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Tom's Family Restaurant
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
4 reviews for Tom's Family Restaurant
I should preface this by saying have never been here during the day, so it is entirely possible that their service and/or food is better during daylight hours. Their parking lot is always full on weekend mornings, so it would seem they have a loyal diurnal clientele.
In a word, my experiences here have been passable. It's open 24 hours, and it's better than Denny's (again, like winning the Special Olympics) so I bumped it up a star for that. Like any self-respecting "diner" they have a large menu, but also like a jack of all trades, they are master of none. Their Greek food, which is lauded on their cheesy neon sign, is not bad, but I've had better. Their omelettes are just okay. Don't order the desserts, they're frozen mass-produced Sysco abominations. Unless you're into that kind of thing, in which case you should have gone to Denny's. Another nuisance is that their service always takes at least twice as long as you would expect. And the prices are kind of steep considering the quality and amount of food. Eight American dollars for a pretty paltry gyro, not even including fries or a drink!
However, in the end, hungry beggars cannot be choosers, so if you're looking for something marginally better than Moons Over My Hammy at 3 in the morning, go to Tom's.
Tom's has been around for as long as I can remember. Aesthetically they've improved dramatically over the years. Tom's used to have that "4am truck stop" theme going on years ago. Drive by it now, or walk in and you can see this place being a nice little diner to grab a quick, inexpensive bite to eat. Unfortunately in my experience once you sit down to order, reality sets in, and not in a good way.
My wife and another couple stopped in after a long day of running around. We were all so hungry - you know, that kind of hungry where you'd just about eat anything. We'd all been to Tom's before, and it is what it is - cheap and fast. No problem with that because there is a need for these types of dine-in establishments. Our waitress, from the moment we sat down, was very rude. We're down to earth people who are not pretentious, so please understand I'm not saying I expected the red carpet treatment. What we did expect, was that our waitress take our order, bring us our food, and bring us our bill. She completed one of those three tasks. Why didn't she bring us our food or our bill? Because she left. Literally, we saw her put on her coat and walk out with some other person who she was talking with. Ok, personal things come up, we understand. But we figured 5-10 minutes and she'd be back. A little annoying, but we weren't going to make a scene about it. Ten minutes passed. Still no waitress. We were literally getting up and walking over to other tables to get ketchup and napkins, and my wife had to get up and walk to the cash register to find someone to refill her hot water for her tea. Finally the other waitress realized we had been left alone and came over to ask if we needed anything. We told her just the bill. As we were leaving, the waitress who took our order came back in (over 30 minutes later). She apologized to the other waitress, but didn't utter a word to us as we paid. Sorry folks, but that's unacceptable service.
The food: it actually hasn't been that bad in my experience, but still not great. The breakfast combos are very inexpensive and a pretty good portion of food. I'd stay away from the desserts. They are very, very sweet and have that "full-of-ingredients-with-weird-scientific-names" quality to them (we later found out from one of the staff that Tom's desserts are purchased from Sysco Foods - a large supplier for standard cafeteria quality foods). It's also the only place I've been to in and around Buffalo that uses shaved ice in their drinks instead of cubes.
We haven't returned to Tom's since, and we won't ever go back, no matter how hungry we are.
As the competitor of Denny's for the open 24 hours and inebriated friendly, my expectations for Tom's going in were fairly low. My biggest gripe about Denny's is their service and Tom's is much better in that category. Their menu consists of what you would typically find at a 24h joint w/ that breakfast emphasis but in addition, there's a Mediterranean spin on it as they claim they are the "home of the Soulvaki". I ordered a baklava a la mode and it was the worst baklava I've ever had - clearly been sitting out for a very very very long time. Good baklava should be flaky on the outside and moist and chewy on the inside. Tom's baklava failed on all accounts as the phyllo was difficult to break through and had a cardboard-like consistency and the filling was also a challenge to swallow. Needless to say, if I'm starving again at that hour again, best bet is to drive-through at a fast food joint.
We love the waitress here with a passion, and came here many times. It's not terrible by any means. However I am into Gyros and Souvlaki (especially since WNY is the one part of the country where regular American diners like this one, generally offer those delectable dishes, and do them well!) - the Souvlaki here is mediocre and the Gyros are the fake kind, the pre-frozen kind, not fresh at all. I can't give Tom's more than a 2 even though if breakfast food is your thing I've heard it's pretty good, and the waitresses here are always lovely. It's miles better than Denny's.