Tom's Restaurant
"Eating at Tom’s Restaurant is such a restorative experience that regulars show up hoping to stand in line, where free coffee, orange slices, and cookies are handed out by smiling employees," Lisa Selin Davis writes for New York magazine. And Time Out New York asks, "Where else can you get a cherry-lime rickey with your Sunday omelette? Come to this kitsch-heavy old-school diner strewn with faux-flower garlands, ’50s-style signs and Christmas lights for morning fuel like featherweight lemon-ricotta pancakes and eggs Benedict, with a dose of soda-fountain goodness."
"Tom's is a Brooklyn institution, offering the best in diner food. There's a brunch menu of omelettes, pancakes, waffles and the like, while a menu of rotating specials includes Yankee pot roast, beef goulash, brisket and fish cakes with spaghetti," says the New York Times. And Chowhound Lambretta76 adds, "the Harvest pancakes - which feature sweet corn and cranberries, are fantastic. Served with cinammon butter that truly brings out the sweetness of the corn and offsets the tartness of the berries."
Fellow 'Hound JillKG shares some advice about Tom's: "Go before 10 or after 2 if you don't want to wait in line... And hold out for a table inside the diner instead of outside in the covered patio. Since a good deal of what makes Tom's great is the decor and atmosphere, you want to get maximum plastic-flower exposure." What's your take on this place?
Reviews (26)
daveinbedstuy wrote a review on March 26, 2009 12:05 PM
This place was featured on one of the recent TOH episodes. I've never really understood this yuppie/hipster/asshat obsession with WAITING IN LINE for brunch.
Hi Lisa...how are you doing????
Lesloaf wrote a review on March 26, 2009 12:06 PM
The management is extremely child-friendly and the owner, Gus, always has little gifts for the kids, who love the pancakes and egg creams. We go often, when we can get out of the house early on a Saturday morning.
bkn4life wrote a review on March 26, 2009 12:14 PM
Early is the word.
Hands down the best place to take someone from out of town.
Chili cheese omellette and a cherry lime rickey!!!
southslope wrote a review on March 26, 2009 12:15 PM
I go often, but I've never waited in a line like that, never really waited at all. then again- weekends are for amateurs.
eh wrote a review on March 26, 2009 12:17 PM
what dibs said. there is no place that is worth standing in line for brunch.
especially when there's usually a place a block away with the same fare. its just breakfast food people.
RaginCajun wrote a review on March 26, 2009 12:24 PM
You know where you CAN'T get a cherry lime rickey with your Sunday omelet? At Tom's. Because, unless something's changed, Tom's isn't open on Sundays.
That said, I used to live near Tom's and would go there as often as possible on weekdays. Weekends, as previously noted, are for chumps ... unless you get there early enough.
Food is solid. Service is great. And the price is more than right.
cwbuecheler wrote a review on March 26, 2009 12:31 PM
I actually think it's worth going on a weekend and standing in line, once, just for the experience of having guys come out to the line with coffee and appetizers, and to witness the way the staff manages the sheer chaos inside. After you've done it once, though, I concur that there's basically no reason to stand in line for Tom's. The food is fine, but it's not really any different than most diner food. Prices are great though, and the staff is very friendly.
I find the high marks for ambience a bit confusing -- it's an overcrowded diner with some goofy stuff on the walls. Not exactly super unique for New York.
Bob Marvin wrote a review on March 26, 2009 12:49 PM
I think Tom's is great, but seldom go because I hate crowds. As Yogi Berra said, "Nobody goes there anymore because it's too crowded."
slick wrote a review on March 26, 2009 12:50 PM
During the crown heights riots (which were right outside the door), everyone agreed that destroying the diner was a bad idea.
I wish it was open later.
brooklyn guy wrote a review on March 26, 2009 12:52 PM
you go for Tom's, not for the food. food is average, experience is fun, although it is rataher silly to go on saturday. any other morning is fun, and you get to eat next to the plainclothes detectives from the undercover cop station across the street.
