The pizzas are pretty good, best around, but that's not saying much. The service is about as slow as it can be. One night I called in an order and still had to wait 30 mins. Sometimes it is worth the wait....other times the pizzas aren't so good. Oh yeah, very pricey too. read more

Papaleno's really is as good as it gets in the area. Every time I have guests in I take them to experience quality food for a very reasonable price. After four years living in Berea, I have become a huge fan of this business. read more

Excellent! Smells like a traditional warm pizzeria when you walk in, comfortable surroundings. Very good price points and terrific bread!

Great food! This is a must when in Berea. Their pizza is very good! I've also enjoyed their subs and lasagna. A must try is their garlic bread soaked in butter. Take some breath mints and enjoy! read more

This place, PapaLenos, came highly recommended by locals (I'm in town on job assignment). There was a rather long line to order when I walked in. Almost left. GLAD I DIDN'T. Good selection on menu and it was busy (all good signs). I ordered Baked Spaghetti w Meatballs in Meat Sauce. It was awesome, good size portion, and fairly priced. Garlic bread came in a "boat" with melted Garlic Butter in bottom so you could dip it to your liking, and it was a large brick of bread. A little slow getting it to table was only downside, but they were busy, and it was well worth the wait. I HIGHLY recommend PapaLenos. read more

Papa Lenos is good, satisfying and a great atmosphere! This is the kind of place were you have to go if you come to Berea, with great prices. If your staying at Boone Tavern and don't like the restaurant prices and atmosphere this is a great casual alternative. We visited Papa Lenos twice over Labor Day weekend and that should tell you a couple things. We had a pizza and a meatball sub and the pizza crust was great and it was crispy. The meatball sub was good, the sauce was great but a little spice could have kicked it up a notch. read more

This is easily the best restaurant in Berea. I eat lunch there at least twice a month. They have the best meatballs ever. The chicken parmesan is insanely good as well. And the hot, garlic butter covered individual loaves of bread are the deal. I also live close and have a pizza delivered once in a while and they never fail. read more

Used to be good when it had a different owner years back. Ordered the Philly and it looks like a Walmart steak um from the frozen food section. read more

This is the best place in Berea for fast-casual food. I'm been going here since I was a little kid but it had been several years when we passed through town in May, 2014. The garlic bread was as heavenly as I remembered it. The meatball sub was delicious too, and the pepperoni pizza was as good as ever. If you're driving down I-75, Papaleno's is worth pulling off the highway for lunch. read more

So amazing! This was my first date place with my wife and the food is amazing! It is a must place in Berea.

Papaleno's is ok. They have pretty good pizza, and the big slice is nice. Sometimes the service and food is inconsistent. Usually the food is cooked well, but I've gotten really watery pasta and undercooked food a few times. The service is usually sort of slow, but not terrible. It's nice to have a pizza/pasta restaurant so close to campus, and most of my experiences have been nice. read more

Best Italian in Berea. Really great breadsticks and great pasta, spaghetti, lasagna, etc

Ive been to Papalenos three times since we moved here from Texas. The food has been delicious each time. I will certainly continue to eat here, hopefully we can get wine with our meal some time in the near future. read more

Folks around here love PapaLeno's for sandwiches, soups, Italian specialties, and pizza. Their homemade breadsticks with garlic butter are especially memorable. It's close to the college campus, Boone Tavern Hotel, and many gift shops. Just a week ago, they began serving bottled beer with food. It's not cheap, about $3.50 or more a bottle, but my husband is delighted to be able to drink a beer with his pizza. It's big news in Berea, as this has been a totally "dry" town until just recently. read more

Really good pizza. I wish they'd expand their menu. A delicious salad would be a nice addition but theirs is pretty standard and boring. They tend to cover all of their entrees in too much cheese and their bread is just like eating melted butter but again, the pizza is excellent. read more

This is a really good place to eat. The bread is great and the pizza crust is awesome. We had the mountaineer pizza it was really good. I loved the building and atmosphere it was set in. It's not worth driving a long distance to eat at, but definitely worth stopping if in the area. I will eat here from time to time when passing by. read more

This place sucks. The highlight of our meal was the West Sixth Brewing IPA and a basket of fries. We then attempted to eat "Italian food." We got baked spaghetti and spaghetti and meatballs. When I took my first bite of my spaghetti and meatballs, I was immediately reminded of the middle school lunch lady plopping an ice cream scoop size lump of "pasta" on my plate. I don't know what is so hard about pasta. The garlic bread was awful, I'm not sure how something literally dripping in butter and garlic could be bad, but this was. This was easily the worst Italian food I've ever had. read more

