03/15/08

Do Not Support This Restaurant!

by elskin

This is the kind of place where the waiters are scared of the owner, who is this old italian dude. This makes for an uncomfortable setting. This is one of the reasons I will never go there again.

My spaghetti was undercooked, almost raw, and there was no balance on my plate (like just a few spaghetti strings and mountains of eggplant). The tomatosauce did not have any flavor whatsoever.

My boyfriend wanted to add a few shrimps to his fettucine alfredo... a few minutes later the owner walked over and in the most disgusting way confronted my boyfriend with what he had asked of the waiter (seriously, who wants just plain fettucine alfredo??). The he added "we charge 3 dollars per shrimp, how many shrimps you want?" I lost my appetite right there. I thought the owner could have handled this way differently. He didn't have to worry about his money. Most places just add a flat fee of like 5-10 bucks if you add something to the plate. My boyfriend who is not the one to back down said "give me 8".

As you can tell, he now ended up with a plate of pasta for 45 bucks. I also tasted it and it was nothing but cream. It was so yucky. There was no flavor, no garlic, no salt, nothing, just cream, think half n half.

We ended up with a 100 dollar bill for what was supposed to be a casual italian week night meal.

I will never visit this place again, nor will I ever recommend it. Save your money!

• Pros: Nothing
• Cons: The owner, the chefs, the food, the prices.

02/08/07

Great Italian Food!

by kirstenhhi

I have been to John's about three times, and every time the food and service has been very good. I really like the salad app that is large enough for two people and all the pasta dishes I have ever had there were superb. The only draw back is there is really no bar to wait for to get a drink while you wait for a table. There is a small bar but to stand around it you will find yourself getting in the way of all the servers bustling by. either make reservations, or drink somewhere else first.

• Pros: food, service
• Cons: no bar area

01/11/07

Mediocre everything

by dinergrrl

A friend of mine gave me the Diner's Deck Downtown for Xmas, so I decided to try someplace new. The description and previous reviews here made me hopeful for a good experience. When I entered, the manager came and greeted us with a smile at the door and seated us right away. We were a bit early for the main dinner crowd.

Our waiter came over and pleasantly told us all the specials, but neglected to give us the prices. There was no sheet inside the menu listing the specials, so we had to keep asking him the price of any we were interested in. We did mention the appetizer we wanted, but that we weren't ready to order the rest of the meal. He disappeared and neglected to tell us that the waiters share equally in servicing tables. We kept looking for him, until another waiter came over to our order.

Apparently that delayed our appetizer from being put in, while another couple had already been seated beside us, now munching happily on their appetizer. Our stuffed mushrooms were lukewarm, when they arrived, not terribly tasty and looked like someone threw them on a plate too large for the 4 bite size pieces. The main courses were better, I got the home made meat sauce and pasta special which was very good. My date's salmon was also excellent.

While we were eating, the rest of the dinner crowd arrived and service became non-existent. We tried desperately to get the attention of any waiter, but they pretended we were invisible and kept bussing bread and taking new orders from the tables just seated. The couple at the table next to us (the one's that came in after we did) left long before we got our check as well as our change.

We did not order alcohol with the meal so we were quite surprised when our bill for $55 arrived. With an additional $10 tip, I would have to say that this is not a place to which either of us would return. I don't think the value is there, and the service and food was inconsistent.