Tomboy

Hello former Tomboy owners. I always enjoyed your restaurant and have a question for you. You had a great painting of two boys smoking on the wall. I was wondering if you still have that painting? It was great.
Thanks
Mike

Sadly… Tomboy closed it’s doors yesterday.

Had Sunday brunch here. Overall the menu wasn’t overwhelming, and nice selections. Upon being sat, small muffins were brought to the table for a snack.
I opted for the spinach, feta, prosciutto omelette, and a friend had the breakfast burrito. Both entrees were great, and came with a side of potatoes.
The prices are great, everything was around $ 10. Overall I highly recommend. The only drawback is the place needs to work on its ventilation. I’ve had dinner here several times in the past few weeks in addition to brunch and it always seems like the kitchen isn’t vented well.

This was one of the best meals I’ve had in memory. A friend and I found out about Tomboy on Unilocal,in fact, and planned to dine there when we’d be in the area.
We were early on a Friday night (for Chicago, and in an economy when a lot of people aren’t eating out), so it took a while for the place to fill up, but that meant we could enjoy the atmosphere to ourselves longer. Dim lighting, exposed brick walls, small tables with white cloths (but black napkins, mercifully), bar to one side (which never got too raucous during our stay), the room divided by heavy velvet drapes swagged back to reveal the whole room. The setting looks fancy, but the attire is nice casual. The political caricature art on the walls seemed oddly misplaced (perhaps the art rotates here?)
Our waiter Will seemed supremely at ease here and was very helpful, and busboy Raoul was quick with water and bread refills even when the place filled up.
The bread itself does deserve mention: seed-​studded multigrain rolls and little footballs of white, scored for easy splitting, served with garlic-​infused parmesan-​y olive oil. Yum.
I started with French onion soup: wonderful and earthy on a rainy night. My friend had a chopped salad; she liked the play of cucumbers and feta. Neither of us had problems polishing it off, but we had to save room for the main course.
We both ordered the filet mignon with gorgonzola sauce; the menu suggested medium rare, which would have been too bloody for me so I got it cooked to medium, and it ended up being perfect. This was the best steak I have had in a long time: meltingly tender, the beefy aspects offset by the salty cheese.
The one tiny flaw in the meal was that the accompanying garlic mashed potatoes were on the cold side; it hardly mattered, as I was so full after devouring my perfect steak that I hardly made a dent in the potatoes, but it’s the principle of the thing.
Tomboy also has a prix fixe menu Tuesday through Friday: three courses for a set price; many nice-​looking options, but they didn’t include the filet, so we didn’t go for that this time since we really wanted to try the steak, and it ended up being totally worthwhile.
I would absolutely return here based on the food, the service and the setting. Boy oh boy, Tomboy, you’d be hard to forget.

Brunching on a horrid, rainy Sunday– I dare you to try and find a place in Andersonville that is not crowded at 12:30– or at least I would have if I had not been out today. It was nasty, horrible, and extremely wet. However, being dedicated non cookers on the weekend– well, we had to eat. After fighting for a parking spot, we changed our selected choice for food and headed to Tomboy. They had only a few tables seated, no waiting.
The Bloody Marys were pretty good, nothing special, but quickly served and hit the spot. One of my friends ordered the gingerbread pancakes with marzcapone filling and whipped cream. The other– the breakfast burrito. The pancakes were awesome. They were a heavenly bit of tasty warmth on a rain chilled, cold day. Although sweet, they would have made a good meal to eat, and then sleep off the rest of the day. I did not try the burrito, it looked large, had tons of egg, some black beans, and sausage.
I had the crabby benedict. I am a crab (and crab cake) FANATIC. Seeing these on the menu gave me no choice. I had to order them. They were ok, nothing to write home about. I was somewhat disappointed– seeing as how the waiter suggested them. The eggs were too runny– leaving my english muffins soaked, the hollandise sauce did not have a distinctive flavor. Having all of that liquid on my plate also made the potatoes get soggy– which actually tasted pretty darn good! However, there was an ample amount of crab– this is something that some places skimp on. One other comment– the slabs of Canadian bacon were too thick to make for an easily balanced (taste wise) presentation. I would order them again– and make sure to request the eggs more to my preference.
Although I was not thrilled with today’s meal, I am sure we will be back. The no line, no waiting comes in quite handy when you live on this side of town. The pricing was easily justified, the service was sound. The ambiance was definitely chill and our food was served quickly.
It has been awhile since I have been here for dinner, so I will save my commentary on that for an update!

