Johnny’s Grill on the Lake

Wow– I was just scrolling looking for their menu online and ran across some reviews. I’m SHOCKED at the people complaining abt the food. EVERYTHING I have ever ordered has been GREAT! The servers are hit or miss, yes, but the food? They’re crazy. I’ve had their strawberry chicken salad multiple times, their chx fajitas and quesadillas multiple times, BBQ chicken pizza, calzone, and many more. It’s always been FANTASTIC! I will continue to come here by boat and by car. Love it!

Myself and 7 others ate here last Sunday ⁶⁄₁₂ for my boyfriends birthday. The place was very empty except for a handful of tables and a small private event. Upon ordering we were told there was no pizzas or calzones available… Which is what half the table wanted. We then had to change our orders. 2 – 3 members of our party ordered tuna melts as their backups. 25 minutes later… When the non tuna melt orders were ready and about to be brought out… The waitress informed us that the kitchen was also out of tuna? So… As most of the table is eating, others are now placing their 3^rd order! They were also out of Angry Orchard… I am vegetarian and ordered fajitas because they didnt have pizza. I was served a plateful of grilled onions with 4 small slices of peppers and charged over$ 10 for an onion basically. It ruined our night and experience. The manager was busy, when we asked to see one and we were offered no concessions for our horrible experience. The only reason I gave 2 stars is because the server tried her best and the lakeside dining was nice. None of us will ever eat here again due to their lack of caring about our experience.

The only thing I have ever gotten here is the fajitas and they are fantastic. Excellent cuts of meat. The service here is adequate and the drinks are good. Nice local family friendly bar.

Food was terrific and promptly served. We sat outside along the lake. My husband liked the beer special :)

I love this restaurant because of the view as well as some of their menu choices (the turkey pretzel sandwich is extremely good as well as their burgers), however the service is inconsistent. More visists with poor service than good. Knowing this I still suggested it last night to a friend, warning her about the service being either good or very poor. Of course I was hoping it would be a night where they were actually staffed with servers, but to my embarrassment it wasn’t. We were told by the bar tender to pick our own table, then waited 5 minutes to even be greeted by a gentleman with menus but he didn’t even ask us if we would like anything to drink. 15 minutes later and still no server so we got up and gave our business to another establishment in the area. I hope the owner gets this taken care of because I really like the restaurant, but if I go back it will be alone and I will not be recommending it to avoid being embarrassed again by the poor service.

Really bad fried food. If you’re just going for a drink it’s ok, but the food is awful.

I’m not a fan.
This place is a giant waste of prime real estate on the lake if I’m being honest. If I wanted to eat frozen pre-​formed burger patties and frozen food service french fries I would go to McDonalds and save $ 5.
I’ve been here a bunch of times but, not by choice. Everyone who comes to visit in the summer wants to come eat by the lake and unfortunately, Johnny’s in your only choice.
The place is dirty, it smells and none of the food is fresh save for the salads. I have lived here for a long time and this place was vacant for years and the previous two attempts to resurrect this location failed miserably which is why it’s so baffling to me that Johnny’s has managed to stay open when their food misses the mark.
This place could do so much better under new ownership or a paradigm shift of the current owner. It can’t cost that much more to mix in some fresh choices. How much more does it cost to hand form a burger patty or cut some fries?
There is nothing on their menu that I couldn’t whip up myself at home with much better quality so, why would I want to come here? I’m happy they have stayed in business so long but, if they want to keep going they should find a chef and not just a bunch of cooks. They could easily make this a destination restaurant instead of just another place in town that happens to be on the water.
Unfortunately, the view isn’t enough to do it for me and I wouldn’t suggest you go here.

I decided to meet a friend here for a late night cocktail. It is a nice place off the water and I believe would be really nice to sit at in the warmer days. I noticed on entering that there was live music here on some days. I went to the bar and had a nice cocktail. A friendly guy down the bar sent us a specialty drink called a Johnny Vegas. It was a great introduction to a new and tasty drink. The staff were kind. There were not too many people here on this particular night. There were a few at the bar but it was a late night. I will plan on checking out the place and even ordering a meal the next time. I think it was a nice environment and it definitely is a plus that it was right off the lake. I plan on visiting again.

Rude.
Great view, but rude. Cheap bar food and not the nicest staff. Won’t be coming back, first time out — last time in. Rude bartender got 25 $ on a 75 $ because she didn’t bring change. We would have probably left that much anyway if she wasn’t such an a-​hole.
But whatever, we just wanted out, so bye Felicia, Johnny’s, pretty clear you felt the same way.
Also, small pours for giant cost.
Also, also. We couldn’t order a salad because they were out. of. lettuce.
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Located right on the water makes for a great view and they typically have great beers and drinks. If the overall experience was a bit better this could be an awesome spot.

