Original Tommy's — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Double Chili Cheeseburger - two quarter pound patties, cheese, chili, tomato, pickles, onions, mustard / 5 ⭐! Chili Cheese Fries - 5 ⭐!

Los Angeles and Southern California is the origin for a lot of iconic fast food chains. Some of them are destined to make it global while others flourish locally.

One of the powerhouse local chains is Original Tommy's and the location at Beverly and Rampart is the first of their 32 locations throughout Los Angeles (and a few in Las Vegas).

The original Original Tommy's sits on a sprawling corner lot with an overflow parking lot right next door so parking is quite easy. While lots of LA shuts down at night, Original Tommy's remains a 24 hour destination. They have a broad but simple menu which includes breakfast items (I hear their breakfast burrito is a great option). They do not have traditional seating. Instead, they have a variety of counters you can post up at to enjoy your meal.

When I go, I focus on the chili cheeseburger. The one I had on this visit was a glorious, chili and cheese packed messy hamburger and I wouldn't want it any other way.

The chili is filling and has a great, thick, meaty texture. The cheese can't help but melt everywhere and adds a rich, creamy flavor. The burger patties are well cooked. I love the thick slice tomato that sits on top, adding a cool crunch to the burger.

Since chili is their staple and what makes them unique, I also got it on the fries. The fries are thick cut and when loaded up with a very generous serving of chili, it makes a great snack.

The service was fast, friendly and efficient. I had my order within minutes of placing it and I enjoyed it fresh and piping hot, standing at one of their counters. If you have been in LA a while and haven't had Original Tommy's, you really should check them out. They have been serving LA for a long time for a very...

Everything they sell comes with chili sauce included. The chili portion is huge, but the burger patty was very thin. They say it was a 1/4lb but it was wafer thin. Overall I would say it was a very good price/value because they had so much chili I had to scrape about half of it off and I'm still stuffed to the gills. The flavor of the chili was fair, but I'm from Texas so it wasn't as good as Texas chili. But compared to most of the places around the country I've eaten chili at it was better than average. It's been awhile since I've been to Dodger stadium and had a Dodger dog, but the hot dog kind of reminded of one. It was good and had that familiar snap/crunch of one They initially gave me old/cold fries that were terrible. But they replaced them with fresh hot ones that were thick and very tasty. Just don't eat'em cold. This is an old styled joint, so there is not a dining room or even any outdoor tables. They do have covered built in counters that you can eat your food while standing in the shade. The employees weren't very friendly in spite of tge fact that there were few customers and I tried to engage them twice as a tourist. But, they just looked annoyed that I was trying to be friendly. The place did a steady stream of business, but never more than a couple of customers at a time that would have caused them to be having a bad day.

Definitely, not a place that I will choose to visit again unless I'm with a group that insists on going. I understand that this is the "IT" place to go at night when you're drunk and need something to soak up...

What else can I say about the Original Tommy's but you need to go there. This is where the chilli burger craze started, Tommy's does it right with a hot beefy patty, crispy veggies, toasty buns and a huge portion of Tommy's famous chilli. The first time I went to the Original Tommy's I was 18 and 12 friends and I went there at midnight after prom in an Escalade limo. Now, I am 50 and I took my wife and kids around mid-day, there's something special about the Original Tommy's on Rampart Ave. the flavor brings me back to that day 30 years ago. My wife prefers no chilli on her burger and Tommy's calls that a California Burger, this is also a great choice if you're looking for a high quality, all beef burger with crispy veggies and Toasty buns. My children are big fans of Tommy's Burgers, this is one location I can take my whole family and everyone has a favorite in their small menu. Recommendations: Whether you want an extremely meaty original chilli burger or an equally yummy California Burger, you cannot make a bad order. I always take home a 32 oz side of chilli to enjoy on top of my scrambled eggs in the morning or to enhance that frozen burrito in my lunch box. Tommy's Burgers has a high quality hot dog as well. That snappy all beef dog is terrific with mustard and catsup or with Tommy's famous chilli, pickles and onions... Pricey, but worth...