Johnny's Italian Steakhouse - Altoona

The only thing I was disappointed about is that I did not know you had to request a table instead of a booth at the time I placed my reservation. The guy at the desk was snotty and I did not appreciate it. At first he said he could get us a table if we could eat in an hour, then he changed his mind and said the wait would be another 90 minutes for a table. We had 2 larger people with us and I know they felt quite uncomfortable with the attention! In the future, I will be aware, but it was totally unnecessary. Luckily the service and food helped with our initial impression.

This reservation was for my daughter and 7 friends on prom night. The reservation was made about two weeks in advance. In fact, there were two reservations for tables of 6 each for 6:15 p.m. During the weeks prior to prom, some of the couples decided to dine elsewhere. I spoke to someone on the day of the reservation who said she could accommodate a table of 8 so that they could all seat together and then cancelled the second table. This was very much appreciated. All of the party arrived about 5 minutes early, but did not get seated until about 6:55 (40 minutes after the origin reservation). The thing that is upsetting is that there was a different party of 8 adults who came in an hour EARLY for their reservation and asked to be seated immediately. They were seated immediately. I just feel as though they should have been asked to wait and maybe you should have seated the party that had the reservation that was now 40 minutes late. To end on a positive note, my daughter did say that their wait person was wonderful and the food was delicious. She had no other complaints other than you seated a party that was early and made her party wait even longer. Thank you!

Food was great, service was outstanding. I highly recommend!

Crab stuffed snapper was over cooked on the bottom making it incredibly tough but the steak de burger and raviolis were amazing.

Enjoyed our time very much ay Johnny's. One thing none of the three of us enjoyed was temp. We were all freezing, seemed like the cold air blew directly on us. We were all very uncomfortable.

Always a great experience especially with Marissa serving us.

I said that the noise level was quiet, which was true for this visit (5:30 - early). We have been there other times during the peak of the dinner hour when it can be noisy. Still not nearly as loud as many other restaurants. One does hate to have to yell at dinner companions.

We were celebrating our first anniversary and chose this restaurant. I ordered a ribeye medium rare and my wife ordered a strip steak medium. Both were well done. By the time the waiter came back to the table to check on things we were already eating the food because it was almost 15 minutes later. When I told him that both steaks were over cooked he said “ok would you like for me to have them put a couple more on the grill, I said no because it was already getting a little late for us. He said “ok and literally just walked away. Nothing more was said about it from him. By the end of this experience I was actually getting more and more upset that a manager didn’t at least stop by to offer an apology. When he brought me the bill my meal was taken off. He never said a word that anything was going to happen. I felt that someone should have at least stopped by to offer an apology and let us know what was going on rather than me just getting the bill and seeing that my meal was taken off. Not what I would have expected in a nice restaurant like this. I wasn’t impressed at all.

It’s our new favorite place for dinner
The bartender is great at listening and making new drinks

We had made online reservations at 7PM thru Open Table and were seated promptly at 7 even though 2 from our group had not yet arrived. Marissa was our server and she was very friendly, attentive and knowledgeable regarding the menu and specials. Everything came out of the kitchen promptly and as ordered. They were able to accurately split the bill and did not rush us or make us wait to receive the check. Perfect evening and the good is absolutely delicious. My favorite steakhouse menu in the Des Moines area.

Great food, great wait staff, too noisy, overall. I'll be back for sure

Great food,attentive waitress, & wonderful atmosphere with special friends!

Our first experience was awesome! Our waitress, I believe maybe Michelle? She was amazing super fast and so kind! Dessert was amazing! We will definitely be back for another date night soon!

This was probably our last visit to Johnny’s. We’ve been here several times in the last 12 months, probably at least six or seven and each time the bill is around $150 so we’re talking a $1000 Over the course of the 12 months. It’s really unbelievable but every time we’ve often reserved a booth or a hightop in the bar area, and are consistently told we can’t have it when we arrive. No matter how much we try and call in advance, make adjustments to our regular reservation time or anything else that might give us a better chance, they’ve never accommodated that request for us without almost begging or waiting additional time for somebody to get up and leave. Very unaccommodating front staff. When we arrived we were seated in a booth and it took quite a while for someone to come to our table. From that point on I asked her if she could expedite the service due to the delay, and she was very receptive. However we noticed people around us getting their entrées and we still had not received our entrées, and at one point the server came out and explained that somebody left one of our entrées in the oven too long and it burnt. So I kindly ask them to bring whatever entrées were ready and continued to wait for the third entrée to come. And really once it did come out, the quality was not what I had hoped. So we really now kind of have a bad taste in our mouth with regard to this restaurant and when the service and food Consistently deteriorates over the course of the year, we are going to look somewhere else for More dependable service for that kind of money.

Michelle gave great service, the food was plentiful and tasted great.

The food was great and the waitress was awesome!!

