Johnny Rockets

Amazing food, great service, and decent prices! I got the smokehouse burger and it was amazing. The fries were good and added cheese, it’s worth the extra $ because it puts them over the top yummy!

This was the first time I have been to Johnny Rockets. I was really excited to try out their gourmet cheese burger. I went there for lunch and I ordered the classic Johnny rocket single on the side of fries and a root beer float. Everything was just perfect. The waitress was really friendly and they draw a nice smiley face with ketchup. I think it was cool. The place was really clean and with some good POP music going on. The staff were really friendly. Quick service, great burger and nice ambience! Overall good experience

Service is terrible. Every time. Management does not train well or manage well. The ambience is not like other JR’s where they sing and dance. Food is so-​so.

Who doesn’t like a good burger joint? Too bad this place doesn’t qualify… I’ve been to this Castleton location now on 3 different occasions spread out over a year. There is just nothing I can find about the place that would justify a positive review. The fries are close to what you expect at home out of bag from your freezer and the burgers just don’t taste good. So much grease from the burgers that your bun has no chance against it. And if your only reason to go is for that 1950s diner feel… Save some money and go to Steak-​n-​Shake where the food tastes much better at about half the price. Sorry, but there are too many choices in this category not to bring something better to the table!

Despite the fact that I consider myself a rather hardcore fan of Johnny Rockets as a restaurant chain, I have more often than not found myself disappointed with this particular location that sits on the front of Castleton Square right next to AMC Castleton movie theater.
If you look at the photographs that accompany this listing, you should first and foremost realize that most of them are not from this particular location. While the ambience has occasionally been right at this location, I’ve always found this particular Johnny Rockets to be less fun, less spirited, and looking a bit more run down than the other Central Indiana locations including downtown’s Circle Center Mall and the Greenwood location.
This was actually my second attempt in the past week to visit this Johnny Rockets. My first attempt a few days back was squelched by a crowded restaurant with no seating left except for a couple of two-​top tables that are located in the middle of the aisle that goes down the restaurant between their booths and their old school soda fountain area. While I understand their space is limited, the simple truth is that the design is horrid and certainly not wheelchair friendly in any way. I more frequently visit the Circle Center location that is far more spacious and comfortable even if it is located actually in the mall rather than on the outside of it. If you’ve never been to a Johnny Rockets, it’s modeled after a 50’s diner and features your usual American grill type fair including burgers, hot dogs, shakes, and assorted other sandwiches. They also play music from the 1950’s and, as a standard practice, there are certain tunes where you’ll suddenly look up from your meal and see the crew either lip syncing, dancing, or singing along to the tune. With the right crew, it’s a tremendously entertaining thing to watch and I’m always disappointed when I visit and it doesn’t happen.
As I was noting, my last visit ended when I declined to be seated at a two-​top. It’s in the middle of the aisle and I always get blocked in. Plus, I tend to get bumped during my meal and with the décor it always feels like I’m eating in the middle of my kitchen floor.
So, I went back today after attending an promo movie screening and decided to give it another shot. They were pretty crowded again, but I managed to convince the host to give me a four-​top that simply needed to be cleaned. My server apologized for how long I waited for the table to be cleaned and then waited for her to arrive (which was a tad too long), but she was friendly.
I ordered a cheeseburger with fries and an unsweetened iced tea. It seemed to be a new deal that you could essentially build your own burger. I’m not sure when this started, but it’s a decent deal. Their website says it starts at $ 5.49 and most toppings are free with cheese, at $ 1.00, being a notable exception. I’m pretty sure the price here at this location actually started a bit lower. For the longest time, they had daily specials you could order and get their American fries as an «all-​you-​can-​eat» side. I know that was still true last week when I went in, because it was on the sign out front. However, today there was no sign and I saw no indication it was still in effect. That’s a shame, really, because the «side» of fries you pay extra for is absolutely pathetic. It was a few steak fries with both the fries and burger served on a small plate that makes it look like even less of a value for an over $ 11.00 meal in total when you toss in the $ 2+ for the drink. If they do still offer the french fry deal, I’m a bit miffed that my server didn’t bother to offer it.
Overall, I still have to say that this is a disappointing experience. This really is the kind of place you mainly go either for the novelty or because you’re at the mall anyway. It’s definitely not a destination spot. You can find better burgers and fries in any number of places locally, while the service is average and the value, especially it the fry deal is gone, is below average.

