Tom's Famous Family Restaurant 17 — Restaurant in Hesperia

Well, I hate posting a bad review...I really do. But, after a few bad experiences I cannot avoid it...especially after their most recent fumble. First off, weve been going to Toms for about 18-19 years. Decent burgers, close to home and really little to complain about...when they get the order right. Usually their mistakes are hardly worth mentioning...failing to leave pickles or tomato off a burger or to add the blue cheese or bacon or avocado we paid extra for, or best yet...being charged for an extra side of chopped onion. Not a big deal as its still a good burger and if ordering through doordash, we can at least get a partial refund for the error. But last night was too much. My wife ordered a turkeyburger, but what she got was barely suitable for our trashcan, it was awful. Inedible. Apparently, they ran out of turkey burgers so instead grabbed about a pound of cold cut turkey, didn't bother to unfold it out of package, and slapped it on the grill for a minute to add burger essence, who knows... And VOILA!!! Turkeyburger!! (Masterful culinary skills here!)

Actually, no. Total fail.

Unfortunately, she had already taken one very small bite before realizing they had sent us garbage on a bun instead of what we ordered. So, she called to find out "what the hell?" Spoke to manager who explained they were out of turkey burgers and apologized...which was really an empty apology because it was followed by a "but". "I'm sorry, but whenever we call doordash customers with a problem, they never get back to us...so this is how we prepared your "burger"" "Did you try to call us?" "No." Said he didn't bother because no one ever responds. Okay, whatever. Makes no sense. We've had plenty of other restaurants contact us through doordash to let us know they were out of something, or just wanted to clarify order.

That's called solid customer service.

Moreover, we chose Toms because the wait for The Habit was 15 minutes longer, but as it turned out, Toms took 20 minutes longer than The Habit would have taken. Maybe because the great minds over at Toms had to join forces to tackle this dilemma, takes time I guess. Now, I only mention this because the doordash driver sat waiting for the food to be prepared, and contacted us through the app to let us know it was running late. At any point, Toms could have asked the driver to contact us to see if we'd like to order something else or just go with the "burger" they sent us to feed our trashcan. While I appreciate their artistic attempts to redefine the turkeyburger...back to the drawing board you must go, Toms...this was as unappetizing as it gets. I cant even imagine how any conscious person (or anyone over the age of 4) could think this was a reasonable substitute. I shudder to think what other bright ideas they have floating around their kitchen.

So, between this and the endless list of extra toppings we've paid for but never got, the sandwiches forgotten outright and the idiotic response from Toms when inquiring about the "Incompetant Special" we received last night (Toms, I offer you that name to use to try and sell that train wreck, see how well it does) we will never be going back to Toms...sad after so many years. I'll gladly drive to Apollo in Victorville (or literally, anywhere else) anytime over this nonsense...vastly superior food and customer service, they actually have it. Bye bye Toms. 👋

Check out the masterpiece below. By the way, Tom's...why dont you make this thing for yourself and see if you'd be...

On June 14th 2025 at about 10:30am, I ordered from this restaurant through Doordash. I have been buying from them for years and even gone in person through their drive-thru. I ordered a pastrami chili cheese fries with extra cheese, extra chili, add onions. Also with a club sandwich and a double cheese burger. I told the restaurant to charge me extra for the extra add ons for the pastrami chili fries. I have been getting it prepared this way for many months now. No complaints from the restaurant until today. When I got my order delivered the pastrami chili fries were very petty. It had no extra chili, no extra cheese and no pastrami. It did have onions. Very disappointing. I called Doordash about the issue and they didn't want to redeliver. So I called the restaurant and asked for a manager. The manager got on the line and I told her what happened. She was very rude. She told me to deal with Doordash. No apology, no kind words. She said that they were busy with the morning rush and didn't pay attention to my order. She also told me that she saw my fries and saw the extra cheese and the onions. I told her that there was no extra cheese, it was a normal amount of cheese. She looked at my fries but where is the quality control. I got tried of her attitude and told her that I was willing to go there and have them remake it for me. She said to come. When I got there no one came to me and said anything even though some of the employees were standing around chatting. They even looked at me. After I waited for a bit, one of the cooks came to me and asked if I was the person about the pastrami chili fries. I told him yes. He told me that he would make it for me. Very nice man. So finally the manager came to me with a mad face and attitude. I opened the bag and showed her the pastrami chili fries. I told her where is all the extra chili, extra cheese, and no pastrami was not on the fries. I paid extra. I also told her that it was not tampered with. She took the food and threw away the food in the trash aggressively. No apology again. She said they will make a new one. I sat down at a booth that was next to the counter. She comes to me with complaints and tells me that they are not allowed to do extra add ons when customers on Doordash are requesting. I told her that I have been requesting these fries for many, many months and no complaints from your restaurant. She tells me that Doordash are the ones that charge you extra for the extra add ons. I told her than tell the Doordash driver to let the customers know that add ons are not allowed. Also for the restaurant to put on the Doordash app where it says special instructions, The restaurant has chosen not to do special requests. She didn't say anything. She said they are working on your fries. I sat down and waited. Finally after a few minutes of waiting the manager brought the new pastrami chili fries. She opened the container and showed me. I was happy. She closed the container and told me to have a good day. With a mad face and walked away fast. She should not even be a manager. No customer service skills, very rude, not kind. If you look on the restaurants security cameras you will see my point. Not once did I cuss or say anything rude to her. I was mad put not rude. Very poor communication. Great food but very poor staff. Will...

Drive Thru Order - I placed an order that included a family pack, an additional hamburger special, a pastrami combo, two orders of jalapeños, and dressings (ranch and thousand island).

When I pulled through the drive-thru, I was given my drinks but then asked to park and wait. The wait ended up being about 30 minutes. For the inconvenience, my regular onion rings were upgraded to a large, which I appreciated. The staff member who brought out the order was wearing glasses and had red nail polish. She apologized for the delay, and when I asked if everything was included, she smiled and said yes.

After a long day and with my kids exhausted, I didn’t double-check the bags and just drove home. Once I got home, I discovered that the pastrami sandwich and the thousand island dressing were missing.

I immediately called the restaurant to speak with a manager, but the manager wasn’t available. The staff offered to replace the missing items if I drove back, but after such a long wait and given the distance, the drive wasn’t worth it. At that point, the receipt had already been thrown away after cleaning up, so I didn’t call back again.

While the onion ring upgrade was a kind gesture, it didn’t make up for the fact that my main meal—the pastrami sandwich—was missing. I understand restaurants get busy, but that isn’t an excuse for incomplete orders. Staff should be more diligent and receive customer service training to ensure accuracy and accountability.

Unfortunately, because of this experience, (not the first time missing items) I won’t be returning...