Tommaso Restaurant

Carnavale always a fun time at Tommaso’s! Food still great and plentiful, though not as many varieties of appetizers as in prior years but more than enough! Tommaso still serenades with his beautiful voice and welcomes all back for this special dinner. The singers
have matured into their roles although as a young «old timer» I miss the days when they dressed up and the waiters wore their hats and beads. The ambience is still festive with the balloons and decorations. A rare event in NYC/​Brooklyn and one that we treasure every year! Thank you Tomasso’s for keeping up with tradition!

3.5 — the service we quick despite having read otherwise on the reviews. The pasta and meat were good but nothing amazing or to come back for.

12÷16÷15 — Stopped in for dinner with two friends on a Wednesday night and it was crowded. Crowded on a Wednesday you say? After eating here it should all make sense. We had a few drinks chatted and thought about the menu a bit. Appetizer were meatballs, baked clams, and broccoli rabe. Broccoli rabe was a bit over cooked (too soft) but the flavor was delicious. Entrees were two specials of shrimp pasta with crab sauce and a stuffed veal breast. Food must have been very good because the conversation died down. I skipped dessert (too full) and just had an espresso. The piano was going and the Christmas carols were flowing in addition to some traditional Italian classics. Salute.

arrived at Tomasso as a group of 5 at 7:30 on a Saturday night. Not having reservations, we were pleased to be seated in about 10 minutes.
After that, things went downhill.
It took slightly longer than expected for our waiter to make a stop at our table, but nothing to raise red flags. We all opted for the prix fixe 3-​course dinner menu.
The first course /​appetizers took a moderately long time to come out — more than 30 minutes. The mozzarella/​peppers/​tomato was decent. Zucchini fries very good. Baked clams not so great.
After that, it took over an hour to get our entrees. OVER. AN. HOUR.
Tables who were seated after us had their food before us.
Over the course of that hour, our waiter disappeared for long periods of time, nowhere to be found. Once the food did come out, it fell somewhere between average and disappointing. Chicken Parm, which in an Italian restaurant I would expect to be served on a bed of (or with a side of) pasta came «bare». Not a green vegetable to be found. Forgive me, there was a sprig of parsley. The chicken parm itself was ok, but the sauce which was sparingly drizzled on top tasted like it had burnt in the pan.
The table got a small plate of potatoes to share. For the five of us, that means we each got a wedge approximately the size of one steak fry.
By the time we finished eating we had already been in the restaurant for 2 hours. The waiter reappeared and asked if we’d like coffee. No, we told him, we were ready for our third course. With that he walked away and visited two other tables. Eventually he sent someone else by to offer us coffee. What’s with the coffee?
Apparently they saw that we were upset and wanted to offer it «on the house». Sorry but a $ 2 cup of coffee (which only one of the five of us was interested in) does not make up for the deplorable service. We finally insisted that he take our dessert orders, and asked for the check simultaneously.
Cheesecake got good reviews, rice pudding was ok but odd in that it was citrus flavored.
Our best guess is that the waiter forgot to put in our order. That said, any respectable establishment will fess up and offer some sort of compensation (a cup of coffee doesn’t count). They didn’t do that, didn’t apologize, didn’t acknowledge a problem, etc. despite it being clear that we were unhappy. And we were NOT a problem table, not picky, not impatient, not any of the scenarios that would aggravate a waiter. We just didn’t think it was right to be in a restaurant for 2.5 hours for what would have taken half that time anywhere else.
I cannot recommend this restaurant. Food was average at best, service was terrible, and the fact that they didn’t try to «fix» the situation is unacceptable.
UPDATE: at least one member of our party had his credit card double charged. Not cool.

Went with a group yesterday for a late lunch/​early dinner. First off, the restaurant was very nicely decorated for Christmas. It was very festive. The food was very good! I had a veal roll up with cheese/​bacon/​prosciutto in a mushroom sauce. The veal was so tender. The penne ala vodka was deilcious. The bread was nice and crusty and soft. I really would go again if in the area again!

We expected much better services for what we paid for. We waited 1.5 HOURS for our food. After waiting 45 minutes for 2 cappuccino. They did not give us any untensils and we got frustrated and found them ourselves. Being college students, they constantly ignored our requests, and even serving guest first that arrived after us. They tried to make it up with a plate of 6 sad potatoes wedges. Or as I call them pity potatoes. Overall very disappointed in this establishment. Would NOT recommend. What we thought would be a nice meal was a disaster.

My wife and I hosted a small wedding party for family and friends. Almost 30 guests, including 6 children. We could not be happier with the way our celebration went. The restaurant provided courteous, professional, service and the food was as good as it gets. The appetizers were especially phenomenal… all of them !! The piano man and his wonderful singer added magic. I am so happy we used Tomasso’s and every guest has echoed these sentiments. We felt at home… and having a mother who was born in Sicily, this, to me, was special.

