Leona's Pizzeria - McHenry — Restaurant in McHenry

Like many others, when the sign for Leona’s went up I got pretty stoked for a new pizza restaurant in the area. Unfortunately, on our first visit we were definitely disappointed & left with a bad feeling about the management & staff. My wife & I have both worked in the food industry for a very long time so we know how times can be hard but this scene played out so bad we never want to go back.

1, when walking into the restaurant, there isn’t a clear process. We were told by the girl at the register that they operate just like Portillo’s. We place our order for food. We tried to order a beverage but were told that nothing was available. How do you open a restaurant with nothing to offer customers to drink!?

2, we were given a sticky note with a number on it & told they would find us. I guess the sticky note was to match the sticky tables because well, they were sticky.

3, the person who appeared to be the manager was gambling at the slot machines & carrying around a cigar. I’m pretty sure the gambling is illegal if you work at said business. Now there is also the question as to if he was intoxicated. I’d say it’s a very, very good possibility.

4, my wife & I were standing by the video poker machines when a guy tried to hand me our pizza instead of taking it to our table. We asked for plates, silverware & a spatula to which we were told they didn’t have any of those things. I again ask, how do you open a restaurant without the necessary supplies for customers!? We were however offered to-go boxes to eat out of. That’s pretty classy! Who goes out for lunch or dinner & wants to eat out of a to-go container?!

5, at some point every single employee was hanging out at what appeared to be the bar. Even the under age employees. The manager disappeared & there were about a dozen kids all hanging out. They were all talking so loud it made us want to leave. When we worked in restaurants, staff weren’t allowed to just hang out where customers were trying to enjoy their meal. There was even an employee who was talking/bragging about how many restaurants he’s worked at… someone’s gotta tell him that is nothing to brag about. And the constant loud burping from a staff member while in the dining area was a HUGE turn off.

It appears the owners were in such a rush to open this place they clearly gave the keys to the wrong people. The manager clearly wants to be the “cool guy” instead of their boss. There’s no one to “right the ship” & corners were clearly cut to get the doors open.

Personally, I’d shut it down, re-staff (that includes management) & stock the restaurant appropriately. Lacking beverages, plates, utensils & and all around lack of respect for the customers is no way to start a business of any magnitude. My wife & I have both “opened” restaurants & I can honestly say that neither of us had ever experienced such a lack of preparation. Hopefully they...

Jumping on the claims of people being drunk and holding half burned cigars at the counter… thank you for those reviews. I was going to try this place out with my wife but she’s auto-immune compromised. These claims lay forth evidence of a poorly managed operation that has someone running the show that clearly doesn’t know and or doesn’t care about health code violations, something I cannot overlook.

To the inevitable response I’ll likely get from the owner saying something along the lines of, so you haven’t even been here and you’re giving us a poor review… I’m not giving you a poor review. I’m giving you a neutral review of 3 stars. Get your staff and establishment in order before you lose your business. Nothing lasts in this building and you’re getting off on the wrong foot with limited menus, soda machines that aren’t operational and staff that doesn’t care.

Ran a pizza place for 20 years as GM. Good luck.

Editing response to the owner: just focus on handling your staff and don’t worry about taking to the internet.

If it’s against googles standards, submit it for review for them to remove. First, I gave you a neutral rating. A neutral rating has no effect outside of the standard 3 star rating you already have. What’s worse? A neutral rating or getting someone sick and losing your establishment anyway. Chilis Vernon hills in the 90’s couldn’t even rebound from a their negligence, what makes you think you could if you harm someone?

If you’re more worried about an honest opinion from someone that has someone they hold dear that can potentially get sick from your drunk and half smoked cigar holding staff then you deserve to fail.

If you can’t train “us locals”, that’s your fault. Don’t put that crap on us, hire competent staff with...

Stopped in the McHenry location about 4 pm on a Monday. The place was empty, the 3 workers were watching TV. Everyone is correct, it is like a hot dog place where you give your order, pay for it, and you are on your own for the rest, plates, etc. drinks, seating. No big deal. The girl taking the order talked us out of ordering the pan pizza we originally wanted saying that the thin crust 1950 traditional would be faster, not that we were in any hurry, but just faster. She was right . It came out in literally 10 minutes ??? The demonstration that the owner put on when appearing on ABC said that each pizza is made by hand piece by piece for perfection...... I think the cook didn't want to get out ALL of the necessary ingredients for just one pan pizza at that time because of being the only ones [2] in the place, so they gave us the quick frozen pizza. The premade crust was as hard as a rock, you had to push so hard with the knife, we were afraid it would go through the paper plate, chewy, no taste, like Ragu tomato sauce, piping hot like it was just out of a microwave. We have made Jack's or Tombstone frozen pizzas which were better with adding our own toppings...again how do you make a handmade pizza and have it out to eat in 10 minutes ?? The help grumpy, but accommodating, plus place was hot. Maybe when there are a number people streaming in and out and orders are flying around, if that happens, you will get a better pizza because now the cook has to get it together and work at it ....but we won't be going back to find out..... expensive frozen pizza !! The reviews I have read do not state where their location was, they seem mostly to be for other locations. If I didn't know better, it's like they are trying to sabotaging the...