I’ve always had a soft spot for diners and the nostalgia that they try to recreate through their decor and their menu offerings. Johnny Rockets is a good example of a restaurant that tries to bring out the theme of old fashioned malt shops with their jukeboxes and chrome/red interiors.
Though a little pricy compared to most hamburger restaurants, with their burgers averaging about $8 (no sides), they do offer some interesting choices aside from your standard burger. Plus, their staff will randomly burst into song, and that’s entertaining for anyone.
The boyfriend and I started with the Cheese Fries, which was pricy, but we split it between the two of us as a shared side with our burgers. When it came to the table, it wasn’t anything like I expected because the sauce on top was vaguely reminiscent of Cheez Whiz and looked almost plastic with its shiny coat. For the price we were charged, I was expecting something that looked and tasted like authentic cheese; not the sauce that was poured on. The fries themselves were hot and crispy, but the cheese sauce was so unappetizing we didn’t even finish the small portion we received.
The Patty Melt was my choice (grilled rye bread, you hooked me again) and it was a thick, juicy patty with a generous helping of grilled onions and cheese between two slices of crispy grilled rye bread. Though the sweetness of the onion complemented the creaminess of the cheese well, the meat was juicy but kind of bland. I found the burger to be pretty average, up until the point the filling began to seep through the bread, rendering it a soggy mess. If there was a way to prevent that from happening, this burger would have been better.
The Smoke House normally comes on a regular bun, but the boyfriend couldn’t resist the lure of the grilled rye bread either and asked for it on the rye instead. The burger itself consisted of bacon, onion rings and cheese, but what really made this burger better then a normal banquet burger was the bbq-ranch sauce. The sweetness of the bbq and the tanginess of the ranch tied all the ingredients together into a flavourful burger. The bacon was described as applewood smoked, but it tasted like normal bacon to me. Again, the bread got soggy by the end, so it turned a messy burger into an even messier burger.
Overall, the burgers here are good but not fantastic, and I would avoid the Cheese Fries if I came back here again. I just think for the price of the food, there are similar if not better places I can go and have a better meal. In my opinion, the best value for the meal was the nickel it cost to play a song on the jukebox.
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