Harley’s Italian Bistro

I adore Harley’s. My absolute favorite pasta dish in the valley is their gnocchi with pesto sauce. I could eat this stuff every day of the week. It’s decadent, full of flavor, and cooked to absolute perfection. While I thoroughly enjoy their standard tomato sauce and vodka sauce, they don’t compare to the pesto sauce. I would PAY for the recipe for that pesto sauce. It really is stellar.
The bread they serve is also wonderful and addictive.
The few times I’ve dined inside rather than picking up my order, the service did leave a bit to be desired. It either seemed like they were understaffed or simply inattentive. Never anything overly annoying though. And the delicious food more than compensated for any minor deficiences in service!

Great place, authentic taste and atmosphere, quality service/​food.
The staff is amazing and so are the owners.
Harley’s Italian bistro takes it a step further by organizing drag brunch!
I think Harleys is not only a great restaurant but a vital part of the heart of the Melrose district.

The Lobster Ravioli was to die for! Literally dead. My cold dead fingers are typing this review. Two rigamortis thumbs up.

Totally amazing food! Love the chicken piccata!
The staff was very friendly! Great food and atmosphere!

If it could be 0 stars it would. I wish I could review the food or the drinks, but the bald, rude host, made sure it wouldn’t happen. It was a Thursday evening, the restaurant had a 12 top, with their food and a few 2 tops. The bar was almost completely open. We waited at the Host stand for a bit, when approached by the Host, he very quickly let us know the restaurant was way too busy for us to sit down and eat. When I asked for clarification on «busy», he simply stated we could have to-​go food immediately, but if we sat down, it would be at least an hour. There was no way it would have been an hour, so I elected to be sat. He refused to seat us. He then stated our only option was to-​go food, right away. I asked to sit at the bar. He said there was no room. How could you cook our to-​go food immediately but to eat the food in the restaurant would take over an hour?! I am still looking for the logic in that. I have worked in the industry for YEARS. I have never experienced such extreme prejudice or whatever it was he was giving us. Nor have I ever been turned away from a restaurant. I had been looking forward to dining here for a very, long time. I do not think I will be able to bring myself back to attempt to be offended again. The only reason I want to, is to tell the rude Host how horrible I still think he is! It’s too bad. I will continue to share my horrible experience, as it definitely ranks as the worst restaurant experience I have EVER had. & we dine out, often. At lots of places. Fine dining to neighborhood bars. No one has EVER been that rude with absolutely zero reason. Shame on him and shame on Harley’s for employing people who treat potential new customers like mud.

First off I would like to say this review is for lunch, not dinner. The reason I say that is I believe the menu is more extensive at dinner than lunch. This isn’t a great review of their lunch. In fact, either do better or just close for lunch. We were a party of 7 in a restaurant with no one else in the place. It was a comfortable atmosphere though a bit cold inside. The waiter approached us and asked us for our drink orders and whether we had any questions. Since we had just received the menus we didn’t. Away he went but not before telling us that they cook everything to order and at lunch time they only have marinara made as they don’t make any other sauces for lunch. I took this to mean don’t ask for anything special and its going to take awhile. Based on the Unilocal reviews I ordered the crack bread which is just garlic cheese bread, nothing special and its $ 1.00 per piece! When the waiter returned the questions began. What is «bistro chicken»? Had to ask because there was absolutely no description on the menu. In hind sight I should have ordered this rather than the meatball sub with some of the worst fries I have ever tasted. They are garlic fries which had at least a clove of chopped garlic thrown on top. Those that had the bistro chicken said it was good. We also tried the pizza which was also nothing special. This place is very close to where we all work and had high hopes for it, but alas it was not to be.

My son was getting married in Phoenix and a year prior to the wedding I had the privilege to come across Harley’s. It took a year and a lot if asking around to find them again. From the second I spoke with Stacey, I knew I had to have the rehearsal dinner there. I gave Stacey a budget for which she stuck with, tweaking things as we added and subtracted. The guest loved the atmosphere, the food and the staff. Everything was beyond perfect. Kudos to an amazing experience!

