Tom + Chee – West Chester

Meh. Just ok. The soup tasted more like marina sauce and the sandwich was so-​so. Meh.

F$&@ing delicious! We were out and about shopping at IKEA and needed to refuel. We had never heard of Tom + Chee, but wholly-​moly! it was amazing. We got the Classic and the BBQ + Bacon sandwiches. We shared one Classic Tomato soup. The soup was very thick and perfect for dipping. If you’re expecting thin soup (like the typical canned soup) you won’t find it here.

This is some excellent grilled cheese. I’ve heard people complain about the prices but I think it’s worth it. There are a ton of varieties to choose from. The macaroni and cheese grilled cheese is a personal favorite. I get a deep craving for this place once in a while.

A decent attempt at a modern food service paradigm. Unfortunately it’s rather mishandled by Midwestern food culture, or lack there of.

I love Tom and Chee. There is nothing left to be desired when it comes to the food. Having said that when you walk up to the order desk and there is an off the clock associate eating a grilled cheese without a uniform on and she looks at me and says ‘I’m off the clock, I don’t even work today’ you sort of just want to walk out. While the food is amazing this is an associate who I would fire in a heartbeat. Food gets a 5 star the service would get a 0.

Not impressed. My husband picked up carry out and they forgot my child’s drink and fruit. He had a ½ grilled cheese in a box. When we called they refused a refund. Issuing a store credit. We won’t be back. My sandwich was OK. Greasy and the soup tasted like someone went spice crazy. A mistake maybe?
Blue cheese chili — covered in deep pools of oil and the tasted of burn. Inedible slop. It was my first experience and it sucked. I hear the Newport one is great.?

I stopped here leaving IKEA cause I always hear people talking about it. I ordered A sandwich & Soup. I ate the sandwich right away and saved the soup cause I was driving. When I got home took the lid off there was the longest piece of hair just floating.

Although I do love that Tom+Chee started in Cincinnati and grew into something much bigger, I just don’t see myself ever coming back here again. My sandwich was greasy and the food wasn’t that good in my opinion.
Because I had never been here before, I decided to order basic items… I got the Tom+Chee grilled cheese (Tomatoes+Garlic Seasoning+Cheddar+Mozzarella+ Hardy White… it had their name on it so I thought it should be the best sandwich) plus a cup of the creamy tomato soup. My food came out very quickly for a Monday lunch break. My biggest issue was that the sandwich was entirely too greasy… I had to wipe my hands with my napkin after every time I took a bite because it was so greasy. It honestly felt like they used a whole stick of butter on my sandwich. Also, I didn’t think that the flavor was very good… It just tasted like grease to me, which is unfortunate because grilled cheese are some of my favorite things to make at home (I’m kind of a cheese addict, ask my husband). The tomato soup was ok, but it didn’t blow me away. I feel like if you only cook grilled cheese and tomato soup, it should be better than what I can get anywhere else. And to me, this place just wasn’t.
It’s a few hours later, and I still feel gross after eating that greasy sandwich. It might be ok for some people, but for me Tom+Chee was just too much of a good thing. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I’m not sure what happened with many of my fellow reviewers. I thought this location (I’ve been to the other two as well) was great. It might even be my favorite, though it lacks the charm and ambience of the downtown location.
I went here with my family — we’re rolling six deep, so «appropriate» places to dine out aren’t exactly easy to come by. The place was virtually empty — one other table. To be fair, by the time we left there were probably 10 – 12 tables, and we did get there a little before 5pm but still, it wasn’t packed the way others have described.
Each of our girls got «plain» grilled cheese sandwiches, I had the one with turkey and pickles, and my wife got the one with pepperoni. She also got tomato soup on the side. The soup was delicious, as were the sandwiches. Everyone ate everything. Again — everyone. Ate. Everything. If you have kids, you’re with me on this one.
We’ll be back for sure.

