Johnny's Italian Restaurant

This forty five year neighborhood Italian Family Restaurant is conveniently located between U.S. Hwy 19 and McMullen Booth Road. The menu has plenty of Italian dishes to choose from and there is something for everyone. The waitress Tammy, was friendly, polite and very accommodating. The service was timely and expedited perfectly. I ordered Iced Tea and it was somewhat weaker than I prefer. The fresh crusty bread and dried herbs (which they allowed you to choose how much olive oil to combine with) to make the bread dipping oil was outstanding! The salad was fresh and the Blue Cheese dressing was delicious. I ordered Shrimp Scampi over Linguini, however, I was served Fettuccini Alfredo and Shrimp Scampi on the side. The Fettuccini Alfredo was hot and cooked correctly. The Shrimp Scampi included nice size shrimp and it was hot and flavorful. The management came to greet me at my table and inquired regarding the quality of my meal and whether I was enjoying my lunch. I feel that this place is and should be an important part of our area neighborhoods. I recommend that you patronize this restaurant and add it to your list of dinner choices!

Food is delightful, bread is fantastic! I’ve never had to wait for my food to cool down to eat. We had the calamari, chicken franchise, linguine and clam sauce, chicken Milanese, and a cheese calzone.

They make wonderful stuffed shells and craveable chicken piccata. The salad is fine. They have a great Italian collection.

I have been coming to Johnny’s since I was a kid- we used to ride bikes up to get a slice. Over the years the food and service has gotten better and better. Tonight we came in to celebrate my wife’s birthday with friends and our server was Susan. She was quite possibly the best server we have ever had at Johnny’s and she made our experience absolutely perfect. Her great service and friendly spirit made all the difference. This place is a local staple and I highly recommend it!

Really good food and fair prices. Good service also. First time and want to go back. Definitely worth going.

Johnny's Itiallian Reasturant is an amazing place to eat Italian! The pizza is fantastic! Five Stars for great food, wonderfully staff, and quality authentic itialan cuisine! ~The Taurian Chef

My family and I went to Johnnys for a little family reunion dinner and the service and food was excellent. I appreciate them for allowing us to enjoy our time together without rushing us or getting irritated for us standing around taking pictures. They treated us so kindly and took pictures for us. Thank you for the excellent service, perfect place for a family get together - we had a party of 9.

I'm visiting from out of town, and placed a large order at approximately 9:10 p.m.....store closing at 10. *2 order of cheese wedges *1 spinach calzone * 1 pepperoni calzone * 1 Grilled Grouper meal *1 Scallops Scampi meal *1 GF pizza special I was so very disappointed in the taste of our food. The highlights were the GF pizza (delicious), wedges, and the complementary bread. The outsides of the calzones were good but the insides had way too much ricotta and the taste was off. The Grouper was overcooked and underseasoned. The fettuccine was also was bland. The scallops were overcooked. The risotto was bland and sticky. The mushrooms had the taste of canned mushrooms, and the sauce that the meal came in was off (tart/soured) I had chosen a side of soup with one meal but it was omitted. The side of broccoli that came with the other meal was extremely small. I understand that I ordered 50 minutes before closing but that shouldn't have affected the taste of my food. To try to prevent that, i made sure that the tip was included with my payment, versus paying later in cash. I ended up throwing away the 2 meals, and I hate being wasteful. I tried very hard to eat them anyway but couldn't. I even offered them to my adult children, but they couldn't eat them either. Meal total- $107.75 Total paid- $120.75

This was a cozy family friendly place. We were welcomed right as we walked the door with a sweet smile and a friendly hello. The staff were very helpful and made suggestions as we were making decisions on the menu. We ordered chicken parmesan with fettuccine Alfredo on the side with a side salad. It was very good. The price was very affordable and the portions were perfect for lunch. We will be back and I want to try a dessert next time.

Their stuffed eggplant is the thing I order like every time I come here. It's so good. I have almost nothing to complain about at this restaurant. Except the very unhappy kid that's seats us. Seems like he hates his job. Everyone else tho seems happy and overall this place is awesome. They got a fish tank you can look at and the seats are comfy.

