Leonardo’s Pizza closes doors
HOINews is reporting that
The original restaurant at 700 E. War Memorial Drive closed months ago. The newly closed place was located behind the
Leonardo’s Pizza was by far the best in town, in my humble opinion. I ate at the North Peoria location several times after seeing movies at the Rave. I would have gone more if it weren’t for this crummy second shift job that pretty much makes it impossible to see a movie in the evening.
I have to believe that SOME smart person (perhaps one of the employees who got stiffed) is going to pick up the slack and start making pizza the Leonardo’s way.
And my advice for owners of pizza joints: Stop trying to be anything other than a pizza joint. Sell pizzas. Maybe spaghetti, maybe salads. But stop trying to run full-service menus. Buy a small building, shove a couple of pizza ovens inside, and sell pizzas at the counter. Keep overhead low. And for the love of God, once you develop a good-tasting pizza, DO NOT switch to lower-cost ingredients, or skimp on portions, or turn management over to idiot relatives. Remember when Penguin Pizza was really, really good? Remember when Avanti’s was THE place to eat with your family? Not so much, now.
I swear to God, one day, we are going to wake up and not ONE SINGLE RESTAURANT in Peoria will be owned by a local person.
I wouldn’t mind, however, if a
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
Never cared for Leonardo’s. No big loss for me.
I want a Giordano’s in town… Rockford has one. Peoria is loads better than Rockford.
Penguin pizza is better now. Don’t care for Avanti’s pizza… too danged thick. Leonardo’s was always overrated in my book. LaHood is a knucklehead, so it’s not so sad to see the restaurant book close on him. Peoria definitely is a wasteland when it comes to locally owned restaurants… and pizza places are chief among them.
Is Aggatucci’s not local? And it’s pretty damn fine pizza, too. I like it, I like the atmosphere, and I like the guys behind the bar and the crew on the floor very much. You get called by your first name once you’ve been in there just a few times. Isn’t that what local flavor is all about?
Small building, you order pizza and not much else, and the overhead would appear to be low since Diane and tell me it’s been there in that same spot since her mom went to Bradley in the late 40’s.
As long as Agatucci’s is still around, life is good.
And even if it weren’t, Monical’s isn’t a bad substitute.
I don’t agree that Peoria is a wasteland when it comes to locally owned restaurnts. I would agree there’s not really a standout pizza joint, but there are some really great restaurants.
Surprisingly, I’ve never been to Agatucci’s, but I’ve been wanting to go for a while. Leonardo’s was good…probably the closest to Chicago style pizza you can get. Giordanno’s is great pizza. Everytime I get to Chicago I pick one up whether I eat it right away or not. The place in Peoria I’ve been somewhat impressed is Bacci Pizza Express near Bradley. Their pizza by the slice is really good….there whole pies aren’t that great….you’d think they’d make the same pizza, but they don’t.
Ryan, since you admitted you’ve never actually been to Agatucci’s, you should have said there’s “not a standout pizza joint that I’ve been to.”
Don, I agree…life is good as long as Jerry, Dan and the rest of the family is around.
Anyone who could eat at Leonardo’s must have been immune to MSG or some other additive they put in their food because I (and several people I know) always had gastrointestinal distress after eating there. Consequently haven’t eaten there in about 15 years.
Avanti’s has changed their spaghetti sauce in recent years (added green peppers and more onions, I think), and I can’t stomach it anymore. The Main Street location seems to have retained the old recipe and is the only one I can recommend.
My biggest complaint about pizza restaurants is that you have to ask most of them to actually cook the pizza until it’s done. The cheese should be browning on top, and the crust crispy, not the soggy-crusted mess with unmelted cheese you might get. I was informed by a Monical’s manager that I should ask for the pizza “Well Done” and have done so ever since. Monical’s with extra sauce and Well-Done is the way to go.
I disagree with all of you.
Leonardo’s was the best in my book.
And I can’t think of a greasier pizza than the Penguin. Maubs, I have big-time acid-reflux and Leo’s never bugged my stomach.
I’ve never understood the big deal over the tiger sauce at Aggie’s. You shouldn’t have to put any kind of “sauce” on a pizza for it to taste better.
Bacci Pizza has some management issues. I went in there once at the insistence of my son. We ordered two slices of Pepperoni. So what do they do? They took two slices of cheese that had obviously been sitting there to long with no timer tags (health code violation btw). They discretely pull the slices (yeah I saw it, why you bein sneaky?) throw some pepperonis on them and toss them back into the oven. Once the slices were ‘warm’ (not long enough to really fully cook the pepperonis, health code violation again) they boxed em.
I probably shouldn’t have accepted them but the boy was really excited and had been eager for them all day. What they did isn’t really anything that hasn’t been done in anyone’s house at some point. But that doesn’t make it restaurant worthy or kosher with the health dept.
That said… Bacci has been a big hit for the older St. Marks kids.
The pizza is … mmm a C+, worthy of cheap beer and pretzels, and that is about it.
LaHood, is a doucebag. He doesn’t know his head from his ass when it comes to business or pizza. To bad he went and messed up a good thing, Leonardo’s was a part of peoria, over 30 years!!! I am suprised there aren’t people picketing outside his house or something. I am even more suprised he still has a family and friends??? what the heck? I mean dont they know the wake up someday and find themselves screwed by him…I wonder how many people close to him did whatever he said for the last 20 years only for him to leave them hanging out to dry. to bad, what an retard he is, even a rodent could figure out how to keep a goldmine like Leonardos open. HAHAHAAHA!
Agatucci’s? AGATUCCI’S? For PIZZA? You gotta be kidding… geez, it’s ITALIAN in name only… I’d put AVANTI’S over AGATUCCI’S for Italian, and that ain’t sayin’ much. For REAL Italian, you have to go to Chicago… that’s a fact. But, to say that AGATUCCI’S is great for pizza? That must be one BIG crack pipe you folks have dangling from the lips…
Might I suggest that this would be an excellent excuse for a Blogger Bash.
The idea would be that we order a bunch of pizza’s from different places.
I’m one of those screwed employees and yeah all 24 of us got the shaft. You know, it’s one thing to close the doors and let everyone know, but I showed up to work that Monday morning with signs on all the doors saying “on vacation”. come on Mike, we might have worked at a pizza joint but we’re not stupid. Some bit of warning would have been nice but the ass put 24 people out of work with no check. Maybe if his family and friends stopped getting free food whenever they pleased, we’d all still have jobs. The LaHood’s only involvement in Leonardo’s was that they picked up the money and put all the work on the shoulders of one manager. Expecting one single mom with two kids to work 60 hours a week was ridiculous. We’re all better off now knowing that Mike LaHood has no control over us what-so-ever. Peace out ‘Nardo’s. A good thing was ran into the ground.
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