Kelly and I tried Tomboy for the first time last night. We had heard good things from some of our friends, and I’m a sucker for a BYOB restaurant (although they do have a full bar, as well) with a prix fixe menu. While we didn’t have a perfect experience, there were enough positives for us to try it again at another time.
I highly recommend bringing your own wine to Tomboy — the winelist is merely adequate, and the markups are very heavy. Fortunately, the wine store just down the shop, In Fine Spirits, has a good selection with very reasonable prices for a small store. We picked up a Northern Rhone blend (syrah, with a hint of viognier) from South Africa for $ 10. Even with the $ 7 corkage fee, it was a steal.
Dinner started off strong — I had the mussels and Kelly had the gorgonzola quesadillas. Both were superb — the mussels are served in a broth with prosciutto, onions, and tomatos, and was one of the best mussel appetizers I have had. The quesadillas perfectly blended the pear, gorgonzola, and port sauce. Crispy and delectible.
The main courses, however, were a little disappointing. We both went with fish specials — I chose salmon baked in a honey dijon glaze, and Kelly selected tilapia in a strawberry vinagrette glaze. The honey dijon glaze was too heavy — more of a coating — and overwhelmed the salmon. The strawberry glaze was also heavy, and cloyingly sweet — it too, overwhelmed the fish. Both dishes also came with mashed potatos, which exacerbated the heaviness. With fish, less is more and I think they were trying to do too much with these specials.
The meal did end on a high note. For dessert, I had the chocolate mousse, and Kelly had the banana bread pudding. Both were excellent.
Service was spotty — like the food, it began well, and the manager and the waitress were very attentive, partially because there were only three other tables occupied when we arrived. However, we had a very long wait between our appetizer and our main course, and we had an additional wait when we ordered coffee, as the waitress had to brew a fresh pot. The decline correlated to the increase in customers; If they had additional waitstaff, that would not have been a problem. But, it wasn’t enough of an inconvenience to keep me from returning.
Although the specials were disappointing, I would definitely go back for the mussels, and to try the rack of lamb. The BYOB option and the prix fixe menu makes the restaurant a great asset for the neighborhood.

I LOVE this place for Sunday Brunch!
The atmosphere is swanky, and I love the art on the walls. Staff is always friendly and eager to serve. The fresh-​baked muffins with your coffee while you peruse the menu is always a nice touch. They have pineapple juice! (**highly recommended: Mimosa w/​pineapple instead of orange!)
The banana pancakes are my fav, and they are so much more interesting that the usual slabs of pseudo banana bread you usually get with that kind of order. They are really light, fresh bananas inside, with a delicious butter/​syrup sauce. Perfect amount and style of food for a filling yet not too filling brunch! The boy digs on the banana french toast– CRAZY huge stack of french toast… delectable! Both bacon and sausage for you meat fans are great.
It is a little pricier than your average diner, but for that must-​have brunch– it is worth every penny! Great service, excellent portions… you won’t miss your pennies.
Beware– brunch is only on Sundays– so don’t walk over there to be disappointed by the «closed» sign on the window Saturday morning. I’ve never had any other meal there, but I hear their three-​course idea is pretty good and fun to boot!

I really enjoy Tomboy. I brought my parents there when they were visiting once and we had an amazing brunch. The manager came over and asked how everything was and chatted with us a bit. Never waited for a refill on anything. The food was pretty much heaven. Yeah, I need to go back :)

I was there awhile back and I think had one of the owners as our waitress. She was great and had excellent recommendations. The tea was also great there. Maybe it was Tazo, not sure. I would say this is a good place to go on a date. The atmosphere is nice to enjoy someone close to yous company.

3.5 — 4.0 — Great service, ambiance, Great dinner there with a trinity meal $ 22 plus tax/​tip/​beverages
3 course meal deal with appetizer, dinner and desert. Yum, wish I got the Mahi Mahi but got the pasta beef (safe), and great summer salad and the desert was to die for! CREME BRULEE! yum! We bought a bottle over from the wine shop next door and it was a fabulous meal. I spent more than I wanted to but it was still nonetheless great!

