Leona's Cucina

I had the shrimp scampi and my husband had the chicken Parmesan. Those were phenomenal 10 outta 10 would recommend both these, the salads were simple yet fresh and amazing. The garlic bread was to die for I could eat my weight in that stuff.!! I’m not sure if the lady who owns the restaurant is named Leona but she was very happy and great all around the atmosphere was cute, quaint and happy! Prices are not bad for the amount of food that you get. It is way more than enough.!!

We don't go out for dinner often but when running errands during the week, enjoy finding new-to-us places for lunch. Today took us near Mandarin Station area and Google maps showed Leona's Cocina (10550 Old St Augustine Rd #6, Jacksonville, FL 32257) as promising. Italian is one of my favorite cuisines but I'm ridiculously particular. We were greeted by a lovely woman who said Leona was her daughter. She was so very sweet, humble and accommodating, we felt like we were visiting friends right from our first visit. We got a Meatball sub and a Cheesesteak sub, and swapped halfsies, as usual. I suspect their meatballs aren't homemade but they were tender, juicy and flavorful, the sauce was chunky & fresh and the bread was soft but toasty. The cheesesteak was packed with tender grilled beef, sautéed mushrooms and onions (green peppers omitted) with melted cheese and added lettuce, on the same toasty bread. Both sandwiches were incredibly tasty and filling, I would order either again without hesitation, but the other items on the menu looked so inviting, we'll have to try other things our next trip out!

Amazing friendly atmosphere, excellent food, very fresh and portions allow you to have leftovers for another day. Pizza crust was the best I have had since leaving NE USA 32 years ago. Everyone ordered an appetizer, entree and a dessert. Offered military and first responder discount.

What a hidden gem! I can't explain how good the food is but it is amazing. Italian is my favorite so my best friend and I (in from out of town) skipped meals so we could try this place. Delicious and great portion sizes. Drinks are can/bottle from fridge; no fountain. It's small inside but very cute.

Absolutely loved this charming and unassuming spot! The food was delicious and reasonably priced, and the staff couldn’t have been more friendly or welcoming. A cozy, authentic Italian spot that makes you feel right at home, would definitely recommend to everyone. Can’t wait to come back!

This is a review of just the pizza. The staff and atmosphere are very welcoming and I like the way the kitchen is wide open as you walk in. Very clean. I had two slices of cheese pizza. The undercarriage was pretty good and had a nice crunch to it. It was difficult to really evaluate the sauce because there was so much cheese on the slices. I really feel like there was too much cheese to give it above a 7.5. I would say this is an attempt at a New York style pizza but had at least 3x the amount of cheese it should have had. Overall an average slice for the Jacksonville area. I'll give it a 7.0 on the one bite pizza review scale.

Disappointed with the pizza overall. For the price, I was expecting something closer to authentic Italian quality, but it fell short. The dough was thin and dry, and the cheese lacked flavor. The Margherita pizza didn’t have fresh mozzarella,and the cheese on the vegetarian pizza was equally underwhelming. I’m honestly surprised by the 4.9 rating, unfortunately, it didn’t live up to the hype or the cost. However, the wings were good but still pricey.

I saw this restaurant on Google and decided to try it. The reviews were accurate. The food was delicious. My husband had a garden salad and I had the seafood Alfredo. Everything was made fresh. It was the best pasta I've ever eaten. The hostess was nice and welcoming even gave me a free dessert . Please don't be fool by the small place, you will not be disappointed. Visiting from North Carolina. If you are in the Jacksonville fl area please stop by.

5 's across the board. Perfect Gluten Free pizza and that says a lot. Gluten Free for 25yrs and the pizza was spot on. I could've eaten the whole thing!!! Daniel knows what he's doing the crust was cooked to perfection, heck it was all perfect including the service and atmosphere!! Thanks Daniel, we will be back L Thrift

The service was OUTSTANDING and the food was really good. It seemed to be more of a pickup place than a sit down restaurant, but there were a handful of tables ready for customers. We were the only sit down people the entire time we were there. The restaurant is clean, the smell of the food cooking makes you ravenous by the time it comes (which was pretty quick), and there's plenty of parking. I like that it's located toward the end of the strip mall so you don't have to fight for parking with the Walmart customers. It's a great little place to eat in a great location!