Food was amazing and service was just as awesome! Our server was Angie and she was oozing with positive energy. Had the special of stuffed chicken that contained rosemary and exploding tomatoes. It was topped over a penne pasta tossed in a Gorgonzola cream sauce. Excellent choice I might say so myself. Don’t be afraid to try anything new here. Will be back

We have been going here for years. The food is fantastic and they have great weekend specials. Service is always good, and very often one of the owners stops by our table to say hi. Make sure to try the Rosata sauce.

If we had not been with great friends tonight having dinner, I would recommend not going here! The service was horrible, the food was terrible due to the fact thst my pasta was overcooked. I sent it back just to have it come with uncooked shrimp. I talked to the manager and she said that she would look into it, but never follow through with it. Very disappointed!

I went with a friend for dinner this evening. The food is always good and we were looking forward to going there.
That night there was a charity event called a Spelling Bee. Okay, so we sat down. Then the festivities began. A loud drag queen with a microphone started calling up the contestants. A quiet dinner turned into anything but that. Guess we should have expected that.
We ordered spaghetti and meat balls and chicken picata. We waited 40 minutes and the dinner had not arrived. I looked around and saw that 90 percent of the customers had been served. I asked the server where was our dinner. He told me «2 minutes». Ten minutes later I asked again and was told «2 minutes». I told him that he had told me that 10 minutes ago. After 50 minutes I went to the owner and told her that we were really tired of waiting and what was happening. She told me she would check. Finally, 5 minutes later, the food was served. It was excellent but the long wait took the edge off of the evening.
The service was not great. Never asked if we wanted another drink. He was so slow at bringing menus and everything else that I thought he may have collapsed in the back.
Not a great experience. If I go back, I’ll have to check if there is an «event» going on! Maybe they should have done it at 8:00 instead of 7:00.
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if you have not been to Harley’s lately your need to go and give it a try. I stopped going a year or so ago, nothing major just simple things that were missing or not available many times not only were they out of the special but also out of items on the menu.
I went back Saturday 9/​12, the fresh catch of the day was available. The sea bass was perfect light and flaky not over cooked, the veggies were cut small and excellent seasoning. there was homemade potato chips (a little to salty for my taste) but I was told this was the Italian version of fish and chips so it all came together nicely
Serving the house Chianti by the carafe was great I am glad to see that back and available.
The service was excellent I dined alone so I ate at the bar and Tuesday was very personable and nice.
After dinner I had a couple drinks at Stacey Bar. I noticed an advertisement that on weekend nights Harley’s will deliver light food and Italian snack. That’s a great idea and hope it does well!
Please give it a try, I want to try the Sunday brunch soon I here it is very good.
Thank You

A group of us Unilocal Elite’s had a really great time at the drag show charity brunch. The food was okay. Nothing great and nothing bad. I would like to go back and try their actual Italian food. I had eaten here over 25 years ago when it was called Roman Table and it looked so completely different. They have been open since the 1950’s. This is so cool to me and the second 1950’s place coincidentally I have eaten at this weekend. I like that since Phx has a habit of tearing down it’s old buildings.
It really was so much fun at the charity brunch. It is something they do every month and donate money to a local charity. This time it was for an adopt the Greyhound cause. Gotta love that. I had never been to a drag show before so it was totally something random, crazy and different. It is a bit naughty so no kids please.
It costs 25 dollars but you do get unlimited Cape Cods or Mimosas with your brunch and the proceeds go to the charity.

Not sure how this place stays in business. Food is OK but service is always horrible. We usually come back once a year to see if they have fixed it and end up leaving disappointed. Sat down at 7 to a half empty restaurant and didn’t get any food until 8 and the entrees came out first and then they figured out they forgot our salads and appetizer.