Me and my gf went here for Valentines Day and it was amazing! Our 8:00 reservation was met promptly, and we were seated before we could get a drink from the bar. Our server, Jessica, was so friendly and sweet, and was totally on the ball. The martinis were good, only I wish they had put a little more effort into shaking them — they were a little warm at times.
We started with a cheese plate, which was so so so good. 3 kinds of cheese, tons of apple slices, grapes, bread + crackers, and candied walnuts! It was a perfect amount for a little tasting.
The best part though was definitely our entrees. I got some kind of chocolate chicken dish, with garlic mashed potatoes that had TONS of garlic, which I adore, and broccoli. The chocolate sauce on the chicken was absolutely perfect. Sweet and Spicey. The chicken was cooked perfectly as well.
My gf’s salmon — I absolutely hate seafood, but I could tell it looked amazing. It was a huge portion of salmon, not the tiny little piece alot of place give you. It was also cooked perfectly, and was flakey and amazing (her words, obviously).
We were way too full for dessert (what’s up with people saying the portions are small? it was just the right amount of food– if not a little too much) so had another round of martinis. It was V-​day, so I expected to be ushered out the door a little, as there were still people waiting. However, this was not at all the case. We didn’t linger around forever, maybe just 15 minutes or so, but we were allowed time to enjoy our drinks and that nice ‘Oh my god, that was so good’ after dinner glow. We even got a cute little kiddy valentine with the check, which was just tacky enough to be amazing.
and PS– this place is so cute! Any restaurant that wants to have blue party lights in the window gets an automatic A from me.

We went to Tomboy for dinner not too long ago.
The food was great, however the portions were really small.
I was sad that after spending $ 45 on dinner we weren’t even full. Of course I believe in quality over quantity however… eh…I don’t know. It just didn’t rock my socks. It was around 6:30pm and place was empty on a Thursday night, the live entertainment was nice, but I wouldn’t go there again.

We went to Tomboy on a Saturday night around 7:30 and there were plenty of tables though it did fill up a bit more later. To switch it up, we opted for the portabello mushroom with goat cheese and sun-​dried tomato appetizer; it was pretty good. For an entrée, I had the chicken stuffed with goat cheese and spinach and my super cute date had the mahi-​mahi special. My chicken was good but I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t super jealous that I didn’t order the mahi-​mahi (I think that it was encrusted with corn flakes and had some type of brown sugar glaze)…it was quite delicious.
As far as service, our waitstaff was very attentive and checked in with us frequently. I’d definitely go back; I was curious about some of the other items of the menu and the ambiance was nice.

I met up a few of friends for brunch on Sunday. We selected TomBoy on a whim, partly because it fulfilled my friend’s stipulation was that the place better have pancakes or else his 2 year old would not be a happy camper. Lucky for everyone over the age of 2, their brunch menu did offer pancakes, so the kid was happy, and did not pose any problems to other diners, waitstaff, or the parents.
I had the filet mignon and eggs, served with potatoes, and wedges of toast. The meat was cooked medium-​rare and was given a slight covering of pepper and onions, which made for a nice tasting and easily chewable meal. Those expecting a dinner sized portion of meat will be disappointed, but for the time of the day, about 11AM, it was the right size meal to eat. I also got a chance to try the french toast (or at least that’s what I thought my friend ordered). When saturated with syrup, and topped with chopped bananas, it tasted awesome.
The service was great, granted we all walked in when the place was mostly empty. By the time we left, more customers were walking in, and what began as a quiet brunch among 4 friends, started to liven up for the lunch crowd.
Pros: Right sized portions, good service, ambience makes the best of a the store front-​meets brick wall loft décor. The paintings on the wall, make for interesting conversation pieces while waiting for food.
Cons: Kinda pricey for the portion sizes, but the taste more than made up for it. Besides, we can all stand to eat a little bit less. Just a little.
To sum it up: If my friends and I can sneak in, eat, and be done before the crowd comes in, I’m all for it.

I walked by Tomboy many times and never thought about entering until a stroll from church one day and seeing the new brunch menu. I wouldn’t really call it a brunch menu, more just extended breakfast hours. The food was tasty. I had the stuff French Toast, which was a little dry, but everything else brought out was a treat.
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Updated– New visit 4÷13− Had an incredibly tasty breakfast at Tomboy today. Enjoyed the Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Pancakes, Mimosa, muffins and hot tea selection. Jessica was very nice, and the service was ON TOP of it. GREAT Experience, moving the star rating up now for Tomboy to a 5 star experience. Courteous staff from start to finish.

