In a nutshell:
Was thrilled to hear my decade-long favorite burger chain of US opening restaurants in India. Experience was vey mixed – from ordinary to extraordinary – but none bad.
Address & other details: Johnny Rockets, Johnny Rockets
Meal for 2: Rs. 1000 onwards
Cuisine type : Vegetarian & nonvegetarian
Disclaimer: All restaurants / eateries reviewed by YUMMRAJ were visited by YUMMRAJ himself & he has paid for the full Bill & tips also. http://www.yummraj.com does not have even one featured / sponsored reviews. YUMMRAJ believes in going to a restaurant in anonymity, as a normal guest, experience everyWe & thing & give a honest account of the same to you.
I rate all the food items & then give a final overall rating which is a simple average of the individual item ratings. What the ratings stand for: 5 = Excellent, 4 = Very Good, 3 = Good, 2 = Fair, 1 = Disaster.
Short description – in case ur in a hurry:
I used to love having Johhny Rockets durng my US trips few years back. I liked the way they wud fry the patty right in front of u (in case u sit on the bar stool) & then arrange everything from scratch & serve hot (unlike the assembly line system of Mc Donalds). The burgers wud b juicy & really YUMM.
So when I heard from a friend that Johnny rockets was coming to India, my first reaction was ‘will they serve cheeseburgers’? The answer that I got was ‘No’. Was pleasantly surprised to see tenderloin burgers being served here in the restaurants.
The menu card was full of food pics with reference to the items on the menu & had good description of the food served.
The interiors of the restaurants bear a typical American diner look. Chequerboard black & white tile floor, wooden furniture seating, loud music & a colorful jukebox right near the entrance.
The staff wear a uniform that stands out from most in India. The Management seems to have consiously kept the gender ratio balanced while recruiting staff. The staff members were well versed with the food items that were there on menu.
The walls had huge retro american pics on them.
Liked all the food that we had. Some were outstanding. Others were just good.
Detailed description – in case u have the time to njoy reading:
This post is a culination of eat outs on 2 different days – 1 in select city walk saket & 1 in ambience mall gurgaon.
Day 1, saket:
We tried the Original Burger to start with. This burger, I was told has been around since 1986. My reaction – ‘Hey have I evolved over time that what I absolutely loved in my earlier visits to the US now seemed good but not great.
Neither is it anywhere near the beef burger that u get at sen5es, Pullman Hotel, Gurgaon. Well the one at Sen5es is for Rs 1800 when I last had it. This one is less than 1/3 rd the price.’
For the Original nonveg burger, the options for patty were aloo, ultimate veggie, mushroom, soy, panko paneer, chicken & tenderloin. The patty was accompanied with fresh shredded iceberg lettuce, tomato, chopped onions, relish, pickle, mustard & mayonnaise. The options for bread was whole wheat or maida.
we chose the regular bread for this. If was actually normal maida bun. The neat patty was juicy and soft.
We chose the tenderloin filling & maida bun. The meat was soft, juicy & nice. It burst into juices with a bite. Miles better than mc Donald’s. I personally think this is kilometers ahead of the zinger burger and other burgers.The other fillings were also good. Relish tasted really nice.
However the maida bun proved to b a bad choice. It was as flat & tasteless as a Mc Donalds bun. Overall the burger lacked the zing – it was good but not great. Rate it 3/5.
Post this we ordered Houston nonveg burger. This one was relatively more spicy than the original & was made with Jalapenos, pepper jack cheese, iceberg lettuce, fresh tomato, spicy sauce. For patty we chose tenderloin & for bread we chose whole wheat. Loved this one.
The patty was juicy & had robust flavors due to addition of accompaniments. The bread was really nice & had a character of its own. Overall, loved muching on this burger. Rate it 4.25/5
We enjoyed the burger with 2 drinks:
Chocolate peanut butter – Had a strong peanut butter flavor. Chocolate made its presence felt as well. Differentaited from regular smoothies & drinks sold in most parts of Delhi NCR. Loved it & rate it 4/5
Chocolate strawberry kiss – This one was good but nothing great. Thick liquid with strawberry & choco flavors to it. Rate it 3/5
The Onion rings were good but nothing amazing as well. They were crispy & has sub optimal seasoning. Tasted good with the dips but nothing great as it is. Rate it 3/5.
We had high hopes while ordering Cheddar apple pie. It put us off when it was served. A slice of cheese kept atop a regular apple pie , microwaved & served. However, a bite in to it impressed us. The pie was not unidirectionally sweet. It had a tinge of salt that came only from the cheese & that made a huge difference to the otherwise usual pie. Liked it a lot & rate it 3.5/5
Day 2 : Ambience mall, Gurgaon.
This time I was alone & hence ordered just Bacon cheddar double burger. It had, as the name suggests – Smoked bacon, cheddar cheese, iceberg lettuce, fresh tomato. It was just Mind blowing. I chose a double patty of tenderloin with wheat bread. Juicy, robust, bursting with flavors & just too good to taste. Perfect seasoning.
It was just Awesome . Very filling and fulfilling. Rate it 4.5/5.
To balance the mammoth burger, I also tried lemonade. Loved it. Simple, refreshing, strong & the best it cud get. Rate it 4.25/5.
