Johnny’s Bistro on Main Street

Called there to find out if they were opened on New Year’s Day for lunch. Someone answered ‘Hello’, but did not identify the business. I thought that was weird. I asked if I had reached Johnny’s and she said, ‘Yeah. But we’re not open.’ Okay… but are you open on New Year’s Day? ‘Oh yeah. Sure,’ she said.
Fast forward to January 1^st. Meeting friends for lunch. We all gather outside the front door and read ‘Closed on New Year’s Day.“
The only reason I gave them a star is because a friend said they were really good. I wouldn’t know…

Never Again! My wife and I used to go there frequently for a good quality time when the food was really good, service was good and the atmosphere was very cozy and what the main street atmosphere should feel like. We used to live about 5 minutes away from the area but have moved since. So after we looked online from our now NW westminster location, we found the menu to be unchanged for the most part– which was fine because we had our favorites all planned to eat. Ok so after our 1hr and 20 minute commute, I figured I would treat my wife to our past favorite restaurant and some shopping for her birthday. We get there and the restaurant is like 90 degrees in a 65 degree December day. Too hot! We sit down and order some drinks, $ 8.50 for a glass of Riesling? Seriously? we also brought our five year old– no chocolate milk? I have to get him soda expecting him to sit there for an hour with the injection of caffeine. Having looked online we knew what to order. Crabcake for the lady please. Oops– they no longer have crabcakes. (married people know that disappointing the wife is a big no-​no). We had a back up– Neptunes Folly– still salvageable seafood themed evening. We are told they don’t have also. At this point I would normally leave, but they trap you by already bringing the drinks. Wasted drive, and money, but hungry so we settle on shrimp pizza. I think there was one complete shrimp cut into 8 pieces on that pizza. And our waitress was no where to be found to order a consolation 2^nd glass of wine for my wife. When we finally saw her to order that and a second yingling for myself, I was brought some beer I couldn’t even pronounce, let alone stomach. One crème brule for dessert– bitter burnt too and just gritty. 52 dollars for for disappointment is what I gave my wife for her birthday, of which the waitstaff and management could care less about, other than informing us that if we do ever come back, the menu is old they done have a lot of things that are on the menu. I will never go back there again. Update your online and printed menus, how hard is that! Educate your service staff to proper waiting practices, and increase the quality of the food.

Quick, casual lunch here. Food was decent — grilled cheese with ham, lentil soup… pizza was a little better than average. Friendly, attentive staff.
3 ½ stars. We would come here again.

(10/​24/​2015) Was in the area for the HorseSpirit gallery re-​opening on Main Street. Wanted a place for a casual dinner with decent food and that’s basically what we got. Johnny’s is quaint, local, dark, the kind of place that stocks lots of high chairs. Kind of nice since the other options on this stretch seem to be either for the well-​heeled blue hairs or beer-​chugging young folks. We had one of the sandwich specials, the Crab Melt, was deemed «pretty good» by one of our cranky friends, so this was high praise indeed. Tried 2 off the «tapas» menu (which seems just like really expensive appetizer plates): Stuffed Mushrooms with Crab Imperial (button mushrooms were large and fresh, exuded way too much liquid, crab imperial was a small amount) and the Oysters Casino, 5 oysters (ranging from M to XL) with a nice stuffing of bacon, cheese and breadcrumbs, somewhat overbroiled (touch dry), a little sand in the bite. A House Salad came with a kitchen sink mix of ingredients and a very nice light, fragrant, Basil Honey Dijon Vinaigrette. A white pizza with pesto was OK. Was on a thin crust, not much char or crustiness, pretty fluted edges, reminded me of savory dinner rolls.
Service was friendly (young kids), but really not professional and barely competent. They brought food with no utensils and forgot a second drink order and we had to ask for refills for water and tea. Not sure where the breakdown was here (front of back of house), for another group of us, seated just after (table of 5), 2 entrée orders of 5 were not fired, so they only brought out 3 and the others waited while the remaining orders were started. Overall food was good, looked like most of it prepped fresh and in-​house, and it’s a local business. Prices high, depending on what you get, but could be reasonable, especially for Main Street.

