John Henry's Grill — Restaurant in Rome

If I could give this place negative a million stars I would. We drove an hour and a half from where we live to come to Rome to visit. We was like what a cute downtown and someone recommended the restaurant. So I looked up the menu on my phone, I was like wow, some of that sounds really good. We get to the restaurant. This was today. 2/8/2025. Around 1-2pm ish. They sat the three of us at a booth. We got waters. Meanwhile all those things I looked on their website, not even on their menu. MOVING ON… We Ordered two salad bars and a tomato caprese flatbread for an appetizer. She put our order in shrimp and grits, pork belly ends, and prime rib hoogie. We were told by our waitress that “you could follow me back and I’ll give you a plate on my way to the kitchen or you can wait till I bring you one.” Bish what? ANYWAYS we waited. 20 minutes later NOTHING. Then she brings out the flatbread no plates. Waits again. Brings the two salad plates. And I’m sitting here with no plate to eat the flatbreads. She comes back AGAIN, with sharing plates. While my parents are getting salads all the food comes out at once -_- freaking seriously, that upset them when they got back cause they waited and waited and waited and couldn’t even enjoy their salad before their food came out. $8 and you can only go up once? What crack are the owners smoking? My shrimp and grits I asked if they could fry the shrimp they said yes. I’ve had so MANY versions of shrimp and grits and THIS. THIS WAS A DISASTER ON A TINY CAST IRON SKILLET. It was drenched in OIL. I mean it was literally sitting in a bath of oil/butter on the bottom of the dish. The pork belly was still squealing. It wasn’t cooked at all. The grits were a tough, clump, vile hot mess. No garlic cream sauce just straight oil bath. I couldn’t even eat it. Two bites in and my mouth felt like a drank out of a grease can. I was then told by the waitress “oh the cook said it’s meant to be like that it’s butter.” I said to her, “I get that, but a cup of it?!” I literally picked up the dish and showed her. And she just kinda shrugged her shoulders. Like she didn’t really care. My mothers pork belly ends were also in a bath of oil. We make pork belly ourselves at home and have eaten it at MANY PLACES AND ITS never just showering itself in oil like that. So my shrimp and grits I sent back, I asked for a grilled cheese and potato soup. Because THERE IS NO FLIPPING WAY, yu can mess that up. BAFFLED AND BAMBOOZLED I AM. That this place has 4.4 stars. It just goes to show that Covid has killed everyone’s tastebuds. BECAUSE how do you mess up a grilled cheese and potato soup, the potato soup was like a think clumpy paste. You could fix drywall with it. Lay bricks with and and build a fireplace. That’s how thick and pasty it was. Like how?! The “prime rib”hoogie , for $18 was like eating frozen steakems at Costco. It was basic, average, Arby’s has a better sandwich. The icing on the cake and cherry on top was when we got the bill. .75 cents for tap water. I know you f lying. Yet it was the best thing on the menu. And a $2 credit card charge. $91 plus the server got a hefty $16-17 tip that she didn’t deserve cause we’re good people, and know how hard servers living is. Absolutely the worst. Will never...

I had read and heard great things about this place and I was excited to have my birthday dinner here. I called early in the week to check on reservations which they didn't do, I asked what a typical wait for 10 would be on a Saturday around 7. He said typically 20-30 mins, I know there is no way of knowing for sure but I wanted to be sure it wouldn't be hours, well we get there and of course it's over an hour although there are many empty tables (maybe short staffed). I decided to request to sit outside and they said that would be fine and we could be seated outside now without having to wait. Fast forward over an hour or longer and our food finally comes out. Also, we had ordered an app when we sat down, waitress forgot to bring it so she finally came to check on us and we reminded her so we finally got that about 5 minutes before the food came out. Everyone had steaks, they were all cold. My steak was served with Cajun butter on top and the butter wasn't even melted the least bit if that tells you anything. They forgot to include my brussel sprouts with my meal so I had to ask for those. The Mac & cheese just didn't have a good flavor period. Alex potato came with butter & sour cream packets, no seasoning or anything special. The steak had a lot of potential and the brussel sprouts were good. The salad bar was great. I hope this was just a bad night or a bad experience for us. We did let the waitress know that each of our steaks were cold but we weren't offered any type of compensation. $100 meal for two that was not worth it. Will stick to Linda Marie’s from now on. I’ve left a lot of negative about our experience out but these were the most important things. Also, I know we weren’t the only ones having a bad experience because the table next to us...

Was hoping to find a late-night dinner spot (difficult with the Covid lockdowns) and the hotel recommended a Cajun place. Walked to the location and as luck would have it…they had just closed. Saw another place a couple of doors down so I thought I would give them a shot. Walked into John Henry’s Grill and asked the waitress who greeted me for a table. She said their dining room had just closed too but the bar was still open. Went into the bar and the bartender informed me the kitchen was closed {sigh}. As I was walking out the door the waitress who greeted me (Briana) told me she talked to her manager Matt and if I wanted to dine there they would accommodate me. This place opened three weeks ago…I’m sure it has been an uphill battle for them so I really appreciated them taking care of me. Briana brought me a cold Shiner Bock and I ordered the John Henry Burger with the Jasmine Corn Risotto. I learned from Matt that John Henry’s cuts their own steaks and uses the scraps from rib-eye and flat iron steaks to grind for their burgers. The flavor is evident from the first bite! They take two 5-6oz patties with white cheddar cheese, grilled onions, and a SLAB of beefsteak tomato to create this masterpiece. Seriously…this is an incredible burger and really needs nothing to compliment it. The risotto was very good and a great compliment to the meal, I enjoyed the combination of flavors and would order this as a side again.

The food here is exceptional and the service and care received from Briana and Matt was memorable. I plan on visiting Rome again…and John Henry’s will be my first...