other locals. Morgantown is small and out of the way for many. So if they can’t please their local patrons, who’s going to drive from further...

This was just… bad. The service was decent but the food from start to finish was just bad. We started with the meatball appetizer and the meat itself lacked flavor with an inconsistent texture which was really weird. The long hot had no flavor. The sauce and cheese were both just ok.

I had the mushroom pizza and my wife has the hot sausage. Her pizza was burnt to a crisp in spots and raw and gummy in others. The “hot sausage” certainly wasn’t hot and was crumbled so fine it was just like it wasn’t there. There was no texture to the whole thing.

The mushrooms tasted like they came out of a can dating back to the Cold War. There was so much truffle oil trying to mask things it overwhelmed everything with an off-putting chemical taste. No part of my pizza was crisp but was charred in places. The dough had an ok flavor (think 1990s) Pizza Hut but was gummy and chewy.

I wish I could have given the food zero stars. I try hard to find something redeeming in any meal but this just was unpleasant and bad. We went on a Friday...

My husband has been dying to try Leone’s Elverson, PA BYOB. We finally ate there tonight and everything was amazing. I mean cooked to perfection. The chicken cutlet sandwich was one of the best sandwiches I have ever eaten. My son and husband had pasta dishes and also their pizza. We will be stopping in again and bringing our family when they come here from out of town. The atmosphere was very nice and relaxing too. Our waitress was such a sweet girl and did a great job. (I'm sorry, I can't remember her name) But she was not forgettable, topnotch service she provided. The owner was very personable too. It's great to have such a nice place to go now so close to home. We will be back soon. I have seen some reviews about it taking long for their food to arrive. It was a little time consuming but while worth the wait and what do you expect when everything is hand made to perfection. Unplug and enjoy the longer wait by spending time with your loved ones. Nothing wrong with enjoying some conversation with...