Johnny Rockets Combines '60s Atmosphere with Great Food

For a piece of 1960's nostalgia, visit Johnny Rocket's, the Original Hamburger.

The chain of restaurants first opened in 1986 with an eatery on Melrose Place in Los Angeles.

I experienced Johnny Rocket's for the first time when it opened a location in the Mohegan Sun Casino's Casino of the Sky near The Shops at Mohegan Sun.

The restaurant specializes in serving all-American food with waitstaff who are friendly and will occasionally stop what they are doing to sing and dance to such popular songs as the Y.M.C.A.

Juke boxes are located on each table and your waiter will give you a nickel so you can play your favorite oldies song.

For those like myself who were not yet born in the 1960's, the restaurant does an excellent job of creating an atmosphere to celebrate a long-past era that I only have knowledge about through talking with relatives and watching television.

Johnny Rocket's has won many awards for their food including "Best Hamburger" on Los Angeles' Citysearch website, "Best Fries" in Atlanta, "Best Family Restaurant" in San Francisco, and "Best Hamburger" on FOX Miami.

My favorite burger at Johnny Rocket's would have to be the Route 66 which features fresh grilled mushrooms and onions, Swiss cheese, and mayonnaise.

If you are looking for something spicy, I would recommend the St. Louis which features thick bacon, Swiss cheese, grilled onions, fresh lettuce, pickle, and the restaurant's famous "St. Louis" sauce.

Their Rocket Double sandwich features two fresh patties, two slices of Tillamook Cheddar cheese, fresh lettuce, ripe tomato, onion slice, and special sauce.
There are seven other types of hamburgers as well.

They make the hamburgers to order so feel free to ask them to hold the pickle or to add extras that you enjoy to a hamburger that may not already come with your favorite toppings.

Extras they sell include four cheeses which include American, Tillamook Cheddar, Swiss, and Pepper Jack, a "Plus" which is an extra patty, two slices of bacon, chili, egg, grilled mushrooms, and grilled onions.

They also have a variety of sandwiches including chicken club, tuna salad, egg salad, Philly cheese steak, BLT, grilled ham and cheese, and grilled chicken breast.

My girlfriend has tried the tuna salad and chicken club salad and said these entrees were not as good as the hamburgers.

However, I enjoyed the Philly cheese steak and the delicious Nathan's hot dog.

I enjoy my hot dog loaded but you can specify what condiments you want.

Even if you only want an appetizer, Johnny Rocket's is the place to go.

The chili bowl is excellent and for a little variety try the ½ rings and ½ fries, or the chili fries.

Last time I was at Johnny Rocket's, I tried the Rocket Wings, and these were excellent.

Their wings are spicy and boneless served with carrots and celery with either Ranch dressing or Blue cheese for dipping.

To wash it down make sure you order a water and try one of their shakes or malts.

Their shakes are made with vanilla ice cream and their malts are blended with real powdered melt.

Flavors of malts and shakes include Hershey's Chocolate Shake, Vanilla, Strawberry, Oreo Cookies and Cream, Strawberry-Banana, Butterfinger, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Big Apple, Mocha Fudge, and more such as the flavor of the month.

I love the Oreo Cookies shake and the Strawberry-Banana shake.

Nothing compares to the good old-fashioned Hershey's Chocolate Shake for those of us who love chocolate.

They can also make ice cream floats with your choice of soda pop ranging from Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Barq's Root Beer, Pibb Xtra, and Fanta Orange.

Beverages can be flavored with Hershey's Chocolate, Cherry, Vanilla, and Lemon.

There is a kids menu as well with such favorites like Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches.

Top it all off with delicious fresh baked Apple Pie or a hot fudge sundae featuring vanilla ice cream with hot fudge, whipped cream, and roasted almonds.

The Mohegan Sun location has become so popular; the restaurant's seating area was recently expanded and as a result there is more seating for large groups of people and a large screen television displaying nostalgic images of the 1960's.

While the restaurant is smoke free, the hallway outside the restaurant is not which means smoke drifts into the restaurant.

There are a variety of seating areas including the counter, two seat booths, and booths for larger parties.

You can even get food to-go if you like and enjoy it at home though I will recommend that if you do this not to order the French fries or onion rings.

While the French fries and onion rings taste great in the restaurant, they don't microwave that well while hamburgers will microwave pretty good if your burger is cold by the time you get home.

Other locations I have been to include the eatery in the Connecticut Post Mall in Milford, Connecticut which is in a food court and has only counter seating with nearby food court seating, and the full restaurant in the Shops at Evergreen Walk outdoor shopping mall in South Windsor, Connecticut.

Both of those locations are totally smoke-free and are located alongside an array of stores.

Providence, Rhode Island is blessed with two of these eateries, one at the Providence Place Mall food court and another on Thayer Street in downtown Providence.

Providence Place Mall is near Francis Street and near the Interstate 95 exit 22C ramps.

I have not been to the later but the first has counter seating and is one of the most popular eateries in the whole food court.

Most states in the United States have at least one location of this delicious eatery.