GREAT FOOD! IF you see it on the menu and you normally like it - it will be great here. The garlic bread sticks are huge and delicious. The pizza is great. Pasta is wonderful. You can't go wrong at Papa Leno's! read more

This restaurant is probably great for families and college students, but I have not been impressed overall. Their pizza is GOOD, not great... salads are sub-par... but I've had great experiences with other entrees. We love the pasta dishes the most, overall. I would recommend that people come here to feed a group of people without spending a million bucks, and keep every person satisfied. read more

This is the best Italian food in Berea, in my humble opinion. I've taken multiple friends/family members here and every single person has raved about this place. The staff is very friendly, the food is phenomenal and the atmosphere is very nice. The establishment is clean, they're very quick at cleaning up tables and the service is fast! HIGHLY recommend!!! read more

As a college student, Papaleno's was the next best thing to a home cooked meal. The warm, welcoming environment lent itself as the family dinning room for hosts of hungry college students who needed a break from Berea College's foodservice. The large portioned Italian meals were always served piping hot and fresh, as was the buzzing student life. And just like home--we'd have to be mindful of what was said, and done, at the dinner table. Parental-eyes, in the form of college professors, weren't as distracted as you'd hope they'd be... read more

Papa Leno's is literally tucked away across the street from the Berea College Campus. My daughter, a freshman at Berea, has spoken well of it often. On what was my first visit there, she recommended it over the famous (and 1/2 block distant) Boone Tavern. Nowhere near as formal, nor as expensive, it would seem that Papa Leno's attracts a younger and more local crowd. When you enter, you order. Not at a counter, per se, but at the register. Even though it was the Saturday before Easter and the campus was almost totally empty, Papa Leno's was almost completely full. The crowd was a mix of college age students, local families, and a couple of tables with young women dressed up for their prom from a nearby town. The atmosphere is comfortable and casual, and the smell of garlic and pizza strikes you before you even step inside. My daughter ordered the Apple Tuna Stuffed Tomato salad, and I went with the Portabella Mushroom and Provolone Sandwich (1/2 order). You seat yourself, and await your food, which is delivered to your table. Drinks are self-serve, and there is a reasonable selection of Pepsi products and tea. There is no alcohol anywhere in Berea, as Berea sits in a dry county. This is true even at the apparently inappropriately named Boone "Tavern". The salad came with a single huge piece of Garlic Bread. It looked like a giant slice of Focaccia: soft, dense, and warm inside; browned, crusty and chewy on the outside. The top was brushed with a generous swab of very garlicky Garlic Butter, with plenty more seeping out and onto the bottom of the plate. It was absolutely delicious, with plenty of butter on the bottom of the plate for "soppin'". The salad was more than generous, and came with a whole large tomato that was more sliced and partially dissected with the Tuna on top, than hollowed out and stuffed. There was an abundance of veggies in amongst the greens. I enjoyed the Portabella and Provolone sandwich very much. The marinated mushroom cap was well cooked and came with chips. Holding it all together was also Focaccia type crusty bread; equally warm and wonderful as the aforementioned slab of garlic bread. The cheese was nicely melted and the toppings seemed fresh. It was not a large sandwich (3 to 4 inches), but it was a flavorful one. There was a nice contrast between the crunchy, toasted bun and the soft portabella inside. We found the staff to be friendly and efficient, the pace to be busy but not frantic. Papa Leno's is what one would expect in a college town - fast, friendly and affordable. I would most certainly come back. read more

Food is great, atmosphere very casual, but do NOT expect fast service, at least during dinner hours. On the two occasions we went 20 minutes between ordering and getting our food was average. read more

We went to get a pizza from PapaLeno's On 12/1/19 and they wasn't busy at all when we went inside. Went and grabbed a table and the table hadn't even been cleaned along with several other empty tables. Looked like they wanted to talk more than work. After asking to have the table cleaned, the guy acted like it was an inconvenience for him to do his job. When we finally got our pizza, it was not very good. First they didn't have mushrooms so I had substituted an item for that and then took off an item and wanted to replace it with another topping. Well, you can't do that unless you want to pay the extra money for another topping even though it's the same. The crust was paper thin and the toppings that was on the pizza kept sliding off. They put way too many onions on the pizza and it did not have a good taste at all. I had used to recommend this place to everyone, but now I will not be doing so. read more

This restaurant is a favorite of mine when traveling through Kentucky. I've been coming here for years and they are consistently delivering great food. This weekend was no exception. It is nice to see a good restaurant maintain it's quality. I would give it 5 stars, but it took about 20 minutes to get my order placed by standing in line- at some point they may have to consider hiring servers to keep people from standing in line to place an order. read more

