Ever since my boyfriend started a gluten-free (GF) diet we have been struggling to find restaurants that would cater to his needs. Typically, a gluten free menu means that the restaurant tells us what he can't eat and lists two or three crappy items that he can. Some places have a little more of an extensive GF menu and will have a dish or two that he may have. Tommy's has a dedicated GF menu, uses dedicated GF fryers and has staff that is knowledgeable about gluten intolerance. How exciting!!!!!
I think the owner is genius for providing to this niche of society. Tommy's restaurant is a little family restaurant located off the beaten-path in North Ridgeville. I heard about Tommy's from a GF thread here on Yelp and also read about it in a book about eating out GF. I wish more restaurants would take the hint from Tommy's and would offer such an extensive a GF menu to it's customers.
First of all, Tommy's definitely isn't much to look at. While it is very clean and spacious the decor is minimal and not very exciting. To that I say, "who cares?" Most of the time the atmosphere of a restaurant factors greatly into my review, but in this case I could care less because of their GF menu.
One thing I hate is when a restaurant jacks up the heat in the winter. I get even more annoyed when they say they will adjust it and then pretend to go turn it down and don't. As soon as I walked into the restaurant I noticed it was really hot so I asked the waitress if she could turn it down a bit. She actually turned it down and never cranked it back up while we were there. This is just one example of how accommodating the waitress was. She was very attentive and always made sure we had drinks that were full. She also made sure that we didn't sit with dirty dishes on our table. I definitely give Tommy's a thumbs up in the service department.
My boyfriend and I tried the GF pizza with pepperoni and banana peppers. After months of eating that overpriced frozen rice-based pizza one can find at the grocery store this was a welcome change. I can honestly say that Tommy's GF pizza was one of the best pizzas I have had in a long time. The crust had a nice consistency and was a bit on the thin side...which was fine with us! It actually had a crunchiness to it that we have yet to find with any other GF crust. I definitely give the GF pizza five stars! In addition to the pizza we tried the GF potato skins. They were also really good and very fresh. They were a tiny bit on the bland side, but nothing that a little bit of salt and pepper couldn't fix. I also ordered some garlic parmesan wings for myself. They were not GF. I thought they were great. The flavor was good and they were nice and crunchy...nothing worse than soggy wings in my opinion. Tommy's also offers a few GF desserts and GF beer that I would love to try sometime!
In addition to eating in and taking out Tommy's also does a take and bake for their customers. We live about 30 minutes away from the restaurant so this is a nice service. If we were to order take out the food would be cold by the time we got home. I love being able to take their pizza home and bake it in my own oven.
I am so glad that we decided to try Tommy's and we will definitely be back soon! If you have to follow a GF diet and are looking for a great place to eat I would definitely check them out!!!