I’d strongly advise any out-of-towners to ignore the moronic negative comments posted here. It is well-known that such remarks are posted by emotionally disturbed former employees (or their girlfriends) who can not handle being discharged for not meeting Tom’s high standards. Such emotional cretins tend to blame others for their problems, so they passive-aggressively vent their negative vibes in libelous slurs against their former employees. Shame on them!
As to people who cannot always get what they want when they want it, well, we’ve all met our share of spoiled brats who tend to get belligerent in the real world when they can’t always get their way. Ignore them, too. Such people never mastered the sphincter muscles that control either end of their alimentary canal, and they delude themselves into believing that the verbal vomit they regurgitate in public and here on the Internet is actually the truth. It ain’t.
I live within a mile or so of Tom’s, and I have been a regular customer for over 15 years. In a town full of wonderful small restaurants, this family-oriented, reasonably priced, Greek food diner really shines. I’ve gone through the complete variety of amply prepared, delicious breakfasts, lunches, and dinners—especially the Greek dishes—and I’m pleased to say that I’ve loved every single one of them.
The service has also been exemplary throughout. I’m quite sure that the often on-site proprietress trains her staff throughly and demands high standards of all her staff, cooks included. Her caring for her staff and her customers shows up in the loyalty she gets from all the well-deserved, repeat business she has earned over the years.
Tom’s decor has a very comfortable, restaurant / diner feel to it. You can sit at the counter or at a booth. Since it’s a 24-hours oasis of food pleasures, you can order breakfast, lunch, dinner and specials at any time of the day, in accordance with their liberal, but naturally limited, windows of opportunity for dinners and specials.
The range of food you can sample is simply awesome. You can get classic Greek dinners, like Moussaka, Pastitsio, and Souvlaki or Gyro. You can get open plates as well as Greek speciality sandwiches in pita bread. You can get “American” dinners like NY strip steaks, pork chops, chicken, meatloaf, or chopped sirloin. You can eat-in or take-out anything you like, including their famous Texas Red Hots prepared with their special sauce. Yum! Of course, you can have gyro or souvlaki breakfasts, and other egg omelettes, all around-the-clock.
Naturally, depending on what you time you prefer to visit Tom’s, you’ll meet a wide variety of people, from the regulars who come in for breakfast, to the business lunch crowd, to the family out for dinner, to the University of Buffalo students discussing their classes over an evening snack, and to the romantic couples capping off a late-night date before they head home, either together or—alas—alone.
I especially love Tom’s fish fry dinner. Buffalo is a very competitive town when it comes to fish fries. Every restaurant which gets in the game has a slightly different way of preparing the secret batter that they use to dress up their fish, along with the extras that they give you. I have found Tom’s to be among the very best, not only in the exquisitely flavorful batter they use for the fish, but for the choices of potatoes, vegetables, and Greek salad options that come with the fresh fish.
Whether you’re a Buffalonian who’s been living in a cave on the other side of the city, or you’re an out-of-tower looking to sample some local color, you just can’t go wrong stopping in this local institution any time of the night or day.
John-Michael Battaglia
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