Tommys Tavern + Tap — Restaurant in Clifton

I came here yesterday evening with a relatively large group, we were trying it for the first time. It pains me to leave a negative review for a family-owned small business, I hate every minute of writing this, but I have to in this case. My order for dinner was straight-up forgotten about and it ultimately took 1.5 hours to finally be served, a total of almost 2 hours from the time we came in the door. All of my friends were finished eating almost half an hour before I got my food, I was so hungry by then I would have eaten a shoe on a plate!

To be fair, it was very busy which obviously requires waiting and mistakes happen, but it felt so bad having no food for such an unusually long period and watching all my friends finish theirs and still waiting on and on and on. It was so long that the ice cubes in my drink completely melted before the food arrived. It was so long that Godot actually arrived and synth humans have replaced AI in the workforce. It was so long that Moon Colony Bank called about a missed payment on my personal starship (oops).

On the bright side, our server was very repeatedly apologetic about the whole thing and it didn't seem to be his fault since that same dish was also delayed for two other friends, just not nearly as badly. I feel like the problem was most likely something kitchen-side, miscommunication or not tracking orders right or just too many customers and not enough staff to handle. Still, you would hope a server would notice that everyone in a group but one has their food, but I had to flag him down after having been very, very reasonably patient.

When I finally did get my food, it was very good. No one offered to do anything though so I ended up paying full HoloBucks for my 2 hours and full tip (that's still a thing in 2075) because the gratuity was automatically included for a group of our size. Tommy's got paid, the server got paid...and the hungry customer got...missed like a fart in the wind. So that's why I'm writing this, wasn't able to voice displeasure the normal way.

All that said, Tommy's seems to be a great local spot with a good menu and other people have noted good service in their reviews. I read dozens and dozens of them trying to find what I did wrong, turns out I may just be incredibly unlucky. Unfortunately, I'm an admin of our group and can't recommend us returning, because if this can happen to me, it can happen to any of them, and that's the only thing that could make me feel...

Great outdoors but it's a shame they don't maximize it. I asked when we got in if we could order drinks from where the green area is and the server, a young gentleman, told me I'd have to order from the bar and bring over. I'm more than okay with that until I saw him 2hrs later bringing drinks to a group that came over after we've been back and forth to bar for 2 hours. Next is, I asked for a Stella and the bartender told me it'd be best to go inside to order because it'll be quicker I told her I'm okay with waiting for my drinks. On top of that they have not cleaned the tables by us for over 2hrs!!!! Which the picture is posted. Last but not least, I was ordering from the same bartender for over 2hrs and asked her if she could change the tv in the green to the Mets game (football game was over) and she said she's not allowed to change it on football Sunday. Meanwhile the Mets game is already on 2 TVs at the outdoor bar ‍ Really? Do you want a tip or not? I've been ordering from you for over 2hrs! If it wasn't that this outdoors was so nice, I would not return. Just in case you're wondering, they were not swamped. Although that shouldn't be a reason. Oh and even after the group that they served, which apparently are not supposed to be served told a server or friend we took pics of tables that have not be cleaned for over 2hrs, guess what, still weren't cleaned! WOW! This review was done while I'm actually sitting here........SAD

So, you can't put the Mets game because it's football Sunday but you're playing FANTASY ISLAND!

Wow!!!! Meanwhile, the "server" that couldn't serve us continues to brings drinks to this party. Must be friends because he's sitting with them to.

This is terrible. Just in case, yes I asked him about it and he said because they were sitting at one of his tables. Sure they were! Even at that point, customer service would mean, "I'm sorry but what could I get you?"

Customer service.......remember that?

This place definitely doesn't have it. Once again, if it wasn't for the outdoor area and cornhole, I'd rather go...

I don’t normally post reviews and I try to be as understanding as possible when it comes to service. But after an hour wait for food and poor service, I felt it necessary to post a review.

This was my girlfriend’s and I first time going to Tommy’s Tavern and we were excited to check it out since it was a newer restaurant in Clifton. There was a 45 minute wait which was understandable since it was a Saturday night and also was the day before Valentine’s Day. Due to the wait time beforehand, we placed our whole order as soon as our server attended us to hopefully save time. We ordered wings, a turkey burger and pasta. The wings came out fast in under 10 minutes which gave us a good first impression and high hopes of the food to come. About 25 minutes after being done eating our wings, our waitress came over to our table and asked if we were waiting for more food. This was confusing to us since she took our order in the first place and was not something we wanted to hear as we arrived very hungry! Also, it made us both question if she even placed our order in the first place.

Nonetheless, we would wait for an hour before we no longer felt like wasting our time (left money on the table for the wings). Furthermore, a table that arrived slightly after us received their food before us and were also done eating by the time we left. The waitress was also not very attentive to us and only stated the kitchen was backed up.

We were going to give Tommy’s Tavern a one star, but the manager called me by phone and left a message apologizing. However, we felt like it was already too late.

It’s clear they still need experience working under stress and are not primetime ready yet. I can only imagine how much worse it would be if they were at full capacity.

If you are thinking about eating here, I would wait a few more months until they can get...