I used to work from an office nearby, so Johnnys was a regular visit for my department. We were in the area for an appointment and my wife I decided to stop. A bit after the lunch hour, we were seated right away. We were brought menus and water and had already looked at the menu online, so we ordered right away. My wife picked the Chicken Parmesan and I chose the Lasagna. And we both had side salads. We were brought delicious rolls for olive oil dip. Quickly our salads came, fresh, chilled and tasty. Before we finished our salads, our meals came, piping hot. My wife said her Chicken Parmesan was perfect. Lasagna an was my old favorite and it did not disappoint. We were both so pleased with our meals that we did not share our food, as we normally do. Excellent service, excellent food, great ambiance. If you haven't tried Johnnys - what are you waiting for? Oh, and they give a veteran discount too!p

Johnny's is my favorite way to end a hard work week by having great service and perfect pizza. And the bread...yum! Never fails to disappoint.

Johnnys is a nice size restaurant and a full bar that serves Italian food. I had veal picotta and my wife stuffed eggplant. They serve entrees with pasta, albeit spaghetti fettuccine etc, There is a lot of food, coupled with a meatball appetizer, 4 meatballs and ricotta and mozzarella were very tasty. The prices were not bad and the service was attentive. I would recommend the place as your go to for decent Italian dishes.

Love this place! The food is always fantastic and super well priced! Austin and Meghan are great bartenders and the restaurant is a perfect atmosphere with yacht rock music playing. HIGHLY recommend!

I've had several dinners, the pasta is not done enough for me. The pizza is really good but check it before you takeout one of our servers said I don't know I am vegetarian

We stopped in to Johnny's after the early games on Sunday. They had a bunch of TV's turned on to the 4:30 games so we could watch them too. We love the decorating and comfortable seating here. We came in with my daughter and her two girls and we were seated immediately at a large table. Our server brought our drinks and "Johhny Bread" which are large warm round rolls along with their garlic/cheese dipping mix. There is olive oil on each table to add to the mix so you can dip the bread. The kids love the Johnny bread and we made all 5 rolls disappear. The kids had pizza slices and fries. My wife had the lasagna which she liked. My daughter had the chicken broccoli ziti which she always gets here. I had the Stromboli which was huge and delicious. All 3 adults took home lunch for the next day. We love this place and will come back over and over.

Always a pleasure dining here. Great service. Delicious food. A warm atmosphere with wonderful aromas.

I love Johnny's. Takeout food is awesome. Delicious and plenty of it. In-house has to be incredible.

Food was good and service was too. Had shrimp Alfredo. Was good. Salad and martini was enjoyed. Double espresso and decent spumoni for dessert. Will be back for sure.

So I'll start with the good which was the food. It was probably the best Spaghetti and Meatballs and Lasagna we've ever had. The bread was great also. For the food alone we will most likely go back. What was horrible was our server Kenney. He barely spoke to us, he didn't seem to even care that we were there, he was far more talkative to the other employees than us. He made us feel like he wanted us to be done and be gone as soon as possible. Also we were sat by the kitchen so of course we were subjected to all the worker traffic and their conversations. Again we will most likely go again because the food was amazing but we will request NOT to be seated in Kenney's section.

Pleasantly surprised good food good price cool inside!!! Will return Waitress was fabulous!!!! I loved this place & people they do a good job

Wonderful place! Great food! Love the drinks and the food and service are fabulous! No matter how busy it's worth the wait. It's a favorite when we're here.

Under 6 people, so no reservations. Got seated after a short wait, told 15 mins but it was more 5 mins. Waitress was okay but did mess up one order- made it right. The appetizers were good, and we all were impressed with our entrees. Had carry out before, years ago, but this was our first dine in experience. I would return.

Love Johnny's, great dine-in, fast take-out, pizza is so good and love the wing dings

Had hair in my girls food took them 30 minutes to fill drinks when I said something the manager said it's my hair (it was short I have long hair) told dude he's crazy to even say that and his response was whatever never again it was my birthday also

So sad to leave this review- Husband looked forward to bringing us here- it was a disappointing experience. Food was meh at best. Even the bread given on the table was just old buns. Dinner prices for Sunday lunch - lunch menu items at a higher price. With so many other options in the area, at these prices we won't be back soon.