I love the grilled cheese salad at Tom and Chee. The prices are a touch high and they eliminated sourdough bread. I’ll continue to visit.

Stopped in during a long road trip through Ohio. Interesting concept for grilled cheese lovers with a good variety of different premium cheeses and toppings, or you can always make your own custom sandwich.
I’d recommend getting either the tomato soup or at least the dipper cup (which is just a small cup of soup to dip the sandwich in) to balance out all the cheese a bit. I’d also recommend getting the sandwich over the doughnut grilled cheese since the doughnut was a bit smaller and therefore less «doughy» than other doughnut grilled cheese sandwiches I’ve tried before.
Overall, worth a great intrepretation for a childhood comfort food classic with grown up ingredients (like bacon!)

I was so excited to try this place after seeing it on Shark Tank a while ago. It seemed like the chain has been growing rapidly over the past few years, so my expectations were high. I think the concept of this is great, but the quality and pricing are holding it back.
I had a BLT+CHEE and chunky tomato soup. Unfortunately, it didn’t impress me in the least. It was OK, but was something I could have easily made at home. Nothing special about it whatsoever. Same thing with the soup. My wife got a Swiss + Shroom and creamy soup. We tried a bite of each others and I did like her’s better, so that tells me there is at least some potential with some other menu items. It really was hard to choose something and I wish I would have tried something a bit more interesting. Part of me wants to go back and try some other stuff. I don’t know if I can muster the courage to try any of the donuts, though.
Maybe the quality could pass if the price wasn’t so high. Me and my wife both ordered a sandwich and a cup of soup for 18 dollars. We didn’t even order drinks for that price — just water. The portions are weak too — I left feeling not very full and satisfied, wishing I just went to the Chipotle next door and would have been fuller probably for less money — even with Guac.

Was excited to try this place. There wasn’t a line when we got there and our food came quickly. My moms grilled cheese sandwich was missing one of her ingredients… the cheese. We flagged down one of the workers and they immediately made her a fresh one the way she’d ordered it. I got the hot and spicy grilled cheese… the peppers and onions where really good but overall both our sandwiches were greasy.
We both got the chunky tomato soup and it wasn’t that great. big chunks of tomatoes in a little bit of sauce with not much flavor. Tasted like a chunky tomato sauce instead of soup. The ambience is also a little loud. between the music playing and everything echoing off the ceiling and walls it was quite a bit of noise.
Overall, glad we tried it but wouldn’t go back.

I saw so much potential!
Simple concepts attract me. I really like simple, because that most likely means that it’s well done.
Not the case here. Service was excellent and fast on my to go order.
Except I said sourdough… I got white. Oh well.
I wanted to start slow. Just a grilled cheese with cheddar on white (supposed to be sour dough) and a small cup of classic tomato soup.
The soup tastes acrid. I supposedly got classic. but it’s kind of chunky. It tastes like one tomato got stuck at the bottom of the pot and burned while it permeated the whole soup! Yuck!
The grilled cheese was good until I got to a corner of the sandwich and tasted what was unmistakably jalapeño pepper. Maybe someone didn’t put on new gloves before they touched my order? I would recommend that.
Overall I loved the concept, but it lacked extremely in execution.
But for $ 7 my sandwich was kind of small :’(I’m still hungry. Bad taste. Bad feelings.

Who can not love a grilled cheese sandwich! I have a soft spot for Tom + Chee, they do comfort food the right way. The cheese is gooey and they have tomato soup for everyone’s taste, classic, chunky or creamy!
It is a little overpriced for a Grilled Cheese and Soup, but its so good you forget about it. The star of this place is their Grilled Cheese Donut, talk about glorious sweet, savory, going to clog your arteries kind of «dessert» (Surprisingly enough it only comes to about 360 calories, who knew!?)… they have them in all kind S’mores, Banana and Peanut Butter, or you can create your own. It’s simply delicious.
My one and only problem with this location is that no matter what time of the day it is, there is always a long wait for what should be «fast food», multiple times I had to wait more than 20 minutes for the food. At least the wait for food is good while you hunt down where you are going to seat, it seems that there are never any tables available.

