Tommy’s Place

I can’t believe anyone would rate a restaurant for its milkshakes but then we are talking about Tommy“s Place and it is a pretty safe review to make since the actual food is awful
There were two of us for dinner and we have run the gamut of places to eat in Cleveland, so disappointing to find that no one knows how to cook a simple steak and baked potato dinner. We would go to that place every weekend if we could find it. Tommy’s has so much going for it in atmosphere, especially during the summer, but the food is just bad. We tried the prime rib, hoping it would be — well, edible — but it was instead pot roast and not good pot roast
We explained the situation when our server Erin came to remove the plates and there was neither a scene nor snarky remarks about our disappointment, so we were very surprised when both entrees were taken off the check. This could have been avoided if the food had been what we ordered in the first place

Keep trying to like the place but leave disappointed EVERY time. Nice deck but the food is so BLAH! Salsa is bad jar salsa and everything I’ve eaten tastes fresh from the shelves of Save-​A-​Lot!
If they could put some love into their food, I could see this place being a destination. Others share my sentiment and done trying to like Tommys.

I have been here only once, but I wish I was longer in the city to visit it multiple times. Obvious order are the milkshakes. I ordered coffee milkshake which was pretty good. An even better choice was the cookies and cream milkshake. The quantity of the milkshake is amazing and it is really cheap. Love the ambience too. All in all would love to visit it again.

I really liked this place. Had a great meal there with my husband last Sat. So, you are probably wondering why only 2 stars? Esp w the nice deck they have and the very pleasant blonde waitress? Well, she was a THIEF! She changed the tip on our bill from approximately $ 10 to $ 30. It was caught by our credit card company. They sent my husband an e-​mail that that was a really big tip for an inexpensive meal. Thank heavens they caught it.

Great patio. Fair selection of beers. Very good prices on weekday lunch specials. A worthy place to eat at.

Horribly slow, actually imcompetent service. Sat at table for 10 minutes waiting to order. Finally came around to asking what we wanted for dinner, we ordered 2 appetizers at the same time as our meals, 1 part of an entrée arrived and one of the sides (fries) arrived 1^st, 20 minutes after we ordered, 10 minutes later along came 2 other entrees came. No salad dressing with entrée salad had to ask 3x for it. Then, last of the meals came, 10 minutes after that. Still no appetizers. Asked for 3^rd time if he was ever planning on bringing them, the response «they are training a new «chef». Really? A «chef» is highly skilled in culinary arts, you made a bad hire Tommy. And news flash, the old «we have a new X training» is as lame as it gets. CHECK PLEASE.

This place is perfect! Great food, great atmosphere and amazing service! They have the perfect variety of food on their menu, and it’s all so fairly priced that you can actually enjoy your dinner with a few drinks without feeling like you’re breaking the bank. They have a huge patio and a very nice bar inside bar, but there are also smaller rooms if you’re looking for a nice family dinner scene. The restaurant has a lot of character and history to it so it’s fun to walk around and look at the things on the wall. I’m surprised more people don’t know about this place! I would definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone.

I’ve been very disappointed with my only two visits here because of the food. In short, its not very good and the rest of our table agreed too. I’ve tried the Wings, Crab Cakes, Hanger Steak and the Short Ribs. The Short Ribs were probably the worst I have ever had but I’ll admit the Hanger Steak was pretty good. They claim the wings are smoked but I’m highly skeptical and pretty sure they were fried and covered in too much sauce.
I do like the atmosphere and setting but they need to improve on the food before I go back.

Finally tried this place on a Wednesday night. My wife had been here and thought it was just OK… lots of heavy food. Cool setting, reminds me of the typical place on the east coast– old house, large bar, individual rooms.
That’s kind of where the happiness stopped for me. Service was very friendly, but slow (she had six or seven tables herself).
I ordered the «smoked whole wings» with bbq sauce on the side. Menu claimed they were smoked in house. Received a platter of fried, unseasoned wing parts (not that I care for whole wings, but the menu doesn’t match). Tasted one without dunking in sauce… just plain fried– no smoke flavor. When you dip them the bbq sauce has smoke flavor– so perhaps I uncovered a little trick they play. Waitress admitted they «might» smoke them very quickly and then fry. Hmm.
Wife got fried perch and was pretty happy with it. Although she wanted the perogies but was told they were frozen… we can get frozen perogies at home.
I got the Café Filet Sliders. Thank God they gave me a side of spicy «bistro» sauce or I don’t think my saliva could have broken down each bite.
I’d go back for a drink and snack in the summer, since they have a great patio. But I don’t think I’d go back for much else. Not horrible, but there are better holes in the wall in Rocky River for food.

First off, it is hard to find info on this place, but here is their own website, don’t use the one Unilocal lists –http://​tom​mys​plac​err​.com/
We went in the late summer and sat on the patio during the week — for dinner. It was very relaxing, wait staff was great, food average. The atmosphere on the patio made it enjoyable!

Very homey and comfortable… built into a Century home! great food, very friendly service (pretty sure the owners were also serving us)… always great jams playing and good specials throughout the week… I highly recommend!

