The decorations were very sparce and not very attractive, with simple paper tablecloths on the tables - pizza parlor plain. We had reservations and were seated immediately. The manager was OK, but a bit businesslike instead of warm and welcoming. The main and specials menus had interesting items listed, but I was concerned about the comment on the menu that red tomato sauce is used in most dishes, since that is not my go-to choice. Before I ordered, I asked our waitress if the Pollo Saltimbocca alla Romana on the specials menus had a red sauce or a white wine sauce as listed on the menu, and was assured it was a white wine sauce. Two of us ordered that and both dishes came with a red sauce. Neither of us expected that - neither of us liked it. It was very bland. It didn't taste anything like any Saltimbocca I've ever had. My wife ordered Chicken Marsala and said it was tasteless bland Marinara sauce with button mushrooms, instead of a Marsala sauce with Marsala mushrooms. The manager came over and asked how we liked our food. When one of us said the Saltimboca was not as expected and not very good, she started arguing that it was the way the menu described it. Not a great response to an unhappy customer. Portion sizes were OK, but this dining experience was an overall disappointment. We will never repeat it. Unfortunately, I do not recommend this restaurant. It is BYOB and has off-street parking. read more

Came here with my mom on a Tuesday. The restarting is very humble and tucked away on Route 130. It's truly the definition of a hidden gem. The interior may not say much, but the food and service speaks for itself. Our waitress was very attentive and polite. She took care of mostly everyone in the dining area while still making certain we received everything that we needed. For appetizer, we ordered a Fried calamari, mozzarella in carroza with the franchise sauce and a clams oreganato. Everything was hot and delicious. There was never a point where we were dissatisfied. For the entrees, I ordered the penne vodka with chicken, my mother ordered a chicken franchise. The chicken franchise came with pasta in a marinara sauce. The meals also came with a complimentary side salad with a choice of ranch, balsamic vinigarette, or a honey mustard vinigarette. Once again, everything was top tier. We were so satisfied with everything that we immediately asked for a catering menu. The best part? The prices are extremely affordable compared to so many restaraunts nowadays. The portion sizes are also perfect. Will definitely be coming back! read more

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I came here to order a take out with my girlfriend last week, I will say I'll never order from this place again. i ordered a shrimp scampi which should of been $14.95 and garlic bread with cheese $7 the most . They freaking charged me $40 and change for these two things. The food that wasn't even good. The sauce was tasteless and the 5 pieces of shrimp were hard . The garlic bread wasn't good neither I was busy talking with my girl and was in a hurry , didn't pay attention to the amount I was being charged I just payed and left . Then when I was so disappointed with the food started asking myself why the f..k we were charged so much for this crap !! DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS PLACE AT ALL . I understand everywhere you go now is expensive but, to over charge this much is really ridiculous shame on you !! Gave you one star but, you don't deserve any read more

Delicious Lunch Break at Leone's Trattoria North Brunswick, NJ. @leonestrattoria I got the Mozzarella in Carroza, House Salad, and Pan Seared Salmon served with a white wine, lemon, and Thyme sauce over Florentine Risotto. Everything was perfect! Not crowded on a week day for lunch,very close by and convenient for me. read more

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I never leave bad reviews, but this experience was unacceptable. We were charged gratuity on top of tax, which is completely inappropriate and illegal. The food itself was just okay, but what really ruined the meal was the owner. I simply asked if the veal Murphy came with cherry peppers (it was served with jalapeños instead), and the owner came over extremely rude, snapping that it "says hot peppers, not cherry peppers." From that point on, she stared at our table the entire meal, made comments when we leaned back in our chairs, and even kept making comments about the kids in our party. As someone who works as a restaurant manager myself, I would never treat guests this way. The lack of professionalism and hospitality was shocking. We left feeling uncomfortable and unwelcome ... definitely would not return ever. read more

Came here tonight for my birthday dinner. Wanted homemade pasta (I got the vodka sauce ravioli) they were fantastic ! My husband and I split the clams casino to start and they were fresh and delicious ! Great service, place was clean. Prices were extremely reasonable ! We will be back. read more