Overall rating of food & beverages at Johhny Rockets averages out to 3.7/5 – Quite high, I wud say for a chain restaurant. I wud keep going in here to eat my favorites. What r u thinking of doin?
My 2 visits to Johnny Rocket – the newly opened Burger chain in Ambi Mall Gurgaon was left wanting. The first experience was mediocre…The Philly Steak I had was nothing like the Original and insipid. The second time we went went – my daughters Vanilla Shake came with a fly in it… we pointed it out to the person serving us – and he took it back – and forgot to bring it back. We waited patiently and then finally had to ask him about it at which he said he was sorry he forgot and went on to add that the kitchen was v busy and they were having problems.. !! My Greek salad came without dressing – and when it did come after some minutes was thick and tasted like dressing that comes out of prebottled Salad Dressing – nowhere fresh and crisp..The feta cheese topping smelt and tasted rancid. A real let down. The Houston burgers that the kids ordered were nice and they were happy..
The Apple Pie came served cold.. so I did ask the Person if that was the way it was meant to be served. So he did say it was meant to be warm. I thought he would replace the slice of pie.. since it wasnt satisfactory and came topped with ice cream.. but ihe brought the same slice warmed..(and a tad soggy) with runny vanilla icecream. But considering the restaurant is not under staffed.. if at all there are too many of them in the restaurant.. and yet the service is sloppy and suffers. The restaurant also has an open kitchen that is visible from the outside..as one enters the restaurant.. was horrified to see the floor of the kitchen a mess and a general state of chaos… I wish they could do better
thanks so much for sharing ur experience, Rakhi.
Dear Rakhi, I would like to thank you first for visiting Johnny Rockets and then I would like to sincerely apologize for the experience that you have had, I have taken this up with the store manager and our head of operations and they will start training afresh to re-establish the brand standards, Just to let you know that the menu on offer is a very special menu which has been developed with 1 year of research and development and there is nothing (apart from the wing sauce) that we import, the breads that we serve are not ordinary they are all from a sourdough base as opposed to the regular yeast and baking powder products, the meat is 100% meat with no fillers or enhancers unlike what you would get in the market which usually is only about 40% meat, the shakes are made with a natural vanilla ice-cream base for which we procure vanilla beans directly from a farmer in Kerala, the oil that we use for frying is a trans fat free product, the feta cheese that we buy is from a small artisan in Hissar and he does limited production of cheese. The salad dressings are not bottled and are low fat, they are water based with 10% olive oil and made from a dry formulation probably the reason for you to have compared it to the bottled products available in the market, this is in no way is taking away from the fact that your experience at Johnny Rockets was not good, the reason I have put in this detail is to let you know that we are very serious about what we do and the shortcomings that you have highlighted will be addressed with the same focus and zeal that we have developed this menu. Apologies once again and do give us another chance. Best Regards, Bakshish Dean
Dear Yummraj,
thank you for visiting us and giving us an unbiased review, loved your philosophy on the same. A couple of things that I would like to let you know on the preparations that you sampled at Johnny Rockets.
1. Burger Buns : they are special, they are leavened using a sourdough base, our regular bun which you have referred to maida is not pure maida it has potato flour enhancement, the reason for that is to make it a little firmer yet giving you a soft bite, it has the ability to soak up the juices and hold as you eat your burger. The whole wheat bun has a very high percentage of whole wheat (75%) as opposed to most of the whole wheat products available in the market (less than 45%).
2. Tenderloin : is from local buffalo and is procured from a company of high repute which carries an ISO 22000 certification, we have mixed a couple of tender cuts to ensure that post cooking the meat is tender, moist and flavorful.
3. Onion Rings : they are made in-house with a special recipe where we use buttermilk and sour dough crumbs and they are not extruded, we were earlier buying them from McCain but unfortunately because of FSSAI clearances the product can no longer be imported. As a food lover myself I would like to know from you what are your expectations from onion rings, usually they would be done in a neutral base where the onion flavour can come through and gets enhanced when it is paired with a dip/sauce. Would definitely like to get inputs to enhance them.
4. Apple Pie : this is a home recipe with a double pie butter crust, there are 3 kinds of apples that we use in it – ambri or delicious from kashmir, red delicious from himachal and granny smith from USA, contributing flavour, sweetness and tartness to the pie, a very controlled amount of cinnamon and slow baking (45min-60min), this is 100% fruit, no fillers, this is very different from what the city does, they are primarily a lot of cake crumb, raisins…etc, 40% fruit and a sweet paste which usually is with margarine.
This is relevant information that food lovers appreciate and usually if we know what goes into the dish I personally feel we evaluate and analyze it better.
Have a good day !!
Best Regards,
Bakshish Dean
Hi Bakshish,
Really liked reading this detailed reply written with so much passion & pride. Thanks for all the clarifications.
Onion rings had sub optimal seasoning. I guess it was more of an executional error rather than a directional problem with the recipe. Balance of taste was improper due to salt imbalance.
Read thru almost all the notes. Places ths restaurant hs n Delhi nd Guragoan bt wud hv luvd a little more details on d onion rings i mek them at home bt wantd to hv de receipe on de ones seen n de pic.
Hi valerie, pls see comments by teh restaurant Head Bakshish Dean. That might answer ur question.