I couldn’t believe it but I actually found a local restaurant (NOT a chain) that not only listed on their website that they have a gluten-free option but they are actually reasonable in price!! If you have Celiac Disease or Gluten Intolerance and are looking for a gluten-free pizza option, go and check out Leo’s Ristorante. Leo’s is located at 365 Hope Street in Bristol, right down the road from Roger Williams University (according to their website, students if you show your school ID you get 5% off!! – wish we saw that before last night). Their over all menu is pretty extensive – starters, soups and salads, entrees, paninis, sandwiches, and of course pizza! Now this is where the gluten-free option comes in! You can order a medium size pie (pizza) for an extra .99 which is AMAZING I have seen some places (never went in due to price) that charged up to $20.00 for the same size pizza. So if you get a one topping pizza at Leo’s you are looking at spending around $9.98!! Bryan and I ate there last night – he had an extremely good-looking burger and in his words “probably the best fries I have had in a long time” and I had my pepperoni pizza for under $20.00. I will be honest it took everything inside of me not to reach over and grab one of those fries! I did ask in advance if they were fried separately or with other breaded items, and sadly the fryer is shared.
Seeing as we are still new around here, I called ahead and made a reservation for the two of us. The place is cute, right down town on the main road in Bristol (If you haven’t been there, you should check it out. Bristol was voted the most patriotic town in the US not that long ago). We got a window seat (they also have out-door seating), and for people watchers like ourselves, it was a great place to be seated. The staff was attentive, friendly and well-informed of their products. Our waitress was great, very friendly and answered all of my many questions and if she didn’t know the answer she asked and came back to us. We started talking about celiac disease and I handed her one of my business cards, which she gave to the proprietor of Leo’s.
Like I mentioned before Bryan really enjoyed his meal. My pizza was great too. The crust was nice and thin with a good crunch to it. It even held up to the sauce, cheese and pepperoni…so soggy crust – which I think is some times hard to find with gluten-free pizzas. Now that you have all seen the photo above, I will shamefully admit that I ate that entire thing myself! Eeeek! But like I said last night, the crust is so thin that really it was like eating three sizes of “normal” pizza. Needless to say we’ll be eating there again for sure. Amazingly I didn’t have that “ooh I ate way too much feeling”.
On our way out I actually got to speak with Paul the proprietor for a little bit about gluten fee options. As of right now they only have two gluten-free options – the pizza that I had (with a ton of topping choices!) and their Polenta with Rabe (Leo’s Polenta fried til crisp and topped with fresh rabe and grilled Italian sausage). However, Paul is really considering offering some more gluten-free options on their menu. He was very excited about off of this – eager to learn and grown this customer base. Like I said before they are the only reasonable priced option around me. There are a few places in Newport but all very expensive. I was explaining to him that there are so many dishes out there that are naturally gluten-free (given they are prepared in a “safe” environment). Most salads could be gluten-free with out croutons and a gluten-free dressing. I am very excited to see what comes of this. I would love to see some more options, maybe a Friday Night Gluten Free Special! I also think it would be great for their business being the only ones around offering such a thing…so keep your fingers crossed!
Another very exciting part about Leo’s is they are using locally grown and seasonal produce – which is so great to see especially around here where there are so many great local products. We try to go to the farmer’s markets around here as much as possible. I’m loving our selections of fresh produce, veggies, cheese and even grass fed beef.
Thank you Paul and the rest of the Leo’s staff for a great dining experience!
creativecookinggf.wordpress.com 
It really is nice to see that some restauranters are finding the GF lifestyle important enough to add GF choices on their menu. Pizza is probably one of the toughest foods to make withou gluten. It is nice to see this restaurant is giving it a go!
thanks for such a helpful post
Jenny, there are lots of great gf options around you. RI is amazing that way. Not sure where you actually live, but the chain piezoni’s pizza also has great gf pizza and a location in Barrington and East Providence. Providence is also full of great options. Fall River has Alice’s Diner- a super affordable hole in the wall with fabulous breakfast (think pancakes, belgian waffles, omelets, toast, even homemade malasadas and cinnamon rolls…. all gluten free). No website as it’s owned by a portuguese mother who happens to have celiac disease. Only serves breakfast and lunch, with gf fried seafood on Saturdays. Glad to hear about Leo’s. Thanks for the posting.
what i can i say, pizza restaurants are really the best and they can really fill my belly “:’