Johnny’s Famous Italian American Tavern

We come here to eat often. The food is good, decent prices, they have 100 beers on tap, daily specials, good drinks and sports bar atmosphere. Tonite the service was better than usual. Our server Domenica H. was personable, efficient, and very helpful, checking on us regularly to see if we needed anything else. Customer service is important with us, because if we don’t get it we spend our money elsewhere. We will return soon!

So after my last review the owner contacted me and apologized for my last experience here, he also mailed me gift certificates to make up for everything! i haven’t used them yet but I really appreciate him reaching out and trying to make up for things… that means alot to me and tells a person alot about the integrity of an establishment… will definitely give this place another try!

Horrible and slow. Took over 30 min to get 4 salads. Wish I didn’t even have to give them a star.

Miss the old Johnny Carino’s
Server was terrible, slow and forgetful. I think she was too spread out because the place was not busy.
Tri tip had no flavor, but the rest of the food was good, recommend the Spinach artichoke dip. Bellinis are still the same thank goodness!
Not crazy about the new change…
OK so management has tried to turn our not so great experience into a better one. So we went there today (Jan 4 2016) and the service was better. The food was average except for my husbands hamburger bun was hard as a rock
I did let the server know but told her it was no big deal, we had already eaten. She let the manager know and he said it shouldn’t of been, so he did adjust the bill, which we were surprised about. Thank you Johnny Carino’s we’ll be back for another try.

We came here not realizing this was a new restaurant. The food wasn’t great. They have a good menu. The service was terrible. Our fries were cold and made before we got there. When we left, the same batch of fries were still there. Waiting… (No heat lamp.) just sitting there… Awaiting its next victim (s). The only thing we really enjoyed here was the appetizer. The nachos and drinks are the best things you’ll get out of this joint.

SLOW! Do not come here if you are in any rush whatsoever. I went here for the first time (since they changed the name/​theme) a few months ago and it was terrible. Rude, slow service, margarita tasted like straight sweet and sour from the gun, aka syrup. Gross. Served tried to argue with me when I asked if I could get a different drink. Food that time was OK but nothing spectacular. Just got a few appetizers which are pretty hard to mess up. I actually e-​mailed Johnny Carino’s about my visit being terrible and never received a response.
Second time, went here about a month ago. It took 15 minutes for a server to ask us if we wanted any drinks. My friend ordered a beer which took another 10 minutes to come out. Keep in mind that the restaurant was NOT busy, I would say it was at about 30% capacity. Our waitress disappeared after that. Another 15 minutes goes by and another server came and took our food order. I decided to get a $ 5 pizza, thinking that it’s pretty hard to screw up a simple pizza. 30 minutes later my pizza comes out, looking like a sad microwaved pizza from a hospital cafeteria. Not even worth the measly $ 5 they charged. Getting the check took another 15 minutes. Altogether, my friend and I were here for almost 2 hours. And not because we wanted to be.
One last thing… what happened to the bread?! That used to be one of the main reasons I would come to Johnny Carinos. The fresh baked bread with the tasty roasted garlic and olive oil… yum! Now all they have is peanuts?! This isn’t Texas Roadhouse.
Overall…do NOT waste your time trying this place. Unless you want cheap beer and don’t mind being there for 2 hours minimum. I will stick with BJ’s when I am around the mall.

Ok… first of all why I’m giving a 1 star the SERVICE IS AWFUL! We waited 20 min before even being acknowledged. Then it took another 15 min to get 2 beers! We finally got our dinner 35 mins after ordering! 1 hour 10 mins it took to get our dinner!! My husband ordered the endless salad (only ever got one!) Asked for refill she nvr came with it! Ended up getting it to go! Lol. BUT on a better note the 25 cent wing deal on Thursdays are great! The best wings around town! We have gone 3 times now on Thursdays always the same the SERVICE IS SO SO BAD!!! Get more help for wing night!!!

The gentleman that helped us was great. The food was bad. We were there at 4:30. The place had maybe 5 tables with people. They had a meeting in the bar seating area while we were there. There were 4 waitresses not helping anyone. The gentleman was the only one. Very bad business. The calamari was bad. The $ 5.00 pizza the kids ate.

We used to love coming here and now that the management has changed and they’ve «revamped» the place it’s horrible. The service is terrible beyond belief and the food has definitely taken a nose dive. I called ahead to see if they have call ahead seating and I was told yes so I put my name on the list and I was told 15 min. We arrived 5 minutes after placing the phone call and we were told now that we had arrived we could be told our actual wait time. WHAT! Then we were told 30 min. Not cool! We were actually sat in 5 min so the hostesses obviously don’t know how to look to see what tables are open. After we were sat (which was the table right behind the hostess stand which is the worst table placement ever!) the waitress took 10 min to come over to introduce herself. Another 10 min to come back with our drinks (which was just water) she took our order (still no bread by the way) and left. 10 min later she dropped off one tiny plate of olive oil with garlic (for a table of 6 she should’ve brought 2) then 5 min after that she brought one tiny loaf of bread (for a table of 6 she should’ve brought 3). My salad came with the meal and the person who brought out our food was awesome. He noticed that we needed bread and brought us some more. The waitress finally came over when we were almost done with our dinner and refilled our water. The only star that this place got was because I couldn’t give them zero stars. The chicken Alfredo had the thinnest slices of chicken that we thought it was pieces of pasta. The tortellini had a meat sauce when I asked if it had meat I was told no (since I don’t eat beef this was the perfect plate; so I thought) the steak my daughter ordered was medium rare NOT medium well and the fried parmesan shrimp were greasy. We will not be back since it appears that they would prefer to cater to the bar crowd instead of families

