2015 Kickoff Party @ Mad Tomato

Great place but it was too loud to have any sort of conversation unless you wanted to yell or become a ‘close-​talker’. The variety of foods offered were good as well as the beverages. It was nice to cross paths again with a few veteran Unilocalers.
I like live music but don’t like to stand/​sit near the speakers. That is what I felt like I was doing most of the night.
Thanks to the for hosting and I will try it again another night and see what a non-​Yelp event is like.

Loved every minute of this event! Aaron did a super job of organizing this event. The music was a bit tooo loud for my taste, but then again I kind of like it quiet. I got to taste the food since Aaron ordered a half vegan pizza for me. Thanks, Aaron! The pizza was delish! I wanted to stay longer, but I had to leave early due to my hectic schedule. Cute little hole in the wall restaurant.

I suck and forgot to review this in a timely fashion post event! I got roped into so many conversations that I have to admit I only got to drink 2 beers and eat ONE PIECE of that chicken cordon bleu ravioli. ONE PIECE! But that one piece was heavenly and delicious. The Faust Beer was also quite good and I appreciated its hoppiness. Mad Tomato was a nice, intimate venue to hold this kickoff party for 2015 and while the icebreaker was quite cheesy, I enjoyed it. Tis the perpetual struggle of behaving at Unilocal elite events — should you be social and polite and chat with your fellow Unilocalers or should you try to sample the eats before they disappear? Has anyone actually mastered the art of eating and talking at the same time without chewing with your mouth open? Also, the guitarist was cute and his music was good! Thanks to Aaron, Aimee, and Mad Tomato for putting on a great event! Looking forward to more elite events this year.

Eh. Came here for a private event recently and I was underwhelmed. The restaurant was cold and stark, and not conducive to an event space, it was almost too loud to hear anyone talk. The food was mediocre. There are definitely better, tastier places to get what Mad Tomato offers for the same price in St. Louis.

Another great Elite event!
I walked in to live music and the event in full swing. As always I was pleasantly surprised to see the always fabulous Aimee and I was happy to be warmly greeted by Aaron. The ice breaker was fun and it was nice to have something to get some of the quiet Unilocalers chatting (myself).
Everyone that found their partner got a free Stella glass and if you tweeted or face booked photos of the event you got a free Unilocal watch. Also, there was the usual Unilocal goodies spread around the tables.
The pizza was wonderful and they sent around several varieties. My fave was The Vegan but I’m sure they were all wonderful. There was toasted ravioli being passed around, I believe it was chicken cordon bleu, but I didn’t try any. They gave out Faust beer for the of age Unilocalers to try. Faust is a new beer that I hear will only be distributed in STL. It is pretty tasty and went well with pizza but it was a little heavy and hoppy, a bit too hoppy for me, so don’t expect Bud Light or anything.
The Mad Tomato was pretty charming. It seemed kind of Italian rustic. The staff were friendly and helpful. It mos def seems like it would be worth checking out although I don’t venture in to Clayton too often.
Let the 2015 Unilocaling commence!

Man, everyone is so good at remembering things, so I won’t bore you with the details.
This was a fantastic event. For the first hour there was non-​stop pizza and t-​ravs. And both were fantastic. Tasting the beers was also great. It was a nice relaxed gathering with some cool live music.
Looking forward to coming back to Mad Tomato for some more deliciousness.

A big Thanks to Aaron, Aimee, and the Mad Tomato for putting on yet another great Elite event. This was a great way to start off 2015. It was good to see old friends, and meet some new Elites.
I loved the joke question and answer ice breaker. It was a lot of fun, and some of the jokes were pretty great.
The Toasted Chicken Cordon Bleu Rav’s were pretty amazing. Sadly, I didn’t sample any of the pizza’s. Just felt kind of wonky and pizza didn’t seem like a good idea. They smelled and looked amazing though!
The new AB offering Faust was interesting. They are trying hard to offer a larger variety of beers which I appreciate. This one wasn’t my favorite though. I did really like the Goose Island Imperial Stout they were passing around. The lovely waitress was nice enough to get me a full glass of that which was much appreciated.
As always, the music was wonderful. My only suggestion for him would be to play a larger variety of music, because he repeats a lot of songs between events. Granted, those songs he repeats sound amazing, but it’s just a thought. Variety is the spice of life.
Thanks again Aaron, Aimee, and Mad Tomato, I can’t wait to see what other events you all come up with!

Awesome, cozy, personal and fun! What a great night and event to start the 2015 calendar year. It was also an opportunity to check out Mad Tomato.
Since this wasn’t a +1 it allowed me to stay longer than I would normally have (thanks to my wife!). I was able to catch up with old Elite friends as well as meet a few new ones! Its always nice to meet random strangers with a common unifying like… food! There was also plenty of Elite royalty (gold badges!)
The evening started out with a little ice breaker. Boom done in the first 5 minutes. The reward, a Stella Artois Chalice! Nice. Also if you instagramed a pic you were rewarded with your very own Unilocal Elite time keeper! Still looking to see if really keeps GPS location, steps, and sleep as Aaron promised. ;)
The pizzas were good, but filling unfortunately They were hand made and fresh out of the brick oven. My favorite pizza was definitely the vegetarian. However when the toasted rav came out people started scrambling. Yummy chicken Cordon Bleu Ravioli. Nice twist on the StL toasted rav theme.
I was able to sample different beers including the Faust beers, but being I was by myself felt it wise to limit!
Thanks to Mad Tomato for hosting… wonderful venue. Once again, thanks to Aaron and Aimee for hosting an event to make the Elite Unilocalers feel special, warm and fuzzy. We are so lucky to have both of you.