We had both our marriage ceremony and meal there, in the same space. We were a party of 20, including me and my bride. It was great. 5/5. COMMUNICATION & STAFF My bride was not local, so I coordinated most of it. I mostly communicated with Samantha at Leone's. Samantha was clear and, to my recollection, we did not suffer any miscommunication despite all the back-and-forth. I felt she was invested in working towards a good wedding with us. She made clear the limitations of the space while positing ideas to work within them. e.g. we could not control the music, but depending on their other clientele present, we could play some music at certain instances. Since there were no other customers as we started early saturday afternoon, Samantha played the wedding march. I hadn't even thought about that little detail; it was completely her idea. FOOD The food was great. I personally think it's difficult to find bad italian/italian-american food in New Jersey, and Leone's was no exception. The bread was heaven! Everyone enjoyed a solid 3-course meal. We didn't bring our own alcohol, but Leone's was clear that we could if we wanted to. Additionally, we enjoyed this food at a fair price. We definitely received our money's worth. SPACE The space was "semi-private". There's a larger area for any incoming clientele on the first level. Overlooking them is a second level as a loft or long balcony; this is where we did our ceremony and meal. Once again, thanks to Samantha's creativity and flexibility, we were able to do a "walk down the aisle" from the entrance of the restaurant leading to the upper level loft where we had our ceremony. The space allowed for all of our guests to sit at one long table (multiple tables put together) while we did our ceremony in front of them. We decorated it ourselves, though it was helpful that the restaurant already had a fresh flower on every table. We put our arch against the wall at the end; there our pastor spoke and married us. Where our arch was set, we had ample space to do a first dance as well as take photos with our guests. The loft only had space for us two to dance (I guess if you rent out the whole space you'd be able to have group dancing? Certainly not if you go semi-private.) My family hid my small speaker that we used to play our song for the first dance under a separate table. The restaurant just lowered their music when it was time to play ours. All in all 5/5 stars. We're very grateful to Samantha, Humberto, and the rest of Leone's Trattoria's staff for making our special day so special! read more

Not a fancy place but just consistently good Italian food at reasonable prices. Friendly attentive service. Favorite dishes: chicken marsala, lasagna, spaghetti with meat sauce. Always have a good dining experience here. Nice local place. BYOB. read more

Trying new Italian restaurants. This one was not so good. We could tell when we walked in, but we were there already. Here goes. The decor for an expensive restaurant is terrible. It's bright and looks and feels like a lunch place. No ambiance at all. Sad. We started with the fried Calamari. It was in a bowl with lots of lettuce. Never had lettuce in the bottom of the calamari bowl before. The order was very small. I wasn't tricked into thinking it was bigger with all that lettuce (1/2 of it iceberg -Yuk) Two of us had the salmon salad, $24.99. Mesclun greens and nicely cooked salmon and good balsamic dressing. It had mushy olives, red peppers, and was supposed to have grilled eggplant but there was only one piece. So-so. The other entree was cavatelli with a meat sauce. The sauce was good but again the portion was small. And the salad it came with had iceberg lettuce. Coffee was good but we didn't have dessert. We couldn't bear having any more small portions, lol. Try somewhere else. read more

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Tried this restaurant on a whim with a friend that lives in the area and comers here often. The restaurant has a 80s retro vibe but in a cool way. It has a unusual but again cool kind of set up with tiered dining which complements the throwback kind of vibe that this place gives off. The restaurant is family owned and ran and the service is great. The menu is solid and the food is very fresh. I ordered chicken Parmesan, which is one of my go to dishes when I am trying out a new Italian restaurant. I must say the chicken Parm was pretty good but the portions were pretty small compared to most restaurants you would go to. All in all this restaurant is good and I definitely enjoyed the service and the overall vibe which was very warm and inviting. I unfortunately forgot to take pictures of my food because I was enjoying the conversation and taking in the overall vibe of this place. read more

We always have a great meal at Leone's. My family and I have been coming here for years and love the food and the service. It's a BYOB as well so that's always a plus. Samantha and Umberto as well as the rest of the staff never disappoint! Also it's beautifully decorated for the holidays so that's a nice touch. read more

