Johnny Buccelli's Review

Location: 5091 N. Hamilton Road, Columbus, OH 43230

Johnny Buccelli's is a sub place that has a little more. You can also find pizza, soup, ice cream and hamburgers on the menu. Pretty basic menu that tries to provide something for everyone.

Design:

Brad: I'm not going to hold the punches on this place. The interior is terrible. Callie and I walked in and we were immediately confused. They appear at first to be a sit down restaurant but you really bus yourself. The sign wasn't readily apparent so we stood there in confusion for a few minutes before Callie noticed the sign. It's kind of off to the corner in the back. This seems like a very poor design. You should have your order desk in the front and if not, please, put signs where they are easily visible for everyone. The design of the place in general is kind of weird. They have a sit down counter for people just in the middle of nowhere. Booths that snake around into nothingness in a corner and another half booth, half chair deal that just sits in the middle of the place. It's a very unconventional and inefficient design for a restaurant. My other big complaint is that there was only a single soda fountain so you spent the entire night battling other customers just to refill your drink. The music here is also very loud and you tend to feel like you're being assaulted by the noise. Very poorly designed and if I was giving it a score out of 10 I would probably say it was a 3.



Callie: As a new customer Johnny Buccelli's is extremely confusing. You walk into what LOOKS like a restaurant where a hostess will be seating you. So you wait, and peer around, until you happen to see the Custard sign. You walk towards it looking for answers and see there is a line to order, like Subway. I saw at least two other sets of Newbies go through this ritual. We sat down and waited for our names to be called. Between 2 trips to the drink fountain and one trip to get the food I was very frustrated with the layout. To get back to my table I either had to go by the crowd at the drinking fountain or walk by the door, where people were standing not sure what to do. I did not realize how loud the music was until after w3e left and I was immediately grateful for the silence. I also give the design a 3.

Service:

Brad: This is a hard one for me to rank. The way this place operates, you go up to the counter, order and then they call your name when it's ready. The guy calling out the orders on the P.A. system mumbled pretty badly so it felt like a fluke more than anything when we heard our names called. You also have to bus your dishes at the end of the night. Now understand; this place is charging the prices for a sit down restaurant here. I want a waitress and service when I pay these prices. If I want to bus myself then charge me fast food prices or set things up more like a deli.



Callie: When I ordered my Philly Cheese steak, I said " No mushrooms, please." As they did not have a sign up listing what they put on a Philly Cheese steak. She said " There are no mushrooms, do you want the peppers and onions?" I said yes please. When I received my Philly it had Lettuce Mayonnaise and tomato on it. If she took the time to ask me if I wanted onions and peppers I think she should have mentioned the cold veggies as well. You could barely hear your name when it was called, and everything else you had to get yourself. You also had to bus your own table according to their directions. I give the service a 2.


Food:

Brad: The main event. Since this was a new place I decided to go safe and order a hamburger with french fries. I went with some bacon, mayo and provolone cheese on my hamburger. Our names were called and I headed up to the counter and I could immediately see there were going to be problems. It was a pretty pathetic looking burger. So I started off by trying my french fries. Nothing special but not bad either. They were crispy and not seasoned to death like some restaurants tend to do. I was pleased with this part of the meal. I tend to be very picky about my french fries. They need to be crispy but not hard. Too much seasoning and I get annoyed but I also don't want bland fries either. So I would classify these as acceptable. They were a little bland but a little salt did them some justice.

Now the burger. Oh, this sickly black slab they tried to tell me was a hamburger patty. For starters. I can do well done and not mind it. I tend to prefer medium but I'm pretty flexible as far as having a charred outer layer. I kid you not, there was more charred outer layer than there was edible beef on this thing. What little beef left was so overcooked that it was a pretty dry affair. The bacon, which cost me an extra dollar by the way, was really smokey and unfit for a burger. It had a very strong taste and distracted away from the hamburger. It really felt like a chore to finish this thing. I was really hungry and it cost me $8.50. So I finished the hamburger and really felt like I had had to work to do it. To add insult to injury, I offered a piece to Callie and she took one bite and was done with it. One a scale of 10 I'd give the food a 3.5.



Callie: I ordered a lemonade, philly cheese steak and french fries. I do not recommend the lemonade. They hand make it, like fair shake ups, which I was excited about until I tasted it. It barely had any lemon taste. The cheese steak was not impressive. There was more bread then anything else. I did not want the lettuce, tomato or mayo that was on the sandwich that I did not ask for nor was I asked about. It was better then Brad's burger though, which was disgusting. The fries were good, probably the best part of the meal. Vinegar being available was a plus. Based on my meal I would give the food a 4. Based on Brad's meal I would give the meal a 1 .

Other Patrons:

Brad & Callie: This place was crawling with kids. Very loud kids. Callie and I usually try and sit away from children but it was unavoidable here. They were just everywhere and bouncing off the walls. I'd say it detracted from the meal but my burger accomplished that solo. Now please, understand, Callie and I don't hate kids, we just get annoyed when our dining experiences are ruined by ill behaved children. This isn't the fault of the restaurant but I have noticed having the same issue over and over again at the same place. It's why Callie and I will mention it in our reviews. It was really hard to tell. Everyone seemed to be packing a coupon, Callie and myself as well, so we couldn't really gauge the type of people it brings in. I would say probably families with small children judging by the menu and the service level.

Final Thoughts:

Brad & Callie: We were not impressed with Johnny Buccelli's on any level. The food was bad, the place was loud and the price wasn't right. I believe Callie summed it up best "I could've gotten a better version of this sub at Jersey Mike's for $5." We had a coupon that made the final check something like $10. So we ate for pretty cheap. We would have been pretty upset if I had paid full price for what they gave me. Our final score for Johnny Buccelli's is a 3 out of 10.