2015 started off with a big blast, thanks to Aaron, Aimee, and Mad Tomato! When we first arrived we were presented with a part of a joke, and we had to find the person with the punchline. This was an awesome icebreaker and encouraged Unilocalers to mingle and engage in conversation with both new and old Unilocalers! Once you found your match you could both get a cool Unilocal watch! Another surprise was the Twitter/​Instagram photos which encouraged you to share with your friends in exchange for a really nice Stella Artois glass!
The food was great, Mad Tomato really knows how to entertain with some amazing lite bites. First off the amazing Chicken Cordon Blu Toasted Ravioli, I would have been happy eating that all night. However the pizzas were equally as impressive, and paired well with the Faust beer. According to Aaron Faust will only be available in Saint Louis. We also had the opportunity to sample some of the Stella Artois Cidre, which was pretty good too.
The staff was super friendly and very accommodating, kudos to the staff. As always the entertainment was great, however it was mostly background music for all of the conversations going on with new and old friends alike. This was the perfect event for socializing with fellow elites! My only regret was not getting to meet and introduce myself to some of the newest elites!
Overall this was a great event, and an amazing way to start off 2015! Thanks again to Aaron, Aimee, and Mad Tomato! SYOY!

We started our 2015 Unilocal elite event with a big bang. Aaron our CM, Aimee our ambassador, and assistant Will put on a great party. We started off with an ice breaker where you had a question or answer and you need to match. As my luck would have it one of my good Unilocal friends Kat asked me the question I had the answer. Well it was almost an ice breaker.
Mad Tomato closed their establishment for our event. Free beer, free shots and a cash bar. The servers circulated with pizza, and toasted ravioli. The pizza was Neapolitan style. And there were too many combinations for me to remember them all. I can say there was no bad pizza. Mad Tomato’s spin on the St. Louis classic of toasted ravioli was chicken cordon blue. The toasted ravioli’s were just stunningly good. Some of the best I have tasted in a long time.
The free beer was a brand new InBev AB product called Faust. As I don’t drink I cannot tell you if it was good or bad. But I did not hear anyone complain. Way to go Unilocal St. Louis team for putting on another fantastic event.

This was a great event!
Walking through the door we got our normal name tag but also got Q’s and A’s, everyone had to mingle and find the answer to the other persons question. It was a bunch of fun talking to people I didn’t know.
I haven’t ever been to Mad Tomatoes so it was cool seeing a new place. I like the atmosphere and I assume they have more table for when they are open for business regularly.
The staff was great and I felt like they were on top of passing out food and drinks. Of which were amazing I really liked the chicken cordon Blue totaled ravioli it was epic and the pizza of all types were amazing. My favorites were the pepperoni and the one that I cannot remember that had no sauce. It had olive oil mushrooms and arugula and three cheeses.
The beer of the night was Faust and stella artois which is what I had. It’s ok but it got warm and I don’t like when my beer get warm. :)
I wish the music was just a tad bit softer because my voice still hurts from yelling over it. But it’s was good music, so I won’t complain to much.
I enjoyed meeting some new faces and talking to some old friends.
This was an awesome way to kick off 2015.

YAAEPOBA for an amazing kick-​off to 2015!
We got riddles as we entered and needed to mingle to find our match. It was pretty funny as when I showed my question half to Mandie M., Queen of puzzle-​solving, she immediately said, «OH! I know your other half! She’s over there!» So shout out too to my puzzle half, Jolena S!
I’m going to have to come back to Mad Tomato and try more of their dishes. I was so busy catching up that I missed most of what was offered. I did try the Shrimp Diavolo and the Vegan and the Chicken Cordon Bleu Ravioli… and they were all scrumptious… so the others must have been just as spectacular. Those were definitely some fresh ingredients… and the ravioli piece especially was just bursting with flavor. Perusing the Mad Tomato menu, they also have different kinds of cheese and charcuterie, which I wish we could have sampled… but I’ll have to make it a point to come back. They also have a lot more dishes other than pizza… so I’m pretty interested in trying those. We also had Faust and Stella Artois; both of them went down pretty smoothly.
We got Stella Artois glassware once we found our puzzle match… and then we also got… the elusive Unilocal ELITE WATCH that I have coveted for so long… if we social-​media-​ed our #yelpelite event. In case you don’t know about this watch: they came out in 2010 or 2011, Unilocal doesn’t make them anymore and most of them have been already given out… and the watch will tell you TIME TO Unilocal! in addition to the regular time and date! A blast from the past… and I’m gonna sleep with it tonight! Now if Aaron could track down the hoodies, lunchboxes, and the bike bells… I’ll be the Unilocalingest girl around!
Obviously I need to get out more because like Jeremy C., my throat also kills from all the talking I did. It’s obviously though a sign of a fabulous year to come!

It was a fun time. This was one of the funniest Unilocal event in a while and diffidently the best kick-​off to an amazing 2015 of Unilocaling.
The Chicken Cordon Blue Ravioli was amazing good. I’m dieting low carb, but had to cheat on the pizza. All of them being passed through out the event looked flavorful, but I love me some Pepperoni and just one slice satisfied my decadence. The Faust Beer was good, but the Stella Artois was of course better.
Visiting with Gold Elite, old friends and new Elite was definitely the highlight of the evening. The question and answer game to get us to mingle was a great idea and the prize of a Stella Artois beer glass was great motivation. I also liked the twitter, Instagram and Facebook postings to get the Unilocal Watch. We all need to know when it is time to Unilocal.
Aaron, Aimee and Mad Tomato, you did a great job. My fellow Unilocalers, it was great seeing you and I enjoyed a fun filled evening with you.
SYOY and lets make this an amazing year.