I walked into Tommy’s Place today 12−26−12 at around 11:20am and I found a hidden gem. I passed by this place numerous times on my way to market but it never enticed me. I gave it a try today as I was walking by and found a cozy place where I can sit down and have a drink and eat some old style american/​Italian food. As I sat down I was greeted by the bartender who introduced herself as Beth. I immediately felt welcome. I then sat at there old style bar nestled in a warm atmosphere. I really felt comfortable talking to the staff. The owner Tommy walked in and greeted me as well as if I was a regular. It was a nice place to just relax and have some food and drinks. I will definitely become a regular. A great hidden gem.

cute place, good service, yummy food

A strong three. This is pretty close to my place, and it’s as cozy as you’d expect a former house to be. I especially like the bar area, which is largely in a former porch. It’s a nice neighborhood joint. Solid choices on tap and in bottles. The menu is pretty basic, featuring lots of burgers and sandwiches. This is a good thing, as I think the kitchen sticks to their strengths. Simple is good. My husband and I both enjoyed different Lake Erie fish special as part of a special lent menu (cause even godless heathens like fish). My mashed redskins were a bit gluey (happens to me at home sometimes too), but the vegetables and fish were excellent. I wish some of that tasty fish — we had pecan-​crusted walleye and fried perch, respectively — made its way onto the permanent menu.

I live a half mile from Tommy’s and didn’t even know they were open. They’re web presence and social networking presence is almost nil and what there is is amateurish at best. That said…
Visited Tommy’s on Saturday night. I like the look of the place, cozy bar. Great deck.
The Shrimp Balsamic crostino app was very good, loved it. We decided to have the Prime Rib special. A very good cut of beef, very flavorful, though a little thin by most standards especially for the 17.00 price tag. The seasonal vegetables were very fresh and tasty. The redskin garlic mashed were a little disappointing, great texture, underwhelming garlic flavor. The house salad w/​goat cheese was just ok, and had wayyyyy too much goat cheese. I’m a fan but it was very heavy handed.
Visited again on Sunday for lunch and had the Tommy Burger. A half pound charbroiled beast. I mean that in a great way. Loved it. Though the onion straws on the burger were soggy. Really dug the burger on the brioche. I had seen the previous evening that sweet potato fries were on the menu and was looking forward to them with the burger… sadly they weren’t good. Frozen… blech. c’mon guys… fresh is cheaper and tastes a hundred times better. Do that, put them in a basket with some nice dipping sauces and you have the salty fried app your menu really needs for us beer drinkers.

Great service, awesome food! Lively entertainment as well. A+
This place has just been opened for 5 weeks at the point we went there. I specifically chose it for the affordable clambake they offered. What a wonderful sweetest day it was. The server was attentive but not intrusive, the live entertainment was spirited, loungy, and interactive with the crowd, and the owner was genuinly interested in our experience and hanging out in the bar and dining room. Clam chowder was delicious as a first course, a dozen middlneck clambs were the second course. Not fishy one bit, no grit, and tender. Thirdly was half a fryer chicken corn on the cob and rosemary redskin potatoes. The chicken was baked first and then steamed in the clam broth, a flavor I look for with a chicken clambake. My buddy had the pulled pork sandwich. Tender pork, BBQ sauce that wasnt too sweet, and a nice pile of onion straws topping off, served on a chibatta bread.
Atmosphere of a converted townhouse was cozy and personal. They have a beautiful deck on the back. Parking is a bit sparse, but there are plenty of areas nearby to accomidate you.
We need to support places like this, they are few and far between.

In this, The Information Age, it is rare to come across a legitimate place of business that operates completely off the grid. I would expect that owners, managers, and those with a vested interest in the opening of a new restaurant would have the foresight to spread the word out in The Cloud. I would suspect that a few zealous restaurateurs may have gone so far as to ghostwrite a few ultra-​positive reviews just to get some buzz going. I have been trying for weeks to find some trace of Tommy’s Barbecue online, and I can’t find any evidence that this place even exists! Ultimately, I decided to drive past there tonight to make sure it is, in fact, a real place. While I was there, I figured I would jot down the address and do my part to help promote this top-​secret Rocky River establishment.
Formerly Treats Tea Room, Tommy’s is located in a converted townhouse. This creates a quaint and cozy atmosphere. With tasteful decorations, dim lighting, and ambient music, it is not your typical barbecue joint — I didn’t see any wet-​naps or paper tablecloths anywhere.
The service was a bit sketchy, but when I was there they had only been open for a couple weeks. They were out of a few things, some of the beers and wines on the menu did not match what they actually had, and our server was not very helpful or knowledgeable. I would think this would improve over time.
Overall, the food was average. They offer big burgers, hand cut sweet potato fries, pulled pork, onion straws, and other traditional barbecue fare. They have a blue cheese coleslaw that was interesting, and they serve some creative barbecue sauces. I had the ribs, but I was a bit disappointed — when they say Dry Rub, they aren’t kidding! By far, the highlight of the meal was the appetizer.
We ordered the Chorizo Stuffed Banana Peppers for the table. After everyone took a small bite, I soon found the whole plate in front of me. Based on how quickly everyone passed on the dish, I’m thinking someone pulled a Folger’s switch and substituted Hungarian Hot Peppers for the milder Banana Peppers listed on the menu. In my opinion, they were good ’til the last drop of sweat was wiped from my brow! My advice to people who pick this dish: Be prepared for the possibility of pungent pepper piquancy!
All things considered, I would definitely give Tommy’s another try. They have a great location and some unique ideas, and once they refine their methods a bit they could easily make it into the regular rotation.