John’s Pizza-Buffet & Home Made Ice Cream

Sadly I think my family and I have had our last meal at John’s Pizza. John’s has been a community icon for years. I have wonderful memories of heading to John’s after games for pizza from when I was in high school in the 70s and over the past years, good or bad, with my children, family and friends we have dined at John’s but tonight was the last time. First, my family was here from Montana and Arizona, in all, there were 11 of us who have returned to John’s every time we are all in town together as we all have such great memories of it. Tonight it was dark and dingy with one waitress. We needed a high chair and were told where they were and to get it ourselves as she was busy. The orders were wrong, we had dirty dishes and again, no silverware so when we finally went to the front and asked for it, after our meal was finally served, we were told where it was so we could again get it ourselves… The game room had few working games and some of the ones that did work had no coupons to disburse. We were celebrating an 8 year olds birthday so it was a bit disappointing. I would like to stress that the blame cannot be put on the wait staff as there were not enough staff on duty (even though it was not even ¹⁄₈ full). Tonight left us all sad as we grew up spending many happy, quality family hours at John’s and it was unanimous for us there were be no more meals at John’s.

This place is always a hit or miss. I’ve just given up. The Buffett is sometimes good and other times not at all. The staff is not very friendly most of the time.

Originally found this place because there was a person on the street promoting their $ 4.99 AYCE lunch. We decided to give it a try around 11:30AM on a Tuesday.
Service:
We saw a sign that said please be seated and the promotion $ 4.99 buffet with water. No one really greeted us. We grabbed our food on the right side and went to a table right away. It wasn’t until 10 minutes later a server came back and asked if we were going to be on one check or two, and if we were drinking anything besides water. We assumed she was bringing us water, but she never came back until 25 minutes with the bill. $ 10.80 after tax for two people. Water is self-​served, as well as the food. She never really came back to check on us as we were stacking plates on the edge of the table. She didn’t prebus our table ever. We left with the table filled with trays and leftover food. Everyone there looked like they hated their job except the last lady who was the cashier when we paid and left. They were more conversing with themselves and not smiling or acknowledging the customers. Pizza was stocked regularly, that’s about it.
Prices:
$ 4.99 lunch buffet
Food:
Included different kinds of pizza, calzones, pasta, spaghetti, two kinds of soups, caesar and mixed salads, baked potatoes, cakes, jello. Pizza varieties were cheese, pepperoni, sausage, and a few others. Nothing too special. Small slices and simple. I wish they were tastier, but can’t complain with the price. I was surprised there was carrot cake and mini frosted cakes. They were quite tasty. Calzones were salty but my friend liked it. Some of the food tasted like it’s been out for a while. Calzones were never restocked while we were there. Nothing was labeled so it was guess and taste with the sauces to marry with the spaghetti and fettuccine. The caesar salad was soggy with dressing; we stuck with the plain mixed greens. Marinara sauce was meaty and complimented well with the breadsticks. The soups looked like a potato soup and minestrone maybe. They weren’t good because it tasted old. Please label!
Environment:
Relatively clean environment. I never would have thought of coming here but I figure I would give all small businesses a try. It started getting busier when we got there. It felt like only 2 servers ran the whole lunch duration. The room I was in eventually filled with 6 tables of people just grabbing food and sitting down. The table next to us were complaining the server never came by to grab drink orders for 15 minutes. It looks like it catered to the older crowd with the occassional gents from base eating by themselves. There was a ramp near us for those with wheelchair access or walkers. Volume level wasn’t loud; pretty mellow.
Bottom Line:
None of the food really wowed me. You get what you pay for. They could work on the quality of the food, labelling, and refreshing when appropriate. I would come back if the service was better. Servers smiling and checking on their customers would greatly improve business in my opinion. I wouldn’t come back, but I would like to give it a second chance someday. There are other pizza buffets in town. Next time I’ll try their ice cream.

Under the new ownership of Johns Pizza, the food and service has greatly improved! The breadsticks are still epically delicious, but the pizza has gotten a lot better too. I hope the improvement of this establishment continues!

