Leona's Cucina — Restaurant in Jacksonville

We don't go out for dinner often but when running errands during the week, enjoy finding new-to-us places for lunch. Today took us near Mandarin Station area and Google maps showed Leona's Cocina (10550 Old St Augustine Rd #6, Jacksonville, FL 32257) as promising. Italian is one of my favorite cuisines but I'm ridiculously particular.

We were greeted by a lovely woman who said Leona was her daughter. She was so very sweet, humble and accommodating, we felt like we were visiting friends right from our first visit.

We got a Meatball sub and a Cheesesteak sub, and swapped halfsies, as usual. I suspect their meatballs aren't homemade but they were tender, juicy and flavorful, the sauce was chunky & fresh and the bread was soft but toasty.

The cheesesteak was packed with tender grilled beef, sautéed mushrooms and onions (green peppers omitted) with melted cheese and added lettuce, on the same toasty bread.

Both sandwiches were incredibly tasty and filling, I would order either again without hesitation, but the other items on the menu looked so inviting, we'll have to try other things our...

My Penne Primavera was ordered with Angel Hair pasta, I specifically ordered without cheese. I also ordered a salad as my side item, again with no cheese. The waitress/owner said ok. My wife prompted me to order a protein, so I asked what they had. Meatballs, ok, so I specifically asked is there cheese inside the Meatballs, the waitress/owner said no cheese in the Meatballs. The food came out and my pasta was delicious, I ate most of it and then cut into my two Meatballs. Something doesn't taste right. So, I pushed all the meatball pieces aside and asked the waitress/ owner when she came over to check on us if there was cheese in the meatball, she smiled and said yes, is it good? I said NO, I asked you 3 times no cheese, you even told me specifically no cheese in the meatballs, and then you put them in on purpose. Then, and only then she asked me, "are you allergic or just don't like?", I said what difference does that make, I asked 3 times NO CHEESE.

If I was allergic, I would be the new owner by this time. I won't be going back there at all, nor will the people with me who saw all...

Visited last night per recommend on nextdoor. I had an option on Google to make a Res so I did since a previous new rest recommend we walked in was packed, Anyway we got there/ it was just a pizzeria with 4 tables which were occupied so we decided to order takeout. The diners were enjoying the dishes as we heard all around compliments so I couldn't wait to try, then a table opened up so we stayed. They're still in the process of restaurant accommodations. Well if you like home cooked style yummy food this is One of the New Best Neighborhood Eateries of the few. We had the Calamari/ Breaded shrimp comes with Delish marinara sauce, Chicken Piccata and Pizza, It was All Delish😋. Pizza was made for my hub his way, thin crust/ well done and the portions are very shareable, we were stuffed and brought hm left overs, so did the other diners leaving they all took hm. Sébastien our server was very nice, so was mama Leona/ son we chatted with. Very friendly, hospitable family biz.

Look fwd to my next meal 😋

Sorry no pics I couldn't...