Jhon’s, Main St., Old Forge, PA

Jhon’s used to be in an old house on Prospect Ave. in South Scranton. It was very popular, and always seemed to be expanding. I ate there regularly, and it had a great upscale Italian menu, but I hadn’t been there in a while. Somehow in the interim they moved to Old Forge. This seems to be a daunting move – moving an Italian restaurant into the Italian town of Old Forge. The new place is quite different. Instead of an old house which was always crowded and intimate, it is now a large room with rows of about 15 booths and a fifty foot bar, with small tables in an alcove around the corner. And it is new – lots of formica and paneling, high ceilings, and not at all intimate. It didn’t help that I was there on a weeknight and just about the only person in the place – but there were three helpful and friendly waitresses. The menu seemed identical to the one at the old place – and it all looked good – and 100% Italian.
The extra was a carry over from the old place – an hors d’oeurve of cold pasta swirls, with some spinach and white beans and who knows what else – very tasty. The salad was great. Three kinds of fresh lettuce and olives - but that’s all - and the house dressing was a balsamic vinaigrette – very spicy with a real bite. The highlight was the bread. It was just Italian, sliced pretty thick. The delight was when you tasted it. It couldn’t have been fresher and more tender and softer – like just out of the oven. It reminded me of a French restaurant I was once at in Quebec. We had to wait in line by the door in front of where they kept the bread. They would bring loaves of French bread from the oven, and the waitresses would deliver them to the tables as needed. After about twenty minutes, they would remove all the unused bread and bring a new load from the oven, and start over. Apparently, anything over 20 minutes was stale. Now that is fresh bread!
Jhon's didn’t offer spaghetti and meatballs on the menu, but instead pasta and meatballs. I asked for spaghetti (without making a point of it), but what I got was a flat fettucini, I think. However it was good and appropriately cooked – but not as good as spaghetti. The sauce was thick - but not too thick - and very tomato-ish and flavorful. The meatballs were the disappointing part. They were medium-sized, but soft and doughy, and no real spicy bite to them.
The price $10.50 plus $5.00 for the wine, for a total of $15.50.

Style/ambience ****
Food ****