On a essayé une deuxième fois ce restaurant, on a trouvé qu’il est cher par rapport à ce qu’on a mangé
La quantité est là mais le goût est moyen

The marinara sauce tasted like tomato paste. The veal parmigiana had no seasoning. The linguine wasn’t drained, so I had a plate full of water. The taramisu was good, the ficcaca bread was great. Our server was great and the décor was cool. I wouldn’t go back.

I absolutely loved this place! We had a fantastic wonderful meal tonight!
Chicken Parm, Mostacholi, a Melrose Mambo!
Brochette Plate with hand pulled mozzarella, Huge Red tomatoes, the service was Fantastic. Cute menus. Actually s pages put into old cook books. The food was really Outstanding!
The owners are great people and really priced well. I’d go back again and again! Parking is tricky but big, big Fully lit Lot in the back if you miss the turn in, Turn on the next main street and use the alley. OOh The Service, Yes it was great, even the Chef came to the Table to see how we were! Just A good Experience!

Since I have a number of friends who live near the Melrose district, and with my eventual moving to to an area not far from it, I’ve dined here several times through the years. The food has always been good — comforting, filling Italian food that is complemented nicely by the wines they offer. Speaking of which, watch out for the wine specials — an excellent deal especially if you’re dining with a group. Service can be a bit slow, especially during peak dinner hours.

So excited to find this little gem! The service was friendly and prompt. Atmosphere was great and the cookbook menus were adorable. Our group started with the crackbread (we added a side of marinara sauce that I would suggest they include because the sauce is awesome). I ordered the porkbelly and fig meatballs, they were delicious. My friends ordered the chicken Marsala and lasagna, both very good but the chicken dish was cold when it came out. Ordered a few cocktails, the something Madona (smelled and tasted a bit like lavender bath soap smells) and a Luna something that was delightful. They only have happy hour at the bar on Wednesdays nights so drinks were a bit pricey at $ 9 each, especially when the entrees were around the same price. Super cute place, looking forward to going back, I’ll try to make room for one of their made in house deserts.

I’m really torn on how to review this place. Parts of the meal and service deserved 5 stars but other parts deserve only 1 star.
The good… Owner was very nice and took pride in her restaurant and food. She went above and beyond to make us happy at the end (including bringing out a second plate of the eggplant dish to show us what it should have been like since the first order was bad.). The crack bread is fanfreakingtastic! Like out of this world. The meatballs were really good and the cannoli dipped in chocolate were amazing!
The bad… Service was insanely slow and we didn’t really have a waitress. Owner sat us and took our order but then disappeared. She forgot to tell anyone to take over our table when she had to go in the kitchen to help. We finally flagged a waitress down who felt horrible and was super sweet so it made up for the first 2 hours of poor service. Owner came and apologized later too. It was clear that every table had slow service tho. They even started passing out free crack bread to everyone because of the long wait. It took us over 3 hours for dinner.
None of us cared for the marinara sauce tho. It was really spicy and tasted almost like a jarred sauce that had a few extras added in to make it seem homemade. The ravioli was obviously not homemade which was disappointing.
I am not giving up hope on this place quite yet. There are so many great reviews so I’m hoping we just had an off night. Once I go back I will update the review, hopefully with 5 stars.

I can’t believe I pass this place back and forth for the pass 14 years. Cute little place. Love the bar area.
Pasta rigatoni Primavera– it was bland, it was missing some ingredients that was said on the menu, but not on the plate. The sauce was tasteless.:(too much tomatoe. So Rodger came with sauté mushrooms, on the side.
Chicken alfredo past– ummmm. the chicken was UNDERCOOK. my mom almost had a heart attack. So we took it back. They asked if we wanted another entrée, my mom said it was okay.
Giardino pizza– It was okay. I enjoyed it.
The manager took 20% off the bill because of the chicken alfredo. Rodger was such a great waiter. He was so friendly and so kind to us. If I want to come back, I want Rodger to wait on us ;))