Since seeing coverage of Johnny Rocket's opening on the local news, my daughter had been pretty gung-Ho about trying Kennywood's new eating establishment. Who could blame her? The place was packed, there were balloons everywhere, the music was pumping, and Kenny the Kangaroo was there dancing his tail off with the enthusiastic waitstaff. It looked like any seven-year-old's dream. When we decided to hit Kennywood for the 4th of July, we knew it would be crowded but we figured as long as we could put our name on the wait list and go enjoy the park, it would be no big deal.
We went with another couple, so there were four adults and one child in our party. As we walked up to the restaurant, we saw a line of frustrated folks standing at the door. We got in line, though we were not yet frustrated. We listened to the people in front of us, who all seemed overly appalled at the two-hour wait. We discussed it and decided that again, as long as they would text us when our table was ready, we would go get a pre-dinner snack and hit some rides. We got to the front of the line and the poor girl taking names didn't even want to put us on the list because "the wait is so long I am afraid to even give you a wait time and be wrong." We told her we didn't care, just put us on and we'd come back. She did, and we walked away. Around the restaurant.
See, the thing is that the restaurant is circular in shape and has windows all around it. As we walked past, we noticed the large number of empty tables and were slightly perplexed. Of course we realize that some tables will be empty as they wait for the party to return, but more than half of the tables were empty. More than HALF. Yet they were turning people away at the door and not even putting their names on the list without being cajoled. Ever the optimist, I conjectured that perhaps they had a large number of staff call off because it was a holiday. Another member of our party who was less forgiving than I took this opportunity to go up to the window and count employees. There were over 20, and of these, very few appeared to actually be working. Our minds collectively blown, we went and got some French fries and rode some rides.
We got our text when we were at the front of the line for a ride, so we rode the ride and went on over. It actually only took about 75 minutes for our table to be ready, which was far less time than the "way more than two hours" projected by the girl taking names. When we arrived, we were seated immediately in our own private "corner" of the restaurant (as much as a round restaurant can have corners). There was not a single table seated within two tables of us. We counted, and twenty-five tables were empty. They remained empty the entire time we were there.
The entertainment was supposed to be the intermittent dancing by the waitstaff. While we waited for our food, we saw many servers show their skills in fifties dances such as the mashed potato and the hand jive. They danced with the same enthusiasm that one would expect from a kid who was forced to pick an after-school club by his parents and somehow found himself in Hip Hop Dance when he meant to go to Chess. Well, to be fair, there was one girl who seemed born to hand jive, baby, but she was the exception. Our server did come and retrieve my daughter from our table for one dance, from which she returned unenthused and carrying a handful of partially-deflated helium balloons which hovered right at head level at our table, blocking all conversation until we placed them at one of the conveniently empty nearby tables.
The real entertainment, however, was provided because our seats were right by the door. Through our window, we watched about seventeen acts of the same silent play, a reenactment of our own experience in line. Nobody walked away smiling.
At one point, the manager(?) came and asked how everything was. We took this opportunity to ask what the deal was with the empty tables. According to the nice, apologetic young girl, the restaurant seats 160 people, but the grill only cooks 15 burgers at a time. She told us they had some plans to correct the issue. I can't remember what any of them were, but I do remember that getting another grill was not among the plans.
Oh, the food. The food was fine, basically what you would expect from a low-to-mid range sit-down burger joint. The milkshakes were delicious. The burgers were good. I ordered a cheesesteak with a side salad. The cheesesteak arrived without cheese on it and the salad (lettuce, tomato cubes, and a handful of shredded cheddar) arrived with no dressing. Both problems were resolved very quickly and the food tasted fine for what it was. The service was also fine. Overall, though, I would not recommend choosing Johnny Rocket's until they manage to get their act together, or maybe get another grill. read more