Best Italian New York? Fuggedahboudit! This is competent Calabrian food at best, in a surrounding that would make any two-​bit mobster happy. The deep fried rice balls are great, veal and lamb properly prepared and the marinara is what a Sicilian mother would like. Although most other Italian restaurants in the world do something a little more modern and sophisticated.
Oh well. Good food, legendary for being a mobster hangout back in the day (and maybe still) but the rest of the world has moved on a bit.

The New York Times ranked Tomasso’s the best Italian restaurant in NYC (so, by extension, the nation and possibly the world) for years upon years through the term of (3) or (4) different food critics.
Then the era of the TV celebrity chef was ushered in and average chefs like Mario Batali suddenly became the darlings of groupies, um, I mean, «foodies» What a sad, silly world we live in.
Anyway, Tommy is getting a little older and he doesn’t cook as much but when does, he’s still the best Italian chef in the world.
Don’t believe me? Look it up.
Look at the photos of the food and then read some of the «reviews» from people who think entertainment is coming to our neighborhood to look at the Xmas lights on private houses. Yeah, those people are real trendsetters!
Tommaso = best Italian in NYC

I was shocked at the service we received at this restaurant. Let me preface this: I am an incredibly patient and good diner. I have a lot of friends in hospitality and many friends that are servers. I let A LOT go. I tip minimum 20 percent for fair service, but usually closer to 25 or 30 and I was ready to walk out leaving nothing for the first time in my life.
We were seated right away, thankfully. We had two young children in our party. Just came from seeing the lights and we were hungry. In great spirits (I will say they have the festive thing down complete with Xmas caroling during dinner, too bad the piano player couldn’t lend a hand to our servers). And then we waited about 30 minutes before anyone came to give us water, ask for our order. The waiters would look at us and move on. When they finally acknowledged us we were rushed through our ordering. I asked for a recommendation and realized quickly that I better not. The waiter was not interested or available at all. We received our decent appetizers shortly after we ordered.
We then waited almost an hour for our entrees. An hour! With two kids at the table. No one during that time came to check on us, refill our water, offer an explanation. Nothing. We asked once where our food was and were scoffed at. We asked for a straw for my friends daughter and the request was completely ignored. When our entrées came I was shocked that this was what we waited for. Plain plates of overpriced pasta.
I will come back to the neighborhood, for sure, but I will never come back to this restaurant.

We stopped to eat here early evening for a New Years Eve meal. The greeting by the owner at the bar was terrible, the prices outside were misleading, the service was excellent but a bit too invasive/​hovering so it felt difficult to relax and have a conversation. The chicken Parm was average and the cheesecake was off in taste and texture. Our family of five paid $ 120 for our meal and it was not worth half of that in the overall experience. If you know this place and love it, great, but if you are looking for a new place to try, you aren’t missing anything great if you pass this one up.

Their food is truly like a taste of Italy. Tried a bunch of different appetizers including stuffed mushrooms, and mozzarella and peppers, and had gnocchi and veal roll for my entrée. Only downside is this place is a bit on the pricier side. Otherwise, I would come here more often!

After a delightful evening watching the x-​mas light @ Dyker Heights with my 3.5 year old, my wife and our best friends, which also have a 3.5 year old, we stopped at Tommaso Italian Restaurant were we were greeted by a heavy set man sitting at the bar, «DON’T HOLD THE DOOR OPEN IS COLD OUTSIDE, which I replied, «I’m holding it for my baby», at that answer he stood up from the bar stool and saw the baby walking in, looked at me and just smiled, I found out later it was the owner Mr. Tommaso.
After lookin back at the evening, I should have taken that as an omen because a beautiful evening with family and friends took an unbelievable turn for the worse from the greeting of the owner to the worst service I have had in a restaurant.
During our dinner, the conversation led to the idea that maybe they are understaffed to maybe we’re out of our element by being Spanish and not Italian.
We took a ride to see and celebrate the X-​mas spirit from Astoria to Dyker Heights with family and friends and it was great until «Tommaso» entered the picture.
I will not let this negative experience in this neighborhood stop me from trying again next time but I hope this review saves someone else from experiencing the same.

The food is amazing do us the price went for lunch and paid 60.00 for a mix green salad with extra shrimp ! Wow

Very nice Italian place. Been here a few times only for lunch. Great rice balls. A little expensive. Classic Italian restaurant.

This place is awesome. Where to begin? The décor makes you feel like you’re in your grandmothers house and is cozy and charming. We actually went for carnivale (during Mardi Gras time) so they had a special menu. The server warned is not to eat the bread. It is a good thing I listened because I am still bringing home a ton of food. The carnivale menu consisted of 15 different appetizers, a pasta or soup dish, a entrée and dessert. I had the lasagna as pasta dish and the veal for my entrée. Wow this may be some of the best Italian food I have ever had in my life. I would be remiss if I did not mention that three people singing opera while we ate. They were magnificent. All in all this place ranks very high on my awesome places in New York list. I highly recommend it! Thanks for reading and enjoy.

