Johnny Buccelli's is a fast-casual comfort food spot with two locations in Columbus. It specializes in sandwiches, salads, pizza and pasta. It is definitely not a vegetarian-specific restaurant, but Johnny B's offers a few tasty and fairly-priced vegetarian items on their menu.
I was surprised by the concept of this place upon first entering the dining room. I assumed it was more of a sit-down restaurant with a one-size-fits-all menu a la Friday's or Applebee's. Actually, it turned out to be more of a 30 minute power lunch establishment. Orders are placed at the counter. Service is rapid. The food is also relatively inexpensive, with few dishes clocking in at prices greater than $10.
The menu features about three vegetarian sandwiches, a vegetarian pasta dish, some salads, pizza and a series of tasty side dishes that include potato salad, French fries and potato chips with dip. Both the fries and the chips were excellent additions to the meal.
I tried the portabella vegetarian sub. It had tender grilled mushrooms, lettuce, onions and red peppers in a creamy condiment base on a long sub roll. The subs come in three sizes. The regular was pretty large, so I'm guessing the largest sub is behemoth.
I was surprised that the salads and pasta dishes were more omnivorous than vegetarian. Even though there are options on the menu, the pasta and salad options are heavily slanted towards meat eaters (on a side note, my carnivorous dining companion enjoyed his flesh burger). In a place like Johnny B's, this should be expected. I just bring it up as a minor point on a vegetarian blog about dining. Take it or leave it as you will.
All in all, Johnny Buccelli's was a good deal for a quick lunch. I was satisfied with the service, the prices and the food. Other than my minor complaints that I want more more more vegetarian items on the menu, this should be on my radar for future lunches.
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| Johnny Buccelli's |
2 comments:
I have found the meaty-salad thing to be an annoying trend in restaurants these days. It's nice that they have all of these salads with interesting toppings and then they go ahead and include chicken (or bacon, gross) in the regular salad. I could order without the meat, of course, but it's pretty annoying to pay for chicken that I'm not eating. I prefer restaurants that have an option to add meat to a salad for a small price, they can accomodate everyone that way.
Yeah--it isn't really this place in particular. It is just something that annoys me in general.
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