The Fat Tomato Italian Bistro — Restaurant in Berlin Township

We used to love the Fat Tomato. It was our go to eat out location. We’ve been going since 2008. Back in the day, the daily soups were to die for and you couldn’t go wrong with any dish. My kids would look forward to times when we would go there for dinner.

However in recent years, the costs have gone way up and the portion sizes and quality down. But this isn’t the biggest knock on The Fat Tomato. Their greatest misstep is that they are no longer family friendly. There is no kid menu. When you bring your kids, they are required to order off the adult menu. They are not allowed to even have a piece of pizza as their entree. My kids used to love when we would go and be excited with the grilled cheese and French fries while us parents would enjoy an excellent meal. There is little on the menu that they are interested in.

Tonight we went for what is likely our last time. $18 for the calamari appetizer. We were stunned to see less than a cup of calamari on the plate. They used to have an excellent calamari appetizer with twice as much food for half the price and the quality was better. My kids each ordered an adult pasta dish (they are both small children) and of course there is no Children’s menu and they don’t want the same thing so they can’t share. $15 for each of their plates that they barely ate.

I’m sad that today marked the end of an era for us. I will miss all the great meals we had there. All of the homemade soups that we would call to see what was todays special. The homemade desserts that were excellent. And of course the dishes that were really good that had us wanting to come back over and over.

I guess it was good...

Set up like your regular pizza shop. Small close tables. My server was absolutely amazing. Very attentive and took care of everything. I was very pleased with our waitress. She was great. The food however was not for me. I got the Arancini for the appetizer. It was bland seemed like it was freezer burned and the “risotto” seemed more like uncle bens 90 second rice. I got the house made fried crab cake dinner with the orange coulee and spinach risotto. The crab cake was certainly not fried or house made and was swimming in the orange coulee that tasted like the concentrate orange juice I use to get in the freezer section at the grocery store. The risotto that came with it tasted like uncle Bens as well. When I told the waitress she apologized, took it off the bill and offered another meal. Which I declined as I was short on time and my husband was already more than halfway through his meal ( raging rooster which he said was not bad) so I just got an orzo soup. When she brought the soup out, there was a handful of raw spinach thrown on top, making it very hard to eat and filling the bowl. Over all I would NOT go back or recommend. The best part of my date night was the wine! Btw this...

I never leave negative reviews for small businesses, particularly restaurants. It's not easy particularly now, however I couldn't keep this to myself. This was my second order from the Fat Tomato. Their handmade gnocchi is very good so I ordered that again. I also ordered a piece of maple walnut cake for dessert that was $10.00. I don't mind the price if it was worth it but this cake was old, I mean OLD. I worked in a bakery for years so I know how long it would take for a cake like this to be in a similar condition and I'm talking weeks, at least two maybe three or more and it was most likely frozen repeatedly. The nerve of someone to ethically charge $10.00 for a normal piece of cake that is so old, let alone the safety of selling such a thing astounds me. It's the kind of thing I wanted to save for the ER so they could identify the bacteria later on. You know when Elaine ate Kennedy's wedding cake? Yeah that was probably better. You get the point. The first order had a stale piece of cake and garlic bread as well but at least those weren't at an unsafe level and my hubby ate them anyway. Will never order...