Johnny’s Tavern opened in late February with seating for 200, around 40 television sets that owners promised could play just about any sporting event anyone wanted to see — and a noise level so chaotic, customers could barely hear each other across the table much less hear the game announcers on TV.
But the staff at Johnny’s, which is in the old Anchor spot at 1109 E. Douglas, have started working with a “sound scientist” and hope to have the noise problem in the restaurant solved soon, said general manager Caroline Patton.
The problem, she said, is being caused by something Johnny’s owners did not anticipate. The Anchor’s former owner Schane Gross tore down the wall that separated the two separate buildings that made up the restaurant during a 2023 remodel, turning the dining space into one giant room. That, combined with the restaurant’s high, tin ceilings and concrete floors — and the fact that it has been consistently packed since it opened as Johnny’s Tavern — has created what Patton describes as “a big echo chamber, especially on game days.”
But the sound scientist had some ideas, Patton said, and the owners have already started implementing his suggestions…