We went back and were so happy to see every table was full! Lets keep this yummy family owned restaurant in biz!

Today was our first time trying Leona's and I was not disappointed. I went into order for lunch. I ordered a cheese calzone snd and a meat calzone. They were both delicious as we shared them with 4 people. They were delicious! The marinara sauce is excellent. The greeting from the owner was so welcoming. If you want fresh ingredients this is the place to go. I will be going back.

Delicious little spot we found while visiting family! This spot seems more like a take out/delivery place. The food is delicious but comes in aluminum to go containers. They don't have water glasses, it's bottled Aquafina. I also didn't see any wine or beer in the menu. The chef is a very kind woman and her nephew Sebastian was very attentive to us. The pasta dishes come with garlic bread and a side salad or soup. I chose the salad with Italian dressing. It had tomatoes, onions and the homemade dressing was great. Better than anything store bought. I ordered the cheese ravioli with meat sauce. It comes with melted cheese on top. The flavor was wonderful! Next time we're in town, we'll definitely order take out or delivery from here!

Some of the best Italian to go I've had! Rarely do I have a craving for Italian so when it hits me, I try to make sure that I'm satisfied. I searched thru my delivery app and I found this place. There weren't many reviews written about it here on Yelp or Google but the consensus was that they were amazing. I shrugged my shoulders and decided to give them a try. Looking over their menu, they some really good options, like Jumbo Shrimp Linguine Scampi pasta and even combos where you can get half ravioli, half lasagna. I haven't seen that before at a local Italian place. They also offer hot and cold subs, pizza, and calzones but I decided for this meal I wanted pasta. I ordered the Spaghetti Aribiatta Pasta (fresh basil, tomatoes, fresh garlic, olive oil, sautéed with mushrooms in a spicy tomato sauce) with added jumbo shrimp, garlic bread on the side and a choice of soup or salad to which I chose the antipasti salad. My man chose the Penne Spicy Antonio Pasta (Sautéed with fresh garlic and tomatoes in a spicy creamy Alfredo sauce) with garlic bread and a house salad. He also added a sausage to his pasta. When we got our food and unwrapped it, we were surprised by the portion size. This could easily be two meals. My antipasti salad looked and tasted amazing! Never have I had one with mortadella salami so this was a real treat. My pasta was superb! I'm glad I chose the shrimp as it paired well with the spicy sauce and they were not kidding when it said spicy. Maybe from a lot of red peppers? I'm not sure but I liked it. Will say though I ate a lot of the pasta the first night and it did leave my stomach a little upset but I still ate the rest of it and I was fine afterwards. That was probably too much spice at one time for me. It was worth it. My man absolutely loved his food. You must try them out!

Delicious food, friendly service. Small dinning area. This is a great place to get dinner or lunch from. Reasonable prices. Friendly helpful staff.

I just ordered takeout food from here for the first time and it was amazing and reasonably priced. I got the baked ziti dinner that came with a side salad and garlic bread. It was covered in cheese and super flavorful. I can't wait to try more items!

Outstanding service & very friendly from family member, good menu for a 1'st Gen Italian American via NY (Been in NE FL 23 years) I am a well known self taught chef from my grandparents & mother, and frankly I rarely go out to any restaurants anymore due to cost, distance, quality of food, etc. Me & my wife both agree that when we went out for dinner to any of the well known, or advertised restaurants our average cost with tip, wine, etc was an average of $250. Based on what I can buy for $250. to prepare top Shelf northern Italian meals for the two of us and friends often. Anyway once in awhile I just say let's just go out for a good pizza (I am too tired to cook tonight). Hence a friend told me to check out Leona's which we did. Margarita Pizza was twice the size of the only two other pizza restaurants we go to here; for almost the same price. Most important is the crust (dough must be '00' flour) tomatoes were fresh tomatoes, fresh basil ,Mutz was good quality, and overall to our taste we enjoyed it much & took half of pie home. We also had a very large very fresh salad with a excellent home made dressing. Not a complaint, but they do not serve beer or wine; also a a small seating area. When I got home I spent $140. ordering from Amazon (all from Italy) 1 1/2 lb of Porcini mushrooms & 1 pound of Guencale! from the $ we saved. My wife mentioned to our server/owner when we were leaving that it was our anniversary & she said please wait! She gave us a small box of large cannolis that were no doubt home made. We will surely come back again.

