Leoness Cellars, Temecula CA

Simply outstanding! The food was phenomenal. Extremely flavorful and seasoned to perfection. The portions were adequate and priced accordingly. We tried several dishes all of which tasted great. Our servers were personable, friendly and took a genuine interest in customer satisfaction. Our servers working as a team ensured our water glasses remained full throughout our entire meal. Without question, one of the best meals I’ve ever had. However, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention our wine tasting experience with our host Vicky. Not only was she extremely knowledgeable about the various wines and assorted blends, her pleasant personality coupled with her professionalism made for one of the best wine tasting experiences I’ve ever had. She wasn’t pushy or overbearing and never made us feel obligated to purchase wine. We were allowed to Enjoy the wine which, made our experience much more enjoyable. Vicky is an outstanding representative of the company and definitely has customer service at the forefront. We ended up purchasing several bottles based on our interactions with Vicky. I’d ask she be recognized in some fashion for her great work.

Beautiful setting and nice wines.

The duck fat fries are a must here, recommend the Gorgonzola version.

Update, menu has changed, portions seem to have shrunk also. Hard to recommend the fries when they are closer to $1/fry

Had my wedding here. Learn from my mistake and avoid.

The only good thing about the venue is the view, which is stunning.

Leoness has such high turnover with its wedding coordinators. We had 4 of the course of a year.

On our wedding day, they didn't save my husband and me enough appetizers to at least each have ONE of each appetizer.

The icing on top - we were told by the staff that THEY THREW OUT OUR WEDDING CAKE before we even had a chance to get a slice. When we told our coordinator, she said she would talk to the staff. No reimbursement offer or anything.

Again, avoid.

Really love coming here for a date night. The ambiance is amazing as well as the white wines. Must try out the bread pudding if there’s room for dessert.

Great Rose and White Sangria! The dessert was really delicious! We went on what happened to be a VERYbl hot day!

The lunch room was nice and cool and the food was absolutely fantastic! They could use a few more vegetarian option a though.

Very high quality wine and very kind and helpful staff. Great views of the vineyard. We highly recommend visiting here, you will really enjoy it!

We belong to this winery and enjoy running down the hill to have lunch on the members terrace, the service is great, the wine is really great, and we enjoy the food at lunch time. Waiting to go back next week for lunch.

I just DJ'd an event there and it's an amazing venue. They have a very scenic ceremony space and the barrel room for is a perfect size for most receptions! It's well run and the staff was easy to work with and friendly. I highly recommend them if your looking for a winery wedding!

New menu is a triumph!

Leoness introduced its new wine-paired food menu on the member terrace this weekend and it is amazing!

I applaud the vision and courage it took the Leoness staff to replace a much-loved food menu with something new. But this new menu promises even more for fine food and wine aficionados.

My wife and I prefer big bold reds, and Leoness has the best of them in the wine country. However, we don’t usually order outside of our typical favorite cabernets, and we hadn’t put too much thought into the food/wine pairings. This new menu gave us so many reasons to do so. Featuring foie gras, goat cheese and herb stuffed squash blossoms, prosciutto and asparagus that is basically a keto carbonara, and more, we were stunned with the elevated food that is simply a step above the rest. And most importantly, all the menu items were thoughtfully paired with wines we simply have never ordered, yet were excellent in their pairings. The menu is a perfect reason to expand your horizons of the variety of wines you can enjoy with this new menu.

We ordered all three of the items mentioned above, along with their recommended pairings, and we simply loved it. Best squash blossoms outside of Rome, and best foie gras in SoCal. We still had our big bold reds at the end, but only after a beautiful afternoon appreciating far more that Leoness has to offer than we had known so far.

And a special shout out to our server Alexis, as well as Sous chef Jeremy and Manager Jessica for stopping by. Thanks for your vision and courage to bring us something new. It’s what put places like Troisgros on the map when they introduced cuisine nouvelle. And although change is hard, look what their perseverance did for fine dining.

So y’all, before you boo-hoo the absence of flatbreads and paninis from the old menu that you and I loved so much, give this new menu a fair chance. They still have everyone’s favorite fries (whether truffle or bacon parm or otherwise). But if you are anything like us, with this new menu you will definitely find some new go-to food and wine favorites!

Had a great day entertaining friends/clients here! Thank you Lydia at the front desk. She went above and beyond to accommodate us. Once sat, we had Dannie to help us out. She was friendly, and knew exactly which wines we should choose. We really enjoyed the wines, burger, truffle fries, brussels and tuna poke. Highly recommend!

