Leo's Italian Social — Restaurant in Raleigh

In a word – horrible. If there was a rating lower than 1 star, this restaurant would receive a MINUS 3! Have been to the New North Hills location twice. First time was for lunch with reservations...hostess hesitated seating us, making us wait 10 minutes while she searched to see whether or not there was someone available to wait on the table. This despite the fact that the establishment was open (it was 1 PM) - though there were no guests. The meal was reasonable but not great, the service was horrible. Even making allowances for the fact that the restaurant was relatively new and the server may not have been familiar with the inner workings of the restaurant at the time, the service was worse than what you would encounter at a fast food establishment. We ordered appetizers and a main course. We waited and waited and waited. Then everything came at once. There was no time paced between the appetizer and the meal - as a consequence everything went cold, because you could not possibly eat the meal and all of the appetizers at once. The second time I called in advance for reservations and requested a round table for a party of eight. We arrive at the restaurant, encounter the same hostess confusion and delay in seating...we were then walked back to a high top table, even though the hostess acknowledged the fact that I was carrying a two-year-old child. How could a two year old child possibly sit at a hightop table? When I objected to the table the hostess disappeared and a waiter stepped in puzzled about about where we could be seated, even though the restaurant was absolutely empty. Finally, a waitress steps in and suggest putting two tables together. The round table we had requested apparently could not accommodate a party of eight. Why we were not told this when we called for the reservation I'll never know. Why the hostess could not recognize that a two-year-old can't sit at a high top table, I'll never know. Why a waiter could not figure out how we could be accommodated in an empty restaurant is beyond my comprehension. We ordered apps and meals... both reasonably paced. Meals however were delivered at different times, so we did not really dine together. and bread that was so stale you couldn't even cut it. Desserts are very good and the restaurant itself is open and airy. Unfortunately it is not well managed and the food is 'eh. Not a cheap restaurant... frankly save your money and go to a top rated establishment. Leo's will not survive if it continues as...

Attempted to have a nice date night here with the missus… won’t ever be making that mistake again.

We arrived a few minutes early for our scheduled 6:30pm reservation. (They “allow” you an hour and a half to eat, per the reservation rules)

We checked in with the hostess & she let us know it would be a few minutes while they cleared a table for us. Okay, no problem.

The “waiting area” is very small and has standing room only, so we could hear every conversation that was being had. A few couples came in after us with a 6:30pm reservation and were sat ahead of us. A gentleman came in holding a phone to his ear to look for a jacket he had left & found it immediately upon walking in. He sarcastically stated to the hostess “I’m the guy you guys have on hold, while looking for my jacket.“ The jacket was literally not even 5 feet away from the hostess stand in direct line of sight (at the pizza bar) and no attempt was made to look for any jacket while I was there. The gentleman was clearly annoyed and the hostesses didn’t even acknowledge him & just kept chit chatting amongst themselves.

At 6:45pm and after several couples that came in after us were sat, I asked the hostess if she had an estimate for how much longer we would have to wait to be seated.. she seemed annoyed that I asked & repeated the line that they were cleaning some table off and would sit us shortly. I informed here that that’s what she said when we first walked in and asked if she had a time estimate. The hostess rolled her eyes and told me, “I don’t know. Maybe another 10 or 15 minutes.”

By that point, I had seen enough red flags to know that if this was the experience we had so far, I wasn’t willing to risk ruining our date night by dining there. We ended up getting a last minute reservation at Mulino’s (about 15 minutes away) and the food and service was amazing there.

It’s a shame I didn’t get a chance to try the food at Leo’s because it may have been good, but until the very unwelcoming staff at the front desk are trained properly, I wouldn’t recommend this...

Slow service. Appetizer arrived before drinks. Spinach dip was okay- I’ve had better nearby at Yardhouse. Chicken parm was bad. It looked and tasted like a TV dinner. Tomato sauce was bad, so plain. Husband got chicken pesto pasta dish which was okay. We are foodies with appetites and we didn’t finish our meals. His came out first. Mine apparently “was on a separate check” which is the explanation as to why it hadn’t arrived. I’ve worked in hospitality and that makes zero sense as to why it hadn’t arrived together with my husbands dish if it’s going to the same TABLE. I hate it when management tries to lie just to save their butts. Waiter was slow and visibly impatient with a newer server who actually did a better job and was more pleasant than he was. Took forever to get drinks. Drink was the best part of the meal unfortunately. It’s never good when food comes out before drinks, when management lies to excuse their poor service, and main courses aren’t delivered at the same time for TWO people. Don’t waste your time and money. We were also sat in a back room with plain white walls so whoever is seated facing the walls has a boring view. Never in my life have I been seated in front of an emergency exit door and that someone would have to be facing that door based on their horrible layout. We asked to switch tables, hostess was rude and said they were all booked. We stood there unhappy and she said we could take the nearby FOUR top table. So now my husband was facing a blank white boring wall instead of an ugly exit door. Get some artwork or something! Target is right next door! 😂 Besides, weren’t we JUST told we couldn’t switch tables because of reservations? That room remained half empty the entire time too. I hate...