Meatball parmigiana Sub was excellent. Delivery was on time. I would recommend using a different bread but not terrible.

These Italian women know how to cook! Absolutely delicious pizza. The most authentic that I've had since going to Italy. Fresh ingredients, made to order, the best pizza dough/crust ever. This will be a new favorite place for us. They were so friendly and kind in this quaint little place. Definitely recommend.

You have got to try it! We went for lunch. She is the sweetest women cooking great food for us locals. My husband couldn't decide between the baked ziti and spinach lasagna. He chose the lasagna and when it came out she was sweet enough to make it half and half. Super thoughtful without us ever asking. I ordered Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo. Y'all, this is my absolute favorite meal in the world and it was great, authentic, creamy, homemade Italian food. The salad was great and the homemade Italian dressing was way better than anything in a bottle. I will say, this will be more of a lunch and takeout place for me, as I like sitting down, having drinks and such for dinner. This is more of an eat and go place which is totally fine. I will visit times over

Off the beaten path! This little restaurant packs some really good flavor. Popped in while we were in town and wish they were closer to home! The meat sauce is delicious with authentic Italian flavors. The garlic bread and pesto bread are amazingly fresh. I also got their minestrone soup as a side and it tastes just like my Italian mama's soup. This place really made me feel like I was eating a Sunday dinner at mama's house.

Tried Leona's for the first time tonight. Went to their menu found an array of options. Everything looks so good. Their staff is extremely friendly. The ambiance was inviting. Unfortunately, when we got home and began to open the boxes, the chicken wings looked over done. I took one bite and they were hard as a rock. Dry as well, and the seasoning had an odd taste. I also got jalapeno peppers which tasted like they sat in cold grease till the temp of the oil came to where it was supposed to be. My wife had eggplant parmesan. The eggplant was too saturated in oil and soft, plus the breading didn't adhere properly to the eggplant slices, so rather than being fully cooked the breading got on the pasta which made a bigger mess. She also had zucchini sticks. Those are actually very good. She had a slice of garlic toast that came with her meal, and there was no way she nor I could bite into it. Jokingly I said I'd bring it out back and use it for Target practice, but I wouldn't want the bullet to ricochet and hit something else. Sad to say even the marinara sauce had a funky taste to it. I did try her eggplant Parmesan just to see what it tasted like. For about 20 minutes afterwards I couldn't get the horrible taste out of my mouth. I might not be a chef, but with my experience being around people who cook at home and in restaurants, I've picked up a few things along the way. Unfortunately they don't seem to have those skills.

We have a Blanca pizza calzone extremely cheese and delicious the crust was great and the marinara sauce very tasty, and a meatball sub with a perfect size, melted cheese and great flavors, the owners are very friendly and I like is a little place with a cozy Italian atmosphere

My husband and I were looking for pizza and came across Leona's. The owner is so nice and the food is all homemade and delicious. We had the pizza, homemade minestrone soup and lasagna. Everything was amazing! We will definitely be going back.

Shrimp Scampi was delicious. Eggplant Parmiagana was outstanding. Next to Walmart grocery Plenty of free parking

Finally a delicious Italian restaurant in Mandarin. The dinners are delicious and so is the pizza. The staff is very kind as well. This is our new Italian go to.

This is one of the BEST italian restaurants I have ever ordered from! Everything we tried was flavorful, plentiful and visually appealing. The pesto cheese bread was DIVINE! I loved the minestrone soup, pasta dishes, even the salads! I can't wait to eat there again!

