Tara K.
Yelp
Our family consists of a vegan, a vegetarian, and two omni's. So eating out can pose some challenges. But NOT at all at Tommy's! We stumbled on Tommy's while visiting the Cleveland area for a weekend Cav's game overnight stay. We ended up in the Cleveland Heights Coventry Village area on a whim to loiter a while at a coffee shop, and later in the afternoon moseyed by Tommy's. The outside is really inconspicuous. If we had not walked by the menu in the window, we may not have noticed Tommy's at all. But we love a good diner, and were TOTALLY CHAGRINED to see that Tommy's has an extensive vegan and vegetarian menu, as well as meat dishes! For being a fifty year old establishment, they truly have evolved with the times!
Speaking of times, wait times for a table here can be long. On Sunday afternoon at around 1:30pm we put our name down for a table, and it was an hour and fifteen minute wait. But the menu was too alluring to pass up, so we waited it out. (Which wasn't hard to do, as Mac's Backs Paperback Books is right nextdoor, an EXCELLENT used book shop to peruse, purchase some great used finds, and pass the time.)
When we did get our table, we were surprised how big the space inside was, it goes back further than expected. We were put in an adorable booth that was almost like it's own private room, very cozy-diner-swank. :-D Our server was friendly and attentive. Everything we ordered was served accurately, and didn't take too long to come out.
My husband had The Cigar, a generous corned beef sandwich on pita. He absolutely RAVED that it was the best corned beef sandwich he's ever had. And he's not a food-raver like me, so that's saying a lot! Our son had The Steph, also a meaty sandwich on pita, with ham, bacon and turkey. I'm the vegetarian, and went with The Delaney, which was basically a Reuben made with seitan! SO GOOD. Very tangy and flavorful, and very filling! Our daughter, the vegan, had The Wildflower, a chickpea salad sandwich with lots of sprouts and veggies on a pita. She was all smiles. We shared a basket of fresh cut fries, (all sides are ala carte), and it was plenty of food for all of us to be full and satisfied.
But, when in Tommy's-Rome, you power through to dessert too, haha. My husband and our son split a cookies and cream milkshake, which one is plenty to split between two. Shakes can also be made vegan. But this time our vegan daughter had a sugar cookie. All of the cookies are vegan, and it was served warm and soft. I tried the carrot cake. It was a small piece of carrot bundt cake, just okay. Next time, I'll go for the vegan banana bread.
Our total bill for a family of four with our hearty sandwiches, fries basket, hot teas for the hubbs and I, plus the hubbs had a phosphate egg cream, (kids chose water to drink), and all of our desserts was just under $70. In this day and age, that seemed pretty reasonable for how much we had, and how happy, comfortable, and dietary-accommodated we all were at Tommy's. We are from Buffalo NY, but make our way to Cleveland a handful of times a year for Cav's games, (go Bills, but we like basketball better, haha). When we're in the area, Tommy's is definitely on our list of re-visit restaurants. Excellent variety for vegans, vegetarians, and omni's alike, reasonable prices, comfortable space, great service, delicious food, what's not to love about Tommy's??!! :-D