Leo's Italian Social — Restaurant in Morrisville

We made a reservation at lunch time for family and friends to celebrate a graduation. If you don't want to read the rest of this review, my summary is this: Leo can't decide what this restaurant is. Between the odd decor, the random music, and limited menu, it's impossible to tell what kind of dining experience you're going to get. The staff is great, but the rest of it isn't worth the time/money of a visit. You'll leave feeling disappointed and wondering what the heck just happened, so don't do it. Now the details: The hostess and our waiter were friendly, helpful, and expedient. The rest of our experience was really disappointing. The bar, dining room, and kitchen are all open which means that sound carries. It wasn't crowded when we were there, but it still sounded loud because there's nothing stopping you from hearing everyone else in the restaurant. (This is challenging for people with hearing aids.) The chandeliers over the bar and along one wall are pretty, but that's the only point of visual interest besides three oversized black and white photographs of faces which seems completely out of place. (Did I step into an Abercombie & Fitch?) You can see into the kitchen which is great, but that doesn't change the fact that the menu is very limited and not particularly Italian. This would be fine if the food was good. Of all the dishes ordered, only one of our party was satisfied with their pasta dish. The burger was so salty that it wasn't finished, and the quiche Lorraine was so under-cooked that the crust fell to pieces when it was placed on the table. The waiter brought us a second quiche before we asked (which was excellent service) but even the "cooked" quiche was underdone on the bottom. My salad had shredded lettuce, so it got soggy fast with all the dressing, but it tasted good. Not exceptional like I couldn't replicate it at home, but decent. It's a weird thing to notice, but the music piped over our heads ranged from old timey folk songs (I actually heard "Oh Susannah"), 50's, 80's, 90's rock, bluegrass and country. The music wasn't bad, it was all over the place which kind of symbolizes our entire experience. The bright spots were the staff and the delicious cocktail I had. The rest was all-over-the-place...

We started going here shortly after they opened. The service and the food were great in the beginning and we would go sometimes 2 - 3 times a week since it was good and convenient. Davis has been our server several times and he is fabulous!

On my first visit, I noticed a young waitress who had a head full of beautiful hair, however, her hair was not covered and the next time I saw her, she had her hair pulled back.

Over the past three visits, service and food quality have declined. On one visit, we waited about an hour after ordering before our food came to the table, by then, it was lukewarm.

On the next visit, we ordered the salmon and chicken parmesan and there was hair in the CP. We noticed NO ONE in the kitchen had their hair/heads covered with the exception of baseball caps, but staff with longer hair, their hair was still very much exposed. When I bought it to the manager’s attention, she said kitchen staff is supposed to be wearing hair nets, but NOBODY was wearing any.🙄

On my next visit, I ordered take out. My order was salmon with an extra side of spinach. I’ve ordered the extra side before and never had any unexpected surprises. When I got home, opened my food, I literally had a child’s size portion of salmon, potatoes and spinach (there were two bites of spinach in the box). I opened up my side of spinach and it was UNCOOKED SPINACH…WTH?!? I ordered over the phone at approximately 8:15, they close at 9:00, so it appears the kitchen rushed with my order. Needless to say, I was highly disappointed and highly pissed. It was cold outside and I had just left urgent care with the flu and picked up dinner on my way home. I definitely did NOT get my money’s worth and after reading other reviews, I saw where others had similar experience with hair being in their food.

I’ll be finding a new spot to frequent.

EDIT: I reached out as Leo's management requested in follow up to my review and...

My husband and I had an excellent dinner here with excellent service (Nia was the server). The restaurant has been changed quite dramatically inside… I love the chandeliers on the far side. Thankfully, the bar is the same but without the wall of dust-catching wine bottles. On warm days, you can still sit outside at the bar windows with a view into the restaurant. Two televisions are in the bar area. Some people were around the fire-pits outside on the patio. I’m glad they still have that awesome patio! We sat at a small table near the windows, which had a white paper-covered white tablecloth, but I only noticed the white paper after I spilled a drop of sauce. Complimentary bread, with a plate of olive oil and balsamic dipping. We had calamari as an appetizer… It was thicker than we are used to, but the flavor was marvelous, even though at first I tried— by accident—a fried jalapeño slice on the plate, and it was a tad too spicy for me. Be careful because they look similar. My husband enjoyed the fried jalapeño though. For our entrées, I had eggplant Parmesan, and he had lasagna. The server brought Parmesan to grate on top. My husband has tried lasagna at various local restaurants, and they are not always up to par. He raved about Leo’s’. We asked for extra sauce on the side, however, because some restaurants serve their Italian dishes with not enough sauce for our liking. I think it was a good request even though there was probably adequate sauce. By the way, their sauce is delicious. My eggplant Parmesan had about four layers of slightly crispy-crusted, baked eggplant. I loved the crispy parts because it indicated that the dish was fresh. The manager stopped by and we praised the food and service. Outstanding meal overall that, of course, we enjoyed with a couple glasses of wine. Keep it up, Leo’s. We are also hoping you will have weekday...