I had read many good Yelp reviews about Johnny V’s in J-town and decided to try it. It appears to be a locals favorite. Be sure to park in the back. The lot entrance is just west of Watterson Tr. on Taylorsville Rd. I arrived around 5:15pm on Friday and found plenty of parking spaces. JV’s is a long narrow room with an entrance on each end. The front entrance is on the newly refreshed Watterson Tr. There is a long bar, a centrally located kitchen and table/booth area organized sequentially.
Since my friend had not yet arrived, I sat at the bar (the only patron) and ordered a draught beer. Their beer selection is excellent and they offer a variety of craft beers on tap. I had a Sweet Water IPA. They had Hoptimus, Lagunitas, BBC, and many more. Service was really excellent and they rotate some new beers in on a regular basis.
When my friend arrived, we sat down at a booth to have dinner. My expectations were high since some of the reviews I had read were outrageously positive. One reviewer said he cried when he discovered his new home was outside of JV’s delivery area. Here’s my thoughts:
Menu is very limited. It consists of sandwiches, a few entrees and pizzas. Prices are very low and portions are ample. We had french fries for an appetizer. I ordered the Veal Parmesan, my friend the Spiede Chicken Sub and we had a couple of side salads. For dessert, I had the cannoli, my friend the cheese cake.
Fries were served hot and were seasoned to my liking, not greasy and were tasty. Salad with the tomato basal vinaigrette was mostly lettuce with a little tomato and onion but was fresh, crisp and the dressing was good. My friend must have liked his Spiede because it was gone before I knew it and his cheese cake disappeared in short order. I was not quite so fortunate.
Within 5 minutes of starting our salads, the main course was delivered. For me this consisted of a rectangular piece of breaded veal cutlet (apparently deep fried) on a mound of spaghetti in a bowl with marinara sauce and cheese along with a couple small pieces of ciabatta bread on the sides of the bowl. Must of taken all of two or three minutes to prep.
I finished the meat and left most of the pasta. The pasta and sauce unremarkable, the veal was your standard compressed type breaded, probably purchased frozen patty. It was edible.
The dessert cannoli however was in a category that stands alone. I have never tasted a sweeter dessert in my life. If you took a bowl, mounded up some pure cane sugar, drizzled it with chocolate syrup, added some chocolate chips and whipped cream you might duplicate the taste. I had a few bites but could not continue because my teeth were hurting. If you eat this type fare regularly you will soon be insulin dependent.
Robert Irvine would have a field day at Johnny Vs. Having said all that, I will try them again someday as their pizzas looked good, their service is very good, the beer collection great, and the sandwiches ok. I’m thinking that it’s probably a good place to go for pizza and beer.
In conclusion, dinner for two with three beers and desserts came to about $45 with tip $55. As we were leaving - the place was filling up and business good.