Thank you for delicious pizza and your kind hospitality it was great to chat with you for a moment and I definitely enjoyed that slice! -Jennifer

Food is delish! The smell is wonderful as soon as you walk in! The family ownership is super friendly and so helpful! I love the lasagna!

I've heard so many great things about Leona's that I had to try it! I ordered a 14 inch take out supreme pizza and man oh man was it good!

This restaurant is exceptional!! First of all the customer service is spectacular. We always dine in the restaurant. The staff is very courteous and are always asking if we need anything to make are dining experience flawless. Second of all, the food is authentic and made with homemade love. My kids really love this place. The staff treat my kids and I like royalty. Please come support them. You will be glad you did. Thank you for all that you do!! This is by far our favorite Italian restaurant!!

Decided to try this little restaurant and couldn't have been happier. I highly recommend it!! We will will be back!! We ordered chicken parmesan and chicken piccata and got both with the Minestrone soup. The bowl of soup was so big I brought most of mine home for lunch tomorrow. Our meals were DELICIOUS, the portions were BIG and the prices were very REASONABLE . The marinara sauce and melted cheese on the chicken parm was so tasty. The piccata had a delicious sauce where you could taste the lemon essence. Sebastian was so helpful and made us feel at home. Be advised, it's a casual atmosphere and there are only 4 tables for dine-in however that was fine for us. Can't wait to go back to try their thin crust pizza.

If I could, I would've given them 10 stars This place is DEFINITELY A MUST TRY, I honestly wasn't expecting what I got, I'm usually extremely picky but wow... The food was fantastic, I had the pesto pasta (added shrimp), it was just delicious, very tasty, very creamy, the portion was soo large (this is coming from a pregnant lady, I literally couldn't finish and still had more than half of the shrimp I added to the order which btw, they were also large!!!!). They make fresh garlic bread, my meal came with 3 large pieces, again... DELICIOUS! I'm so satisfied with the food and sooo happy I have left over for tomorrow, looking forward to ordering other meals.

Absolutely DELICIOUS! This hidden gem is new to the area, but with food and service like theirs, it won't stay hidden for long! If you want hot, delicious food served on time with a smile, this is the place. The pasta was cooked perfectly, the sauces were flavorful and the pizza was perfect (NY and Chicago pizza have nothing on this)! Great food, great quality and great service. You won't be disappointed.

Food has been amazing each time I've gone! I'm so glad to have found a local/family owned place to eat near me!

Lasaña y el pan de ajo completamente malo no estaba tostado lasaña fría más queso que carne hace mucho tiempo atrás estaba mejor no vuelvo a visitar este lugar

We have tried several things at Leona's and everything has been delicious! The sauce is tasty, meatballs are very flavorful and the pizza toppings are plentiful. Prices are all reasonable. Mary, the owner, is as kind as can be and is so grateful for all her customers. Highly recommend.

I was looking for a low key Italian place and stumbled on this spot in Mandarin.From the reviews this place seemed promising but I was sorely mistaken. I ordered the staple items any Italian restaurant should be able to do well: cheese bread, garlic bread, Caesar salad, lasagna, and tiramisu for dessert. -Cheese bread was a raw dough ball covered in cheese with no real flavor or seasoning. -Garlic bread was very stale, you could barely even bite into it or rip it apart with your hands. -Lasagna was comparable to a frozen lasagna from Stoffers. The sauce wasn't terrible, however, the pasta was under cooked and there was barely any meat or substance to it. -And lastly the tiramisu, it wasn't terrible but it was obviously store bought and not made in house. From an Italian restaurant I would have expected better than store bought repackaged food. I ordered $70 worth of food and all of it ended up in the trash and we wound up eating ramen. I really wanted to like this place but sadly it was a miss for me.

We came into Leona's on a whim while on this side of town. The reviews were great, and it was close by so we decided to stop in. No regrets. The food was excellent, and the service was impeccable. We were the only ones in the restaurant at the time, but with food like that, I don't know how they weren't packed. Between our group, we had the cheese bread, spaghetti with meat sauce, a Philly baked sub, and the spaghetti arrabiata. It was all perfection. We will absolutely be back.

