Tom's BBQ - Tempe — Restaurant in Tempe

A buddy and I were on our way to AZ Mills Mall when we spied this bbq joint rolling by. I deftly made a u-turn and we were both glad I did. The older lady that greeted us made us feel right at home! She was unapologetically loud and boisterous, but super friendly and genuine at the same time. The dining room was clean, offering both booths and tables with rolls of much needed paper towels stationed every few feet apart. I had the 3 meat combo which included rib tips, brisket, and smoked chicken (leg & thigh), all with spicy bbq sauce. I also asked for fries and cole slaw. I couldn't decide which meat was the best. I was brought a mound of hot and spicy protien that saw me through the night. The chicken fell off the bone. The rib tips were fantastic. And the brisket...oh my goodness the brisket!! My buddy ordered the same except he added burnt pieces to his order (I had no clue you could do this, and I LOVE burnt edges and pieces of bbq!!). I tried one and almost fainted! Throughout our meal, the lady behind the counter remaind fully engaged in conversation with us as well as the other patrons making us feel like well cared for children. One HAS to expect to pay a little more for good bbq so when my total came to just under $30, I was pleasantly surprised. As we were leaving, the lady jokingly yelled out to us, "Make sure you call me when you get home so i know you got home safe." That did it!! We were both completely sold on this place. Needless to say that it was a great bbq experience, and I would...

The restaurant is extremely outdated. I don't know if it's absurd nostalgia or a money issue, but this place needs an entire makeover. The "old school BBQ diner feel" doesn't cut it in 2020. Looking into the kitchen made me feel sick, it's gross in there. The booth seats aren't properly attached to their support. I found a huge mess of crumbs on my seat, so I wiped it off myself. Big guy in the back was being very loud joking around which made for a poor experience. The meat was very dry and had no flavor at all. I asked for the hot BBQ sauce and instead received regular sauce. It concerned me how quickly the food was ready after I ordered. Perhaps they threw it in the microwave. Anyhow, the meat tasted like it had been frozen and re-heated earlier in the morning. Even the fries and cornbread were bad. This is surprising considering how difficult it is to mess up BBQ. What I'm not surprised about however is that I was the only customer inside. I will not come back until the restaurant is completely remodeled (for health and sanitation reasons) and until they make their BBQ fresh. PS: A message to all business owners - don't live in the past. If you aren't on board with constantly updating your business's look and feel to be on par with the times, your business will fail. Tom's BBQ is the worst. No...

I usually love Tom’s barbecue. I go to the one off of Alma school. But I wanted to try the Tempe location because it’s closer to my house. So I ordered for pick up in Advance at 4:30. I placed my order for a 630 pick up. I arrived at the restaurant at exactly 630 to pick my food up and the cashier made a sort of rude comment about how long I took to get there. I told him I wasn’t sure what he was talking about because I placed an order for 630 and I showed him my phone and that it said that I could get the order picked up at 6:30 and he said well my cooks don’t speak English so they don’t know that you should have said to pick it up at 6:30. I told him that’s what I thought I did because that’s what the website had me do that was the only option that I had for the menufy website. So I asked if that food had just been sitting out on the counter for hours and he said yes and then I asked if they could remake it because it was supposed to be made for a pick up at 6:30 and one of the cooks came upfront, looked at the receipt, just shook their head and walked away, and he said no. so I would like a refund on the food. I’m very upset and definitely not coming back to this location again. $45 later for cold food and...