Tom’s BBQ

Really delicious and great service. I ordered the ribs that fell of the bone and my husband had the pull pork. The cashier/​waitress was very friendly and funny. The meals are reasonably priced for the large portions.

This review applies only to this location. Two of the Tom’s BBQ places are owned by the father, and two are owned by the son. This location is owned by the father.
Companion and I have dined at this location a number of times, and we usually order the same thing each time.
Companion orders the chicken sandwich, jalapeño mac and cheese, a brownie and a drink.
I usually order rib tips, cole slaw, and a drink. We have never been disappointed.
Companion’s chicken was moist, and filled the entire bun. The Mac and Cheese had perfectly cooked al dente noodles with loads of cheese on them. The brownie was moist and perfectly chewy and chocolatey.
I order my rib tips without sauce as I prefer to taste the meat with just a little sauce in the background, and they always perfectly oblige my wishes. Their cole slaw is hard to beat; creamy and crunchy with excellent flavor.
Staff is always friendly and most helpful. They take all credit cards including Amex.
At the risk of sounding prejudiced, this is my go to place for BBQ, and I do eat there fairly regularly. It is clean and relatively quiet. At holiday time you can have them smoke your turkey for you at a very reasonable price.
My only wish is that they would have smoked lamb. I once had a sandwich of it and thought I went to heaven, but that was some time ago.
4 stars for cleanliness, good food, nice sized portions, and wonderful customer service.

Tom’s is legit!!! Their bone-​in smoked chicken has to be the best chicken I’ve ever had. The brisket is great, excellent sides too. Potato salad, jalapeño Mac n cheese… They are VERY friendly, table side delivery after a counter order. These local Tempe businesses need us, keep them open. Enjoy Tom’s, you’ll be glad you did.

Atmosphere: Very down to earth and home-​y feel to this place.
Service: The woman who served us was pleasant and warm. Service was pretty quick.
Food: the macaroni and cheese had jalapeños and was delicious! However the BBQ itself was average. I had a pulled pork sandwich which was alright but not amazing.

We live in the neighborhood and decided to try this place. the only thing I can say is go to McDonalds or any place else. The food was terrible. The french fries were so bad they went in the trash. All you could taste was grease and BBQ sauce. One of the worst dinners I’ve had in a long time.

My fiancé and I have been here a few times and love everything we try. The service is great. You can not go wrong with trying anything on the menu. They have homemade corn bread that taste like my Nana used to make. It’s very homey feeling and it’s not like a typical restaurant.

Seriously, unless you really want to get your insides wiped clean, don’t eat here. The food my wife and I got tonight bordered on old style roach coach greasy. No flavor, unless you count the kinda salty ketchup they call BBQ sauce. The lady at the counter was super nice though. For a place that calls itself true BBQ, they have a lot to learn, or they just lost their way.
Oh, we both has the two meat combos, she had the smoked chicken and rib ends, while I had the brisket and pulled pork.

Stopped in with my baseball team, and it was a great choice! Incredible bbq, fantastic service. Billie was so sweet and funny taking orders, and even came out to hang out with us after we ate. I had the brisket and ribs, and the hot bbq sauce was perfect. Definitely coming back as much as I can while I’m here, and I’m taking some of that sauce home!

Went in planning on BBQ but when I saw they had Italian beef sandwiches, I had to get one. The meat itself was pretty decent, and the sandwich was wet, like it should be. Unfortunately the bread and cheese were both pretty meh. The bread seemed like something you’d get in the prepackaged section of any grocery store and was a bit stiff, which is impressive for a wet sandwich. The fries were pretty good and the young guy working the counter was very friendly and helpful. I’ll probably go back at some point and actually try the BBQ.

The owners are real Chicagoans. Love their attitude and service (way better than Hertz). However, the food is a bit lacking. Maybe that’s why the place was empty at lunchtime?
I had a jumbo bbq sandwich with fries. The sandwich was huge — puts Joe’s to shame. However, the bbq was rather bland. The meat was not smokey and the sauce was meh. The bun was cold and broke apart, which was too bad because it looked so good. The fries were okay, just not my favorite style — more like boardwalk fries.
I’m going to go back because there’s a chance that the Italian beef will be good.

Dear sweet barbecue gods, this place is a travesty against all things brisket (which I have eaten a thousand and one plates of, and adore).
Shelled out over $ 18 for a single meat plate that came out with a rubbery, reheated mass of grey brisket more fat than beef, drowned in a sauce whose grocery store levels of mediocrity were only enhanced by its tepid room temperature. And a cold roll to round out the whole, horrifying experience.
Brisket lovers = beware.