Service was excellent very personable from start to finish just moved here a year ago pizza was beyond words it was the best I've had in a long long time no other pizza place in this area cannot do them remind me of good traditional Pizza desserts were also very good if this is a must go to

Looks like a hole in the wall joint but OMG- some of the best Italian food I've ever had. Served with pleasure ebay the staff, making it even better. For the pasta with pesto and was floored - beat pesto I've had , and my Mom makes a mean pesto. Definitely going again this trip.

The linguine & clams pasta is subpar. It has a very strong flour/grainy taste to the cream sauce. The roux was not made appropriately as too much flour has been added to thicken the sauce. Despite the over addition of flour, the sauce is still runny. The ratios of fats to flour is wrong. The strong flour taste overpowers the clams. The clams should have been the star of dish. The noodles are not Al dente and are almost mushy. The garlic toast also lacked flavor. It was the right amount of crispiness but the lack of flavor makes it almost not palatable. The meal lacks flavor. The Caesar dressing was good but the salad seemed more of a house salad than a true ceases salad. The size of the Caesar salad was also extremely small. The delivery time was over 30 mins late from the original time estimation. It took close to 90 minutes for it to arrive despite paying priority delivery from Uber one. I also learned that even when you pay for priority delivery, that the order can still take an hour past the anticipated delivery time & it will still be considered within the "time frame".

Leona's is a great new cozy Mandarin restaurant to visit if you're hungry for authentic Italian food that's reasonably priced, quickly prepared, and delicious. My wife and I each tried a pasta dish that we heartily consumed along with the fresh salad and slice of hearty, tasty cheese bread that came with it. We look forward to trying other menu items and definitely recommend that you visit when in the mood for a taste of Italy. We also really appreciated the very friendly and accommodating staff.

Absolutely incredible! Fresh ingredients and great portions. Ordered delivery through UberEats but it was hot and packaged very nicely. The pasta and chicken portions were amazing! They truly want to make a great impression with quality food and great service and they definitely succeeded. Will be returning again for sure.

Great pizza! I got the carry out special large pizza with two toppings, half cheese, with half mushrooms and olive. The veggies were fresh, pizza tasted like New york style pizzas. I had always wanted to give them a try, and I'm glad I did. Will definitely be ordering pizza from Leona's in the near future and look forward to trying other things in the menu.

After reading all the raving reviews on NextDoor my husband and I finally went for lunch. Great neighborhood restaurant. We had the lunch size baked ziti and chicken parmesan and could only eat half. I also ordered a pizza to take home. All were delicious and the young man who waited on us was very personable, he said it was his aunt who was in the kitchen. Great family restaurant and all that was only $32. We will be back for sure.

Visited last night per recommend on nextdoor. I had an option on Google to make a Res so I did since a previous new rest recommend we walked in was packed, Anyway we got there/ it was just a pizzeria with 4 tables which were occupied so we decided to order takeout. The diners were enjoying the dishes as we heard all around compliments so I couldn't wait to try, then a table opened up so we stayed. They're still in the process of restaurant accommodations. Well if you like home cooked style yummy food this is One of the New Best Neighborhood Eateries of the few. We had the Calamari/ Breaded shrimp comes with Delish marinara sauce, Chicken Piccata and Pizza, It was All Delish. Pizza was made for my hub his way, thin crust/ well done and the portions are very shareable, we were stuffed and brought hm left overs, so did the other diners leaving they all took hm. Sébastien our server was very nice, so was mama Leona/ son we chatted with. Very friendly, hospitable family biz. Look fwd to my next meal Sorry no pics I couldn't wait to dig in

Great service and wonderful food. Large portions and very accommodating. Highly recommend.

Food looks great nice menu but we went for PIZZA... It was so good had the Meat lovers Pizza it was awesome.. 18" and reasonable in pricing.. We will be back. Have not had a pizza that good in a long time I hope they get lots of business and stay forever. I highly recommend this Leana's Cusine Italiana it lives up to the name.. Can't wait to try other dishes there.