Leo's Seafood Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Grand Rapids

We’ve been coming here for 5+ years as our favorite restaurant in GR, but unfortunately it’s not what it used to be. The food and its quality is always good, and still is. My issues I’ve had from the last year have been the service provided, which I think is very important in a fine dining restaurant. My most recent experience below tainted my view of Leo’s because the slow service out weighed coming there for the good food.

I made a reservation days in advance. I called two hours ahead and asked if there was happy hour that day because sometimes they have a happy hour and sometimes they don’t. The woman who answered said yes but let me double check with someone. She confirmed yes with us and gave us the specific times (which were different than what is on their website). The server was kind and prompt up until we ordered our food. After that it was sooo slow. I watched him circle the tables in his section over and over and over watching for their needs and not once during those check ins that he was doing at the other tables did he come over to us… as we sat with empty drinks. We are in our 20s and the rest of the people he was serving were 55+ in age. It made us feel like he made an assumption that we couldn’t afford to be there, the 55+ people would tip better, and we are a waste of his time. Finally, he came over and asked if we wanted dessert. I didn’t want to keep him waiting as we decided between the options, so I said let us talk over the options. I timed it out to see if maybe the slowness was a deception of my own, but 26 minutes later he came back asking what we wanted for dessert. At that point, we were annoyed and just wanted to get out of there. We stopped at an ice cream shop instead. On top of all that, after we paid the bill we noticed he didn’t give us the happy hour prices. Again, we had spent too long there already waiting around for service and it was not worth our time, energy, or money to wait another 20+ minutes to get his attention to fix the bill or ask for a manager.

I see now that they updated their website saying specifically that it’s only in a certain area of the restaurant, when we went in late September it did not

Long story short, food is good and service is not as good. Over the years, GR has had a lot of new restaurants open that provide just as good of food but better service for the same...

I am going out of my way to submit this review. I took my neighbor here for a special dinner out. I am very fussy and while I don't like the trait, I am a nit picker and can be very critical. That being said, this was in the top three of dining experiences in my 61 years. My neighbor had the Dijon covered Scottish Salmon. She said it was the best she ever had. I tried a bite. First rate flavor, firm and fresh. We also had two giant shrimp cocktail each. I appreciated that one can order these shrimp by the piece. They were huge. Fresh caught, firm and freshly cooked and chilled perfectly. The cocktail sauce was the best I've ever had. They included ground horseradish so that I could mix to my taste. I had Alaskan Halibut Oscar with lump crab on top. Asparagus, wild rice and peppers mixed in. Bernaise sauce covered the fish and asparagus. The crab portion and the fish portion were generous. They bring out hot fresh cooked bread that tastes like the kind I've had in Germany. The whipped and salted butter was perfect consistency and the best flavored I ever ate. The chef came out. I asked him if the butter was specially made. I appreciated that he was honest and forthright and told me it was bought in bulk already whipped and salted. I didn't care as it was so good. But I did appreciate his being truthful and humble instead of trying to baffle me with haughty restaurant talk. Our waitress was top notch. Good humor, professional, engaging, prompt and attentive. We eschewed dessert and had an after dinner drink. My guest had a pear martini and I had a house lime margarita. Both were excellent. The bill was $150 with tip. Expensive, but when the meal and experience were as good as Leo's I had no issue with the cost. I will be back again. Thanks for a great dining...

We had our son and now daughter in law’s wedding rehearsal at Leo’s and from start to finish it was absolutely fabulous! Carlee the Event Planner at the restaurant was very helpful from booking our room, making deposit, choosing menu, helping with allergies and answering the many questions I had. They printed individual menus with the bride and groom’s names on top making them feel extra special. We were able to make many choices for the menu and everyone was excited and couldn’t say enough about how wonderful the food and entire night was. We had a champagne toast and notified before event that our choice was not going to be available and bar manager had other options available and we chose a different champagne that was very nice🥂 The wait staff were exceptional along with the kitchen staff the night was perfect. The food was unbelievably good in flavor, temperature, tempo of service and presentation. Half of the 22 people we had ordered the surf and turf and everything was perfectly cooked. There were no errors on any of the drinks, appetizers, soups, salads, entrees or desserts. The entire group raved about the service and food. We all loved the private room as we were able to celebrate the happy couple without the business of the restaurant and have our own space for special toasts, gifts and conversations. I cannot thank you all enough for making this event more special with all of your hard work and expertise. You have a wonderful staff and they should be commended for all they do to make everyone in our group from a 4 year old boy to a 90 year old grandmother. Thank you for adding these happy memories for our son and his wife. Definitely will be back in the future and highly recommend Leo’s for any special occasion. It’s the place...