Been eating at Johnnys for years, food is awesome. I like the chicken picatta. The Johnny bread is also very good, as well as the salad

Friday lunch stop. I always have a hard time deciding what I'm going to get. Today I decided on lasagna. The food is always delicious.

I a have been a regular customer at Johnny's since I moved here in 2017. I stuck by as the pandemic wreaked havoc on Johnny's ... I kept coming back through the inconsistency of quality , short staffing and supply, chain, shortages, etc. Eventually, Johnny's started to come back and has been somewhat consistent for the past eight months with a few snags along the way but, I hadn't spoken up and complained. Tonight after two weeks in a row of an onion issue, I called and I explained the situation instead of treating me like a valued customer, they treated me like I was a nuisance . Johnny told me one thing got called away. When I rang back, he was too busy to talk to me and his nasty chef told me the exact opposite of what Johnny said, and he did try to make their mistake my fault. Not a great quality, especially customer service wise. Maybe they need to get their wires straightI. I realize there's lots going on in the restaurant but when you screw up just fix it, make it right. We frequent the restaurant with two groups. I'm going to share this with everybody in the group and when we come up to discuss, should we stop at Johnny's? My answer will be a resounding NO! They are petty, pennypinching and not customer service oriented. The food is not consistent. I believe in supporting local businesses, and it is local, but it's no "Cheers"the food is mediocre, but not consistent and really not that great! I hope your $14 calzone was worth losing a loyal customer and hopefully several of my Friends will follow soon and we will find a new place to support.

Pizza is always under cooked. Other food that I have tried is just adequate. Nothing outstanding Prices quite high for what you get

Johnny's isn't too far from my family's place, so they order frequently. When I was visiting, we ordered delivery and stopped in to dine. It seems like they can get fairly busy--weekday lunch delivery took about an hour, despite being close, and crowds were just leaving around 9:00 p.m on a Saturday evening. For lunch, I ordered the eggplant parm sub and it was delicious. Super cheesy with perfectly toasted bread. And huge! I couldn't finish it. Dinner entrees come with bread and choice of soup or salad. The bread was OK but the salad did not look fresh, so I didn't eat it. I asked if could get their chicken, broccoli, ziti with a garlic oil sauce instead of alfredo, and they were able to do that. And the dish was good and garlicky. Very reminiscent of my favorite dish from back home, so I definitely appreciated it. Their website states "where you are treated like family" and you really are here. Our server was friendly and quick with the jokes. And it's a very welcoming, casual place. I'm looking forward to returning pizza and a calzone.

I ordered chicken milanese - the ingredients listed on the menu were not what I recieved. Rice was definitely NOT on the ingredient list. Who serves rice with pasta??? The caesar salad wasn't a caesar salad - caesar salad is made with romaine, this was not. 4 croutons. I ate the few croutons and the 4-5 small pieces of what was actually green. Not worth the $2 upcharge for sure! Can they please have something other than clam chowder for their soup??? Not a favorite restaurant. Bread was good. Service was fine.

Our first time here. Walk inside and you know you are in an authentic Italian restaurant. Their servers are first-class overachievers who are extremely attentive and knew we were headed to Pink Floyd concert so they made sure we were served promptly. You start with a plate of hot over-sized rolls that were to-die-for and their secret compound of dry herbs that you add EVOO and mix for dipping bread were impossible to stop eating. The calamari and onion strings were excellent. Greek salad had tons of feta and was best I've had. Veal Piccata was so tender, Frutta Di Mare (Jumbo shrimp, bay scallops & New Zealand mussels in spicy marinara were a hit and the combo ravioli was excellent. We topped it all off with Cannoli the best I've had. This place deserves recognition - wish it were closer but worth the drive.

Best red sauce Italian place around. I'm from Jersey, and there is great Italian food on every corner. Have had trouble finding it here in Fla. This is old school basic Italian. Sauce is good, most importantly. Salad and bread, meh, but can't expect good bread in Florida. Atmosphere - 1980s kitschy Italian with murals of Venice gondolas. Works well. Service is good but probably understaffed. Or...just seems that is old people all arrive at 5 pm. lol. Very nice people!