I want this review to be as fair and honest as possible. Ridgecrest, California is a small town and there are not many pizza places let alone kid friendly places for children’s birthday parties and celebrations. Ridgecrest lacks many of the popular Restaurants in larger cities like Chuckee Cheese, or Dave and Buster’s so its wonderful that Johns Pizza exists.
I remember being 4 years old (1993) and walking by Johns Pizza before its grand opening. It was fantastic, it was wonderful. The games were fun and everything was new and pristine. I had celebrated a few birthdays here and loved them.
Fast forward to 2015 more than 20 years later. The ball pit is non operational it has a children’s safety gate blocking the entrance to the bridge which is due to the broken equipment and hazards there in. Most of the games are the original games from when it opened, many of them are out of order. The posters and décor have not changed since it opened (hardly if at all). The food leaves a lot to be desired. The pizza and bread sticks are fairly bland and their menu has not changed in decades. The prizes on the wall are in poor condition. Who would be tempted to win a guitar that is show cased in a box with rips, tears and water damage? Seriously? I’m amazed this venue continues to stay open, but I guess because there is no other competition and not enough reviews like this, there is no reason to make improvements.
Bottom line, I’ve always loved Johns and it has a special place in my heart, but this place needs a serious remodeling from the décor to the food, everything could use new life.

This was different, to expensive to taste like doctored frozen food but the vintage arcade is a cool blast from the past.

Pleasantly surprised! After reading so many negative reviews, we were expecting the worst and prepared to not eat here, and wouldn’t have had we not been meeting in a group of five others for dinner. Incidentally, back in the 70’s, my wife had loved working for the original owner John Parlett in the early years after it opened (along with both her siblings), eating the peanut butter pizza and playing ‘Black and White’ and ‘Saturday in the Park’ on the jukebox as a teen here. It has seen some updates since those early years, but not in the décor for decades. However, remember this is in a small town, and as such I’m not as concerned with the latest look on the walls and floors as I am with the food, service, choices, cleanliness and safety of the food. We don’t have kids and don’t play the games, so I cannot comment on the ‘Fun Factory’ as it used to be named, and the state of the games.
We were greeted when we came in, and as we waited in the lobby for the rest of our group to arrive, another server checked on us to see if we’d been helped. (So far, so good.) There was a slight scent of stale cooking fumes, etc, probably from the oils in the cheese, but it was not noticeable after a few minutes. (Years ago, at the end of working a dinner shift here, my wife used to smell like the pizza oven, sauce, and cooked cheese.) I went in to use the Men’s restroom which looked cleaned and cared for, and my wife used the Women’s, although she mentioned there was a light smell in that bathroom, but both were well stocked and clean.
As we arrived in the dining room, our drink orders were taken, and my wife and I still weren’t sure we were staying, so we didn’t order any drinks, not even water; another server came and asked us if we wanted anything to drink. There were two servers taking orders and three delivering food on a Sunday night, and there were a moderate number of others eating in the place. I counted three servers on the dining room floors where we were. There may have been four total for Sunday night, plus someone at the till.
The food arrived, albeit a little slower than I was expecting, but drinks were refilled, even my brother-in-law’s water, at least three times. We all received our pizzas at the same time after I had sufficient time to eat most of my Tater Tot appetizer, which was not piping hot, and unfortunately not quite crispy, but edible. 2 large pizzas on one end of the table, and our calzone on our end heralded dinner time. One large was a build-​your-​own with chili, jalapeños and peanut butter (yes, it’s good, and spicy too!), the other large a Waldo’s Spicy hot combo. Both were enjoyed by the rest of the group, while my wife and I enjoyed a John’s House combo calzone with peanut butter. It’s my wife’s favorite combo, and we were not disappointed-​it was great, just like we remembered. It came with a meaty marinara sauce to dip into which was also great, and I quickly shifted from my ketchup to marinara to swab my tots in. At this point, the only disappointment was there were no gluten free options, unless you’d rather forego the pasta and pizza, opting for soup or salad. I decided to leave the crispy calzone crust behind and satisfied myself with pulling out the filling, which was comprised of the Johns House combo: Green Peppers, Mushrooms, Pepperoni and Italian Sausage with the added calzone stuffing cheeses of cheddar-​mozzarella and ricotta, and the special (wife’s fave, surprisingly yummy) peanut butter, all doused with the meaty marinara sauce.
All pizzas were enjoyed, some almost completely consumed, but enough extra ordered to take some of each pizza (and our sauce) home in boxes that are servers offered (twice).
My wife loves ice cream and after she learned that the homemade ice cream was back, we asked for their recommendation on flavor: Snickers, so we had a generous scoop in a cup, which we both shared. It was a filling meal, especially with dessert, which was very tasty and extremely good.
I took off a star for the strange scent in restaurant and bathrooms and a little for the mostly older décor.

