Tommy's Cafe — Restaurant in Renton

Food is great, most of the few waitresses are there to please and give great service. However, there's one who is extremely rude as she exerts her rudeness passively aggressive. A little more than a week ago, I visited the cafe and was first forced to wait an excessive amount of time before being asked to place my order. When this particular waitress finally came to my table once she appeared to realize I wasn't going to give in to being ignored and leave. She proceeded to take my order, As usual, I ordered two eggs over easy with bacon, wheat toast with butter, grits, coffee but asked that the coffee not be watered down this time as I've experienced recently, I also asked for an extra napkin. Since they are used to placing the jam and jelly containers in the plate on top of the food, I've asked them to please stop doing that because technically, it's not sanitary and the extra napkin due to the fact that the silverware wrapped in the one napkin is not sufficient in protecting the utensils from the bare table if the one napkin is used by the customer to stay neat. I mentioned all this because the waitress brought my coffee watered down and didn't bring the extra napkin I requested. I again asked her for stronger coffee and the extra napkin, when the coffee arrived, it was still weak, she never brought the napkin then brought my plate gently slamming my plates to the table then asked "will there be anything else sir?". There was another patrin seated just behind me who heard the dishes being slammed to the table as well because I turned to him as he mentioned witnessing the same behavior. As i prepared to leave, as usual, I stopped at the pay counter to pay the bill and to politely address her passive aggressive behavior. I got her attention while paying my bill I acknowledged how difficult it must be working short handed so I imagine how difficult can be to remain patient at times then I proceeded to point out how rude she was to me. To my dismay, she rang up my bill then told me the amount, thereby totally ignoring what I said. So I began to get a little more direct with my description of her behavior. She simply took my money, denied being rude then walked away leaving me in mid sentence. This lady's behavior is not exceptable and I will not tolerate this again. I spoke to another waitress who has earlier provided me with far better assistance in the past, this nice Asian waitress informed me of where her station is located and told me that "she'd be happy to serve me from now on and to just sit in her area". I told that nice Asian lady that I'll never want that purple haired rude girl to ever go near my food or take my order again in order to avoid causing a scene if she's ever rude to me again. I also wish to add, the food is always prepared as though the chefs care about the quality of their work which is rare in most places so I'd like to continue being a customer at 'Tommy's Cafe, their expertise is always appreciated otherwise.

J. Mitchell

Ps. I'm a tipper of course, but I did not leave the purple haired girl anything that day and will never be seated in her area again unless I get a sincere apology from her for her...

UPDATE: 9/11/24 - Again great food, GREAT Service - The restaurant is a "sit where you'd like restaurant" so customer balancing can definitely get unbalanced. Not sure what the rules are about assisting each other if you have time, but was shocked see the only other server who I'll be referring to "lazy gal" was waiting on only 3 tables with maybe 8 customers on the other side of restaurant. At times just hanging around doing nothing, while our gal, Christina, was never out of high speed mode with her 8+ tables with 30+ customers. I had asked lazy gal for coffee since she was just standing there not doing anything, she said yes then did nothing. Few moments later Christina came over with coffee. Apparently lazy gal told our server that we needed coffee. While Lazy gal was doing nothing, she could have assisted our coffee or even delivery of food when it was ready even though it may not have been for her measly 3 tables. Especially since our server was busy entering orders, taking care of her many customers, ringing them out, bussing her tables while trying to stay on top on delivering food. When I was at the counter waiting to pay, lazy gal , who was at the counter too, just standing there, wouldn't assist me saying your waitress would have to ring you up, which may be true. Then just stood there and continued to watch as Christina was working non stop. I didn't see a time that Christina ever slowed down. Christina was AMAZING!! The other gal "lazy gal" was just that.. LAZY! Teamwork would certainly make for a more pleasant experience overall. A customer that has to wait for their food because another server was too lazy to assist isn't good customer service and not good business sense. Christina gets a BIG ATTA GIRL from both myself...

The venue:

A roadside diner that has been in operation for decades, Tommy's Cafe gives me 70's and 80's flashback with it's decor and booth stylings. When you enter you're given the option to sit anywhere that has a number on it. You'll find that most of the booths have advertisements on the tables (much like the diners of yesteryear). It's a nice flashback to when I was a kid. You'll also find that most of those advertisements are for businesses that are long gone, so I wouldn't try and give any of them a call. There is a TV that is usually on some sport, so if you want to be able to view that screen, you'll want to sit on the right hand side (if looking straight at the building from the main road) of the restaurant.

The staff:

Staff here have always been very pleasant, and one of the waitresses actually remembers our orders. All of the people working here work hard to make sure that tables are being turned at a good clip, so should you show up and it's very busy, just give it a few minutes and something will become available. Tommy's also use a cash register receipt that you can scan with your phone (if it was made in about the last 4 years) so you can touchless pay using your phone. Pretty nice in the age of COVID.

The food:

The food is your standard diner food. Breakfast and lunch choices abound on the menu, so you're likely to find something that will interest you. My partner usually has the eggs benedict and other than one time months ago where it came out a bit rubbery, it's always very delicious and is their go-to when dining in. I usually have the philly cheese dip, extra cheese. Also very good when you're hungry. The fries are made crisp and hot - just the way...