Review: Johnny Rockets

As a single dad, it's great to get extra time with my son, and yesterday was an INCREDIBLE day, including baseball, good food, some playtime and a movie.

After opening day (little league) we went looking for food. The boy wanted McDonalds, but I eat there too often for my own good, so I suggested finding something different.

We found ourselves at Johnny Rockets in a local mall.

If you've never been to this place, it's a lot of fun. It's like a 50's diner atmosphere, and they have a rather simple menu, but it works, it's not complicated and I don't think I've ever had bad food there.

I really wish I had taken more photos of the atmosphere, but it's really cool and different. Anyway, on to the food:


First, the drink. I ordered a chocolate Coke. My son ordered a chocolate milkshake. Then he tasted my Coke, and decided to change his drink order.

This is pretty simple, like I said above, just a Coke with some chocolate syrup in it - it comes at the bottom of the glass and I stirred it up with my straw. They also offer cherry and vanilla syrups for all of their soft drinks. I've seen this at other places a lot (like Denny's) and also at convenience stores like 7-11 and Royal Farms.

In a word - delicious - I'm surprised that Coca-Cola hasn't test marketed a chocolate flavored coke product anywhere. It has a nice sweet almost 'milky' flavor, without any actual dairy product. It kind of reminds me of a Root Beer float without any ice cream in it...



Next up was my meal - I ordered the grilled cheese, specifically the cheddar on sourdough.

But first, I want to talk about the fries. Johnny Rockets calls them "American Fries", I call them incredible. They are always cooked just right, no limp fries, and no extra crispy crunchy fries - they are....tender...if that's the way to describe french fries. This is how french fries are cooked in Heaven.

On to the main course, the grilled cheese - It was...well it was a grilled cheese. I found out later that April is National Grilled Cheese month, so you know, I am right on time. Seriously, it was cheddar cheese, which I don't find to have a lot of flavor (unless it's a really good sharp cheddar), but it was good on the sourdough. An unexpected surprise on my sandwich actually made it BETTER. There was a little bit of peanut butter on the cut, where they had apparently just cut a PBJ right before they cut my sammich.

You would think that the peanut butter would be weird but it actually really did something to the flavor of the bread and cheese, and made it have a sweet aftertaste.

I know that I like peanut butter in other places it doesn't belong (get your mind out of the gutter, I mean all-beef hot dogs, seriously, try it!), but I am going to try making a PB-Cheddar sandwich at home with more PB and see how it turns out. I'll keep you posted.


Finally, the boy ordered the mini hot dogs - with mustard and ketchup. They certainly looked good. I asked him what he thought of them and he said "They were good!" I asked for more and he said "They're just hot dogs Daddy!". But he had a smile on his face and he ate them in record time, so that must count for something.

So I guess I need a rating system...lets keep it simple.

Would Chuck eat it again? Yes