So its actually a 4 for the food and a 2 for the price, so I average it out to a 3. I ordered the Leone's special pizza for lunch, but without the peppers and pepperoni. If you thought that meant you would get more onion, mushroom and sausage... well, you'd be as dumb as me. Also I opted for the small, and at $26, I didn't think it would be THAT small. So what I got was a tiny pizza with not a lot of toppings. The thing is, it was delicious. I liked the cheese, crust, sauce, and what few toppings I was given. The problem is that at this price point, I could get a giant pizza loaded with toppings from a lot of other pizza places. read more

The food and menu were very good, the service was outstanding, however if you are looking for handicapped accessibility, go somewhere else. Bathrooms were upstairs with no handicap access, and they were dirty and unkept. Handicap parking was at the end of the plaza and having to navigate a very broken up sidewalk. read more

Super cute little restaurant that seems like the locals have known it forever! Relaxed casual atmosphere with a great menu. Not too big not too small. The food was really good. And if you're getting dessert get the Napoleon. It's not the typical pastry shop kind. It's sooooo much better. The service is second to none. It was a full house and we thought we would be waiting forever for our food but it was pretty quick. Our waitress (I think Isabella) was amazing she knew all about the dishes and specials and she rattled off the desserts from memory. Her personality was friendly and outgoing it made us feel like family and made our whole experience wonderful. I even told the owner she should train every waitress staff there! We will DEFINITELY be back read more

This is a great neighborhood place. The food ingredients were very fresh. Recipes were well thought out and executed. Portions were just right sized but not overly huge. Prices were very fairly priced based on portion size. This is a great place to gather with friends and family. BYOB friendly. The staff was extremely competent and helpful. read more

Fantastic food and genuine family atmosphere. Everything is nice and no heavy. We didn't BYOB, but you can and enjoy yourself. The staff is extremely friendly and the desert is soooo good. I'm coming back again! read more

Leone's Trattoria - Tartufo an Italian dessert of gelato that originated in Pizzo, Calabria. - Italian Near Me - North Brunswick, New Jersey

Food was fresh, great portions and fair prices, ignore all the crabby bad reviews they are just bitter with their sad little lives, if you want fresh great food, quality food , come here worth every penny! read more

Ordered pasta and pizza thru Grubhub. Pasta was great but one of the pies they gave us (entire white pizza) was old. It will be hard to order again from this place that provides that quality of food. read more

Tried this restaurant as it was donating 20% of the bill to North Brunswick Humane Society. A big thank you goes out to the owner for doing this! Now for the place. I did take out however while I was there the place was packed. Food was delicious and portions were huge. I enjoyed a hot cheesesteak while my son had the large calzone, which was big enough for four. read more

I was a customer for many years and just got treated so unprofessionally by the owner! It's so shocking that an owner would not value a loyal customer............! There is a thing called manners and you need to have them! Taking my business elsewhere. JW read more

Pizza was okay. Prices too high for what you get. Service was just ok. Did not get receipt with breakdown. Will not go again.

Been going to Leone's for years. When Umberto took over the place went down hill. The food the ambiance and especially the customer service. Don't waste your time if you are looking for a happy, upbeat, place with big smiles from the staff. Especially the owner Umberto. If you're not light enough his greeting won't be bright enough. . I definitely wouldn't go back and the 6 new local people I brought with me won't be back. I'd rather go down the street to Ninos. Nothin but smiles and the food is pretty good. read more

I went here for a Saturday night dinner. The place was small and there was an upstairs that was limited. It had nice décor. The service was solid. There was only one problem. A member at my party ordered zuppa di pesce and they ran out of scungilli. The waiter came back multiple times saying something different. "We can add more shrimp, but it will cost more, no we cannot add shrimp, no wait we can add a little of everything for no charge." I felt bad for the waiter having to come back to our table multiple times. They should have stuck with one answer and call it a day. One appetizer was ordered from the specials menu. It was buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes with artichoke hearts, eggplant, roasted peppers, and olives drizzled with a vinaigrette ($10.95). It was a fabulous dish. The mozzarella and tomatoes were very fresh. The vinaigrette dressing was a nice topping with all the ingredients. It was a pleasant start to the meal. For an entrée, I ordered veal pizzaiola ($17.95). It came with a salad and a side of pasta. The salad was crappy. It was a few pieces of lettuce and a cucumber with dressing. It was underwhelming. My rigatoni pasta was very hard and the sauce was plain. The same sauce was used for my veal. The veal itself was a good cut. It was not too tough and had a nice taste. However, the portion was a little small. I also tried some one's chicken balsamico. By looking at it, one would think there was way too much vinaigrette, but that was not the case at all. The chicken was tender and the sauce was phenomenal. It was a sweet and sour vinaigrette sauce. I would have ordered this if I knew how good it was. For dessert, I tried 3. I ordered the tartufo. This tartufo was different with previous ones I have tasted. In the middle of the shell, there was a raspberry taste to it. It was a pleasant change from my past experiences. I also tried the molten lava cake. It was served with vanilla ice cream. The cake was solid. It was very chocolatey. The other dessert I tried was another chocolate cake served with vanilla ice cream. This was less frosty and was drier than the molten lava cake. Will I go back? I might. read more

