JohnKing Grill & Bar

Reviews 4

KA

Katherine Gunning

I have never been to a restaurant with such horrible service. My husband and I made the mistake of going here on our honeymoon and I honestly regret wasting such a special time on such a bad experience. After patiently waiting for the hostess (who also seemed to be the Manager on Duty) to finish her lengthy (and very personal) conversation with another guest, we were finally seated in the very back in a dark, dusky corner. Apparently my seat was directly below the controls for the lighting, so after being seated for about 5 minutes (no sign of a waiter yet) an employee came over and asked me to move out of my seat so he could adjust the light. I complied, and was hoping after the adjustment, he might take our drink order. He left without doing so, and we continued to wait for another 10-15 minutes until the woman who seated us returned and I felt sure she was going to take our order, but NO!, she also asked me to get up and move so she could adjust the lighting. After she walked away, I was very close to leaving, but as she passed by again I flagged her down and begged if we could please be waited on...finally she sent over a young lady to take our drink order. We had a simple order of 2 waters and a bottle of wine. 10 minutes later...nothing. We are at almost half an hour of being in this restaurant and we still dont have drinks yet!!! Im staring down to the bar area where all the waiters/waitresses are congregating and I can clearly see our waitress just standing there talking. Again, the manager on duty walks by, and at this point I express my frustration. She heads to the bar to find out what is taking so long and returns shortly with the explanation the waitress was nervous because she didnt know how to properly open a bottle of wine. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. I would have assumed the staff would be trained to handle basic procedures, but apparently I was mistaken. The manager on duty offered to give is the bottle of wine for free (so very kind, since it was probably only a $7 bottle, their cost)...and as I tried to explain how disappointed I was, she cut me off my reminding me again that they were giving us the wine for free...like she couldnt be bothered to hear what an utter failure her staff is because she thinks she is fixing the situation with a free bottle of wine. It is a shame that the service was so wretched, because some of our food was decent. My husbands pizza was half-burnt, but the Italian nachos were good, and so was the lobster/asparagus ravioli. Unfortunately, that didnt make up for the bitter taste in my mouth regarding the service. The Joe Pasta website is also horrible and has a laughable section about employee behavior, which they should either remove or start following immediately. I felt totally disrespected and unappreciated as a customer. Again, I wish my husband and I could have spent our honeymoon having a more enjoyable evening. Luckily, this was our only bad experience in Charleston!

PA

Padget Cowan

I went this past summer (2012) with a friend and her two kids. There was a fight in the kitchen with one of staff screaming that he was going to kick everyones A** and blank you this..blank you that. No management from the restaurant even bothered to stop it and it continued for quite some time. Once the guy left he came back in a few minutes later threatening someone in the kitchen. I asked him to settle down as we had kids with us. One gentleman from the kitchen finally escorted him out and apologized for the disruption. We were sitting just south of the kitchen open style doors so we were witness to it all. I wrote the restaurant and the GM wrote me back apologizing for the issue and promised to send gift cards to make up for the experience. He asked for our addresses and then never sent the cards. I wasnt in it for free food but if you make a promise, keep it. It jus shows me that there is no follow up or customer concern. The food was marginal and VERY slow to come out (could have been the fight...). The walls were dirty and looked like the waitstaff never wiped them or cleaned the wall decorations. I waited tables and ran a restaurant for 14 years and I never would have let my staff leave with it in that condition. The amount of dust and food particles left makes me wonder how they pass a DHEC inspection. I will NEVER go there again and I make sure all of my friends who come into town know about my experience and shy them away from making the mistake that I made by going there. There are so many places on upper king that you need not waste your time by visiting this establishment.

AL

Alexander J. Brinkman

*Three Separate Reviews, chronological order* First review - Now under new management, no longer a pasta place downtown. The food is primarily sandwiches, Burgers and hot dogs. I went in expecting pasta, but the closest thing to it was Mac and cheese. My first thought was "great, another burger place, just what downtown needs" but I was pleasantly surprised. I ordered a Carolina burger, and their chili and beer cheese was really good. Im hardly a chili connoisseur so take me saying I liked the chili with a grain of salt, but being reasonably priced in a good part of town its definitely worth a visit. The mac and cheese was good too. Second visit edit- not sure how difficult "no coleslaw" is. I guess thats what happens when you put a bouncer as a host and waiter. After sending back my order twice for being incorrect, I just gave up. Had to take off a star for lack of consistency. I can understand thats part of adjustment but if you want to be successful through a transition, make it as smooth as possible please. Third review - let me clarify I keep coming back here because I have a ton of gift cards, otherwise I would never come back. How can you have a pathetically short alcohol list and an extremely limited selection of food. At least have one or the other. And the food they do have isnt even good. Ive watched the transition over the past couple months and honestly I dont get how this place is still in business. Dont waste your money here. I reluctantly come here as a broke college student with gift cards. There goes another star. I started with 4.

MA

Mark VanHaelst

I have been frequenting this place for many years. The last 3 visits have been increasingly disappointing. The most recent visit was my final. To start with, our server was poorly attentive. When she did come to the table she was in too much of a hurry to listen to us and frequently did not get us what we needed, For clarity, the restaurant was NOT terribly busy. The menu changes removed several items we have always enjoyed. The chicken in my Chicken Parmesan was decently flavored but had the texture of frozen food section ingredients. The Gourmet spaghetti my wife ordered was ordinary at best (They used to make a gourmet spaghetti that was fabulous. The server told my wife this would be the same. It definitely was not). The sweet tea lacked sweetness. Summary: If $15 - $20 ordinary tasting Italian food with poor service is your cup of tea then this is the place for you! There are many better alternatives in the Charleston area for the money. My advice is to keep stepping! Oh yeah, there is a nightclub up top. The booming music and loud noise really improves the atmosphere of tight spaces and filthy bathrooms. The Mens room is so small you cant change your mind in it without going into the hallway.