Johnny's Tavern Parkville — Restaurant in Parkville

Our first time at this restaurant went this way: We were seated by a young lady who was friendly enough, and asked for our drink order. About 10 minutes later we spotted her looking our way, and then heading to the fountain to get our drinks that she had obviously forgotten. She then asked if we were ready to order, and as usual we try to be friendly with the people that are helping us. After looking at the menu (and saw the monday special), we decided on pizza. I told her we were ordering the pizza to see if it really is the best around (it is the first menu item, and they claim it is the best), and she responded "is that what we are famous for?"

We ordered, and pizza arrived about 20 minutes later which is fine. The young man who delivered it, however, needed some serous training. He set the pizza down, and again, as a friendly gesture, we said "wow, that's a big pizza!" His response was to shrug his shoulders and wave his hands in one of those "I dunno" hand gestures and walked away. Not a word spoken. When did it become so hard for staff at a restaurant to actually speak to customers? I got the distinct impression he would be much more comfortable with a Nintendo controller than having to actually be face to face with a person.

The pizza was fair at best. Light on toppings and tomato sauce, so quite bland, and slightly under cooked. At some point our drinks needed refilling, and we waited a good 5-8 minutes before we finally spotted our server and waved her down. Mind you, this was about 4:00 on a weekday, so we were one of maybe 5 tables total. We asked for refills, and she took my soft drink and brought it right back. She then said she would be right back with the water for my wife. Again, she forgot, and we had to flag her down again.

We are retired folks and often eat early to avoid crowds and hopefully improve service time. Instead, we felt ignored, and got to endure two middle aged men in the bar laughing and yelling the whole time.

I can't image how things would go at a busy time, but this Johnnies Tavern location is...

We have been here 5 times. The last time we were here I would give it negative stars if I could. It was a Friday evening, not overly busy. We walked in wanting an outdoor table, Hostess tried sitting us at a fire pit which is clearly the “smoking” section. We declined went inside to eat. The waiter took a bit to get our drinks and no one there seems to have any idea what their drinks are and they do not have a drink menu. Once we received our drinks, my wife’s Hurricane had ice pouring out of the top. She finished her drink in three sips of the straw. For $9 we got 1/4 of glass of drink, when we mentioned it that maybe the bartender should lighten up on the ice, the waiter made some sort of excuse and the manager who delivered our food basically shrugged his shoulders. My wife’s pizza had all the toppings in the middle and way too much cheese. My fries which were supposed to be seasoned fries were bland and didn’t even have salt. Overall terrible night. While we have had good experiences in the past this place is no longer on my list of places to visit. Maybe management will pay attention but,...

Well, back to Char Bar soon. Johnny's is not what it used to be or can be. The food was decent, and came out quickly. My daughter's fish and chips and hush puppies were great. I almost got the grilled buffalo wrap and wished I had. But instead had the fried Nashville hot chicken sandwich. Which was OK, not great. But in their defense, I rarely eat fried stuff. The service however, was a deal breaker for me. Our server walked past our table over 4 times as we sat there waiting for the bill, obviously done eating, napkins on plates, waters empty. After 15 minutes of this I went over to the hostess and asked her if someone could bring our bill. A different waitress came over right away. I guess the first girl was taking an extended break or had simply abandoned us. For a Thursday evening, the place was empty. If they don't improve, I see them closing within 6 months. We just lost BOHO up here, a great local brewery. Come on Johnny's, you can do...