Stopped in tonight and was seated immediately and server Anabel came to the table and greeted us quickly. She came back and we ordered drinks and food at same time. She brought our bread and apps soon after. The place is very clean and welcoming. The manager was also acting runner this evening and was very friendly. This place has been a staple in Clearwater for years and there is a reason why. Great food, reasonably priced. But moreover, the team takes great pride in their work and their place of employment.

A mediocre restaurant. This is not Italian food. Not sorry for the negative review; after all, I paid lots of money for poor quality food regardless of what type of food was served. Just want to give my opinion and encourage you all to seek out better food for your money.

I already garlic bread, which wasn't toasted with no butter and had a little sprinkle of garlic on the top of a loaf of bread that was warm that's it. They called that garlic bread. That's my garlic bread that's garbage bread so that was bad which is the first thing I tried that I tried the chicken Parm entrée Tasted crap. Horrible then I had the spaghetti which was mediocre. I asked for al dente. It was not. It was well cooked cooked. Everything was garbage heated. I should've gone back and just thrown it in their face, but I didn't wanna go to jail.

Great experiences each time we go! Eggplant, Alfredo and Sangria are all delicious. I wasn't a fan of giving the 9 year old a styrofoam cup but I know to request water in a glass next time.

The food is SOOOOO FREAKING GOOD! Oh my gosh! It was so creamy and thick and the noodles were heaven! My server was extremely polite and kind! She was patient with us as this was a date and wanted to take our time! It's a very clean restaurant with a neat atmosphere. I highly recommend dining here for a date, with friends, or family! The wine was great and over all, it's not that pricey. 2 entrees and a bottle of wine was under 70 bucks! Can't beat it!

what a great find excellent Italian food wonder service. had a pizza and I really order pizzas at Italian restaurants and it was a tough decision because there were so many delicious looking things on the menu. Pizza was excellent crust was nicely done and all at a very fair price

Food and service were excellent. There was a mixup on the order and they had no problem changing it to what was requested. Excellent time large portions.

4 of us went to dinner right before Xmas. Service was great and we all loved our food. My mom is gluten intolerant and said her pasta was amazing.

Once you walk in and take a whiff of that Italian cooking, you know you're in for a special treat. In a dimly lit dining room, your present presented with an old school Italian field. And mamas dining room. With a fish tank located in the middle of the restaurant it's great for you to sit next to you if you have a lot of kids. They also bring out pizza dough to distract your kids and keep them busy. on the table, they have some herbs and seasoning mix with olive oil which makes amazing meal treat. The food comes in. Great portions and smelling delicious. The cannolis are to die for. Highly recommend this place.

We have a friend who lives next to Ruth Eckerd Hall so Johnny's has been a convenient restaurant for us to get together at. We met recently on a Saturday afternoon and were promptly seated. My friends wanted some wine and Johnny's serves wine in carafes but only chianti. They were OK with that and should really have ordered just one glass each but hey, I was driving so the ladies were good going home. Now this is not the first time we have eaten here. It has been a go-to place for a few years. This time however, our waitress seemed a little new (she didn't know about the carafe service) but she was very attentive. My friends both had the veal piccata I had the stuffed eggplant with spaghetti. You can have soup or salad prior to the meal and fortunately for me they had Manhattan clam chowder. Restaurants always serve New England clam chowder and I don't eat white stuff so I was so happy to get the Manhattan which was pretty good and really satisfied my yearnings for the good old days when everyone served Manhattan clam chowder. Unfortunately my meal was not up to par. I had to return it because it was cold. Now I can only imagine that it was frozen because who would cook something and have it presented cold. So I returned it and they just popped it back in the microwave. It's a shame because now when my friend wants us to meet her we won't be so fast to say let's meet at Johnny's. The one thing that both of my companions liked is that they serve so much food you can eat on it for days. To me that is not very important. I'd rather have nicely cooked food. The restaurant is a neighborhood place and they always seem to be doing a brisk business. The interior is typical booths with Italian memorabilia on the walls. Nothing to write home about but if you are interested in a few drinks with some Italian food which may or may not be frozen, you can find it here.