What says comfort food like a grilled cheese and tomato soup, right? We had been to the Newport on the Levee location once and enjoyed our meal, so we were excited to hear about this newest location which is much closer to us. Tonight we decided to give it a go.
Because it was a Friday dinner hour, we weren’t surprised to find a line and all the tables filled. So, my daughter and hubby went to place our order while I was hovering for a place to sit. We were fortunate as I spotted a guy putting away his stuff like he was finished. After affirming that he was ready to leave, his wife invited me to sit as they got up to go. Another woman hurried over as she saw them leave only to be disappointed to realize that I wasn’t part of their group and was staying. Oh well, this kind of things happens in restaurants like these. No problems.
Hubby got swiss/​mozzarella on sourdough with Creamy Tomato Basil soup. Daughter got Grilled Mac + Chee with Tomato Basil Soup while I got Cheddar/​Swiss on Gluten Free Bread plus the Creamy Basil Tomato. First the bad: none of us cared for the tomato soup as we all agreed it was a little bit too acidic. My sandwich was nothing to write home about, but I do know how difficult it is to find a tasty gluten free bread. Now the good: They both enjoyed their sandwiches on sourdough. I really enjoyed a bite of the Mac + Chee sandwich and kudos to them for having a gluten free option. One of us decided to probably not go back while one of us would. So, there you have it.
They do have an option for children — ½ grilled cheese, soup and drink for $ 3.95. Fruit/​chips can be subbed for soup.
I did ask the manager about the the poster for the Baker’s Dozen Challenge. You win if you can down 13 grilled cheese donuts with a drink in one sitting with no bathroom breaks. You end up getting the food for free and your photo put up on their wall immortalizing you. Nobody has won so far, but a few have managed to down 6 or 7 at a time. So, you might want to try it if that’s your thing.
Was also surprised to find out that Tom + Chee started in Cinti! Since they opened their first brick & mortar in 2010, they were visited by Man vs Food Nation, was named America’s Best New Sandwich by The Today Show, was featured/​won on Shark Tank and consequently opened lots of franchises across the country in 14! Not bad for a few short years!

I went to Tom+Chee for the very first time. I never heard of the establishment until Mom said she wanted to take us there. I did a little research on Unilocal, bookmarked the location, and checked-​in to the restaurant. When you walk in there is a large sign that says Tomato soup and Grilled Cheese. I’m a little skeptical — grilled cheese? I have many kids at home and cooking grilled cheese and heating tomato soup is very common. I even add pickles to mine! And, I’m not a big fan of tomato soup. My thought… this grilled cheese and tomato soup must be pretty good to go out and eat it in a restaurant.
Like I said early, I can make grilled cheese at home, so I ordered the Pep+Chee. The Pep+Chee is pepperoni, tomato sauce and mozzerella cheese grilled on sourdough bread. For my side I ordered a bowl of chunky tomato soup. Visual appearance of Pep+Chee — size is similar to the portion you’d make at home. On the inside there was colorful pepperoni and thick mozzarella cheese with tomato sauce. The bread was perfectly browned on both sides. The chunky tomato soup was a rich red color with chunky tomatoes floating on top. The soup was served with oyster crackers. Taste of Pep+Chee — pretty good! The sourdough bread, pepperoni and mozzarella is a good grilled sandwich. The soup tasted excellent! The soup was thick, creamy and delicious. The chunky tomatoes were great! Overall the Pep+Chee grilled sandwich dipped in the chunky tomato soup are a winning combination!
I did not try the donuts nor add any additional toppings to my Pep+Chee. The kids ordered regular grilled cheese with cup of plain tomato soup. They liked this combination like they do at home. The soup of the day was loaded potato but my mother said was not very good. They do serve Coca-​Cola.
If you are hankering for a grilled cheese and tomato soup but don’t want to cook at home, they do have take out!