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Terrible food even worse service. Was told I can't use the bathroom until I order because they're for paying customers. They didn't believe me that I was gonna order after I peed totally didn't wanna order there after that bullshit treatment. It's all good there's too many good places in the area to worry about some place that kind you was totally fucking empty when I went there read more

This location is NOT Gluten Friendly although they say they are. Their idea of a GF meal is called "Chef's Choice" who on earth thinks it's ok for the chef to choose what you should eat when you are paying?? Even when the customer asked for grilled chicken they were told NO, you're having FISH! The server said we are very allergy conscious. Yet when the dessert came the same server said, "Oh you can't eat that it's not GF, just scoop the ice-cream off your brownie". Talk about cross contamination. I tried to complain to a person who represented himself as the Mgr as I am not sure he is and he actually called the customer a liar. Some customer service. I will NEVER patronage this establishment again! Besides who wants to go home smelling of garlic and onions. The smell hits you as soon as you pull in the parking lot. Zero for food, Zero for service and Zero for thinking they are gluten friendly. You wanna be GF Friendly buy a bag of GF pasta! read more

Really good food! I love there penne vodka with chicken ! And I love there chicken parm expensive but worth it !

Unlike others, our service experience was good. The food is decent enough for a neighborhood place. I think it needs a interior makeover. One issue with the menu was that I had a hard time finding a non-fish dish to fit in with my new low carb lifestyle. Our coupon was accepted without any problem. read more

Great service. Sauce was the best I've had in NJ ! I plan on making this restaurant a regular spot for great Italian food .

We had excellent takeout this evening from Leone's. After a mixup with doordash my husband had to go run out and pickup the food and the staff so was kind upon his arrival and profusely apologetic, even though it was not Leone's fault. My penne vodka was perfectly cooked with the pasta al dente and the chicken very tender. My husband had eggplant and also enjoyed immensely. Salads and bread also delicious. We will be back soon for more takeout. They offer outdoor dining as well for those Covid times. read more

One of my favorite restaurants for about 30 years. The owner Umberto is extremely friendly and down to earth. He acknowledges you immediately as you walk in the door to seat you very quickly. I have never had a bad meal at this restaurant and use them whenever possible to do catering in our office for special functions. He and his wife Samatha work very hard to keep this business extremely friendly and impeccably clean. I continue to bring new people there at every opportunity. I was try to contribute to the local community. I will definitely be back again soon. read more

I quite liked this place! However, have you've ever eaten at a restaurant, and the restaurant looks so nice in pictures, and then you go in and see that it's more of a takeout restaurant? Well, that was kind of how this place was. It turned out to be more of a pizzeria than a restaurant. That being said, I thought our server was friendly. She gave us our time to order, and checked in on us a few times. We did not get an appetizer, as none of the appetizers seemed that interesting. I got the eggplant parmigiana as en entree. The eggplant was cooked very well, despite that I like eggplant fried, and this was just cooked eggplant. It was really cheesy, which I also really liked. The pasta on the side was cold, but it could be because it took me so long to eat the eggplant. And. the sauce on the side with the pasta was quite bitter. We skipped dessert, because they didn't have anything special. They didn't even have tiramisu? What Italian restaurant doesn't have tiramisu? Overall, though food was good, and I quite liked this place! read more

