Johnny Fresco

Went here for lunch today, It was perfect. Fresh ingredients, friendly staff, good price for what you get, and lots of options. I had the chicken bacon pita and could not be more pleased. I will defiantly be adding this to my list of places to go for lunch.

Burgers are pretty tasty. Chicken gravy poutine is amazing but will probably kill you if you eat them to often. Pita are well pitas there not bad but not very different. Sauces are great. Staff is very nice.

Well, we tried this place for the first time today. Both of us got the home made Swiss melt burgers, one with fries. The burgers are generous and very flavourful. The problem is the SALT… SALT and more SALT. I asked for fried onions and mushrooms and my partner did as well. Well, they made only enough for one burger, so my burger was left literally flaming on the grill while he made more for me (maybe one tablespoon of each and hard to find in the burger!). They forgot to put my bun on to toast so it was held to the grill while he heated it, and again my poor burger was still sitting on the grill, not off to the side, but in flames. Did I mention the burger was very overcooked and charred and tough? My partner’s burger was cooked nicely, which is strange since the orders went in together. My partner got the multi grain bun and it was soft, warm and doughy. Both buns got soggy real quick from not being toasted properly. In addition my burger was drowning in mayo… really — a triple helping of mayo. The fries were awful. Many were limp like a wet noodle, not crisp at all and again the SALT!!! We couldn’t eat them. Tried brushing the salt off a little, but seriously — I have never seen so much salt on fries in my life, not even at Macdonalds! So very disappointing. All that being said since we lack good burgers in K-​W and Little Louie’s is a long drive and not open weekends, we might try it again IF we can get them to leave off adding more salt to the burgers while they are on the grill. The salt content they add to their home made meat mixture is MORE than enough to put anyone into hospital with kidney failure. They do a roaring business in poutine apparently, not my favorite choice, but I can’t imagine it being much good with all the gravy on fries that are already limp and soggy. VERY disappointed. On the plus side the servers are helpful, quick to explain the choices and very friendly. On second thought, we’ll just make burgers at home next time until we find a better place to eat.

I went back, regretfully, again. It’s been five months since my last review and the burger are still horribly overcooked. It’s a patty not a hockey puck.
Please, for gods sake, learn to grill a burger, it isn’t rocket science.

I had Johnny prepare some food for my daughter’s first birthday party. We ordered a family sized greek salad and two pita platters. The salad was presented beautifully and was made with fresh vegetables and lots of feta. The wraps were made with love and tasted great!

They took over the old Donut Queen location. The lamb burgers are the best. Very good vegetarian selection.

I was told that this place has the best burgers in waterloo. After trying almost everything on there menu and other burger places, I would agree that this place does indeed have the best burgers. They are big, juicy, high quality and the bun size is perfect for the patties they make. For the price you get such a big burger that it fills you up and its perfect for students who are on a budget and want a good quality burger.

You have to eat here if you are in the KW area. Poutines are great.

Just finished the bombtastic poutine, it was possible the best one I have ever had.

It’s good ‘fast’ food if you don’t mind a bit of a wait. Food is hot and made fresh, with lots of toppings available. Their chicken sauce and basil mayo are both great additions to any pita.
I usually get a chicken pita and it’s always tasty. The one downside is I always find a rubbery bit in my pita, without fail. You know, the rubbery bit that sticks to the bone? The bit that you’re not supposed to eat and can’t actually chew? It’s always in my pita, without fail. I wish they’d be a little more careful while cutting up their chicken so I wouldn’t find myself fishing a gross little rubbery bit out of my mouth every single time I eat one of their pitas. Another downside is they’ve recently changed their beef gravy and it now has a weird chalky texture. I’d switch to their chicken gravy but it’s pretty gross, so I’ve stopped ordering gravy altogether.
Unfortunately most of the staff aren’t very friendly, and even the owner seems tired and annoyed half the time. I always feel like I’m inconveniencing the staff just by placing an order. Smiling at your customers never hurts!

I had the chicken cesear pita, and boy was it delicious. I was a little apprehensive about trying this place, as I am an avid extreme pita eater, but I was not disappointed.
You can tell that the ingredients are fresh, and they have a HUGE variety of them available. The croutons were crunchy, the lettuce was fresh and the chicken was warm and had obviously been marinated.
The only negative part to my pita was the fact that they don’t toss them (like the better extreme pita restaurants do). So I had to rearrange some ingredients or strategically bite in order to not get a mouthful of lettuce.
This is somewhere I would definitely go back to. Looking forward to trying their breakfast pita with eggs and ham!

2.5÷5, +.5 for the service.
Can’t say I was overly impressed with this place, although I can pick out positives from the burger I had and the place overall.
First, they have options for white or multi-​grain buns, both costing the same. Since I like to be healthy, I chose multi-​grain. Good on them for offering bun options since most other restaurants only offer white buns. Second, they have awesome service, with the employees knowing many of the regulars and offering options for customers to get more value for their meal.
However, I ordered a swiss melt burger… and the patty was extremely dry. They advertised juicy burgers, but my burger was anything but. The grilled mushrooms were minimal, and the grilled onions were pretty much regular raw onions placed on the grill… which actually didn’t taste too bad. Finally, the onion in the onion rings were good, but the coating was too hard and too crispy.
I’ll probably give Sonny’s and Frat Burger a try before I come back here.

Spotted sign on exterior promising ‘vegetarian’ options; felt this might be promising…
Vegetarians visiting Waterloo will want to go out of their way for the pita with the mountain veg with FRIES and TWO FRIED EGGS chucked into the whole mess.
If you are a vegetarian out of your own home your opportunities for a sandwich with a little warmth and heft are tragically limited; Johnny Fresco fills a gap, quite nicely.
Service was pleasant and quick and all ingredients were tasty and fresh. It was an enormous amount of good food for the price.

You know it’s a good thing when there’s a lineup, constantly throughout the day.
Just ordered the garden salad, fresh ingredients to choose fr: cucumbers, green peppers, romaine lettuce, pineapples, mushrooms, red onions, topped w/​mozzarella and cheddar cheese.
Plenty of parking.

The pitas here are great. Waterloo doesn’t have much choice, but while I did my uni studies here for many years, this place was a staple for me.
Can’t go wrong with the chicken souvlaki or greco pitas.
The pitas are very big, and very fairly priced. Better than any of the franchise pita junk in this city.

Do you want fast food? Excuse me. Let me make myself clear. Fast «made-​to-​order» food? If so, then this may be the place for you.
I’ve had their hamburgers and pitas, french fries, and onion rings.
On their pitas, I love the pitas here. (But all the pitas in Canada appear to be the same. Thin with a half opening where all the stuffing can be inserted and then rolled into a «wrap». [I probably messed up the description of Canadian pitas, but … use your imagination!]
They have daily specials which can change from week-​to-​week. Their specials are the best deal. So, if you can find out what the special is and you are a fan of whatever it is, then go!
**Chicken soulvaki Pita.
**Gyro Pita — the gyros are frozen and cooked to order. The actual gyro meat is very thin. I wish it were a little thicker, but at least it’s cooked when you order it, right?
**Tzatziki Sauce — The tzatziki sauce is different here than I’m used to. The tzatziki is just a cream — a thick cream. Different than the Great Wraps (an American chain) tzatziki sauce. I prefer the tzatziki sauce at Great Wraps, but maybe because I grew up on it.
**Basil Mayo Sauce — They have a basil mayo sauce which is pretty good. I added this to my gyro pita because I’m not the greatest fan of their tzatziki. It was a good addition.
Service is quick. They can get busy during lunch, so beware! (The line does go fairly quickly, though.)