Best italian restaurant– absolutely delicious. My brother and I, bosses, co-​workers and local friends and family come here all the time. It’s pretty busy most of the time. Noise level is moderate– not too loud, not too quiet. Sometimes they have holiday theme with prefix dinners menus and vocalists performances. It’s very enjoyable. We usually take picks in the three course meal selection. Will definitely recommend this to you! Try it for yourself!

Tommaso restaurant is a bath beach staple of great Italian food! The quality of the food is amazing an the service just as wonderful. They have entertainers on the weekends who sing and showcase their talents. The owners and chefs always ask how everything is and are always willing to make things better.
The gnocchi are soooo tasty get them!

Tomassos is an über charming restaurant– with a piano player who sings opera and decorations straight out of someone’s home. The family photos in the bathroom are so cute. You feel very much at home here and my mom would have loved the live music.
The food is old school and some dishes could use some new schooling. Nice bread w/​housemade pesto and a good arancini start the service. There is a $ 27 prix fixe which has plenty of choices for appetizers and entrees. I went with the stuffed artichoke which they didn’t have so I changed to baked clams which were standard. For my main I went with lasagna which was quite dissapointing. Overcoooked pasta with cheese tasting like Polly-​O not delicate and felt like not a lot of thought went into this dish which can be such a treat. The dessert of Italian cheesecake dusted with flour was good. Sad & shocking that this is the last Italian left restaurant in this area where there was once so many memorable ones.

*** 4 ½ Stars ***
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We first heard about Tommaso’s from watching Samantha Brown when she did an NYC Christmas episode. She ate at Tommaso’s on Christmas Eve and had the feast of the 7 fishes. During the show, Tommaso (Thomas Verdillo) sang opera — which is what he sometimes does for his customers (but, alas, not when we were there). It struck me as the type of Italian restaurant that we like — an old school red sauce place. We grew up in the Northeast, taking such places for granted — that is until we moved to the DC Metro area.
So…I got on
and printed up directions to Tommaso’s using our hotel as a starting point. It’s pretty straightforward — take the D train to 18^th Avenue and walk about 1 mile. There is a bus you could take from the 18^th Avenue station, if you prefer.
We got to the place around 5:30 p.m. on a Friday night. Tommaso himself greeted us and had a waiter seat us. This waiter ended up being our waiter and sadly, he is one of the reasons we can’t give this place a full 5 stars. The waiter was sullen and gave off an aura of being put up on. For example, the minute we were seated, he asked what we wanted to drink. We hadn’t looked at the drinks menu. My husband chose Chianti and told the waiter to give me a bit of time to decide. I was leaning towards getting a soft drink when my husband convinced me to get a whiskey sour on the rocks.
The place wasn’t very busy at all in the main dining room. However, there was a private party going on in another room. Our waiter wasn’t working that room but still he took his time getting to us to take our order. He wasn’t rude or nasty — but he did need to improve his attitude.
We chose the 3 course menu which was $ 25/​person. For my first course (appetizer) I chose zucchini fritti and my husband chose pasta e fagioli. The zucchini fritti was just okay — I have had far better, thus another reason for not going for 5 stars. My husband really enjoyed his pasta e fagioli. It had lots of stock in it and I felt it was almost like having a whole meal. This was a tasty soup — just like home made.
For my second course, I chose lasagna della Mama while my husband chose ravioli and meatballs. The lasagna was very tasty. I noticed that it didn’t have ground beef in it rather it had shredded beef. My husband liked his ravioli and meatballs. The meatballs were small and neither of our portions were overly huge.
While we were eating our main course, Tommaso came by to ask how I liked his mother’s lasagna. I told him that I was enjoying it and commented on how it was different than any lasagna I ever had due to the shredded beef. He told me that ground beef was the Sicilian way while shredded beef was the Neapolitan way. He told us that in years past, women would cook up a large quantity of meat and would use it in different recipies so nothing went to waste. Also, at one time he put sausage in his lasagna but customers found that to be odd so he stopped doing that.
For our third course, I chose Italian cheesecake while my husband chose an apple tart. These were the 2 desserts that Tommaso recommended. He told us that he didn’t like traditional Italian cheesecake so he came up with his own version. He made it less dry and more lemony flavored. The end result is a very tasty but not overly rich cheesecake. The apple tart came with a marscapone sauce which added a tart flavor to counteract the sweetness. Again, this, too, was tasty.
We left feeling full but not ready to explode. This is a popular neighborhood joint as we noticed some regular customers came in and Tommaso addressed them by name. Even though it was our first time dining here, Tommaso made us feel welcome. As we left, he told us to visit again. We most certainly will!