Ehh… never liked this place. I was excited that there was another Italian place in town besides Olive Garden but I was let down. Not many chicken pastas or dishes. Most of the dishes have pork or beef in them. Not much of a variety

Was in last night. We liked the update in there. Seating in bar area first come. The booths along the wall are most comfy, otherwise standard pub type. Entire fam could eat in the area no need to WAIT for a table .lots of big screens showing BBall Golf
Racing etc 50 on Tap. Great area is busy but fun great servers good out timely
Ribeye… Just ok
Combo Italian platter pretty good
Johnny’s burger just ok
Maybe try something different :)

Came here on a Friday nite w a couple girlfriends for some drinks n appitizers, had never been. It was about 9:50p sat down right at the bar, which was not cleaned from the last party that was sitting there but wasn’t trying to be picky, so we just pushed the used stuff aside and thats the way it stayed. There was not very many people there. But got service like as if the place was packed. Was super thirsty, there was 2 bartenders so we didn’t think it would take long. As we sat there BS’n soon we realized like hello… Damn still no drinks… By this time we were really trying to be patient, so finally after a «sorry» got a beer at about 10:15 Boo… All n all didnt get asked anything else until we had to stop her an ask if we could get another round an a couple appitizers this was now about 10:40. Food came quickly at least, $ 3 calamari was kinda scary (I guess u get what u pay for kinda deal) but the $ 5 pizza was yummy. Being that I always luv a good happy hour spot w good apps. Dont think i would recommend here. Hopefully it was just a bad night… But Idk

I’ve always liked this place which was carino’s and now is sports bar too. The 25 cent wings are perfect. So are the buck fifty ribs served during games. margarita grades are good but not very big. maybe 10 oz. We used to love the sirloin and pasta deal nights. But the quality of the meat has fallen badly. Now tough, sinewy with hidden and visible fat unusual for sirloin. Maybe it’s better quality if ordered at full price. I noticed the 25 can’t wings were tiny and got huge later like they ran out of the discount ones and we’re forced to serve big meaty wings. They also ran out of some flavors .odd for a place that is usually empty. But business is picking up which is great. I’m gonna keep telling them when things are unacceptable and hope they can key the quality up. Some things are great.

I am only giving two stars because of service. The reason for two and not one is because I like the new redesign.
I may not dress like a million bucks, but when I go to a restaurant I do expect a certain level of service. The place was not busy otherwise I would excuse them slightly for that. We waited for beers multiple times much beyond what the wait sitting at the bar with three other people should be.
I like the redesign, but a new interior doesn’t upgrade your staff. Customer service is what generates return guests and a loyal base. The redesign is clearly due to the competition near by. I would imagine it is a last ditch effort to revive the restaurant to keep what happened at Elephant Bar from happening. I would gladly help, but the service needs to improve greatly.

Well, this place figured it out. I dont understand how they can offer those wings for 25 cents, but they are fantastic. The beer specials, especially on Wed are ridiculous… And the pizza special they have by buyng one, and taking one home is unreal. My new favorite spot, great job to staff for turning it around!

What a mess! Filthy bar area, non caring service personal and FLAT beer. Stay away.

I was excited when I heard Johnny Carinos now had a bar with 100+ beers on tap and decided it would be a good time to watch the world series there.
We walked in and went straight to the bar section where there were menus on our table and we were immediately greeted by a server asking to take our order but we literally just sat down so didn’t even have a chance to open the menu so we told her just a few minutes and we were ready in a few minutes. Next thing you know our server tells us that we are going to get another server — not sure why because she wasn’t off– but anyhow he greeted us, brought us bread and we ordered our beers. 10 min passed… nothing, tables around us that sat after us are already almost done with their first drink. We sat for a few more minutes and decided we would leave, this was the world series! We needed beer. I’m giving it two stars because I will be back again because the beers are ridiculously cheap at 2.95 each just next time hopefully we get better service otherwise next time will be the last. There’s too many bars in Modesto to get ignored.
Oh and one last thing, there were kids sitting in the bar, wth, I don’t like that. I don’t go out to drink around kids in an adult section. Who brings their kids to the bar anyway? And why aren’t they moved into the main dining area?

I wasn’t a big fan of the restaurant in years past. However, with the addition of the tavern, my friends and I will soon become regulars. Excellent selection of beers. Great prices and specials. Food is delicious! Love the atmosphere!

Johnny Tavern. 14 new large screen TV’s. What a great place to catch a Giant’s clinching National League Pennant. Awesome new expanded menu, and great atmosphere, IT WAS ELECTRIC tonight inside. Sunday I hear is the Grand Opening, and a Sunday Night Football Game for the Niners and Broncos! I wouldn’t want to watch the game anywhere else.
I hear the Grand Opening has a bounce house for kids, ice cream, free pizza once a week for a year promo for the first 100 in line, and also have a new 51 draft beer list. Start at the top of the list with «Alaskan Amber» my personal favorite.
I will be making this my place my go to hangout for all sporting events and social gatherings.
Pizza, Burgers, and Beers– Oh My!!!