Cute little burger and shake shop.
Insanely slow during lunch time. Better off calling your order in or skipping this spot all together.

Went here with my kids before a movie. I didn’t know this but you can get a special Dinner and a Movie deal if you go before you see a movie at AMC. Unfortunately, this wasn’t worth the stop. The floors were disgusting, cover with pieces of food and dirt. I didn’t even want to put my shoes on the floor. The food was okay. The girls had mini cheeseburgers and mini hot dogs which were perfect for them. I had the Original cheeseburger and sweet potato fries. The sweet potato fries were by far the best of the dinner. They were very well cooked, small and not too salty. Our waiter, bless his heart, was very good. Thanks Hayden! He was always at the table with a smile which was needed to keep spirits up, especially with all the small children running a muck nearby… total lack of parenting. You have some work to do Johnny R!!!

Dinner and a movie. Call it a date! Love the burgers and thick shakes. Discounted AMC Movie passes, saved some cash. My 2 year old son danced with the servers to «Rockin Robbin», it was AWESOME!

I found most of the reviews about this restaurant were before 2012… I guess that is why it didn’t get a good score. I do not know the things before, but I want say that now Johnny Rockets made us feel happy. I and my best friend Echo went to here on Friday evening around 5:30 pm after finish shopping and we feel so lucky that we were happen to see their guys’ happy dancing. The guy who took care of us is very kind. The burger and strawberry banana shake certainly taste wonderful !!!

I loved this restaurant. I went for the first time before I went to the movies with my son. I got to see the staff dance which made our visit amazing! The food took a while to cook considering they were not very busy but regardless, they made sure we got to our movie on time. I loved the atmosphere and I loved that they went out of their way to make my son happy.

never got to eat, with booths empty it took over 35 minutes for our order our waitress kept checking on our order but they could not produce! We saw several others walking out also. Ask for the manager to come over to our table he never appeared! This was a Saturday afternoon 5:30, will not be back! it’s just Burgers and fries how long can it take?

Ick. That’s all I can say. There were several tables that had not been cleaned, the floor was less than clean and the service workers were all wearing the dirtiest aprons… all on a Sunday afternoon?! Where they that busy with the lunch rush? I think not.
As for the food~ double ick. The burger was way, way overcooked and very, very dry. The milk shake was good, but not worth the $ 4 price tag… shoulda gone to Houlihan’s.

My wife had promised me that if I went to see Twilight, we could get a burger and milk shake afterward. We got there about 9pm, the rush had just ended. It took a couple of minutes to get seated, the young man who greeted us ended up being our server because one of the other «girls» was too busy. This turned out to be a good thing. He was very friendly and prompt.
My wife ordered a Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich she ranked it about a ⁷⁄₁₀. I hassled her and told her that you can’t order that type of sandwich at a burger joint (as usual she didn’t take my advise ;)). I can confirm the cheese steak was good, there was plenty left for me to have lunch the next day. It was a solid choice.
As for the burger, it was similar to a steak-​n-​shake style burger. Actually the whole place was like a old fashioned looking steak-​n-​shake. My wife even commented that she wondered if this was the look that steak-​n-​shake was going for. Anyways, the burger was solid! Nice and hot, great topping and a good bun. It was a far cry from a gourmet burger (which is a good thing in my mind). Our server even brought me out a side of the St. Louis Sauce (shout out to my old city), but it was gross. I was not brave enough to try the St. Louis burger and after tasting the sauce I’m glad I did not. It supposed to be a mix of mayo, hot sauce and (not sure)…
The fries were good steak fries.
As for the Milk Shake (shout out to Linda :)) It was great. They had a big selection with lots of different combos (ala steak — n — shake). We chose the Mocha/​Fudge which was an awful lot like the Arbys Jamocha. lol But it was good, actually great. We watched the guy hand scoop the ice cream which is always a big plus. It was also served like the old fashion ones where they give you the metal container with the left overs (a big plus). It wasnt the biggest shake and my wife and I finished it before our food came. It was 4.75 kinda pricey IMO for the size.
The place had a nice ambiance to it, with jukeboxes at the table that you can pay 5 cents to pick a song. The service was great, he even drew a smiley face in ketchup for our fries. The bathrooms could have been cleaner, you could tell it was just past rush. Overall we liked it, it was very cold in there. And if there would have been an outdoor table open we would have loved to sit outside and people watch (its by the mall).