I’ve never left an online review before, but since my experience was so poor I felt i should share with my local community. The food was fine — nothing out of this world, but it was good. The service on the other hand was horrible.
My husband had to go find a high chair on his own for our daughter, after waiting 15 minutes for the hostess to bring it.
We ordered 2 glasses of wine with our waitress… then proceeded to wait. 15 minutes later a different girl came over and asked for our drink order? She informed us that the waitress that took our order had left.
She comes back to tell me that I cannot have the wine I ordered, because they do not want to open a new bottle. It is 6:30pm…I’m confused? Is this the way they want to treat their customers?
Anyway…everything took forever and the wait staff seemed very inexperienced.

There are few times when I would give a one-​star, but this experience was probably the worst I have ever had at a restaurant.
We had a party of 6 for some drinks and dinner. Our server was nice, although very inexperienced (she had no idea what a Merlot was, or any drinks). She told us she was new, and we aren’t a picky bunch — so although some mistakes were made, we didn’t care or bring it to her attention.
After 25 minutes of waiting for a bottle of wine that we ordered, she was nowhere to be seen. We had various different servers come over and try to ask what it was we had ordered. They then informed us that she quit, mid-​shift and walked out, and that «she’s done that before.»
We then asked for the check, and waited 30 minutes for anyone to come over. Sick of waiting around, I told the very nice (and busy) new servers that we realize this isn’t their fault but we need a check. I asked to speak to the manager — who you would think would come over to apologize about our waitress walking out or explain the situation. The girls pointed behind them and said «that’s the owner.»
I told the owner what happened, and his response was «she didn’t leave, I made her leave.» I informed him that as an owner of a restaurant it’s a shame he couldn’t be on the floor and at least apologize for a horrible experience. His response was an «oh well» type of look, and he walked away.
Not wanting to give this man ANY of my business, we refused to pay the check and proceeded to give the poor servers trying to help us cash and told them to keep it for themselves.
I have never seen such a lack of management in my life.

Service was poor. We weren’t greeted or seated, and our waitress infrequently visited our table. Ordered the vegetarian sandwich. It was decent… probably a little too much bread for the amount of veggies that they put in. The whole menu is a bit overpriced.

My family and I came in on a Friday night and really enjoyed our first visit. Our server was Jenna, who was an excellent waitress. I looked at the reviews for this restaurant, which indicated service was poor. Not the case for our visit. The food was excellent! We got the sausage pizza, wild Alaskan salmon crostini with fresh dill cream cheese, the Maryland crab soup special, and crème brûlée. I had to request the salmon be cooked after receiving it and learning it was raw (as I’m pregnant). Chef was very willing to put it on the grill for me. Seating was limited, but you cannot avoid that on Main Street in Ellicott city! Over all we had an excellent time and plan on going back!

My husband and I stopped here for quick lunch before an event we needed to attend. I ordered a chicken wrap and my husband ordered crab cake sandwich. He also ordered soup of the day, clam chowder soup. Both wrap and crab cake sandwich was OK, nothing special. And we never got the soup. Didn’t really understand because the place wasn’t even that busy. The staff wasn’t as attentive as they should have been. This place is just ok… I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to go back.

Wanted to check this place out but it was either closed or I wasn’t hungry. Restaurant just opened & came in for lunch. We were able to sit at the table by the window. The specials sounded good & I went with the pulled pork/​BBQ wrap with cheddar. Came with cucumber salad & shoestring fries.
The wrap was REALLY good. The salad was good, I’m not a big raw onion fan but tried eating the other parts of it. I loved the fries too, they were crispy, not mushy or burnt. Waitress was great. Apple pie a la mode was really good. Reading other reviews, maybe they changed the ordering at counter part for dining in. There was a couple at the counter but the order was to go.

We dine here about once a month. Their pizza dough is very good quality. Everything here has been good quality and I think the food is an exceptional value for what you pay.
You can usually see the owner prepping and cooking the good. The staff is usually attentive.

The pea with applewood bacon soup was good. The pork and beef burger was good. The service could have been better. It did not help either to hear and see the chef fussing at our waitress and others in the kitchen.
Overall good food, but service that leaves more to be desired.

This is a great sandwich shop and pizza place. Daily specials and tapas menu. About 12 tables inside, so when they were full up, they took our name and then called us back when the table was ready. Fresh ingredients and taste. Like it!