Wine tasting was amazing and the band playing there (father and son duo) really fit the atmosphere.
One thing to work on, is allow those in the wine tasting area to order food/snacks from the adjoining restaurant. Doesn't make sense that it's not allowed to do so!

My husband and I visited this winery on Saturday. I have been to most of the wineries in Temecula and wanted to venture out to a few that we have yet to visit. This one is definitely not on our list to revisit. I was really excited about the menu at the restaurant. The fries were absolutely delicious. We both ordered the shrimp & grits for our main course. Being from South Carolina, I consider myself to be an expert and harsh critic of this dish. The grits were watery yet still managed to have lumps. The sauce was just okay. My shrimp were fine but my husband said a few of his were undercooked. The service and ambience were nice at the restaurant. We decided to do a tasting and the service there as well as the wine left much to be desired. The 2 girls at the register did not greet us. Our server seemed not to be having a good day and an older woman took over for her before we really got started. The older woman was making small talk so I shared with her that I had just returned from a 3-day interview in Napa. Her response: oh, will you be waiting tables there. As IF (it takes a 3-day interview to wait tables or someone would fly you out on their dime or that I would leave my 6 figure job to wait tables during a recession). Do not cast your pearls before swine though. She then could not keep up with where we were on our tasting cards. And I truly was not impressed by the wines, especially in comparison to other Temecula wineries.

Under Chef Teddy the food was excellent. Now under these new Chefs they have the food is terrible. Also one of there best waiters is no longer there. They do have the best wine in wine country but the main dishes and salads are not good. I rather hang out at the terrace and eat the fries and duck tacos.

Great ambiance. Sunset golden hour made it even prettier. Wine tasting selection was good for our individual liking in my party. You look out into the vineyard, it was serene

I was a cook here for two weeks, it was the best two weeks of any job I've ever had.

Unfortunately I did not have a car at the time, and 40 minutes to and from work every day with no family or help to get to work proved impossible.

Immaturely I left the job without at least attempting to explain to my boss what my situation was.

One thing that I can assure you is the kitchen staff is professional, and committed to providing the most quality of foods to their customers.

Cleanliness, professionalism and consistency was preached and practiced every day by my boss Enrique, and I learned more from him in a couple weeks than I've learned with other restaurants for in a year.

If you're looking to eat somewhere where someone cares about your food, and puts time and love into it, eat here.

Beautiful location but be aware that lunch was not offered in the restaurant. Only dinner courses. Also bottles of wine only. No single glass offerings other than Sangria (Watered down - not good). An online menu found noted flatbreads etc.but we were told those are only available on the "member's" patio. They also neglected to write down my reservation made a week in advance but did accommodate us with a table as it was mid-afternoon. Appetizer courses very small and overpriced.

Ambiance is great, amazing views, great staff, very nice place to chill and relax. Has plenty of space for inside and outdoor dining. The food was not too good except for the sea bass. Prob the best I have ever tasted. I would recommend this place

Not big on the wine, but my wife enjoyed it. The food was fine we ate Filet n Short ribs. I like a couple other wineries a lil better. Worth it though!

This place used to be amazing. Yes the wines are still good and the restaurant has amazing food but the new wine club leaves a lot of room for improvement. I've been a member of the Leoness wine club for years. Recent changes make the club meaningless. I just did a comparison of my last six months of visits and it would have cost just slightly more to just come and buy wine and eat at the restaurant. One month they charged me $63+ for a wine that costs $40 in the store. I was told "well, you get free tastings". Then looking further, I discover I am charged full price for all wine club wines. I'm a member of lots of wineries, and none of them offer no discount on the wine club shipments. So, come for the wine and don't become a club member. Your cost will be about the same. I am quitting this one! I think they need money to pay for the recent expansion. Too bad.

I was told the wine club was going to change. Not so much. Actually nothing has changed. Still the worst wine club in California. I still go there to eat as the restaurant is excellent!

Beautifully intimate location. The Sunday service we received was superb from all of the staff we encountered! I had the duck with gnocchi, which was not only beautifully presented, but tasted wonderful. My counterpart had shrimp and grits, but seemed the grits were drowned a bit much for my liking. Now the creme brulee was delicious! The grounds were immaculate. Howvever, on a less fab note paved parking was almost non-existant, thus not the most ideal. So be advised your shoes and car will get dusty. You can drop your party off at the front. Oh and watch out for the snakes when it's warm out.