Goodness, it feels like I've named this review.....again!!! We have been a fan of this place for years. Tonight, we ventured over to have dinner. Totally surprised that at 545p we were seated right away. Should off Known this way as forecasting of what we are to expect. Typically, we would have waited for 15-20 for a table. Nope tonight. I ordered shrimp scampi. It was SO LEMON FORWARD! The only thing missing was capers. It was sent back with the response was "scampi is lemon forward". Ok. Soup of the night was thick, super chunky (in a bad way) and super salty. Hubby ordered steak Marsala, super bland. Long story long, this is NOT the Johnny's of the past. If this is a a new owner/management situation, please correct the lack of attention to the food and make it better

I this place! Awesome food, generous portions, great atmosphere. I didn't get pics to post on Yelp but it was absolutely wonderful and we thoroughly enjoyed our dinner.

No more early bird special but to be expected with the economy. The food has changed since I started coming here 19 years ago. My better half said his lasagna tasted assembled and water logged and did not taste baked My chicken had an "off" taste This had always been a favorite but don't think I will return

We are regular dinners at Johnny's Italian restaurant. The food is absolutely delicious, the portions are generous, the cost is very reasonable, & the service is excellent! I always get the chicken piccata, I could bathe in that scrumptious sauce! We had dinner there last night, & as always totally satisfied! The Johnny bread is fresh and they have the BEST dipping sauce ever! My husband had the Vegetable Primavera, we both had the house salad with their wonderful house dressing. The atmosphere is happy and inviting. If you want a wonderful Italian meal, then Johnny's is the place to go!

The restaurant we usually go to was closed so we spotted Johnnys and decided to try it. Success!! The pizzas were great! Thin crust was cooked perfectly and delicious! They served a generous portion of bread with oil and spices which was very good. We will return!

If I had to choose 3 food genres to eat for the rest of life, in no particular order it would be Italian, Mexican and "American". I have been searching for a REALLY GOOD Spaghetti Meat Sauce since I moved back to Pinellas County. Still searching, but Johnny's is pretty good. I have eaten at Johnny's Italian Restaurant approx. 10 times in the last year. I usually get Spaghetti with Meat Sauce (although I did have one of their pizzas, it was fine). I like the fresh, warm Breads/Rolls they bring out right away, along with some Olive Oil and Herbs for dipping. This trip I had the Spaghetti and Meat Sauce again, with their House Italian on my salad. I like Johnny's Salad and house dressing. It's a got a hint of sweetness to it that I don't appreciate, but overall it's a good dressing. The Bread/Rolls are good and I like dipping them in the Oil with Herbs. Johnny's makes a good effort with their sauce recipe. One can see the herbs basking in the dark, well simmered tomato sauce. I am not an expertly trained chef, so I can't identify every nuanced flavor note, but there seems to be a sweetness where more "zest" should be. It's good, but I have loved better. Johnny's is usually generous with their sauce, but this time I had to ask for a little more which was brought out quickly. My server, who I won't identify (male), was not the best, but typically Johnny's has friendly waitresses that make the meal a little nicer. Johnny's Italian Restaurant is in my regular rotation of places to eat, but not in my top 10 local favorites.

Excellent food, prices and service. The relaxed atmosphere of the dining area is peaceful and pleasant.

Went to Johnny's recently after a long time away, and the good was as good as I remember. Had out of town guests with me and they were equally impressed. We had veal piccata and eggplant Parmesan and both were outstanding. Thanks Johnny!

Had dinner here with the parents. They go pretty frequently, once a week or so. We were here on a thursday night and it was fairly busy. We were quickly seated (maybe a 5 min wait) and got some beers to start. Our server was prompt and on top of things even though she was juggling several tables, including an 8 top. She did a great job. Food was pretty good. parents split a salad and pasta that I forgot. I had the stromboli, which was served a bit different than i was accustomed to, it was kind of an open top arrangement with maybe a bit too much cheese. I think i ate myself sick with the complementary bread, it was fresh and the oil was awesome.