PitbullNYC wrote a review on March 26, 2009 12:56 PM
isnt this where suzanne vega used to eat?
*rob*
Lothar of the Clinton Hill People wrote a review on March 26, 2009 1:21 PM
This place is a stand-out experience. Food is fine, but the charm of the restaurant, and it's hosts, is unique and refreshing. Tom's is exactly how you run a business and why they've been around as long as they have, through ups and downs and changes in the neighborhood. I implore you to check it out, hopefully while there's a bit of a line. That's part of the experience.
Santa wrote a review on March 26, 2009 1:43 PM
ive never waited in line but they do give you free coffee, cookies and orange slices while you wait.
so I guess waiting wouldnt be that bad.
SnarkSlope wrote a review on March 26, 2009 2:03 PM
It's a fun experience now and again, but really, the food is no better than any number of other diners. And certainly not worth waiting in line.
tiptoe wrote a review on March 26, 2009 2:08 PM
This place has been around for 40 years so it's certainly not just about about hipster and yuppies waiting on line to dine. My neighbors, who have lived on the block for 25 years, go to Tom's on Saturday mornings. Breakfast is fine, but the shakes are terrific.
Brownstones Half Off wrote a review on March 26, 2009 2:43 PM
What's with the crowd, free skittles?
Oh, I've been here. Crab eggs benedict seemed low end but the pancakes are supposed to be good.
***Bid half off peak comps***
East New York wrote a review on March 26, 2009 2:44 PM
I waited more than 30 years before eating here...once. I'm STILL wondering what anyone would LINE UP to get in! Completely ordinary diner in a city full of diners.
billyboomer wrote a review on March 26, 2009 3:23 PM
I don't get NYers obsession with brunch
bk8 wrote a review on March 26, 2009 3:29 PM
Every business owner should go and learn from Guss, he's the master of client relationship, always smile. Without the owner personality, this place woould not survive even 1 day.
The place and decor is so old but the staff and owners always smile and go around with freebees of cockies & fruits.
Lesloaf wrote a review on March 26, 2009 3:54 PM
No, Rob, Suzanne Veg'a Tom's is on the Upper West Side.
RaginCajun wrote a review on March 26, 2009 4:27 PM
But Suzanne Vega DID autograph something for this Tom's
bowl of dicks wrote a review on March 26, 2009 5:12 PM
billyboomer > couldn't agree more!
dirty_hipster wrote a review on March 26, 2009 5:17 PM
Eh - this place really didn't do anything for me. Food is mediocre, bordering on poor. Therefore, to wait in line for 30 - 60 minutes is just silly. In my experience probably the 2nd most overhyped brunch spot in the city, behind Clinton St Baking Co.
lapmax75 wrote a review on March 27, 2009 12:58 AM
I think that quite a few commenters are missing the point. This place is not about the unique "fare" or being some kind of extraordinary diner. It's about the great feeling you get when you combine a nice Brooklyn story with good, hearty comfort food - the nice story being about a place, and its owners, that's been around forever and hasn't surrendered its/their throwback identity to the asshat gentrified crowd (like so many other damned things have). This doesn't really explain the lines - DIBS is right on with his comment about the inexplicable obsession that the Brooklyn transplants seem to have - but it does explain why people would want to check it out.
SnarkSlope wrote a review on March 27, 2009 10:54 AM
I don't get NYers who don't get brunch.
tanner wrote a review on March 31, 2009 4:52 PM
This is certainly not the best diner food around, unfortunately. I LOVE a great diner, but this isn't it in terms of food. The chili cheese omelet is pretty decent, I'll agree. The pancake menu is long, but they have a rather Bisquick or bleached white-flour kind of thing going on, which I don't dig at all. Aside from all that, though, it IS a rather charming place and worth going to once in a blue moon! The owners really are lovely and it does make you appreciate an old neighborhood joint, which this place certainly is...
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