Johnson's Drive In Restaurant

Great cheeseburgers grilled right in front of you. Served up with nice hot fries by friendly folks, and the bill is less than fast food  ... What more could you ask for?

I haven't eaten at Johnson's in years because their limited hours are very difficult for me to make it by there.  I've told everyone I know how good the food is here. As of today I will NEVER tell anyone about this place again.  I was headed thru town on a business trip with my son.  The timing was perfect for us to get an early seat at Johnson's. I've told him about this place for years and today was the day.  Food was ok, not what it used to be.  The guy cooking (I assume he must be the owner) never used a protective barrier between his hands and the food.  He was grazing on French fries right there in front of me.  The extra cheese is kept at room temperature on a shelf over the grill.   I am also in the food service industry and this is huge infraction!  There's also cross contamination happening everywhere here.  But surprisingly that isn't what bothered me.  It was the lack of customer service.   My son loves sweet tea as most teenage boys do.   Not once did the wait staff or owner turn around and ask me if they could get me a refill.  It seemed like he was more concerned begging for free hats from a customer.  Our drinks were empty after the fries were brought to us (this was 5 minutes before the  burgers hit the counter).  I noticed that the guy beside us, obviously a frequent customer, was receiving refills on his drinks.  I was quite surprised when the waitress never came back to check on us or offer us more drinks.  I sat there and waited for the check which never came, nor did the waitress tell me that they keep the tickets in a basket by the register. So I observed others leaving and then recognized their system (or lack of).  I approach the register and set my small 16 oz empty cup in front of the register and say "I'd like a refill please and to pay my bill". The kid locates my ticket and rings me up, hands me my change then turns around to help another customer picking up a take out order.  I wait  very patiently for him to finish his order and I say " excuse me sir, I'd like to get my refill please". He says "have you already paid?" .  Now remember I HAVEN'T MOVED AN INCH!  I'm still standing where I was when I paid him 2 minutes earlier!!   He then says "I have to charge you for a refill and you've already paid". Now lets look at the obvious...I told him I wanted a refill before I paid and NOBODY ever told me there is a charge for refills.  He could've easily charged me for it 2 minutes earlier when I was paying but didn't care about any sort of customer service.  Now let me break it down for you.   I can make 3 gallons of sweet tea for about $1.75 at my restaurant in Raleigh.  It's a 16oz Pepsi cup with about 6 ounces of ice in it.  Simple math tells you that only about 10 ounces of tea will fit in my already paid for cup.  It costs a business owner PENNIES to refill your glass of tea.   That's why EVERYBODY gives you free tea refills.  But not here...   So I leave and drive two blocks east to Bojangles and pay .99 cents for a 32ounce glass of tea for my teenage son.  Now I'm all about running a tight ship but not refilling a small cup of tea! Unreal!!

I'd read about Johnson's Drive In in an article in Our State a year or so ago and was excited to finally get the chance to eat lunch there today. We arrived around noon and the wait for a table was less than 10 minutes. When the hurried waitress arrived to take our orders I started off telling her I wanted everything but mayo and tomato. She abruptly cut me off and told me to tell her only what I wanted on the burger. Since this was my family's first time I told her I didn't know what came on their cheeseburgers as the only menu is a small lettered board indicating the cost of each item sold. She quickly told me all the way is with chili, onions and slaw. Others in my party asked for pickles but were quickly told they didn't offer those. Everyone else ordered their burgers all the way as well because they could tell the waitress was getting frustrated with us. Whoever compared the wait staff to the Soup Nazi was correct. Drinks arrived first followed by fries which we finished before the burgers arrived. I had to remind everyone to go easy on their drinks as refills were not free. Burgers finally arrived. Mine was good and cheesy but not the orgasmic experience Our State and some of these reviews described. My wife bit into a piece of gristle about half way into hers and that did it for her. I wasn't about to bring this to the attention of our waitress. The other two in our party described their burgers as OK. We all agreed that Johnson's burgers fell far short of burgers from Cook Out, Five Guys and Smashburger. Next time I travel through Siler City I'll keep on driving and stop at Cook Out in Asheboro.