The sauce was flavorless The salad was made for lunch, but sat in the cooler until dinner was lifeless limp, brown on the edges. You couldn't even chew the tomatoes. I The waiter took our order, and its entirety didn't bring our drinks and came back to take our order again dud all the way

Johnny's is a great go- to for lunch. But dinner? Not so much. Last night was the last time. Salmon Picatta served in a shallow bowl, was poached salmon in a watery soup that tasted like watered down lemon juice, and not fresh-- think from one of those plastic squeeze lemons. The side of fettuccine Alfredo was actually linguini Alfredo placed in the bowl on top of the lemon soup. So it was basically lemon Alfredo. I ate maybe a third, refused a to go box and was never asked how it was. The wings were undercooked, no crisp to them. Bring that oil to temp or maybe bake or grill them. Our check was placed on a table that wasn't even attempted to be cleared. It's not like we were rushed or ignored. Just either untrained staff or uncaring staff. A glass of wine that I had elsewhere for $9 two nights before was $12 and a fairly stingy poor at that in a cheap wine glass. I'll probably join for lunch again after a while. $15 for a bad experience is easy to walk away from. $84 for a train wreck dinner with two glasses of overpriced wine leaves a mark.

We booked a group of 25 at Johnny's. The group wanted to order off the menu, but somehow we got put into 'banquet' style. I've been here many times, but tonight was horrible. Start w service. 1 server 25 people. The buffet price is way higher than menu price. It took forever to get water refills, drink order etc. The salad was soggy, wet old. Dressing watered down. The pasta was sitting in the chafing dishes when we got there. Mush, mush and more mush. This is an Italian Restaurant the pasta was cold and over cooked. Not enough for 25 people. Not everyone got the 4 selections we picked, ran out of food it took forever to refill after a bit of coaxing.. Just bad service all the way around. Nothing on tables, we had to bring our own table cloths and decorations. Communication from manager terrible.. After we booked the room got out rsvp's then we found out we had to order from catering menu 4 items. Never again.. too much competition around for bad food and service.

We've been eating here for years and the service and food quality is usually great, but we had lunch there today and something has definitely changed and I'm worried about the future of this place. First, the restaurant was at maybe 25% capacity but there still appeared to be 3 servers so it was odd that we had to wait nearly 30 minutes even for a table. Then it was another 10 minutes to get our drink order, and then another 15 minutes before we were able to put in our food order. Our salads and soup came out and we were pretty underwhelmed. My wife and mother in law's clam chowder seemed as if it came out of a can and was pretty bland. My daughter and I had salads and the produce was old, wilted, and not super appetizing. My Caesar salad was drowned in dressing to make up for it but it was just way too much for me and the croutons were stale and pretty flavorless too. The entrees came out less than 5 minutes after we were served our soups and salads so something was off with the expediting in the kitchen and there wasn't really enough room on the table as a result. I had lasagna and it was inedible to me. It was basically a frozen lasagna that was reheated in a microwave, with a single slice of mozzarella cheese slapped on top. It was sitting in a watered down pool of very bitter tomato sauce / soup , with no other flavor, and the texture was way off. After the first bite, I knew I wouldn't be able to eat it. I tried to finish my salad and then went back to the lasagna to give it one more chance but there was just no way. My daughter had fettuccini with shrimp and she felt like the shrimp were close to going bad. They smelled super fishy and the texture was pretty rubbery so we figured her course was probably microwaved like mine was. My wife had linguine and meatballs which she's had there before and enjoyed a lot but she had the same bitter tomato sauce / soup situation under her noodles that I had under my lasagna and the meatballs were so heavily spiced that she had to give up after a few bites. All told, none of us were able to stomach more than a couple of bites and the waitress didn't even seem surprised that we didn't want boxes to take home the rest. I'm guessing she's run into that before. She also didn't really check in with us and getting even one refill on our drinks took her 4-5 trips for some reason (she seemed stressed). If I had to guess, she may have been trying to shield herself from unsatisfied diners. Something has definitely changed here. It used to be a warm and friendly place with lots of full tables and tasty smells coming out of the kitchen. It seems now that they're buying low quality, bargain basement ingredients to cut costs perhaps. And I don't know if they're really cooking in the kitchen anymore or if it's become a microwave and serve type of situation. I honestly felt like one of the diners jn an episode of kitchen nightmares and I really hope they're able to turn it around. I'm not going to be going back, any time soon, though. We didn't want to ask for replacement dishes because we weren't confident that any of them would be better. We dropped $60 with basically nothing to show for it in the end. We're not the type of diners to make a big scene over this kind of thing, but we figured we should let other potential diners know. You're probably better off eating elsewhere until this place makes some changes.