leo's barbeque

good smoked meat is the one surefire way to getgood‘ol boys, suburban soccer moms and suits like me to venture to an old dilapidated ex-gas station a block or two from martin luther king boulevard.

i still smell of delicious smokeyness. leo's is a great downtown okc establishment! if you spend more than 5 minutes there, the smokyness penetrates into your clothes for the rest of the day (this is agoodthing - believe me).

brisket, turkey, and chicken are all excellent...plus the strawberry cake is fantastic too.goodquality and decent bbq - only complaint is that the meats are a bit fatty/greasy. next time you are on the north side of town, check out bbq chop shop on north may as a great alternative (actually preferred in my opinion)

"this is the worst bbq on the east side" i paid way too much for this crap. the real sad part is that leo's used to be so good. i will never eat here again i would rather eat fast food. fries were just regular fries you could purchase in your local frozen food section with no seasoning, and the baked beans tasted like they came out of a "beans and wieners" can busch's canned baked beans are better. ribs were awful dry as acrylic weave on a hot summer day. "the only thinggoodwas the cake" only gave the one star for the cake. maybe they should change their name to just leo's cake inc

not knowing their hours, we showed up about 10 mins from closing time. most places that would be the death of you but not here all the young gents were extremely friendly and welcomed us in. ribs, brisket, and links were allgoodand of course finished it with leo's famous cake.

i had lunch at leo's for the first time in a while 20 jan.  i got there about 1230, the place was crowded but thinning out.

i had an order of ribs, with baked beans and slaw.  these ribs were better than the last time i was here; there was a nice bark to them, and they were just the right smoky flavor.  a little more grease than i like, but not an issue.  tender, firm, meaty goodness.  the beans were excellent again, and the slaw was prettygoodas well, but i think i will stick with the potato salad in the future. 

great stuff.

i'm a fan of anthony bourdain and i loved his exploration of bbq joints in k.c.  i think he'd like leo's a lot!  this is a little dive of a place, but it's nice inside, with that feel that bbq permeates every inch of the place.  there's big old brick oven, painted bright red where the meat gets transformed into deliciousness.  the folks who take care of you there couldn't be nicer.  charlie, one of the owners made a point of coming by to introduce himself and thank me for coming in.  i had the chopped brisket sandwich with baked beans.  they also have complimentary cucumber/onion salad for an appetizer and it was very good.  to top it all off, a piece of their famous strawberry/banana cake.  everything was reallygood(way better than billy sims where i had lunch today!).  i  want to go back and try leo's ribs next time i'm in town.

went here with some friends, one of which grew up in this neighborhood. interesting place to grow up.

the exterior is more than a bit rough and the inside is "well loved". parking is iffy and goes fast as do the tables. has that "you may find your vehicle up on blocks with the wheels missing" vib. our guide indicated that crime around the sacred leo's isn't tolerated. sounds sorta indiana jonesish. still had my wheels when we left!

anyway, the bbq was extremely good. got a lite dinner which comes with a slice of cake, a rib, some of each of the meats, mac salad and beans. lemonade to drink of course.

the bbq process obviously took some time from the depth of the penetration. it is not sauced on. their sauce wasgoodthough as an condiment. the various meats combine into quite a meal what with the macaroni salad and beans.

then came the cake. it was prettygood-although cakes are usually not my thing - i thought it good. our guide must have been pretty well liked when growing up as even our folks not entitled to a piece got some to try.

we headed out and ended up talking the rest of the day about how much we liked the food.

good hood eats. leo's bbq is a place on the eastside i consider agoodhood store eatery. i had leos bbq for lunch ribs, mustard potatoe salad, collard greens & baked beans for only $10. when you order any dinner or lite dinner, you get a free slice of leo's infamous strawberry banana cake. i've eaten @ a lot of bbq sauces, but leos always stands out more than the other competitors.


-----01 feb, 2013-----

i grew up on leo bbq. still 30 years later & its still has thay bbq smoked flavor throughout the brisket. the bbq is like no one else.

ehhhh. almost fell on the bootleg ramps they have set up. my server wasnt neat, aka i didnt feel comfortable she was handling my food. the lemonade wasgoodand served in a big glass that they kept filled. we both ordered 1/2 of meat with two side dinner. def didnt receive 1/2 of meat. servied on styrofoam plates. as soon as i saw it i knew it wasnt enough food and cost $10 a plate. my brisket was chopped very small like you would for sandwhiches, it shouldve been sliced for a dinner entree and my baked potato was hard. i wouldve asked to exchange it but the server never came back to our table except to give us our bill. we were going to get the "famous" cake but server didnt ask, just gave us the bill so we got it to go.goodbut not worth $3.50 a slice. felt jipped and ate when we got home

tender, smoky bbq ribs. i have heard and read mostlygoodreviews of leo's. i finally got to try it for the first time last night. my date and i ordered leo's special -- an assortment of meats (ribs, brisket, hot links) with two sides and a slice of banana cake. our server kindly added an extra slice of cake and a serving of smoked chicken at no charge.

i judge bbq restaurants by their ribs, and these did not disappoint. they were tender and smoky. you can see the smoke ring on all parts of the rib. they have a bit less meat on them than at some other places in okc, but i'd rather have smaller portions of good-tasting ribs than larger portions of average-tasting ribs.

the bbq sauces make leo's stand out from other bbq places in okc. while i still like swadley's sauces the best, leo's sauces now rank second or third on my list. they are using nutmeg or allspice or something like that in their sauce, and i like how it compliments the meat. it would beat swadley's sauces if it weren't overpowering at times. as the saying goes, "a little dab'll do ya" with this sauce.

the sides and cake were okay. the baked beans were the only disappointment - quite bland. i got my hopes up when i saw what looked like a piece of bacon mixed in, but it didn't add anything to make the baked beans taste better.

overall, it's definitely worth a return trip.

so so cue, great cake. the ribs were wet and so so, the hot links were average, the only saving grace was the faux dive decor and the banana cake. ok road food i suppose but notgoodfor longevity. on a scale of 1 to 10 a definite 7.5.

the food was great. the ribs and hot links are ridiculously good. the waitress wasgoodat keeping up with our table, if not a bit unresponsive.

awsome. wow!!!!! great bbq.wait staff was verygoodand pleasant. the owner mr charles was very nice.!!!!!!!!!!

fair. okc hasn't hadgoodbbq since big beef bbq on old classen circle.

ok, this place is 100% legit. it is a dive and a great one at that! we knew about leo's from triple d and visited leo's on 03/25/2013.

the bbq was some of the best we had. period. end of story read no further just go and have the brisket. or the ribs. or the hotlinks. or the fried bologna. i can go on. even the homemade lemonade was great.

one thing about leo's, the bbq doesn't come drowned in bbq. they don't need to hide behind it. the bbq sauce is great, smokey and sweet but you control how much you want. i didn't really want any because the meat was sogoodon its own.

the strawberry-banana cake? my only regret now is we didn't get one to go!

the staff was awesome and super-friendly. made us feel welcomed and at home. leo's son came out, joked with us and took pictures.

thanks for the great lunch!!!