Leonardo Restaurant

Was worried at first by the slow service - the place was half empty but it took about 15 minutes for anyone to take our order of pre-meal cocktails. These took another 15 minutes to arrive.

After that things improved and we enjoyed the rest of the evening. The food was excellent and the portions were generous - especially the double (!) rack of lamb.

Both the white & red house wines - often risky - were eminently drinkable and reasonable at £10.95.

We had grumbled about the bread not being free but that was more than cancelled out by the surprise offer of free brandies for our party of four at the end of the evening.

I doubt if our total bill was much more than a tenner over what we would have paid in some of the well known places in the town centre but the quality of the food & the ambience were well worth it.
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Thursday, June 26, 2008

Went back here after a break for a colleague's birthday lunch. £5 pizza including a glass of wine. Service was better, a cheap place to eat and although the pizza was nothing exceptional, the portions were good and for a quick lunch it I can't say there was much to grumble about.
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LSS
Thursday, June 19, 2008

Took the decision to by-pass any restaurant in central Brighton, and head towards this restaurant which borders on Hove.

We had booked in for the 2 course luncheon menu, and both opted for mussels, as a starter, they were just bland, and the sauce lacked flavour, bread was not offered to us, so we ordered their garlic bread, which is very good.

This fixed price menu is limited with choice, so I went for spagheti meatballs and my guest a cheesy aubergine dish.

Again, portions were small, maybe the long walk from Western Road had given us an extra large appetite, so to see small amounts of food on the plate was a disappointment.

There were few other diners in the restaurant, there dishes looked considerably more appetising than ours, but guess thats the risk you take, when opting for a fixed price menu.

Maybe this restuarant offers a great evening atmosphere, because it is certainly lacking of a lunchtime. There was a service charge of 15% on the bill, so what initially appeared to be good value, lost its way with all the add ons of garlic bread and coffee, so we wont be taking the long walk out of town again.
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Gregg Newlands
Friday, May 02, 2008

Grabbed the 5 pound lunch today, rigatoni pasta and tomato sauce. Very underdone, but no-one asked, one waitress was reasonably chummy, the other completely deadpan. They charged 2 pounds for a few slices of tasteless bread. The menu looks fair value, but based on this very average experience, I doubt I'll return. 5 star council rating for cleanliness is a good point and the place looks quite smart.
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Tim - View all reviews by this user
Monday, March 31, 2008

it tasted niiiiiice
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zack
Monday, March 24, 2008

Have eaten at Leonardo's twice in the past three months, and several times before that.

Good service, sparkling glassware and cutlery - so many places let themselves down on this front. Food superbly presented, and good. We eat out in Italy far more than we eat out in UK, and Leonardo's is good. House wine's perfectly drinkable.

Prices very fair.

Atmosphere greatly benefits now that smoking isn't allowed.

Robert - Kemp Town
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Tuesday, March 18, 2008

We visited Leonardo for a meal on Saturday night. We arrived and they quickly seated us despite having no reservation. We all chose to dine from the £10.95 a head three course set menu and all of us were very pleased with what we ordered and the portion sizes were good. The service was also very attentive but we did not feel rushed. We cannot fault our visit there and would definitely return. The bill came to £70 for three courses for four people with drinks which included a 12% service charge but was still very reasonable.
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Monday, October 01, 2007

Not bad, sat outside on a lunchtime and just got a seat, very popular and you normally need to book. Not cheap, food was good but living off reputation maybe? Would still visit again.
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johnj - View all reviews by this user
Friday, July 06, 2007

Leonardo is the number one Italian restaurant in town. Is popularity demonstrate this. I have been visiting this restaurant and has always been spot on. All I can say is try for your self, people talk rubbish all the time.
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David Smith
Monday, June 18, 2007

We had dinner at Leonardo last night ans it was absolutely delicious. We were a little concerned because we looked at the review on this site. I have to say that whoever wrote those review must be someone who hasn't even eaten at Leonardo. I had the scallops wrapped with pancetta and topped with quail eggs and it was delicious. 3 scallops and not one. After I had venison and that was perfect too. My wife had courgettes flower to start which was amazing and after linguine lobster a dish highly recommended. All I can say is don't listen to mambo jumbo...........try for your self.
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Mike Simpson
Thursday, April 05, 2007