Leona's Pizzeria Lyons — Restaurant in Lyons Township

I kind of grew up on Leona's, first their Lakeview location of three floors of dining room and still a 30-minute wait. Then, when I moved out of Lakeview, their Roger's Park location on Sheridan Road. Both are now closed for years. When we were driving by the Lyon's location, a few days ago, I got excited. Leona's is back and somewhat close to my home. It is definitely Leona's name, but the recipes have changed. e.g. their cheese bricks used to be lightly breaded. These are batter-dipped and deep-fried. They were not bad, just different. I chose a side salad with my steak burger; it was a good salad. Romaine lettuce, red onion, cherry tomatoes, black olives, shredded carrots- it was satisfying and could have been a meal itself. The burger was stacked. I did go overboard with adding grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, and bacon (at an extra charge) on top of the lettuce, raw onion, and tomato. I did feel the burger patty was on the small side and got lost with all of the toppings. The bun was soft but stood up to the juicy burger. One of my dinner partners did get the pizza. The toppings were chunky and plentiful, and the crust was crispy. The other diner got the lasagna: again, not like I remember, but not bad, just different. This lasagna was looser, not the traditional casserole, sliced into cubes. This lasagna was assembled on the plate with layers of meat sauce (marinara was an option), cheese, and flat pasta. They were very pleased with their dinner and said it was very good lasagna. The only soda options were canned Pepsi products. A note about the service: you order at the counter/bar, and the waitstaff brings your order out to you. You can also order off the app through toasttab. The plates are plastic thunder group plates. They certainly cheapened the presentation. It was $90 for three adults, with tip, kind of a disconnect there with the ordering at the counter, cans of soda pop, and plastic plates. You really need to take this Leona's as an independent restaurant, not the continuation of the Chicago landmark. Much of it was good. I would happily return for the salad and lasagna. The pizza was good, not great. The burger was OK. I would not get the cheese brick again. There are a total of six tables in the restaurant, not...

So, at this "authentic" Italian spot in lyons. I ordered a stuffed pizza for delivery, thin crust? No thanks, I'm from Chicago. Around 40 mins later, I get a message saying they can't make it, and I'll be refunded. I ordered the basic thin crust pizza one cheese one pepperoni and something called cheese bricks? The pizza had no seasoning, as in when you looked at it in the light, it was just cheese plain cheese on top, no spices, and tasted as such. The pizza wasn't cooked all the way, making the crust almost tough and kinda like a frozen pizza, but the cheap ones like tombstone or red baron. The cheese bricks I can't describe to you, please order them and advise, they were like cannoli texture, but breaded and super oily and tough, like they were odd biting through and all the cheese ran out. I was already done with this nonsense, and someone I work with happened to order the pizza for surprise lunch soon after. It was still awful, and I was told they didn't have vegetarian pizza lol. I heard a female say they didn't have the space for pasta order's either, just lasagna. What? Isn't lasagna a pasta? Doesn't one of your "lasagnas" have mac and cheese in it? How do you make those fresh every day if you can't make pasta? Frozen pans of food I assume. Who's idea was this? How can you open and be so unprepared. Waste of money and time. Please order the bricks tho and...

Dear Leona’s Pizzeria Management,

I am writing to express my disappointment regarding a recent experience with your Lyons location.

My wife placed an order for pizza and was given an estimated wait time of approximately 80 minutes. We patiently waited, only to receive a cancellation notice near the expected delivery time—without any explanation. After waiting nearly an hour and a half, this last-minute cancellation was not only frustrating but extremely inconvenient.

We attempted to call the restaurant to understand what happened or see if the order could be salvaged. Unfortunately, the phone system only provided three automated options: 1) text to order online, 2) driving directions, and 3) speak with someone. Despite selecting the option to speak with a representative, no one ever answered, and the call was eventually disconnected.

This experience left us scrambling for an alternative dinner solution after wasting considerable time. We had hoped for a simple evening meal but were instead left disappointed by both the lack of communication and follow-through on our order.

I hope you will take this feedback seriously and consider improving both your order fulfillment and customer support processes. A timely explanation or courtesy call would have made all...