We had a party of six and two of the ladies in the party had recently had birthdays. Celeste was our server. We have had her serve us a couple of other times she is friendly and attentive and more than willing to explain items on the menu. She did an outstanding job and has every time she has served us. Johnny’s at Altoona is one of our absolute favorite places to dine. Keep up the outstanding work! Thank you

I took my wife out for her birthday last Saturday night - and as we have been to your restaurant several times, this was where she wanted to go as we have never been disappointed in any way with your facility. We were seated in a very nice booth location, had wine, had a fantastic waitress who earned her tip for sure with her recommendations and service. The food was exquisite as always and again, the service was amazing as well. We will be back!! K & K

Service and atmosphere was impeccable. The food was as good, and filling, as I expected from such a highly rated establishment, but the price for what we got and all that we enjoyed was downright amazing!

One of our favorite places to dine! Great service and food!

My dinner was great as always. My sever did an excellent job. Great wine selection also. Always enjoy my trip to Johnny’s

Our party of four to a person described their meal, ranging from pasta, veal to steak as excellent. Service was prompt, attentive but not intrusive. Meals were presented nicely and were hot. Bar service was excellent and delivered a nice, balanced Old Fashioned.
Will definitely dine here again when in the area.

Good time and food was good as usual

Service was a little inexperienced. Drinks and shrimp cocktail were delicious. Salads were good. Entrees were served lukewarm at best. Server did not check back in a timely manner after serving entrees and was informed about temperature of food when she did return. Server and manager both offered us fresh food but we had already eaten half of our plates. This has happened to us before, the food is hit or miss. But sometimes everything is so good that it keeps us coming back. Without us asking the manager did adjust our bill. We enjoy the bar and bartender and seem to have better luck with our food there.

Our waitress is what made this so bad... also when the food came out Luke warm. You know this before you take your first bite because the butter would not melt in the baked potato..
She never asked if we wanted refills on drinks.. cocktails.
My chicken was very dry and cold.
Bad all around

Birthday celebration for my husband with a group of friends. Perfect for this! Food and service were top notch. Highly recommend.

We asked for a quiet booth so that we could have a nice visit with our friends who joined us and we had a perfect location! This was our third visit to Johnny's and we again had a great experience. Our server was very attentive, we loved the fresh popovers, and all of us enjoyed our entrees. We'll be back!

We had a party of 5 in a booth. It was very cramped. Two were kids. We asked for a larger table, but couldn’t because of future reservations. Since we also made a reservation it was confusing why we couldn’t be accommodated. That’s a lot of money and time to spend all while being uncomfortable. Our server was wonderful.

The service was meh. The tables around the bar were quite exposed to one another and there was a very inebriated diner next to us (not Johnny's fault). Server did not have a wine recommendation, something I would expect from 1) an Italian 2) steakhouse. Italian wine selection was slim. Appetizers (mushrooms and toasted ravioli) were good. Biggest disappointment was the risotto. It appeared to be cooked with regular long grain or medium grain rice, not arborio, was not creamy at all and instead sat in a pool of liquid (broth?) and butter, and was flavorless. The steaks were amazing. If I were to only rate the steak, I'd give it 5 stars. Broccolini was also delicious. Creme brulee was not adequately torched and therefore left the topping grainy rather than a smooth, crisp crust.

Great service!

I took my daughter to Jonny’s For dinner. The food was fantastic and the service was great. My daughter is a waitress and she was impressed. That’s about the best feedback a restaurant could get. We will be back.

Steak prices seem a little high. Baked potato was over done and soft. Bread was blah, only one type served. Cheese cake was unimpressive. Cheesecake Factory had better bread and cheesecake and prices.

Some of the friendliest staff in the country!
A must see to believe.

Excellent food and didn't feel rushed even on a Saturday evening.

I have been to this location several times and I have never had the experience we had Saturday night. We sat at the bar until our table was ready. That was great! We then were seated at a table that had not been cleaned, there was a shrimp tail or something on the table from the previous guests. Fine whatever. We ordered the waitress did not ask the occasion, which they usually do. Fine whatever. My husband ordered a rare steak, I ordered a medium well. (I first tried to order steak Rockefeller or something like that but they ran out? )When our food was served, my husband’s was completely cooked and mine was fine. He sent it back, then the waitress disappeared for a long time. He’s steak was delivered by someone else not our waitress. I ran out of water, asked the nice waiter named Nick if he could fill my water. He did. Then about an hour after I ate, my stomach was upset.

Very disappointed for a place I frequently visit. I will go back, maybe not for a while, but will start requesting certain servers.

Very good food and attentive staff! Even when it was packed with patrons the staff all found time to make sure you were happy and satisfied.

We have found our favorite restaurant! We go often.

Great food and atmosphere. Took my wife there for date night.

Quality steak and delicious sides, great service and ambiance.

Very busy due to Valentine dinners but food was excellent and service was good!