Leonardo Ristorante & Pizzeria

We loved our time at Leonardo's!! This was our second visit and dinner in the restaurant, the food was just as amazing as the first time. We will definitely be back when we are in town!!

Great service and delicious food. So sad this place needs to shut their dining due to COVID. They followed all of the protocols for our visit

Sean did a fabulous job. It was my wife’s birthday and he catered to all our requests.

We were sat quickly and after that the service was extremely slow. Pasta was excellent, fresh and tasty.

Excellent restaurant and great service by Angela! I highly recommend it.

Very attentive staff, delicious specials. Good selection on menu

Covid way of dining Waiting to eat in the parking lot Nonetheless awesome food and service !!!

Great food and friendly staff.

Excellent food and great service. Made the best in outdoor cooling conditions

All dishes, from appetizers to desserts were outstanding in quality, taste, and presentation. Our server was top-drawer and was very knowledgeable regarding the menu and wine list. He made an excellent wine suggestion for my wife that was a perfect match for her tastes and her entree. We will definitely be returning. Note: All COVID-19 safety protocols were being met and/or exceeded. It was our 25th wedding anniversary celebration dinner and Leonardo's made sure it was one we will always remember fondly.

This restaurant was a pleasant surprise. We arrived 30 minutes early and they where able to seat us. Our server was prompt and offered delicious recommendations. When our food came out my husbands order was missing a side order. The staff was prompt to fix it. Our dinner was delicious and we will not hesitate to go back there again. Thank you Leonardo’s for making the end of our Solvang trip and memorable one!

First of all the food and service at Leonardo's would certainly rate it 5 stars in pre-covid times. For the readers of this review who aren't choosing a restaurant for its Covid19 safety strategy, that is all you need to know. good food,, good service stop reading.

However, today, restaurant owners (indeed all business owners) need to pay attention about more then ambiance and menu appeal. They also need to care for the safety of their patrons. To do this, restaurant owners need to follow the science behind CDC guidelines because, let's be honest, the restaurants are self certifying covid-19 compliance and there is little to none assurance from a neutral party that a restaurant is in compliance.

At least one server always removed his mask when speaking to diners and then put it back on when diners spoke to him. It was odd and definitely not safe for all of the rest of the restaurant workers, not to mention the diners. Next, the science behind the outdoor dining regulations during the pandemic has to do with airflow. There is a higher chance droplets that contain the virus will blow away or dissipate faster in an outdoor environment. When you interrupt air flow with a wall, you increase the likelihood a virus will infect a patron. When you interrupt the airflow with 4 walls and a roof, you have created an room without the public safety requirements that go along with permits and inspections.

Leonardo's new "outdoor" space has enough new tables that you won't need to worry about reservations. You'll be able to get a table, even last minute. And don't bring a jacket--there are so many space heaters, the room is over heated since there is no ventilation. My worry was fire hazard (where are the exit doors?), ventilation hazard (gas heaters), and Covid-19. We finished our meal as quick as possible and won't be returning.

Best Italian outside of Italy!
Great waiters!

The food is great, however, the QUANTITY leaves you something to be desired. Also, if you send your soup back to the kitchen because it's too cold, the bowl should come back with the same amount of soup.

My partner and I ordered ALL the specials on 11/7/20; fried shrimp and calamari appetizer, lobster bisque soup, and the mushroom risotto with scallops as our main. We even paid the extra $5 to split the dishes because we were told "you'll get a little extra."

Fried shrimp and calamari app: There were a total of 3 shrimp in the dish. Pretty sad for the price paid.
Lobster bisque: Came out at the same time as the calamari and was luke warm. Sent the soup back only to have it returned with a quarter of the soup missing. Not ok.
Mushroom scallop risotto: Total of 4 scallops, 2 each on our plate for $35. And they were NOT large scallops. Seriously? For $35, the scallops should have been monsters or at least there should have been 1-2 more.

Overall pretty disappointed. I always go to another restaurant in town and should have listened to my gut. I wanted to give this place one more try, as my first experience was nice.

The service was decent but the place was a madhouse, with people constantly leaving the door open (letting the cold in) and making everything feel rushed. Apparently there's a 60+ seating area in the back, so people are constantly coming in and out of the restaurant. There is also an order pick up table in the middle of the place.

This was a triple birthday celebration. Thank you Leonardo’s for making it special.

Food was excellent...tablecloth had crumbs and a dab of red sauce...concerning in Covid times. Also one of the cooks had mask below his nose. We won't come back until Covid has passed

Service was great, fast, and friendly staff. Food was amazing! Had Calzone and Spinach Ravioli. Both dishes were delicious.
It was during Covid but we felt safe, tables really spread apart. Outside seating available also. Definitely recommend.

