LEON'S FULL SERVICE

She says:
Poultry is boring.

This is a lesson I’ve learned the hard way over and over again, and yet it never seems to stick. My mistake is usually born out of boredom with the single uninspired vegetarian option on a menu, and so I begin eyeing the poultry dishes, fantasizing about crispy skin, succulent meat, some new and bold sauce it will be paired with. Somehow this is never the case. The poultry is inevitably safe and boring, the option for people who’d rather be at Applebees. You’d think I’d have learned this by now.

Nope, I did it again.

Leon’s turkey sandwich is the exactly what you’d slap together at home – slices of turkey, cheddar, lettuce, mayo. The bread is better than your typical sandwich bread, but otherwise, there is absolutely NOTHING interesting about this sandwich. What was I expecting? Maybe something warm?

Perhaps my expectations of Leon’s were too high. The first time I went, I had the most creative and delicious cocktail of my life (the specialty cocktail that day) and an incredible bowl of roasted red pepper soup, showstoppers that made their cold roasted-veggie sandwich a pleasant distant memory. My last visit boasted a good, but far less zany, cocktail, some decent Pub Frites with a dipping sauce (the goat cheese fondue) that couldn’t be tasted over the salt of the fries, and the aforementioned turkey sandwich. Perhaps the “mains” are more amazing, but for a gastropub, the cheaper options are underwhelming.

He says:
Underwhelming, indeed. Leon’s is a latecomer to Atlanta’s burgeoning gastropub scene, and it falls short of the standard set by the Porter and Bookhouse Pub. On our waiter’s recommendation I ordered the “excellent” grass-fed burger with Tillamook cheddar, and found it less than stellar. The patty was mushy and tasteless.

More surprising was the soup of the day: a potato-leek soup with crumbled bacon bits. The soup I received was bright orange and tasted strongly of curry. It was only after I inquired that the waiter realized the soup of the day was, in fact, a carrot curry soup. Thanks for the heads up, dude.

She says:
Despite the mediocre food and service, Leon’s does succeed as an inviting, attractive bar with a killer location and fantastic patio. This restaurant serves central Decatur much better than the former antique shop it replaced. Now if they only got into the spirit of things and served their food on hubcap plates and poured their drinks from gas cans.

We say:
Better than it once was and not as good as it should be.




Leon's Full Service
131 East Ponce De Leon Avenue, Decatur, 30030
http://www.leonsfullservice.com/