I love Tom + Chee and am very happy to have a location more convenient to me than Newport or downtown. We went to this location for the first time on New Year’s Eve, just before the lunch rush (like 11:30 AM ish). It was already busy, with over half the tables full, and there was a short wait (5 min ish), but nothing crazy. (About halfway through our meal, the line had doubled though.) Fortunately, unlike other reviewers here, we had no issues with service.
From a food standpoint, we always build our own sandwiches. I usually get brie and ham on sourdough, with a dipper of the classic tomato. Husband mixes it up more often than I do, but he too prefers the sourdough, and he’ll usually get a cup of the creamy.
Only once (at the Newport location) have I had one of the donuts. I split a strawberry lemon one with a friend, and it was really tasty (but too sweet for me to eat on my own).
One thing I noted was that the new (post-​Shark Tank) design worked much better in this location than I think it does at the Newport location. Here, the doors flow straight toward the ordering line, and the bright colors feel less cheesy (no pun intended) in a strip mall than on the Levee. My husband remarked that the new design/​layout had a similar feel to Smashburger (which he meant neither as a positive or a negative, just as a comparison). We both enjoyed the timeline on the wall that you can read while you wait to order.
Tips: Come at off-​peak times to avoid waiting. Parking might also be a pain if it’s busy, as there are other popular restaurants using the same lot.

I am SOOOOOOOOOOO excited to have the heaven that is Tom+Chee right around the corner!!! We used to drive to Newport to get it as a special treat and when we heard this one was opening we about did some back flips.
If you’ve never been to Tom+Chee though, I would probably suggest that you go to this one on a weekend or head to the ones downtown or in Newport for the time being. This location just opened, and it is right near a ton of businesses, so lunch hour is INSANE. I have been once on a weekend, and once now during the craziness that is workplace lunch time. OMG, the difference was like night and day, and had I gone only during the weekend, this would easily be a 5 star review.
The first time was like all my other wonderful times, where I left happy and stuffed. I ordered the Turkey Pesto on a whim instead of the typical and delicious grilled cheese donut. It was sooo yummy, and I left wanting to return quickly. The only negative that day is that the parking lot is pretty small, and there are a few other businesses there so it gets full fast.
I came back a few days later, during the crazy time of day, and it was just a letdown compared to before and the other locations. I realize they are new, and that it was filled to capacity too, but you’d think being in that area, they would realize what they were in for. It took at least 45 minutes to get my pesto turkey sandwich, and my friend ordered a chocolate bacon donut. Her order came out before mine, so I watched her eat part of her meal before mine even showed up. When I got it, it was warm, but seemed like it had been sitting. We had to wait for a table, which was expected but once the food came out it was just not the same quality as normal. My sandwich was so greasy, and the turkey just didn’t taste as fresh as before or something.
There was a huge line waiting to order, and a line for pickup orders. I saw a few people get frustrated and leave before they picked up their order, and the lady next to us was waiting about 40 minutes and still never got her meal. She went up to get her money back and left.
I will go back, and I will redo a review for them once they get this situation under control. I will eat there pretty often because it’s so close, but if the quality is like the other day, I will just stick to the original plan of going to Newport for a treat. I have to say, it really hurts my heart to give a Tom+Chee only 3 stars, but based on my two visits so far the negative visit left more of an impression than the positive one.

So so so happy to have a Tom + Chee come to West Chester. This location lives up to the tasty goodness that is known at its locations in Cincinnati. The location is very large but you should anticipate West Chester-​caliber crowds around lunch and dinner. It’s a new business and it’s a well-​known franchise so long lines are inevitable! There is a call-​ahead and carry-​out option. Come around 4 p.m. if you don’t want any wait. The food came lightning fast around that time. I’ve never met a Tom + Chee sandwich that I didn’t love and enjoy every morsel of. Currently working on my Tom + Chee bucket list.