Stopped to have some lunch with my wife while we were getting some errands done. When we pulled in, it took forever to find a parking spot. That shopping center it is located in was not set up for any of the businesses to have a really busy day. Narrow passages between the cars, narrow gaps between each parking space, and some of the not-so-busy businesses put out those stupid signs that say only their patrons can park there. Wound up parking on the far opposite side of the parking lot from Johnny's.
Johnny's was busy, as it usually is at every Johnny's we've frequented. The waitress who came to get us and seat us took us to the seating area behind the bar to what she believed was an open table, but apparently, some patrons walked right past the sign right at the front that said "Wait to be seated" and helped themselves to the table. So the waitress had us stand/sit at the two open seats at the end of the bar while she had the table behind us cleaned off from people who had just left. The problem was, as soon as she walked away to take care of that issue, another waitress came and cleaned it off hurriedly and seated someone who had just walked in there after us.
Took a long time before anyone would wait on us or acknowledge us at all regarding a table; I had to stop the waitress who had cleaned the table we were supposed to get and ask her if we now were not going to get a table since she had given that table to someone else who arrived after we did. She told us she would put our names back on the list for a table as soon as one came open. At that point, my wife and I decided to just sit at the bar and eat there, even though the twenty minutes we had already been sitting there we watched the two bartenders struggle to keep up with everyone's drink and food orders who were seated around the bar.
Finally got a couple of drink orders in, and both my wife's margarita and my cocktail were very watered-down versions of what they should be. I asked for premium liquor in my drink, and I couldn't even taste it. Same with the second drink I ordered almost an hour later.
When we finally got to order food, the wait for the food after ordering wasn't long. My wife ordered the fiesta salad, which is her Johnny's go-to. This Johnny's made the salad a lot smaller than the Johnny's in Shawnee. Still tasted as good as the one she was used to, though. The large homemade chips that come in the salad are the bomb, as is the jalapeno ranch dressing that comes with the salad. I ordered the burnt end platter, which I've had before. This time, the pastrami burnt ends were dry, with very few onion straws and very little Wilson sauce on it. Sourdough bread was awesome; I should have ordered some extra. The pickles were plentiful as usual, but they were not spectacular pickles. Personally, I think some spicy bread and butter or garlic dill pickles would complement this dish a lot better.
This is the first time my wife and I have been to this particular Johnny's, so I'm hoping this visit was a fluke. Johnny's has been a consistent go-to in other areas of KC, so we'll have to come back and give it another shot sometime. read more