I honestly don't see why everyone keeps giving this place such praise. It's like they've never had decent Italian food. The pasta obviously comes out of a bulk container or something they probably buy it at Walmart. The sauce taste like it's straight out of a 5 gallon container with some dried oregano sprinkled in it probably cooked in a large aluminum pot on some stove all day. The Parmesan tasted old and powdery had no smell to it at all. And that was the time I tried the pasta. I decided to give the place another try about a year and a half later and pretty much the same thing I had a chicken Parmesan sandwich that tasted like it had been microwaved. I've honestly had food truck sandwiches that tasted better. The third time I went was with some vegan friends of mine hippie types and they absolutely loved the vegan stuff they had. I think it was some kind of eggplant concoction I just drank some water and chatted with them. read more

I love love love Papa Leno"s.....this place is always cozy and warm...they have the best pizza and pasta, but the greatest thing is the loaves of garlic bread ...the only downfall to this restaurant is the limited parking, but Berea is very small and only a short walk read more

Best Italian place from Berea to Lexington. Fast friendly service and great food! Reasonable prices too. We will definitely be back. The only thing I recommend to the owners is to include a small salad with pasta entrees. read more

Really great pizza! Definitely one of Berea's best dining places. The food is a little pricy though.

Had the grilled chicken salad with huge hunk of homemade bread and amazing garlic butter. Chicken seasoning was great, as well as the house ranch. First time here. Very delicious!! read more

A cute little Italian restaurant located in the middle of Berea College. It's convenient for students to come here to grab a quick meal. I ordered a HUGE sub. I couldn't finish it, and I usually could finish a sub at Subway or Penn Station easily. Their portions will definitely fill you up. The interior is very homely, with a lot of wood furnishing. It's a little warm in there but it could be due to the ovens baking all that pizza. read more

This restaurant was recommended by our hotel staff and yelp. The service was fast .the food was good and the environment was perfect.

Does not know what a Stromboli is, and the mystery steak inside of it was absolutely disgusting and would never recommend for people that know what Italian food is. read more

The servers are always pleasant and good at their jobs. 90% of the time the garlic bread is excellent. As for the quality of the rest of the menu its lottery. For example, one day their meatball sub is stuffed w/4 or 5 meatballs and loaded w/cheese. The next u have 2 meatballs cut in half and it's a treasure hunt for the cheese. Twice we have found hair in our food, I think we have gone their for last time, which is a shame because when u hit the lottery their food can be awesome. read more

Took my wife out for her Birthday, traveling from London Ky up to Berea for just Papalenos. It "was" her favorite place, until this last time we went we waited exactly 1 hour for 1 spaghetti and 1 rigatoni. Others were getting their food before us that came in much much later than we did. When we received our food, it was warm, and the pasta was watery where it had been sitting, so I got a box to take it home and left after 2 bites. The person that brought us the food was the cashier and all he said was sorry it took so long. My assumption was that the lady's that were taking the food out of the kitchen forgot to get ours because I noticed that the cashier looked at my table number and looked back into the kitchen and said "no, they havent", which to me sounded like the chef asked if we had left because they forgot to bring the food out. It will be a long time before I go back, which I will, but will be a long time. I would recommend for them to get real waiters to check on you, fill your drinks, deliver you some bread. That has been a sore for me since I have been going for years now. read more

My wife and I and another person went there last night and had a couple of problems. The pizza was not delivered as ordered and one of the meals was missing. Almost no apology. The result was two of us had a meal with one wrong and my meal delivered when we were done so it went home in a box. I guess if you think one out of three is not bad then they did OK. I will not go back or send anyone there. read more

Get a bread stick. Love the pizza (even if it is a bit on the greasy side). and get another bread stick.

After hiking the Pennacle Trails in Berea my gf and I worked up an appetite and stopped in. She got the chicken Parmesan and I got the open flame pizza. We were both highly satisfied with the food, cleanliness and overall atmosphere. I could see where parking may be a bit of a hassle but it wasn't busy the day we stopped in and we were served within about 15 minutes from ordering. We would definitely recommend stopping in! I think for our food and drinks we paid $22 read more

The food is awesome from the pizza to lasagna, but my complaint is the restaurant is dirty and nasty! Always swatting at flies and dusty and dingy. Have stopped going here because it's so dirty inside. read more

Papa Leno's isn't 5-Star dining-- but that's not what they advertise. It's a great place to sit, relax with friends and family, and enjoy REAL Italian food. Their pizza is always a great choice. I'm not a huge fan of the salads or sandwiches, but their pizza and breadsticks is always what keeps us coming back! read more