Johnny Rockets & Hurricane Wings — Restaurant in Washington

Walked through the rain for a salad without dressing.

On my final night in DC I decided I'd try another local chain that my state does not have, Johnny Rockets, well at least anymore. A kind of American dinner that goes for that retro feel of milkshakes and the American dream, but those prices don't exactly scream it.

Went with an order of the grilled cheese, crispy chicken salad, onion rings and a couple milkshakes. (vanilla and strawberry banana) Coming to a bit of $41, yikes. On top of that something went wrong with their ordering system and the order would not transmit to the kitchen, so I had to wait around for close to 15 minutes while they worked on fixing this. (could they not have just walked to the kitchen with my order on paper?)

Eventually the manager on duty worked through the register to address it and I had my meal in minutes afterwards, of course being delayed as it was I was in a hurry to get back to my hotel to eat. Turns out I should have check the salad as it was missing my choice of dressing, whoops.

When I did eventually dig into the meal I found the grilled cheese to be perfect, with crunchy toasted bread and a creamy cheesy center of pepper jack. The onions rings were also impressive, there were so many of them and they were crunchy and packed with fried onion flavor. Now that salad was, pretty disappointing. Firstly it had no dressing, so I had to scrounge up some from my hotel. Then on top of that, the chicken was cold and the greens were not crispy at all. Had a few bites before I ended dup tossing the lot of it, very sad. To make up for it the shakes were as expected, delicious. Sweet, creamy, and the strawberry banana had a lovely fruity twist.

Overall I guess this actually matches the current American dream pretty perfectly, you sit around waiting for something you want, eventually get it, but then find out there was something wrong...

Every summer, my husband travels to D.C. for work, and my daughter and I come along for the three-week stay. One of the hardest parts of our trip is finding restaurants that are both reasonably priced and serve meals that feel satisfying, especially with my daughter’s dairy allergy. You’d think in a major city it would be easier, but unfortunately, she’s been exposed to dairy multiple times even after we’ve made her allergy clear.

One morning while walking to a breakfast spot, I happened to pass by Johnny Rockets. I noticed their breakfast buffet sign and thought, “Why not give it a try?” I’m so grateful I did. Not only was the food great, but the service was truly exceptional.

We’ve now been coming back every morning for breakfast, all because of Gigi. From the first day, she took my daughter’s allergy seriously, asking the kitchen to prepare fresh eggs separately to avoid any cross-contamination. The next morning, before I could even sit down, she had already placed our egg order and brought my drink to the table. Every day since, she’s gone above and beyond, remembering us, anticipating our needs, and making us feel like family.

In a city where people are often rushing by with headphones in or focused on their own agendas, Ms. Gigi has been a breath of fresh air—kind, attentive, and full of warmth. I also want to shout out her coworker (I wish I had caught his name!)—a fellow kind soul who always takes a moment to interact with my daughter, offer directions, and ensure every guest is taken care of with genuine care.

We still have two more weeks in D.C., and I plan to come back here for breakfast as often as I possibly can. It’s rare to find a place and people who make you feel this seen...

Visited this location while driving around to look for a sit down breakfast place in busy Dowtown DC. We thought it would be a good idea to try out this restaurant today as we have never been there before. As we walked in we thought the restaurant theme was beautiful and we were excited to be there. However, We got greeted by uninterested host who said we could sit at a table that was being cleaned out and walked away. While we waited for the table to be cleaned we noticed there were plenty of tables available and the bar sitting area was also empty. We stood there for a couple of minutes. After a few minutes the cleaning person who was cleaning the table that the host told us to wait for asked us if we have been helped already and we told him no. He seemed more concern about us being attended to than the host who just looked at us and walked away. We asked him if we could sit at the bar area and the person cleaning nicely said we could. We sat down and waited. While we waited we saw people walking in who were greeted and offered menus and were sat down. Different treatment than what we received. The host saw us sitting down and pretended he was busy typing on the computer by the entrance. Never acknowledge us and never bother to ask us if we were ready to order or anything. After noticing how different he treated us from the rest we walked out. We spent about 10-15 minutes in there and will never go back. As a DC native we have never experience...