Tommy's Bar-B-Q — Restaurant in Ontario

I want to begin by saying that I’ve never felt compelled to leave a Google review—until now. This isn’t due to the food, which was excellent, nor the servers, who were equally wonderful. The issue lies entirely with a gentleman who appeared to be in a position of authority: grey hair, glasses, and wearing a Tommy BBQ shirt.

During our visit, my family and I were disturbed by how loudly and harshly he addressed his staff. His tone and volume were so inappropriate that we could clearly hear him from our table. Still, this alone wasn’t what prompted me to write this review.

What truly motivated me was a separate incident I witnessed a day later with my husband. I found myself behind the same individual in a Tim Hortons drive-thru. It was a pleasant day, and my window was down. To my shock, I heard him berating the drive-thru employee—who couldn’t have been older than 15—over a mistake with his coffee order. He was raising his voice, threatening that such an error would be grounds for firing if it had happened in his business. He made it a point to say he was the owner of Tommy BBQ multiple times while still wearing the branded shirt. When I pulled up to the window the poor girl looked almost in tears, and said he is a regular and everytime he comes through, he is like that.

As a fellow business owner with a loyal clientele and strong staff relationships, I can say with confidence: mistakes happen. How you handle those mistakes, especially in front of others, reflects your character, leadership, as well as your own business morals. Speaking to employees—your own or someone else’s—with such aggression doesn’t foster respect or loyalty. It drives good people away.

I sincerely hope this message reaches the staff at Tommy BBQ. If this man is indeed the owner, please know this is how he speaks about staff even outside the workplace. To be told that a simple mistake could cost you your job is not only demoralizing but deeply concerning. If you’re being treated this way regularly, I hope you find the strength and self-respect to seek employment where you’re valued...

Will not be back, unfortunately. I was really hoping to like this place, but it was just dry and bland. We ordered ribs and half a chicken.

Chicken: The skin had good flavor and was crispy, but definetly on the dry side.

Sides: Pretty sure these were just bagged crinkle grocery store fries. They were just OK but bland. I had to add salt to my poutine sauce, which i've never though i would have to do. Coleslaw was good and not sweet (which I liked).

Ribs: Where to even start here? First of all, the ribs were very dry. They were not BBQ ribs, there was not a hint of smoke in there. They were probably cooked in an oven-like utensil. There was no seasoning on the ribs, I dont think they were even salted. If you wanted any flavor on the meat, you had to cover it in sauce. If you rely on the sauce for 100% of the flavor, you have some pretty bad cooking there. Sauce is supposed to compliment the flavor, not carry 100% of it.

Service: Maybe they were short staffed or training new people? They had one waitress for the whole restaurant but 2 other people who were bussing tables and helping out. There weren't many people there, but we couldn't get a second drink the whole time, the waitress didnt seem to notice the empty glasses. She did come to check on us but we didn't need anything at the time she did. We asked one of the bussing staff for a second drink and instead of getting it they were following the waitress around telling her repeatedly that we need another drink. We never got it, and that was annoying.

It is worth noting that we did not complain to the waitress about the bland food. Ther isn't much that she could do about it since this type of food takes a long time to cook and its unlikely that she has much say in...

We went the other night, the food was always good but the service needs improvement. I do realize that they are still in the soft opening phase but a few things happened that need improvement. I ordered a coffee and asked for cream, she grabbed the cream from the table beside me (people were sitting at the table) and gave me theirs. This was a plate of cream that people just used and had their garbage creamers on the plate. This is a no no! Get a new plate/bowl of cream& milk for every table. Once we finished our meal the server asked if we wanted dessert, we asked if we could take a look at the showcase of deserts and she said we are not really allowed there. We found this was odd so we asked if she could list what they were. She rattled off a few. Once she brought our dessert she brought the bill as well. We were a little thrown off by this since we didn't get our dessert to go. She than asked, will you be paying debit? We pretty much felt like we had no choice and had to pay. Once we paid she was no where to be found. We figured her shift was finished. If that was the case, she should have disclosed that to us and we would have understood why she wanted payment so promptly. Instead it felt like we were being pushed out of there. The bussing staff also have to learn not to come and take your dishes as you are still eating. This happened many times throughout our meal. I'm not saying I would not go back because I understand that this is all new and there is a lot of new staff. Hopefully this review will help with the training of the staff for the improvement of...