Type: Pizzeria & Italian General
Date Visited: 7pm, Saturday July 17th, 2010
Rating: 2.5/5.0
The missus and I visited Don Leone last evening to have a decent pizza at a place oft touted as the best Pizzeria in the city (by multiple expats and locals). This place sells itself as a trendy Italian Pizzeria, with authentic pizzas and Italian cuisine. It was our second time here, we weren't too balled over on our first visit and decided to give it another shot
What's on offer :
Salads & Italian Antipasti Dishes
Primi Piatti & some Secondi
Pizzas: We went there for the pizzas, so that's all I'm going to comment on.
We ordered:
Rucola Salad: drizzled in Balsamico and with Parmesan Shavings. This came with a portion of Sourdough (I think) bread.
Miss Italia Pizza: Thin crust, mozarella, buffalo mozzarella, tomatoes & rucola.
Calzone: Mozarella, mushrooms, egg, pesto, marinara. I ordered this because I thought it was an interesting mix, something I wouldn't think of at home (the reason why I often eat out).
Wine: 2 Glasses of Nero D'avola. 200ml portions served, though 100ml advertised .
Thoughts:
1/The salad was decent, rucola fresh, parmesan of good quality.
2/The Pizzas are HUGE, even if they are thin crust. Consider sharing if you plan to have a salad or dessert ante/post main course.
3/The Pizza & Calzone were NOT terribly good or authentic (this is debatable, since there's such variety when it comes to Pizza and Pizza tastes, and I'm speaking after a recent trip back from Napoli).
The cheese was piled into my calzone, the egg on the side swimming in oil, and the crust was burnt (black!) on top, and soggy at the base. Mushrooms had apparently melted into the cheese, because I found barely any. I ate a quarter of my Calzone and had to stop, it was too oily and salty, and the ingredients did not combine well. Call me silly, but cheese should not be an overwhelming topping (it was like a layer of rubber).
The missus had a slightly more pleasant experience, she had fresh bufala mozarella on her pizza, with fresh rucola and tomatoes adding to the mix. It's hard to go wrong with these ingredients, but again the soggy crust was a negative.
4/ The selection of drinks is somewhat limited, esp. if you're a person that fancies wine with your meal. Don't expect anything fancy, and it's only a few bottles of red, and hardly any whites. The red's aren't of great quality (I've worked with most before), they're overpriced (48Chfs on average, 8Chf for a glass), and lack some Italians classics that would certainly have added to the food (e.g. Barbera, Brunello, Amarone...).
5/ The deserts we could unfortunately not get to, the Pizza portions were large, the oil and cheese very filling.
Price of the Meal (for 2 persons, all approximate)
Salad 10 CHFs
Main Meal 40 CHFs
Wine 17 CHFs
Ambience:
It's a crowded and busy place, make reservations, the entrance is often lined with people waiting for a table. The tables are jammed close together, so it's hard to move around once you're seated (e.g. to visit WC). Not a place for a romantic dinner, more for a lively evening out with friends, if you can ignore the pizza.
Service:
The waiters don't speak English (that's fine, we're in CH after all), but they consistently try to communicate with you in Italian. This was amusing at first, but got tiresome quickly and it felt as though they were trying to fill some stereotype so that locals get a sense of Italian authenticity. We got there early, so we got a lot of attention initially, but as the night wore on, the waiters got increasingly rude, and tried to hurry you through making an order (e.g. tapping food, "Pepperoni? come on, it's pepperoni", staring at ceiling when you ask them questions).
Concluding Remarks:
The Pizzas were poor, below mediocre. I avoided making comparisons to what I've had on a recent trip to Italy, but a pizzeria should not be churning out pizzas with soggy bases(wet bread soggy), burnt crusts (coal black on my Calzone). There should be a better understanding of what ingredients mix, and in what quantities to mix them. If one wants a cheese pie, one would order a Chicago Deep Dish.
It's not terribly cheap, nor is it expensive, but I'd advise one to look for alternative options if you're serious about pizza. I didn't not have high expectations (due to our first visit), but the food was sub-par quality, and wine selection was lacking (it calls itself an Enoteca!), significant shortcomings for this style of restaurant. I know these comments might be in contrast to what one might find online so I'd love for feedback from others who have/will dine there.