Cafe Leonelli — Restaurant in Houston

After enjoying the museum’s beautiful exhibitions, I stopped by Café Leonelli in a great mood and ordered the Lasagna Bolognese with an iced Americano. Unfortunately, everything changed the moment I received my food.

The lasagna I was given was shockingly small, especially when compared to the plates I saw other customers receive. The portion looked to be about half the size of what others were served. I’m not someone who eats a lot, but even after finishing the entire dish, I was still hungry that’s how little it was. Honestly, it didn’t even seem like a proper, intentional dish from a café. It looked more like scraps thrown together, not something that should be sold as a main.

To make matters worse, the plating was incredibly sloppy. It genuinely looked like someone just scooped whatever was left in the pan and dropped it on the plate with no care whatsoever. I’ve never received something so carelessly presented at a restaurant before. It felt rushed, lazy, and frankly, disrespectful to me as a customer.

What made the situation worse was that the person who took my order and the person who scooped and handed me the lasagna were different, yet neither of them seemed to notice — or care — how unacceptably small and poorly presented it was. When the staff member gave me the plate and we briefly made eye contact, I felt an uncomfortable, unsettling vibe that hasn’t left me since.

As an Asian woman dining alone, I couldn’t help but wonder if I was being dismissed or treated differently. I sincerely hope that wasn’t the case, but the experience left me deeply disappointed and honestly, offended.

I paid $12 for this, and receiving something so incomplete and thoughtlessly prepared was completely unacceptable. This restaurant clearly needs to retrain its staff. Every customer whether dining alone, a minority, or otherwise deserves to be treated with fairness and respect.

This wasn’t just a disappointing meal it left me feeling angry and disrespected, and I truly hope no one else has to go through the...

The cafe has a nice ambiance but that's about as much good as I can say about it. All I wanted to order was 2 Americanos. The line was quite long because we all had to wait for patrons to have their pizzas reheated and others who were trying to determine which gelato flavors they wanted. The couple in front of me was in the same predicament I was and we asked the staff if we could just go up to the register and order our coffees. He told us no. So it took 15-20 minutes to order a coffee. When I finally got to the register and placed my order, it took another 15 minutes for me to get my coffee because the lady at the register was the only one preparing the coffee orders. This has to be the most inefficiently run cafe in Houston. The staff seem like they don't know how to handle the larger crowds or help each other out when they're not doing anything. I noticed that when people in the line were all done ordering food, the person who was taking their orders didn't go to help the cashier prepare the coffees. Thus, you have the cashier juggling 2 tasks: ringing people up and preparing the coffees. Management should look at 1) retraining staff, 2) maybe adding a 2nd register, and 3) adding a separate line for coffee and desserts. If all you want is a coffee and cookie, you shouldn't have to wait 15-20 minutes behind people who are trying to get their food reheated or others trying to figure out of the 6 gelato flavors they want. Also, more gelato flavors would be greatly appreciated. We ended up driving to Sweet Cup for gelato instead of ordering at the cafe. Probably saved ourselves time and there was more variety to...

We visited the Cafe Leonelli on a lazy Friday afternoon around 1:45, and our experience was not good.

First off, we stood waiting to be served in the cafeteria style line for probably eight minutes, no one was in front and no one was behind. It was just us, yet none of the five people behind the counter acknowledged us or offered to help serve us. Instead they talked amongst themselves, checked their phones, and went about their tasks.

Finally, when we walked around to the end of the line by the cash register and loudly talked about how hungry we were did a woman come from the kitchen to ask if we wanted to eat something. We said yes, and she then instructed the same young woman who had been staring at her phone to serve us, which she did all the while grumbling and appearing impatient.

Two slices of pizza and two pastries with two teas cost 47.00, and they were fine, but not fantastic.

We weren't expecting a five star experience, but we got the distinct impression that none of the staff wanted to be there, and only when the manager(?) stepped in did they step-up and serve us (and the other customers who came in behind us).

I'll not be back and I won't be surprised to learn that this establishment closes in the...