John G's Restaurant — Restaurant in Manalapan

I am writing this review solely based on my first, and only visit today.

We were looking for a place to have brunch with outside seating, and I resorted to my faithful yelp to guide me. I found this place, and was really excited because it had waterfront seating AND brunch!! So double score!!! Not!!

Turns out, the waterfront pictures were from an old location on lake worth beach, so this place isn't waterfront, AT ALL. Instead it's a darkly lit restaurant, with an old fashioned feel.

The only reason this place is getting two stars is for the owner who lead us in, who was very nice.

The process to get into this restaurant, was something I had never seen before. You form a line, then stand in line, and wait because it's first come first serve. There's no "put your name down" and take a seat and wait to get called. I found this process bizarre, since they line the entire outside with chairs. So, instead what a lady behind me did, was pull up a plastic chair, and just plopped down on the line. Come to think of it, it was smart on her part, but just adds to the line length feel, that can seem a bit overwhelming as it gets huge.

Now, the owner gave us an option to some seat in either of the open booths, since we had a little one and booth seating is optimal. We found that to be very considerate on her part.

We then had a waitress, who didn't introduce her self, so have no idea what to call her, but she immediately ask if we are ready to order. We had one menu, and no time to share. So, my husband asked her if they had breakfast or brunch, and she said brunch was over. Then he asked, are you still Available to serve breakfast and she said, no sorry we stopped serving breakfast too. Mind you, it was 12:30 and that's usually the time people have brunch.

We have no idea what time breakfast or brunch stops getting served, because she never told us, so we ended up leaving.

I'm sure the lunch menu could have been nice, if that's what we were really in the mood for. So, I'm not sure if we were mislead, by outdated reviews or the time slots for breakfast or brunch are outdated, but we felt we wanted about 1/2 hour in line. Oh, and they don't take credit cards, so make sure you bring cash or get ready to drop a convenience fee to use the ATM within. Oh, and that's another thing, the sign for we don't take credit cards is up high, where you can see it from the back of the line. So, my husband walked to a bank across the parking lot, only to find out they had that ATM inside, and we had no idea. Why, you ask? Well, because the sign letting you know they have an ATM inside is on he bottom of the front door, so you can't see until you finally make it there. At which point, we had already walked across and back.

So In closing, if you want brunch at 12:30 and outside water seating, THIS IS...

We’ve gone to John Gs many times and have had good experiences. This morning’s experience was not the same. We asked the waitress how the grits were cooked and she looked at us like we asked a dumb question and just said “what do you mean?” We said we would like to know if they’re cooked with water or milk and butter etc and she said “I think they’re cooked with milk and they come with butter but we don’t add any more butter but I’m not sure.” It seemed like a basic question she should know the answer to. She never came to ask if the food was good or if we needed anything and before we were finished eating she brought the bill and put it on our table as if rushing us out. The food was just ok. The stuffed croissant sounded way better than it tasted. The #12 described as eggs on a mountain of mushrooms was plated as just 2 lonely eggs on the plate and a separate container with mushrooms. It did come with a generous portion of mushrooms but it just seemed like an incomplete thought. You can’t substitute the fruit cup for hash browns or anything else so our table ended up with way too many fruit cups that went uneaten. We didn’t realize you had to pay extra for maple syrup with the almond French toast. They should make that more obvious. The sausage was really good. The bacon a bit too chewy. The over medium eggs came out greasy. The hash browns were a bit undercooked. We paid and left a tip on the table. However, as we were walking out the waitress rushes out the door to catch us and asks “was there anything wrong with the service?”... we were embarrassed she was asking us that in the tone that she used and couldn’t understand why she was asking as we left her the usual tip (despite the fact that service was not stellar)... we said we left you a tip and she said oh but I looked twice and didn’t see one. Very awkward! We walked away fast afraid she was going to come out and confront us again. ...

To Mr. Laurent Dimeglio, owner,

On Friday March 24, 2023 I visited John G’s in Manalapan, FL for breakfast. I was on a one-week vacation for Spring Break; I’m a HS teacher. I had just finished a bicycle ride and dressed the part. The whole experience was a very pleasant one - until a woman walked up to me and asked me to free up my seat because other patrons were waiting.

I politely told her that I was waiting for my change. Instead of excusing herself and walking away, she stood uncomfortably close and kept staring at me. I told her I felt I was being rushed, and I got out of my chair and sat on the bench by the door. She did not like the fact that I told her I felt she was rushing me, and she snapped.

She frantically rushed to prepare the table for the other customers. She was out of control - so much that she spilled my syrup all over the floor and didn’t even notice it. At one point I looked her way as she rushed to clean the table, and she shouted twice, Don’t look at me like that!, in front of the other customers. I was in disbelief.

Finally she brought me my change and handed it to me with a sarcastic smile. She refused to give me her name but finally said, My name is Jennifer; I’m the General Manager (She wore a cast on her leg). The GM, I was stunt. John G’s deserves much better.

Needless to say, I left feeling very low.

The footage recorded by the surveillance camera, including the audio, will confirm my details of the incident. It happened right after 11:00 AM. I am posting this entire note as a review on social media to alert other visitors and locals as well. The food at John G’s is excellent. Don’t let a nasty, out-of-control individual with anger...