Tom & Chee — Restaurant in Newport

I hope the owners see this. I'm not from Ohio but have always made it a point to buy from different Tom and Chee locations during our visits. always online pick ups. Last yeart was a young whitw or Hispanic girl who helped me at this Newport location. I went back this afternoon for my pickup. Old white grandma at the desk didn't like the name on the order. I didn't bother pronouncing it, just showed the email. She muttered something under her breath to which the other white lady (who was normal in her interactions with me) responded to grandma "I speak many languages". The dang name on the order is Srinath. Not Ratajkowski or one of those 26-consonant-sans-any-vowel names. I said, "it's not that hard to read the name on the order". Grandma brought the bags. Other lady mentioned something about a credit card. To which I asked puzzled, "credit card?" White grandma "yeah shes asking for your credit card". Me - "but I paid using the online system on the business website". Other white lady "oh no you are all set, sorry about that" and proceeded to tell Grandma that she was inquiring about some other order. My point is, please teach your employees basics like you don't have a pay later option , on your webiste's online ordering system. I have seen black people being questioned at McD's, asking to see a credit card. This is a first for me. The online order receipt doesn't mention a credit card or ID check. EDIT - The night manager Barb asked me to talk to Chad the general manager tomorrow, to get a refund on one of the sandwiches. Icing on the cake - no soap in the restroom that stank of poop. And of course my order was screwed up! I paid $8.99 for Pep+Chee sub wheat but instead got plain grilled cheese on white. $8.99 for this? With some burnt cheese spots here and there. Same price as the meat loaded options. Btw, I bought four sandwiches. The other three were bacon and fig, westside and west of Philly. I will not be going back to this establishment. Anyone who treats you like you were there to steal the food you ordered, doesn't deserve...

I love Tom & Chee. I've been coming since the first location opened. Unfortunately, the standards are not as high as they used to be. The woman who took orders must've been having a bad day. I worked fast food for four years so I get it and I don't need service with a smile. But she also wasn't really doing her job. The family in front of us had no idea what number had been assigned to them because she didn't tell them and they almost took the wrong one. She did tell me mine, but I had to fish it out of the group myself. She told me to sign my receipt, which also forced me to source my pen from the middle of the number jungle, and didn't want my signed copy so I did what the guy in front of me did and added it to a clearing in the jungle.

So then I go to get a drink. I choose the Sobe Lifewater. Imagine my surprise to find black flecks of something in it. There's no juice, so I knew that didn't belong. Again, I worked fast food for four years, so I knew what it was. I took off the nozzle and wiped the inside with a napkin. The picture is what I found (there's more than one spot on the napkin). That's mold. Imagine if I'd gotten a dark soda and not known what I was drinking. Nozzles should be cleaned at least twice daily. There's no way they'd been done recently since mold takes more than a couple of hours to grow. I told a kid who worked there who promptly went on break without telling anyone what I'd told him. So then I told the woman who brought us our food. Hopefully she or someone else went to clean them, but since they're in another part of the restaurant of where we sat, I have no way of knowing.

I still gave two stars because the food itself tasted good and came...

What's great about this place is that they have MUCH better hours than their Court St. location downtown and it's only about an additional 5-7 min ride across the river to get to it. The food is amazing! I crave it about once a week for either lunch or dinner. The beef + cheddar on rye w/ classic tomato and a s'more grilled cheese donut?!? Yeah, in my book it doesn't get much better than that. As far as the food and service is concerned this place is tops!

What's NOT great about this place is having to park at Newport on the Levee, the layout and the decor. The decor is pretty dismal. It doesn't compliment the restaurant's identity. The furniture and fabric looks like it was left over from an old southwest themed diner. It makes the place look dated, dark, dingy and dirty even if it's not. I just want these guys to make some serious money and update their look. Brushed SS tables, comfortable booths, better lighting and bright colored furniture would look great in this place and make it a place I would want to hang and spend more $$$. Also if you stop by on a cold day, sit in the back corner as FAR from the front door as possible. The constant drafts are freezing and become unbearable.

I would love it if it was open a little later, provided Wi-Fi, brewed and served a local coffee and a killer hot chocolate in the winter. If that were advertised and promoted I feel like this place could make a killing on night owls like myself and the crowd that filters out of the Levee when the bars and clubs close. The rent must be killer at the Levee might as well maximize...