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| - After reading all the other reviews here, I can only conclude the staff were having an off night on my first visit to Leslie Jones. I guess the tip-off should have been the bartender pouring a round of shots for the staff as we sat down at the bar, and saying, "We need it." All of the waitresses did seem to be in a surly mood, and there was some confusion and dramatic sighs about a patio table that was for FOUR people but we were only two but "I guess you can have it." Even though we didn't ask to have it or make any claims on it.
After we sat, the waitress took our order, then another waitress came to take our order. And then they both disappeared for a good 20 minutes -- the bowl of olives that we'd asked never to be seen. When we did finally flag someone down, we got the olives, though nothing to put the pits in or on. And the drinks menu I'd also asked for required still another trip. Then some lengthy time later our main course arrived. Except that I'd ordered an appetizer and they'd totally forgotten about that too. Oops.
I feel bad criticizing service sometimes because every restaurant and waiter or waitress can have an off night. To be fair to our waitress, she did make the appetizer on the house, and seemed honestly appreciative (or maybe surprised?) that I left a decent tip. But unfortunately, I wasn't so impressed by the food that it was that easy to overlook the service. The missing appetizer was a beet and apple salad, which was pleasant but a touch bland. My companion ordered a dijon chicken dish which was very tasty indeed, but on the other hand, they had run out of the potato salad that was one of the accompanying choices but only told us this as they served the dish. My main dish was the Hot Italian Sausage pizza. The sausage itself was nice, but the crust was just okay -- thin, but a bit too dry and a little burnt. I will say that the dessert, a sweet potato cheesecake was excellent (though the piece was a trifle small). Also, the cocktail I had at the start, a whisky and grapefruit concoction called The Bitter Waiter (expect a joke when ordering it), was delightful and refreshing.
I'm sure I'll give this place another shot to see what all the fuss is about. The patio was nice. The main room seemed cozy. Also they do take credit cards now.
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