Johnny Brusco's New York Style Pizza — Restaurant in Tennessee

A Rich Restaurant Review... so, my good friend Dean Palombi reported that the new Johnny Brusco’s New York Style Pizza here in Knoxville was his new favorite, and it looked great in his photos... so we went, and I’m here to share my review and experience.

First, the place is PACKED!!!! They gave us a 35 minute wait time... no biggie for a place this good right??? Well, it only took about 15 mins to get seated; maybe 20!

Then we get seated and all order our drinks and some mini garlic knots... how good could they be??!!? THEY WERE DELISH!!!

Then we ordered our pizza, and in spite of having to wait a bit longer, IT WAS FANTASTIC!!! Hot, fresh, and great flavor!

The staff was relatively young... normally complimented by poor service... NOT HERE!!!! Our server was super attentive with a fabulous demeanor!

If I’m to be critical at all, there are two issues I’d bring up... maybe three... The young lady at the hostess stand greeting folks was telling people a lot longer than it actually was; which you’d think might be a good thing, but she was turning away business for this new restaurant, and that ain’t so good.

We were told we would get the next table... then I saw this guy and his small family of four walk in, and they seated them at our table!! At first I was pretty ticked off, but within 5 minutes a 6-top opened up, and it proved much more comfy!

The staff was slow to bus tables... this made it frustrating when there’s an empty table that you can’t get to because they won’t sit you at a dirty table (of course)... my suggestion is this... if you know the wait time on a pizza is 20 minutes, and you know a table is coming open, get orders in advance the same way Chick-fil-A does and get ‘em rolling before they even sit down!! It’s good for you and for them!

But seriously, overall... VERY GOOD experience!! I knew you’d like to know!!

I’m still grabbing Papa John’s, but to go sit down and be waited on, this is an AWESOME place to have a...

The manager at this place has been approached on several occasions regarding abuse of alcohol by several member of his staff.

Not only did he verify that he was aware, he had authorized it, this came from his mouth directly. Nevermind the fact that he is putting his employer at risk for a Workers Compensation claim that will be most likely covered given it was authorized. That includes driving off property at the end of the night killing someone. He didn’t seemed to be concerned.

Next- read the bad reviews. It’s all the same with regards to negative comments. The attention is not on the customer. The employee yelling her political statements loudly has yet to be held accountable. I was there when it happened. ( please see a review prior by someone else). If you are not a Republican, she doesn’t want to serve you. She isn’t afraid to tell you about it.

Then add in the fact that the US Marshall service came in the restaurant to hunt down a bartender for the information on her boyfriend and his location. The US Marshall was there for hours trying to negotiate his surrender thru her with THE manager in the kitchen leaving us as patrons dealing with drama.

Now this grown man they were after who can be presently found on the TBI list for being an active sexual predator is setting at the bar with this girlfriend while she is working for 2 days a week, consuming alcohol. While he sets at the bar he tells her the perverse things he wants to do to her.

Yet, I was told to know my role as a customer from Beau, The GM after confronting him with all of this.

If your staff is consuming alcohol, how can they have clarity to make decisions on people who may be over the limit.

We have feed your employees to make sure they were able to since they often spoke of not getting break and food and drinking without food doesn’t end well.

Most of all, please be aware this is happening right here in our area in a...

Updated: I decided to give this restaurant another try since my last negative review. That was a mistake. I ordered a delivery pizza today (7/2/24). The pizza had virtually no tomato sauce on it at all. When my wife opened the box, she commented on how white it was. I looked at the pizza and even pulled up the cheese and toppings to look for sauce and there was a little sauce on the corners of a couple of slices. There was virtual no sauce at all on the rest of the pie. It almost looked like I ordered a "white pizza". This can't be an honest error. It had to be either a lazy cook or an attempt by the management to cut back on toppings. I honestly cannot recommend this place after giving it another chance. The pizza, after delivery, cost me $40.00. A pizza of this poor quality is unacceptable. I appreciate after the last poor review the new manager offered me a refund. However, there seems to be problem with this specific restaurant.

Previous: I have to say that Johnny Brusco's on Choto Road used to have good pizza. A recent order/delivery of pizza was very poor. The toppings were virtually non existent even after paying for extra toppings. I thought that may have been a fluke, maybe a new chef, etc. so I decided to give it another try today. Same problem, I paid extra toppings and for virtually nothing. I don't mind paying if I get what I pay for. However, it's obvious they are cutting back on the amount of toppings they put on their pizzas. Maybe thats only for deliveries figuring no one will complain. I don't know. I honestly will not order from them anymore and I can't recommend...