Wonderful waitstaff. Excellent service. Great food. Good mix of entrees and bar food. However the pizzas are excellent also. Never had a bad experience.

The best thing about Johnny’s is the view of the lake. I only wish we had come up in our boat because the dockside service would be awesome!
They have a pretty good draft beer selection, I love belgian style ales and was pleased they had several. At $ 6 for a tall, I was really a happy beer guzzling camper! I ordered the spinach/​artichoke dip appetizer which was ok but the tortilla chips were really greasy. I wouldn’t do that one again. For dinner, I ordered a reuben with fries. The fries were awesome, nice and crispy with some sort of crunchy coating. The reuben was ok, a little thin on the meat, tons of sauerkraut and the bread was too greasy from too much butter.
Again, you’re paying for the lake view, the beer was good and cold, the food ok. Next time I’m drinking more and eating less ;)

Best lake view around, and assuming you’re not expecting the general Ann Arbor yuppies, then you’ll love it. The food is solid lake bar fare. The steak sandwich is really good and pizzas look great. If you’re sick of sidewalk dining, then this is the perfect option. Also, it’s huge, so there is plenty of room to sit inside or out.

My friends live on Belleville Lake, so we ride right up to the dock, order, and eat dinner on the boat. Makes for a great summer night. Solid food and drink menu.

I literally felt like I was taken for $ 50 bucks after eating here. My wife and I both ordered the Fish and Chips and were severely disappointed. Our salads were disgusting– the ranch dressing was mostly water and barely resembled ranch flavor. The fish was way over breaded and looked like it just came from the Gortons box. Fries were cold and tasteless. We also ordered drinks, the beers were served in cheap glasses and my wife somehow got plastic. Service was quick and decent but they were arguing with a large group on where to seat them and it was very distracting. This place has so much potential, I would love for it to be a hot spot in Belleville but the quality just wasn’t there.

The word is… slow. Slow waitress slow delivery of drinks slow return to take our food order slow delivery of food (cold undercooked fish sandwich cold fries) another ten minute wait for tartar sauce burger patty melt with wrong bread incorrect draft beer menu and to top it off changed for a side salad that was part of what was included in the meal. A ninety minute leisurely meal and not in a good way. You can tell when a locally owned pub doesn’t have a hands on owner and obviously this place doesn’t. The waitress kept apologizing for the delays and we felt sorry for her but after coming to this place maybe a half dozen times over the past couple of times, this was the last.

Everytime I try this place, either on the boat or the dock-​side patio the service is ALWAYS painfully slow, possibly the slowest I’ve ever experienced. 30+ minutes just to get a couple drinks. I cannot say if it is any better inside. If there were another option on the lake I would not go back here.
Johnny’s has a monopoly on dockside service and they completely waste the opportunity presented to them. Either they are severely understaffed or they just do not care about their boating customers. Not to mention their docks are in a sad state of disrepair.
What a shame.

I expected better from this place, if only based on location. The interior was oddly dark for an early fall Saturday lunch, though we did enjoy watching the boats on the lake.
The food was okay, too, but nothing special. I enjoyed a cobb salad with chicken, which the waitress forgot, and my partner had the slider lunch. No complaints, just nothing to write home about.

This place is in a great location with a good view of the lake, and the prices are pretty good for a restaurant/​bar. I’ve only been here a few times. The hostess will generally say, «The patio is full,» but if you insist on going down there, there’s usually an open spot. I think they just say that so you’ll fill up the lobby area instead of piling on the patio. Sitting upstairs isn’t that great since it’s hot in there, and the beaming sunset is unbearable. The servers are good and routinely come around to check on you. They don’t have Budweiser on tap, but their bottles are $ 2. We ordered three entrees and two drinks, and our bill was $ 32. The burger was pretty damn good.

I stopped in after driving aimlessly one Sunday afternoon. It’s been on my bookmarks and I wanted to get one checked off, so here I was.
This place has the look & feel of just about every waterfront bar & grill I’ve ever been in. There was nothing noteworthy, and it was pretty slow given the wonderful Michigan weather (not!). Service was quick and friendly. I ordered a turkey club on a pretzel roll as I had seem in one of the reviews it got a decent recommendation (thanks Liz!). The food came out in about the right amount of time. I had subbed onion rings for fries, and it looked like it was a good choice! The sandwich itself was good, with the exception of the massive amounts of mayo I had to trowel off it. It was tasty, but nothing I can’t get just about anywhere. The onion rings were really good. Big & thick with a very nice light & crispy (beer?)batter. My only complaint was there were so few of them.
Overall it seemed to be a decent place if your local & don;t wan;t to venture out too far. I might try them again on an evening where things are a little more active.