Tommy T's Tavern — Restaurant in Orland Township

Sunday, 2/2/25, I and two girlfriends attempted to try this restaurant. We met next door at Boba Bros for tea to warm up after walking the nearby fitness stairs and hiking for a couple of hours at Swallow Cliff. Initially, I entered the restaurant to get a menu as we were going to order food to-go and take it next door to consume while having our tea, as the Boba Bros employee let us know it was okay to do so. After looking at the menu and being excited about all the options, we decided to just head over and dine it and have a cocktail as well while we ate and caught up. We seated ourselves. And then the same server who had given me the menu earlier came to our table and gave us two more menus, info on Bingo and the daily specials. She remarked "Oh so you are dining in with us". We all said yes. We never saw her again. We never got water, and no one took our drink or food order. Let me preface this by saying initially when I went in to get the menu, there was only one family at a table of about 6-8 people and a few people sitting at the bar. At this time, when we returned it was near the time that Bingo was starting so more people had arrived. We sat for about 15 minutes as we watched others who arrived AFTER us get their drink orders taken and fulfilled. There was a family of three (mom, dad, and daughter) who arrived after us and the bartender came from behind the bar to take their order and gave them drinks and water. There was another table of two women, one older and a younger lady who arrived after us who also had drinks. The last straw was an elderly lady who entered after we had been sitting patiently for 15 minutes or longer and we saw and heard the bartender go over to her and take her drink order. We were in close range. She even looked over at our table and noticed we did not have water nor drinks and looked away. There was a man who looked to have been assigned to operate the Bingo equipment who was talking to the two ladies I mentioned earlier, he looks at us as we stand and put on our coasts to leave, and he said nothing either. I understand if they are short staffed (I only saw the blonde server, bartender, and the gentleman) but clearly, they were taking others' orders just not ours. We did not even get an "I'm sorry we got a rush, and we're have a staffing shortage" explanation. They let us leave without any acknowledgement as if our Black presence or money weren't wanted. I will never return to this establishment, and I do not recommend that anyone of color support this business either.

The good part: Boba Bros has excellent service and tea. We left to head over to Orland Ale where there was only a bartender who was both making drinks and serving and still managed to give us excellent service! We are grateful to have spent our hard-earned money somewhere where it was...

Honestly, some of the prices are a bit high for what you get. $13 for decent cheese curds is way too much but at least they were cooked in clean oil. We were tempted by a pizza but they have no giardiniera (or maybe the nice server didn’t understand what I said) so we split the Eagle burger instead.

For my mom and I to split it was more than enough and even though I’m not a huge fan of brioche but the ingredients worked well together very well. Can we please get thicker fries though? It was genuinely a really good burger though.

All in all my mom really liked the place and so did I as it wasn’t too loud, the bartender was really sweet and a young man opened the door for her on the way out when she went to smoke.

Only downside was we came for the cook with the long hair who looked like Richard Reid the Shoe Bomber that is seemingly famous for speaking In patois/tongues while fighting with the police after harassing another customer while high as a kite. But I think we missed the show.

It’ll be nice to come back and enjoy the patio on our next trip to Orland Park and maybe...

Update 2022-02-27: I posted some photos, Tommy nailed it with the Jambalaya. Flavor is rich and tasty and all ingredients are prepared perfectly, including the shrimp. There is just enough sauce to dip the tasty garlic bread in. Time is limited, it wont be there for long, make sure to get there soon and try it. You wont be disappointed!

Update 2021-10-09:

They are still rocking it up here! Tommy is updating the menu for the fall season so come up and check out the weekly specials. Food is great, bar is clean, the crew are great!

Original Post: The pub is recently under new management but is still the neighborhood pub we’ve come to love over the years. Food menu has improved and has some great changes and is now locked in. Tommy is making subtle changes to make the place his, so far, no complaints. Live music on the weekends is a welcomed change and Ray Gavin tonight was great artist. Weekly food and drink specials are spot on. Check it out, it’s a great...