I'm usually not one to get caught up with piss poor service, but the nail to the Leone coffin was slammed shut for me and my family forever tonight. I can excuse sub par service or a less than a warm welcome, I draw the line at arrogance and or ignorance. First off, it was my sons birthday and we brought in a ice cream birthday cake. The owner's wife immediately and vehemently refused to allow us to open it in her establishment. Stating policy. Some times you have to bend the rules especially to please a 8 year old on his birthday, nope not here. And then I performed a Yelp check in which offered 15 % off, she immediately said she knew nothing about it and would not honor it. That's a lie and just plain old poor business, not worthy of any conscious consumer's $. Dense tasteless meatballs, almost embarrassed for any Italian restaurant that serves that garbage. The creamy Italian dressing is some insane watered down blah. Clearly bought and if it wasn't perhaps they should've. I've always had issue with their horrendous over cooked clearly bought from a box pasta. Several of our guests in our party felt the ravioli was boring and the sauce missing flavor just like the poor excuse for Vodka sauce. Something has definitively changed in the year since I last visited this place. Lack of quality married to a ambivalent lazy philosophy has been adopted to their detriment. They've gotten too comfortable and have taken a serious nose dive, too bad because I used to really like their product. Very disappointing, nasty attitude by management combined with sub par food = never going back! read more

Would not return When you look at the outdated interior with no Improvements It makes you wonder what else they are Scrimping on Food was average at best read more

Solid, top drawer Italian food. Unfortunately the chef is the only bright spot here. The owner/head waitress is not very friendly, which is fine except that she's not very effective in that role. And she needs to find better help. They used to have lots of pizza available but it doesn't seem to be an option for diners. I think you can get it take out? Service has been sketchy. There's this super hot waiter who used to be a waiter for a long time as well as some kind of manager at the former Tomato Factory, but every time I go I get someone who is like on their first minute on the job assigned to me instead. Seriously, if you're a trainee, someone ought to be there to, you know, TRAIN you rather than just leaving you to figure out everything on your own. Food was slow to come out but I think the slooooooowwww waitress contributed to the delays significantly. We were there almost two hours to get appetizers, simple salads, and main dishes. Not super expensive, but for $100 for four dishes, one appetizer, and one dessert and coffee, you need to have real servers here. My ten year old nephew could have done a better job as a waiter. And dessert... they are always out of everything. Seriously, can you just get a couple more key lime pies from wherever the hell you get them rather than constantly being out of them, for christ's sake? Parking was ample. read more

food here was simply amazing. best Italian food i have ever had. everything down to the waitress that we had was simply spectacular. when i found out how young she was i was simply amazed at her level of maturity and professionalism. i had gotten the chicken francaise, which they make homemade, it was the best chicken francaise i have ever had. cant get food like this anywhere else. everyone on the staff is so nice, and everything is fresh and made to order. will definitely be coming back and recommending to friends. read more

Leone's finally got their "facelift" although it's not to my tastes. We have been going for over 15 years at least and they are still just as good now as they were back then. I judge an italian restaurant by its garlic bread. Mess that up, the meal probably won't be much better. We love their garlic bread. And now it appears they are baking their own house bread on premises and it was absolutely delicious. Sweet, piping hot and just enough crunch. We had seconds on that! Their Chicken Francaise is my go-to meal and it is always perfect. My husband loves their Zuppa De Pesce. Years ago, these were specialties, but they are now on the menu. Ignore the decor and go for the food. It's a great break in the middle of the week and you don't have to dress up. read more

Owner/waitress is nasty and uninitiated. Food is bland. Meatballs look and taste store bought. They should be embarrassed to serve them. Over cooked pasta. Never going back. read more

The interior of this restaurant is in need of a major overhaul. In a word, it's ugly. Brass rails and fixtures everywhere. Wooden paneling. Ugly tables and chairs. There's this weird balcony of tables that overlook the main restaurant. It's bizarre. The food is just OK. Don't waste your time or money. read more

Very impressed with the flavor of the rich sherry wine sauce of my Chicken Monte Carlo. Although, there was not an ample amount of veggies to my displeasure, and the portions were a bit shy of the prices, which I realized after purveying the restaurant. read more

This is our standard go to place. Nothing extravagant, but good. If you're looking for standard Italian food you won't be disappointed.