I went to Leone’s and Spanish Pavillion this weekend for a Kitchen Nightmares inspired birthday trip

My bf and I love Kitchen Nightmares and I decided for my 27th birthday I wanted to go to the two restaurants in New Jersey that are still open (from the original seasons). Because why not lol

We went to Leones on Friday, we shared a sausage and arugula pizza. Overall I’d give it a 6/10. The service was meh and the table was literally rocking back and forth. But the pizza wasn’t bad! Not life changing but fairly priced for what it was

Saturday we went to tapas at Spanish Pavillion and guys. It was the best experience lol. A SOLID 9.5/10. The bartender was incredible and made me a strawberry mojito, and kept bringing us out extra free food and a free shot of espresso since it was my birthday 😂 the food overall, especially the meatballs and the pork belly, was absolutely delicious! Also, when the bartender heard we were there because of kitchen nightmares, he let me walk back to look around the dining room and I saw the infamous lobster tank (minus the dead lobster of course lol). The bartender also was ADAMANT that the dead lobster was planted by the show for drama lmao

Anyway it was a super fun weekend! Highly recommend trying this out in your nearby states as well 😊