My sister and Mom stopped by here for dinner after shopping around downtown Ellicott City. It was great! My sister got the Bistro sandwich (delicious) that came with shoestring fries and a pickle. My Momma and I shared a Greek pizza and house salad. Everything was super fresh and yummy — we were all impressed!
I like that Johnny’s Bistro on Main Street has just the right kind of atmosphere for anything ranging from a family dinner to a casual date. I think downtown EC has plenty of options for pubs and super fancy pants restaurants, but not enough of the vibe Johnny’s Bistro offers. The food is fresher and a little more sophisticated than pub food and the atmosphere is definitely upbeat but not boisterous. Yet, the prices they offer are far more affordable vs the fancier places around. (For dinner, our bill came out to around ~$ 40 (incl. tip) for the 3 of us).
A quick word about the service — everyone was very friendly! If I had *one* con, it’s that it’s a little confusing about whether guests seat themselves/​order at the counter or wait for their order to be taken. There’s a sign that says «order at the counter» but we had a dedicated waitress who ended up taking our order and checking up on us.
BUT I think the atmosphere, quality of food, and reasonable prices make Johnny’s a five star in my book. It was the perfect dinner after a nice afternoon spent shopping around the small businesses of downtown EC :)
All in all, we will definitely be back here!

We stopped in for the first time Saturday night on a whim and I’m glad we did! This place is quaint, fast and tasty!
We both had the crab cake sandwich. They fancied it up with words like «brioche» «remoulade» which I won’t be able to put in context appropriately so let’s say this:
There was a toasted bun, a delish crab cake, a tomato and a creamy sauce. Side of fries (which are shoe string and most of mine were burnt so this was the only area of opportunity to be had at this place) and finished with a dill pickle.
I had a great glass of a house blend red. It was great.
They were sold out of the deep dish apple pie but that’s ok my waist line probably didn’t need it anyway.
The waitress was efficient and thoughtful. There was a big table and she took our order first so we didn’t get stuck waiting… very good move!

Okay, so I walked in here bracing myself against the potentially bad service mentioned in so many reviews so I can’t say this is a completely fair review. I needed pizza in a pinch and they happened to be open (I’m on Main St. a bit and it seems they’re never open within business hours.) So it is really weird that there is a window where you order, but you get stopped by the staff before you ever get to it. Since I was getting take out I was kinda put off by being stopped since I just wanted to go straight back there and place my order. However the staff were polite and accommodating. My pizzas came out, I decided to sample two: the Greek, minus feta and sausage. Their pizzas had a good crust and were really well seasoned. I’m not sure if I’d go out if my way planning to return, but they won’t let you down if you want pizza. Some of their specialties looked unique and well thought out, and from what I could see on the tables, their food looks good. It’s a bit dark in the restaurant, and the small size gives it an intimate ambiance.

I’ve loved this place for years. I like that they often have table service now, too. I hate to have to get up to order, etc. The specials are always varied, and the quality is consistent. A delicious find on Main St. I always love whatever I get!
I do get annoyed when he closes randomly. I get set on going, and then he is closed without warning, for a siesta or just bc it got slow in the late afternoon. I always check now before I go. It’s worth it, and I’m always disappointed if I miss it. I think it’s just Mondays and between lunch and dinner occasionally – but when you are trying to sneak on an early date night dinner after getting off work early, but before picking up the kids from daycare, it’s not a guarantee.

There’s only one nice server here. She’s slim brunette. There rest of them are turds and the skinny guy is the mayor of them all. He definitely didn’t want to serve my 2yo son and I, and he made it known. His crappy attitude definitely rubs off on the rest… like they follow his lead. He walked away when I asked him a question.
Food: Not good. It’s like it was made at a 7 – 11. Not worth the money or your time.

A fantastic experience. Everything was perfect as far as the food. The servers were too anxious to be helpful but they were young. It’s hard to complain about trying too hard.
I had the Gobbler which is a panini with turkey, brie, greens and pesto. Perfect combination and wonderful, crisp bread. And the homemade slaw was fantastic. Vinegar base versus mayo made it lighter and a good compliment to the meal. The owner Johnny came out to check on the diners and seemed genuinely interested in how we liked the meal. His recommendation to try the bread pudding with bourbon sauce was spot on. The best I’ve ever had. It was also made there.
I will make a point to come back at my next opportunity.

Great food! We ordered the crack crab sandwich (market price of 18 $) and the turkey sandwich with home made cole slaw and shoe string fries as sides.
I really like how light the crab cake batter was and how it consist of mainly lump crab meat. The sandwich was light and fulfilling. The turkey sandwich was also very light and delicious. Great lunch on a hot summer day. I’m not a huge fan of the slaw but the husband enjoyed it. It’s too tart for me and not enough mayo.
Overall great lunch! One side comment: wished the restaurant didn’t smell like a restaurant (ie: bleach and cleaning agents)