From the outside, John’s Steak House & Pizzeria looks like any other brick-sided house along M-15 in Goodrich.
Inside, you’ll find managers Tom Welch and Bill Brosius painstakingly preparing food so good the restaurant has drawn diners near and far for 50 years.
Today’s menu has been updated to satisfy the hunger for healthy items like John’s delicious low-carb marinated chicken, baked fish, steak, and Italian sausage.
‘They taste great,? says Welch. ‘We mix ’em with our house marinara sauce, and bake ’em with mozzarella cheese.?
The restaurant’opened in 1955 under the management of John and Mary Sirignano’was named John’s Steak House & Pizzeria for the steak sandwich deal that put the restaurant on the map.
The deal, an 8-ounce hand-cut Angus steak, homemade fries, and freshly-baked Italian bread was a hit with diners, who planned a stop at John’s along their M-15 route before I-75 was built.
Under the ownership of son D.J. Sirignano, the restaurant still offers the steak sandwich deal, a steal at $7.95.
With fond memories of the food at John’s, long-time customers often return for steak sandwiches, pizza, chicken, fish, and other traditional favorites.
Look for ‘nostalgic? price slashes on original food favorites like cheeseburgers and fries at John’s 50th Anniversary Car Cruise, tentatively slated for a Sunday afternoon in June, says Welch.
Barbecued ribs have gained notoriety for the restaurant.
Formerly offered once a month, the baby back ribs are now featured every weekend.
‘We’d get pre-orders weeks ahead of time,? said Welch, who’s seen diners line up outside on Friday and Saturday evenings for half or full-slab rib dinners, complete with meal fixin’s like baked or smashed redskin potatoes and soup or salad for $10.95 to $16.95.
‘A lot of people come in swearing by someone else’s ribs and then they’re hooked. The only things left usually are bones and a few stains on their clothes,? said Welch.
Dinners get a savory start with appetizers at John’s, including Italian-breaded blended mozzarella-provolone cheese wedges, deep-fried mushrooms, and spinach-artichoke dip.
Along with traditional favorites, Welch likes to get inventive, varying the menu to include selections like yellowfin tuna with mosticcioli and hollandaise sauce.
Soup choices have gotten creative too, says Welch, with choices like potato au gratin, chicken dumpling, Baja chicken enchilada, as well as portabella mushroom and harvest grain.
At just $5.95 the prime rib sandwich lunch special, offered the first Wednesday each month, is a popular choice.
Oreo, spumoni, or ?3-D chocolate? cake, chocolate chip cheesecake, hot fudge sundaes, spumoni ice cream, and ‘Fruits of the Forest? pie? baked with strawberries, apples, raspberries, rhubarb, and blackberries’are tempting choices on John’s revamped dessert menu, says Welch.
John’s Steak House & Pizzeria is one of the area’s original pizza vendors since 1960.
Sauce is homemade, and the dough still made by hand without a mixer in the restaurant’s kitchen each morning, earning such a reputation that one customer makes an annual trek to John’s, ordering and freezing two extra pizzas before flying home.
John’s cheerfully accommodates special orders, even topping pizza with shrimp.
It’s just one way the hometown restaurant takes care of customers, says Welch.
‘We’ll cater to just about anybody’s needs, even if you don’t like the sesame seeds on a hamburger bun,? he said. ‘That’s something you get at a family-owned restaurant.?
John’s Steak House & Pizzeria is just north of the Hegel Road traffic light at 8038 S. State Road in Goodrich. Call (810) 636-2175.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday.