Johnny’s Diner — Restaurant in Casselberry

Nice little spot to try out but as much as I wanted to fully enjoy my breakfast here, there is something beyond room to improve that is necessary for this location.

The atmosphere was generally nice. The restaurant feels like a small, cozy family location and is generally well maintained and accounted for (keeping up with cleaning out tables, etc), however there were some small nitpicks like some issues with ants in the lobby and some concerns with dust. Not inexcusable at all, but worth noting.

The service, while swift, was not necessarily positive in the sense that it felt rushed. While I received a table and drinks impressively quickly, the rest of the experience appeared to diminish in quality very quickly. Being my first time here, I took my time to have a look across the menu but was surprised when the waitress returned to take my order within only five minutes or so. In fairness this is another nitpick and can be a positive, but it is notably short when compared to the standard of ten, fifteen minutes or so when at other locations. After ordering, we also received our dishes within only a few minutes which I also found to be impressive, but in terms of the food quality, it felt rushed more so in a negative context — I’ll get back to that. During this time I had ran out of my drink but after food was served it appeared that service had dwindled significantly, to the point where it felt that this establishment only considered customers significant for getting them in and served while ultimately forgetting about serving them during & after. Refills, even, although told we would receive them, were practically nonexistent as they were only provided by the time we had both finished our meals, which by then had been a while. When we went to checkout our ticket out front in the lobby with a separate hostess, I signed off on the receipts, tipped, etc, but also asked for a customer copy. The hostess did not provide this copy without a significant reminder from us, although otherwise they were generally more friendly and talkative than our waitress was. When I finally did get my own receipt copy and brought it home to look everything over, I was very disappointed to find that the customer’s copy of the receipt did not include ANY details on pricing aside from the total. No breakdown showing what each item costs. Not even sales tax, literally only the final total. When your menu is purposefully deceiving so as to leave drinks out of the way to make pricing less of a concern, and you can’t even check it on your own receipt afterwards, it should be expected that your customers are unhappy. Especially when you don’t even get time to check those menus because the waitress asks for your drinks the second you sit down. I haven’t seen this in any other establishment and it is very unprofessional.

The food itself was fortunately a much better story but just not good enough when you can go next door for something better at a lower price (that you can also break down). For example, the hashbrowns, while they had visible color, were just soft. No tangible crisp at all. The sausage links had a very similar story, where even though they had tons of flavor, great spice quality, and visible color, they lacked any snap in their texture and were also unusually soft. Even the bacon strips were noticeably chewy while they still had visible color. The country fried steak was riddled with similar issues of just not being fried long enough for a proper crisp. The extent to which this establishment struggled with any of this, combined with how unusually quickly we received our meals, is a clear indicator of how little the entire restaurant invested their time, from cooking entire dishes way too quickly to hurrying customers in and out with little regard to service. Even other restaurants centered around speedy service (Waffle house for example) are capable of producing much better food and service in the same timeframe — so this also can be seen from this restaurant as a lack of care.

I wouldn’t recommend a...

Ordered a 1/3 lbs. burger which is 5.33 ozs., swear that the patty on the bun looked no bigger than what a McD 1/4 lbs. Burger looks like. When Fuddruckers was still on E. Colonial, they served 1/3rd pound burgers and this patty did not look like a 1/3rd pound cooked.

Since I ordered a 1/3 lbs. burger, I asked for it medium. But since I believe I was given a 1/4 lbs. patty, it was well done. And after I tasted it, I know why it was cooked well done, it's a frozen, low quality food service party cooked frozen. It's a shame because except for the bland coleslaw the rest of the items were fresh and tasty (fries, bun, lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese, bacon).

For a diner that claims to sell meatloaf which I hope is made from fresh ground beef, why aren't you making your own fresh meat burgers? Why are you selling low grade frozen beef patties? I can't imagine fresh beef or at least a higher quality frozen patty is that much more expensive.

I don't expect gourmet, but the Greek-owned diners up north could serve up a better tasting burger at an attractive price.

Staff was friendly, attentive and the place was clean. I was really looking forward to a decent diner burger. I don't recommend their burgers (especially since I was charged for 5.33 ozs and received a 4 oz. patty of low quality that tasted freezer burned).

Their other food is probably fine, since the place had customers when I visited, but if I am looking for a good burger, this place is NOT it... You would be, honestly, better served at a fast food restaurant that uses fresh beef like Wendy's Single or McD Quarter Pounder which is sad because this place should serve a better burger patty. Please upgrade to fresh beef or a better quality frozen patty and make sure your cooks know the difference between 1/4 and 1/3 lbs. (Hint: 1/3 is bigger/heavier than 1/4, do the math on a calculator if you don't believe me).

I will give them a second chance, but I am reluctant because I was really looking forward to a decent diner hamburger and the patty was so bad it ruined the rest of the plate which was fresh and delicious. Though, as I said, the coleslaw was bland, needed salt. But if the burger patty was fresh and delicious (and the correct weight) I could overlook the coleslaw.

And yes, I did ask the server if that was a 1/3 lbs. Burger when served, she said yes. I was too polite to argue cause it looked no bigger than a quarter pounder to me. I was willing to overlook it if the taste was...

It took me a couple minutes to be greeted but i didnt see the sign that said seat yourself (lol) so i sat up at the bar.

What i will say is the vibes i get from the youngest lady that works here is wierd though. No smile, fake kindness....as a previous server i see right through that. If you hate your job get a different one....no one likes to feel like a server is irritated at them just for being there, And thats how she made me feel.

Atmosphere is nice.....very clean everything....especially the silverware. That struck huge brownies point for me! germaphobe here oooh! and the water tastes good! Water with lemon is my go to and sometimes the water is tap 🤢

Now comes the disappointment 😞 The biscuits and gravy were not their best. Very bland, thin gravy....it should be thick and chunky...and the biscuits were small and flat....i only ate them because inwas starving. But i am PISSED that a half order that trashy was 6 dollars. Get real. I shoulde never cheated on peach valley when i comes to B&G!!!!!

As for my greek,chicken, pita sandwhich hold the olives....wish it never came out....there was too much greek dressing and for ME to say theres too much dressing/sauce...thats just crazy because i love my food wet! The food looked fresh but there just was 0 flavor and it was so messy. Not a fan. Manager did not seem to even care her kitchen was sending out unsatisfying food because i did request it to be taken off of the check. No apology either!

I wanted to love this place ...but i took 2 bites...paid for my food...and walked out....