Johnny's Italian Steakhouse — Restaurant in West Des Moines

Our Mother's Day visit to Johnny's Italian Steakhouse in West Des Moines was an excellent one. We were traveling through the area and you know we love Johnny's so we decided to stop in and see if we could get a seat. Wow, we were seated immediately. The Mother's Day brunch had just ended at 3:00 p.m. and we arrived at 3:03 p.m. our server was Alek, she was super friendly and provided excellent service! Our glasses were always full and she was on top of our meal. Alek brought out some warm oven fresh Johnny"s Italian Bread. Oh my it was the most amazing bread!!! We both agreed thatvis was absolutely the best bread we both have ever been served in a restraunt. And not once, but twice, that right we ate the first basket so quick, and Alek asked if we would like another, and we responded "Yes, please and thank you!" Alek had some assistance from another friendly server whom I didn't catch his name. He brought out our appetite, yes the Johnny's Italian Meatballs. They are always a must have at Johnny's!! Since we were traveling we both ate light. We had the Chicken Tortillia Soup (cup for me, bowl for my spouse). My spouse also enjoyed a side salad, and I had the Johnny's Chopped Chicken Salad. Let me tell you this Chopped Chicken Salad was like no other I have had in comparing the amount of chicken breast meat that was in the salad. It was bottomless chicken in this salad, and a half of fresh Iceberg lettuce, fresh avocado, fresh bacon, Grogonzolla cheese, fresh tomatoes and french fried red onion strings. It was amazing fresh and filling. I could not get through the entire salad it was very filling. Another impressive visit to Johnny's Italian Steakhouse. Johnny's has three locations in the Des Moines area to serve you. Also, if you are looking for a place to stay look no farther than the Rewind by Hilton in West Des Moines. Johnny's Italian Steakhouse is located in the Rewind hotel, so you don't have to seek our fine dining or a full-service bar, it is right there at the Rewind hotel by Hilton. You can see my review from our visit and stay in the hotel earlier this week. Enjoy, safe travels and Happy...

Service - 7 out of 10 Staff was able to get to us after about 5 minutes of sitting at our table. We ordered our drinks and they took about 5 more minutes to get. Our waitress seemed to have a lot of tables to manage. She was friendly and able to help with food suggestions and give size references. She was able to keep up on supplying us with beverages.

Drinks - 6 out of 10 We ordered basic soft drinks. They did come late to start. They also seemed to be mix incorrectly at the machine. Possibly need a cleaning.

Food - 3 out of 10 Ordered the char broil bone in. Was not cooked to medium rare. Was a bit tough in some spots and was hard to remove from bone. The tenderness of the steak looked as though it was beat to hell. The surface had so many cuts and smashed sections that it looked like I have 4 sections of steak cooked differently. The veggies looked to be over cooked and covered in oil.

My wife ordered chicken with a side of pasta. The chicken was burned on the top and bottom. The cheese was like a stiff hockey puck and hard to cut. Chicken was cook well but had tough sections, like it was under a heat lamp too long. The sauce for the pasta was way over flavored, too many flavors clashing to make the pasta enjoyable.

Dinner salads came to us looking like they came out of a salad bag with little to no prep. 1 olive each, 1 half tomato each, 1 small pepper each, the leafs of the salad also seemed to be old.

Over all - 2 out of 5 stars. The restaurant was way to loud. Too many large groups sat with smaller groups. My wife sat 3 feet from my face and could barely understand what she said. They seem to allow the noise to be out of control. The looks of the restaurant are that of a classic and quiet place.

Not very happy with the cost vs quality and product.

In all, this was over rated from the start, food was way over priced, and way to loud for a place you need to make...

Worst experience. Went there for my daughter and son-in-laws wedding rehearsal dinner. Had approx 25 people and reservations. There were small children in attendance. At the time of the reservation placement, my daughter was told there would be a $1,200 minimum. We had one waiter. He didnt stop back very frequently to check on drinks. So a few of us went to the bar to get them ourselves. But they would not add that amount to our minimum amount required for our bill. We had to pay separately at the bar. Our food was good, but took almost 3 hours to get. 3 hours is a long time for hungry children to wait!! My daughter and son-in-law checked on the status of our food, multiple times and was told that 3 hours was the norm for a party that size. Had they kindly mentioned that at the time of the reservation, we'd have gone elsewhere. There were no apologies from anyone they spoke with on the status of our order. Our order ended up falling just short of the minimum, which our drinks at the bar would have easily made up for. But they happily tacked on the extra and the tip, for a $1600+ ticket. It was not only difficult to wait that long to eat and keep the hungry children happy, but was treated rudely besides, like we were asking too much to get our food. It was an embarrassment, to have our guests and their hungry kids waiting nearly 3 hours for their food. The food was good, but the experience and the service was no where near, worth the price. We had an early start to our day the next morning (wedding day), with 6:30 dinner reservations and not getting done eating until so late. First and last experience with...