So we love BBQ. Just gonna start off with that. We want our meat to be fresh and hell just off of grill type of meat!
This place did not have that. It was like we got the damn left overs.
My husband got the pulled pork sandwich his results: warmed up, gotten from the bottom the tray, and ruined the sandwich.
Grandpa got the beef brisket sandwich results: not fresh, it was cold, dry, tough, and you can tell has been sitting out because there was absolutely no pink anywhere in those tough slices.
I got a hot link sandwich results: burned hot links, extremely dry and tough.
Overall, not going back. The lady was an interesting character, a customer notified her that the root beer was out. She said «okay don’t touch it». And did nothing about it. The inside to me is pretty gross as far as the kitchen goes. So i chose 1 star because I have to and Because the BBQ Sauce is OKAY!

Friendly staff, very helpful. However, what really counts is the food; which was AWFUL.
I ordered the 2 meat combo with chicken and ribs. I can almost guarantee this meat has never seen the inside of a smoker. The taste is chemical, as if they were using liquid smoke rather than bothering with the real thing. The chicken has a texture that suggests it was boiled.
It bears mentioning that I also tasted the pulled pork. It was extremely salty, acidic, and tasted like it should have been thrown out yesterday.
Furthermore, the sauce tastes like they picked it up at Costco. It’s so sweet it’s cloying, and it’s just dumped on top of the already cooked meat. True barbecue has the sauce cooked on. This place does barbecue a great disservice.

The brisket and barbecue beans are great!
Wasn’t a fan of the red beans and rice or the rib tips.

Came out and tried a pulledpork sandwhich and my hubby got a sliced brisket sandwhich. The meat was so juicy and flavorful! Pulled pork melted in my mouth. Brisket had a saltier task but my husband loved it.
Got beans and mashed potatoes on the side. Yum!
.and talk about service with a smile! What an upbeat group of people staffed here!

Stopped by here with my mom and my toddler for lunch after playing at the Kiwanis Park. The walk up order process was super duper quick and the staff was very nice and seemed like they enjoyed their job (a big plus), but the food was sub-​par (in every way… margarine??? yuuk!) and not anything I’d ever spend my money on again. My mom and I both had different plates and we both tried each others and were just not impressed. For my BBQ needs, I’ll stick to Joe’s in Gilbert, this place is not interesting enough and bland for me.

What’s with the hype of the big pink PIG?! This place is over-​priced. They could work on better customer service and less clutter.
Had the bbq pork and mac n cheese, it was okay. But too much bbq sauce.

This place is so good you smell it driving down the street before you get there! Literally everything looked good on the menu. I’m from Kansas City so I love my BBQ, the day we went I had the #3 Italian beef sandwich and I’d have to say it was the best I’ve ever had (my lips were tingling in a good way). This place is a must and Billie was the most amazing host. Will be returning soon! Location on baseline & mill ave in Tempe.

I grew up with BBQ, my favorite being well made brisket with spicy sauce. So each time I try a new BBQ spot, brisket is my first choice.
The brisket here at Tom’s was just ok. It came well cooked, but was already drowned in regular sauce that wasn’t anything fantastic. They have a decent spicy sauce, but pouring water over rain just makes things more wet.
The side of bread comes out of a package and the beans were just too smoked that getting the full flavor out isn’t possible.
I’ll go back to try the Italian sausage, but I’m not expecting a meal to wow me.
If you want some quick BBQ, and it was darn quick with friendly service, this place is great. Unfortunately, the main meal I was interested in was abyssal and not worth recommending for $ 15.

While visiting Arizona I was driving down Baseline Road in Tempe and noticed a place called Tom’s BBQ Chicago Style. What caught my eye in particular was the signage stating that they carried Chicago Style Italian Beef. The next time I went down Baseline road I made sure to stop by and give it a try.
I walked in to find a small restaurant. After looking over the menu I noticed they did indeed serve Chicago style hot dogs, and being the hot dog critic I obviously had to try one. I also ordered an Italian Beef as they had a big sign in front and I figured it must be a specialty of theirs, after about a 10 minute wait my food was ready.
We’ll start with the Italian Beef. This Italian beef was bland, they had the soggy part right. The bread was right, it had the right texture and softness. The Italian Beef meat itself did not have the usual Italian Beef seasoning that I find in Chicagoland. I’ve had worse Italian Beef sandwiches, but for a place putting this at the top of their signage I would expect it to be better.
The hot dog was even worse. This was a giant sloppy mess of a hot dog. The poppy seed bun was the right type (not a given in Arizona), but there was about three hot dogs worth of mustard on this thing. There was way too much tomato and too thick, this caused tomato water to soak the bun causing the bun to become soggy. There was a thick and watery pickle slice that caused the bun to be even soggier. The relish was also applied too liberally, while it was the neon green style of relish typically found in Chicago the application was just a mess. There were two sport peppers about the length of the dog between the two of them. Then cucumber slices and practically no onion. The bun fell apart as I attempted to pick it up, this was just a total disaster of a hot dog and puts a bad name on Chicago style dogs.
Overall Tom’s BBQ was a big disappointment. Despite signs indicating «Chicago Style» all over the outside, the two Chicago style food items I had here were lousy. Perhaps their BBQ is better but if and when I return to Arizona I’ll take my chances elsewhere. Two stars for Tom’s.