Leonardo's 706, Gainesville FL

Leonardo's 706 is owned and operated by the same people that operate two other restaurants, Leonardo's By the Slice and Bistro 1245, just down the street. Unfortunately, it does not live up to its counterparts. With very overpriced and somewhat bland food, there isn't much incentive to endure the mediocre service.

We stopped by Leo's 706 somewhat early, around 5:30pm, on a Friday evening. There was no wait, and the place was nearly empty, though this isn't too abnormal given the time we arrived. It's a very trendy and cozy little restaurant, with a surprising amount of seating for the apparent small size of the venue. It's an upscale atmosphere, but in a sort of trendy, pretentious way that might lend itself well to dates or business dinners and lunches. The wine and cocktail lists seemed decent and fairly extensive, though we did not sample anything from them on this particular evening.

An array of appetizers, ranging from crab cakes or mussels to flatbreads or mushrooms, ends with the 706 Rolls, much acclaimed on internet restaurant reviews. We asked for a half dozen of them, only to discover that they are the same rolls as are served at Leonardo's by the Slice. This discovery wasn't necessarily a bad thing, though; those rolls are good. As at the other Leonardo's, they came with a garlic butter and a marinara sauce for dipping. I couldn't discern a difference between the two restaurants' garlic butters, but Leo's 706's version of the marinara was distinctly thinner and less interesting than it's sister version down the road. Still, good rolls, and only four bucks (though I can't recall if this is the same price as at Leonardo's by the Slice).

As for main courses, the 706 menu is divided roughly evenly into pizzas and more standard upscale entrees. Judging from the menu, the pizzas are mostly smaller and slightly fancier versions of the pies served down the road, but I'm not in a position to assess them because we ordered from the more standard entrees.

Krystin ordered the pasta madagascar, linguine with a pepper brandy tomato sauce with capers and topped with a skewer of grilled grouper. While the pasta was adequately cooked, the grouper was very dry and overdone. The sauce wasn't bad, but wasn't amazing either. At $17, it was a somewhat disappointing dish.

But my order, the grouper français, was far worse. The menu describes it as "florida grouper sautéed in clarified butter, crusted and then finished with minced garlic, parsley and white wine over angel hair pasta." Translation: the blandest dish you've ever tasted. My grouper was better cooked than Krystin's, but not perfect. It was very slightly overdone and dry, but not too much. Unfortunately, this dish tasted completely under-seasoned. The pasta tasted completely plain with no additional flavors whatsoever - even a little extra butter or pepper would have helped. I couldn't find any hint of the garlic mentioned on the menu. Eventually, once I had finished the lackluster fish fillet, I gave up on finishing the dry, flavorless pasta. This dish, at $20, was more than just somewhat disappointing. It was terrible, and vastly overpriced as well.

We weren't happy with our visit to Leonardo's 706. It lacked the simple elegance of Bistro 1245 or the pleasure of Leonardo's by the Slice. Lackluster food was dressed up, presented as something more than it was, and sold for exorbitant prices. We didn't try the pizzas, so maybe there's something wonderful we're missing there, but I have trouble believing that they are anything that much more interesting than the much cheaper pizzas you can get at Leonardo's by the Slice. Overall, I do not recommend Leonardo's 706.

Overall: 3/10
Date visited: August 28, 2009
Address: 706 W University Ave, Gainesville, FL 32601-5157
Phone: 352-378-2001‎
Website (with menu): http://www.leonardos706.com