Got two pizzas and breadsticks to go the other night. The pizzas were tasteless and the crust was like cardboard. My stepsons who both love pizza wouldnt touch it after their first piece. The breadsticks were good as always but it is a shame that the pizza has hit rock bottom.

Ugh. What more can I say?
I was part of a very large group. We should of had 2 – 3 servers. They knew we were coming. Why didn’t they schedule more help?
My breadsticks got cold waiting for the cheese. And of course, the cheese dip was cold when it showed up. Again ugh.

Desperate to find a restaurant that delivers in Ridgecrest, I called the one place that has had good food and great service for years. The staff at John’s Pizza made sure a hearty lunch was delivered to my grandparents. This made them really happy and put my mind at ease. Can’t thank you enough!

John’s is clearly back. Rapidly becoing my favorite pizza and pasta place in Ridgecrest

The pizza is always good and the bread sticks are the best in the world I recommend this place

How can you beat a $ 4.99 lunch buffet? The food was quite adequate I liked the chili salad corn chowder cherry cobbler mixed with the peaches, and the pizza was pretty much comparable to the Pizza Factory. if their price was the same as the Pizza Factory I’d probably go to John 66 percent of the time.

Love this long time iconic venue of Ridgecrest! There is a John’s pizza taste that is unique for sure. From the breadsticks to the Rice Krispy treats, this is a place always on my list of places to eat when I visit.

Our food was good and made well. Prices are good. We asked for a few changes and the food reflected the changes in a good way. I’m pleased by the ice cream menu and happy to have a sit while I eat the ice cream. I looked around the buffet and wasn’t impressed, but the menu is good. I do miss the Nick food that use to be offered here, but that is in the past.
Overall I am pleased with the food. — now since writing this review in the the waitress seems a bit slow but provided excellent service in every other aspect. Note to owner, you have almost no soap in the bathroom and I left the water on for a full minute without it getting warm.

Within minutes of eating the Johns house special pizza, the whole family got sick! I would not recommend this place

Called in an order for delivery at 4:04. Order arrived at 4:35. Called them because they didn’t deliver dip with the breadsticks. He said they would send someone right out. I called back at 5:10 and it hadn’t even gone out yet. I asked to speak to a manager that did nothing to compensate for the awful service except to say that the would now send someone out for real. She also had the nerve to tell me that the dip was not on my order which to her I replied I have the receipt right here with it on there and I paid for it. This is also not the first time they have messed up delivery orders with me but it will be the last.

This is a great little pizza place. It’s like the little league meet up after the game, the mainly pizza night, the place to watch a game and get a brew. Everything to anyone. I am definitely coming back!
The rocky road ice cream is amazing.

I really wished this place was better. We recently moved to town and have tried the lunch buffet and grabbed a to go order for dinner.
I am a fan of local ma and pop style pizza places. I just hate Dominos or Pizza Factory. But for a local place, they miss the mark.
We had the lunch buffet around 1:15 during the week. The buffet wasn’t stocked very well. The bill was a little pricey for what we got. It was around $ 11 per person for 2 small slices of pizza, a drink and a half, and a bowl of peaches.
The dinner was about the same. We ordered a small pizza and a meatball sandwich. Still a little pricey considering we could have gotten a comparable meatball sandwich from Subway for $ 4.00. The pizza was a little better at night.
The décor inside is old and dated. The ceiling tile next to our table looked like it was about to come crashing down.
The ice cream is still on my list of things to try and I admit I will eat the pizza again. It’s better than getting poked in the eye with a sharp stick.

Went for the first time in a few years. Ordered House Special Pizza. Came loaded with yummies. Too bad it was cold. Sent it back, came again. Now warm and stuff on top was burned. Dough was not cooked thru. Guess they put so much on top that the rest cannot cook correctly. Ate the toppings and left the «crust».
I guess I will not go back for another few years. If they survive.