Big Tom’s Diner — Restaurant in Aitkin

We were excited to see another dining option open in Aitkin. When we stopped for our first visit, they were very busy and we took that as a positive. Even though it was lunch time, we both opted for a late breakfast. My wife ordered grape juice expecting something like Welch's or a comparable. What she received was a 5-6 oz glass of purple colored liquid that tasted like kool-aid. Since we were still waiting for our food, when the server passed by, she requested that she return it and remove it from the bill. The response was that just because she didn't like it wasn't a reason to refund it. In all fairness, the server did offer an alternative, completely missing the point that she wanted grape juice. We had been waiting almost an hour at that point so opted to find another location to eat. For a 1.99 glass of pseudo juice, they gave up an appox. 30.00 order. I'm not a restaurateur, but know a lot about building a loyal customer base and if you are priced at or above the competition, to succeed you need to do it with product quality and service. From our standpoint they missed...

Came in for breakfast and was greeted right away with a friendly smile(thank you Addie) our server was really friendly and made sure my coffee was always filled!

I had the chicken fried steak with breakfast potatoes and eggs. I also had their waffle; move over roadside big tom isnt playing with this one! It may not be as big as our favorite local diner dive but I'm sure we can all agree through some type of experience size does not matter and that's certainly the case here! The waffle was hot and crispy and sweet! I had to order one more for my partner, who had the biscuits and gravy, which he also stated was the best he had since we've moved into town.

The atmosphere is what you expect from a 50s diner, great decor, roomy booths for bigger men like myself, I even played some songs on the jukebox!

Overall we really enjoyed our breakfast! And we will...

We tried to pay and the lady said our card didn’t work there was money on the card and she had started something else on the computer and made us wait 5 minutes with her standing right there and than she proceeded to tell us to wait because she was taking other people’s order that had came in after we had tried to pay. She than walked away taking two other tables orders and getting there drinks while we waited ready to pay in cash and card but she proceeded to ignore us and not help us pay. Than she came back a an asked us if we figured it out and said “oh I could’ve payed it” what kind of server does that and makes people with a baby wait 12 flipping...