The Crow’s Nest

Go for the craft beers. Food is just plain BAD. It may be good if you are drunk, been on Survivor for 40 days, or are a fan of Sysco frozen /​fried foods. Service was equally poor.

I’m not quite sure why the people of Johnstown are always complaining, but they need to stop. They also need to break free from their chain restaurant lifestyle and discover what local places have to offer, especially hidden places like this. The things that are focused on in some of the other reviews here don’t really give you the whole feel for the place. One incident does not make for great review, you need to put some meat into that review to make it stand out. With that pun, let’s get into this review.
I have driven past this place on many occasions as it is on the way to my family’s home. Never would have given it a second thought. That might have been because I had thought this place was only a bar for the longest time. After a tip from my sister’s coworker that the food was decent, we decided to give it a try.
Upon entering you have to wait a bit to find a decent enough table, this combined with how hectic it is perceived as to service is why I docked it a star. Seating is tricky, when you enter they want you to sit at the tables located at the front of the house. This can cause chaos because of how they are set up, they don’t like for a group of four to sit at a table for six, but when you have a slight rush of customers that can’t be helped. There is a VIP seating area, but they prefer not to use it immediately, actually I have no idea why it is a VIP seating area as it is just another area in the restaurant (unless they use it for bigger parties or reservations). As far as the service, it can be spotty when busy. The servers may forget they had you as a table, and you may wait a bit.
As for the food, I thought it was amazing. The menu is big on bar food, it is great, it is filling, and you will be wanting to come back for more. Throughout the menu there are items that are Crow’s Nest signature items; try them. That’s all I can say about them. I tried the Asiago and artichoke dip, it is by far the best use of artichokes I have ever had the pleasure of eating. Perfect blend of seasoning in this small appetizer dish. It is served with toasted ciabatta bread slices, they are thin and can break, but that’s ok, just means more dip for you. You also may run out of them while eating this, don’t worry, save the dip and possibly use it for your fries later on. For my main course I chose the Babushka Burger. Anytime you put a pierogie on a burger you got me. Now for burgers here you get to choose mostly everything that goes into it, including the patty. They have a flagship patty and an angus patty. The flagship patty consists of angus brisket, sirloin, short rib and chuck all blended together. It is amazing. Asides from the pierogie it is also topped with cheddar cheese, sautéed onions and a dollop of sour cream. You need nothing else on this burger. NOTHING. My mouth is watering right now because of it. The fries that you can upgrade to appear to be fries that are twice fried. Nice little touch. I also decided to imbibe while I was here and am delighted that they have several different IPAs on tap, and it appears that they change frequently.
**Things to note here. Most nights have a special, if you want to enjoy the burgers at a discount, show up on a Wednesday. They have a build your own burger and build your own pizza section on the menu. Credit accepted. Special events such as comedy shows and small concerts are held within. Free wifi. Kids menu.

The crows nest has very good food, and a strong beer selection. I eat lunch 1 or 2 times a week at this place, never once have I had a bad meal.

The food was OK, not outstanding, not bad. There was an older gentleman and his family during in the table next to us. As they were leaving the gentleman missed a step down, which by the way wasn’t marked, and fell to the floor. Not a single employee made a move to help him or see if he was hurt. A couple of customers helped him up, the staff obviously didn’t care. The lack of concern for their customers was appalling. We will not be back, not because of the food, because of the disregard for customers from the staff.

No bad for the money. Most items are good. Nothing «great». But you know you are not going to a 5 star establishment either. Pretzel logs with beer battered cheese is excellent!

They charge like they are an actual restaurant, and actual fresh food. The even asked how I would like my burger prepared. If I wanted a frozen patty, I would have gone to McDonalds. They even skimped on the ketchup. Brought me out a small cup, and didn‘t put any on my frozen patty (cheeseburger). My girlfriends steak sandwich was the same way, frozen, not fresh. They only had 5 customers at the time, but the bartender was to busy talking to pay attention to paying customers. The menu makes it sound like you‘re going to get some decent food, not frozen garbage out of the microwave. Way over priced and horrible food… And they have little price stickers on the tap handles.

Tried this place after reading the reviews on Unilocal.Very disappointing! Food was just so so. I saw that they had guinness and yuengling lager on tap so I ordered a black and tan… Big mistake! I hear the waitress ask how to make it and when it was brought to the table it looked as bad as it tasted.

Upset about ‘Photograph Policy’– They take a pic of you as you enter the establishment.
They take a photograph of you as you walk into the door, or you can’t get in. This cannot be legal. You have the right to privacy, and this includes imagery of yourself. If you do not want your photo taken, you have the right to say NO. It is harassment for them to force you to get a picture taken.
Unless they have your consent to photograph you, they cannot take a picture of you.
There is no Legality behind their «photo policy». Do not let them tell you otherwise.