Attilio's of Tom's River — Restaurant in Toms River

In my neverending quest for the best cheesesteak in Toms River, it's only fitting that on the verge of moving an hour and a half away, I finally got around to Attilio's.

Located in a really crappy strip mall you can't make a left turn into, currently moated off by some vague road construction project, it doesn't have a lot of curb appeal. But the food inside is definitely above average.

The bread is excellent, and the sandwiches are slightly toasted to add a satisfying crunch. Made with white American mixed into the steak, which seems to be of a higher quality than several other nearby spots, I really can't find much to complain about. And yet... There is one thing.

Any topping you add to the sandwich is an additional 50¢. Not really that big a deal, but on my most recent trip, I ordered one with lettuce, tomato, onions, and hot peppers. Half a dollar each bought a ton of lettuce and hot peppers, but only two slices of tomato and three or four measly rings of raw onion. So, the blanket pricing approach to toppings wasn't exactly equitable. As an aside, I also asked for mayo, which they do not charge for, and it was applied somewhat sparingly, as though it were made from Iranian Beluga caviar and gold.

All of this can be fixed. "Please go heavy on the onions and mayo, and light on the peppers." Et, voila. An excellent cheesesteak, which by the way, is perfectly good when served plain, without adjustment or special requests.

Sadly, I won't have too many more of these, because there are only so many cheesesteaks I can justify eating in the span of three weeks, but the one or two I will should definitely be from here.

Oh, also - they have excellent soups, and a pretty decent Cobb salad. I haven't tried the pizza, but being the oldest pizza place in town, I have to assume they do that...

Had pizza delivered and it was cold. When called the person answering the phone denied it being cold. We were told we had to return the uneaten pizza for a hot pie. We explained we took a bite from the pizza hence that’s how we knew it was cold. The only way they will replace the cold pie is it was returned untouched. How do we know if they would reheat and resell this pizza? Completely ridiculous especially because we’ve ordered from them for years and never had a problem. The call ended when the worker hung up on us. Horrendous customer service Cold pizza Reheat…Resell

*To respond… we were told the pizza was to be returned without any bites out of it. As explained that’s when we realized the pizza was cold. We could certainly have returned the majority(4 slices with 1 bite out) but was told no. We questioned how we would know it was cold if we didn’t try it. No one cursed or acted like a “psycho”. Rude customer service should not be tolerated, I agree, however the response we were given was not what you are saying in your response. Do better…you are in the business where customer satisfaction is integral. We have ordered at the home address for years and never had a problem. I guess once you speak up about dissatisfaction you respond by attacking. No worries. There are many other options available. Best regards

Final response: We can agree to disagree on how that conversation went. Perception isn’t fabrication. Although good food and customer service is always expected, I do agree a favorable review is beneficial and could/should have been written at some point in the tenure of our ordering from your restaurant. Moving on, I will be sure to write positive reviews for businesses that excel in customer service and...

Attilio’s has basically been my daily go to for all of my gluten free food for the last 9 months! My family and I have been taking care of my grandparents since then and my grandmother just passed away on the 29th.... My family is so heartbroken, but Attilio’s has been exceptional! The amount of kindness my family has gotten from Carlo and Dora is overwhelming... since watching everything with my grandmother... all I wanted was tiramisu as like my comfort snack. Since I had to be gluten free, I had to wait until they made more. I asked for it every time I called and ended up making friends with Dora. She always takes such good care of me when I order my gluten free food. She’s given me so much compassion and is always so incredibly sweet! She goes above and beyond to make sure that I get food that won’t poison me. And there have been so many times when she would just go out of her way to make my day! The staff is awesome. And the day my grandmother died, Carlo told me he made the tiramisu gluten free for me, and that it would be ready the next day. I was so touched. I’ve been picking it up every other day. This is the only restaurant I feel safe going to 💖 in a time when my family and I are mourning, and there are so many tears... it’s so nice to have some tears of joy in the midst of our loss. They took care of me like family. Like home away from...