Very friendly staff but were asked the same questions by multiple staff members. We weren't sure why the communication was Breaking down. Probably due to the noise level. They were very busy for a Tuesday night. Will return and maybe sit outside instead of inside.

Their pasta with scampi and lobster is amazing 👏

Excellent food and great service. Outdoor seating available.

Fabulous food, great service and we finally got to dine inside!
Hidden little gem of a restaurant 😊

We had a great time at Leonardo’s! Food was the delicious, the restaurant is small but has too really cute patios. The hostess was very friendly and welcoming. The only downside we experienced was our Server not being very friendly or attentive. Maybe it’s because he saw that we are young? Not sure, but he wasn’t friendly or helpful at all. It felt as if he just wanted to get us in and out. Meanwhile, about 15 minutes into eating there was a party of 8 that sat down next to us and our server was WAY friendlier and elaborated on the entire menu etc...My boyfriend and I absolutely noticed the difference in service. We still ended up tipping our 15% share on our tab being that I use to work in the food service industry. However, we are usually very generous with tipping if the service is good being that we are both working Rn’s.. Nonetheless, we enjoyed our time and enjoyed the food at Leonardo’s :)

Food was very good, and the back patio is fantastic considering Covid and what they have come up with. Service was friendly, knowledgeable and attentive, but we felt very rushed during the entire dining experience. Corkage is high but understandable, overall solid date night, would come back again, but would ask to slow down the service.

We had a great meal. They have a wine list which is an excellent value! The service was very, very good as well! Very efficient from beginning to end.

Unbelievably good! We were actually surprised. Read lots of reviews before going but you still never know. Service was superb. Everything was wonderful. We had a beet salad we loved, followed by the most amazing eggplant parmigiana appetizer I have ever had. We shared that and chicken piccata and were pleasantly filled. Enough room for dessert. Really made our girls trip end with a smile. Don’t miss this gem.

Attentive staff, very good food!! Would recommend to everyone

Great back patio area. Wonderful service, menu and food.

Everyone and everything was just wonderful! We were visiting from Los Angeles for a few day, our first outing since “stay at home” orders! The entire staff and their yummy food made our trip great!

We found the food average withe a price point above and the anbiance was lacking some due to the Covid restrictions

This place is absolutely excellent!!! Amazing food and service!

Saturday night and the restaurant was busy. Food was very good, service was slow but the waiter recognized this and comped 1 round of drinks which was appreciated.

This place was wonderful! We sat outside in their cute little patio. Had outdoor lights and fun ambiance music. Great service and delicious food. We had pizza and pasta dishes. Pasta was the fav in my group but can’t go wrong with either. Was in town for wine tasting and this was the perfect spot to end our night. Will go back if we are ever in Solvang again!

With this reservation we were promptly seated, inside as requested. This was an anniversary celebration for my son and daughter in law and we were very well treated. Food servings were more than adequate. It was served 'steaming' hot. It was a very nice dining experience and we'll return.

Amazing experience. Great food and everybody treated us like royalty!

We chose Leonardo's based on our daughter and son-in-law's recommendation and were pleased beyond expectations. Our server, Sean, was engaging and knowledgeable and clearly enhanced our dining experience. The food was outstanding -- among the very best Italian dishes any of us (there were four) had ever had. There was not one complaint about the food -- other than the portions were so large that we had no room for dessert.

Among the four of us, we had the lasagna special (unlike any lasagna we had ever had) that was spectacular. The chicken parmigiana was excellent -- and unlike many restaurants, not pounded so thin to be rendered tasteless. The other dish, pasta with sausage and mushrooms was equally good.

The only negative about our experience, that is completely outside the control of the restaurant, is that due to Covid 19, there is no indoor dining. As such, the restaurant has extended itself to a small patio and part of the adjacent parking spaces. While the noise was minimal (most of the stores in the same area were closed), the overall atmosphere was less than ideal. This, however, will change once indoor dining restrictions are lifted. This should absolutely not stop anyone from dining there -- the food and service make up for the location.

A must visit restaurant anytime you're visiting the Solvang Area.

We have eaten here before pandemic. Now they don’t honor corkage so you can’t bring your own wine, and you chance what they have in stock. The gnocchi had way too much cheese on it and was over cooked and gritty. It was a busy Monday night, and many restaurants in the area are not open. I’m hoping it was just an “off” night.

The outdoor seating was very nice (we sat in the front though apparently there was an area in the back too) however it was difficult for staff to angle the umbrellas appropriately so that we weren't in the direct sun, especially our young daughter. The server was wonderful and very attentive to us. The shrimp risotto special was very good; the pizza was ok however the sauce on the linguine was broken. Overall it was a nice evening out and we felt comfortable with the precautions taken by the restaurant in this pandemic.

Delicious Italian food!

Food was good but service was slow.

The staff was very friendly and the food and drinks were great. Would definitely eat here again. I had the branzino and it was cooked to perfection.