I’ve been to Tomboy a number of times, but I haven’t been there recently, which is why I held off on my review. Last night, I went there for dinner with a friend, and after a shaky start we had a good time.
The shaky bit was trying to find a wine by the glass. Tomboy has a small but respectable wine list, but they offer few wines by the glass. Maybe 7 reds and 6 whites. My friend drinks white, and while I generally drink red, I’ll have a white in warmer weather as an opener. Two of the whites were chardonnays, which neither of us prefer, and two were sweeter whites (a riesling and a gewurztraminer). One was a Washington state blend, which also turned out to be sweet (we tried it), and so we settled on a pinot grigio (the sole survivor). Which they were out of. To be fair, the server did bring us tastes of a couple of the whites, and the manager came out to apologize about the pinot and brought a couple of bottles with her for us to try. My friend ended up settling for the riesling (I think), which was fine for her but too sweet for me, while I ended up with a pinot noir, which was fine. Tomboy started out as BYOB, and while they now have a full bar, they still allow you to BYO ($ 7 corkage fee, I believe), so I may go that route next time. Especially since In Fine Spirits is only a couple of doors down.
The food was an easier choice. At least for me. Tomboy changes their menus with the season, and since it’s the end of summer, a lot of their dishes come with fruit highlights — a fruity vinaigrette, or a fruit relish, or a fruit sauce. I’m down with the fruit, but my friend is not crazy abut fruit in savory applications. Her loss. We started with the porcupine shrimp, which is crusted in shredded phyllo and served with a peach melon relish. My friend doesn’t like peaches (I know), but she liked the shrimp. I was tempted by the duck (as I always am), but ended up going with the filet (gorgonzola cream sauce, garlic mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus) while my friend had the rack of lamb (several small chops, actually, with sweet potatoes and spinach). The lamb was a gamble, because it was marinated with garlic and rosemary, and a lot of places have a heavy hand with the rosemary. This was just right. And the filet was perfect. Neither of us *needed* dessert, but we ended up getting the banana chocolate chip bread pudding, which was a joy.
Dinner was $ 40 each, with a good tip and a $ 25 gift certificate from
. Since we shared an appetizer and dessert, and only had one glass of wine each, that seemed a little high. But as my friend points out, red meat adds 10 dollars. There was live music, which was a little loud, but appropriate for the space — a singer/​pianist duo. Tables are close together — especially on the banquette — but a decent size.
I have mixed emotions about Tomboy. It’s a solid restaurant, but not extraordinary. But it’s nice to have a «finer dining» (not fine dining) establishment up the street. I always have a good meal there, but I don’t feel compelled to go back. I feel this way about a lot of restaurants. If you’re up this way and looking for something that *isn’t* ethnic, it’s a good choice.

I hadn’t been to Tomboy for years until recently (i just moved back to the neighborhood). Went there a few weeks ago with my husband and it was great. The staff was so incredibly friendly, and nice. The menu was fantastic, and our dinners were great.
totally recommend it for great food in a relaxed atmosphere.

This is a great place. From the art on the exposed brick walls to the music playing in the background. The menu is creative and priced well for the choices offered. Vegetarian options also included. We were a party of five and each chose a different appetizer, meal and dessert — the selection was great. Favorite appetizer was by far the Porcupine Shrimp, favorite meal was the duck and pork loin, favorite dessert was the crème brûlée and banana bread pudding. The staff was helpful and friendly and one of the owners came by late in the meal to see if we were satisfied.
Our dinner for 5 included appetizers, meals and dessert for each was $ 250. Only priases for ourselves and our out of town guests.
Great place to take out of town dykes!

Been here twice now, didn’t like it either time. Last time was almost a year ago and the service was HORRIBLE. After complaining we got a couple of apologies from our waitress and an excuse that they were very short-​handed that night. Then we didn’t see a server for another twenty minutes. If they were short-​handed they would have been better to only seat the customers they could handle.
This time the food was pretty good, but pricy. And the service was gruff, almost rude. Our server was very matter-​of-​fact; I think she might have accidentally smiled once. The other servers and bussers had the same chip on their shoulder. Not the end of the world, but there are at least four other restaurants within two blocks that do a much better job for a much better price, and are simply more fun.

This restaurant seems to ooze an urban sense of coolness, but the food is actually pretty good too. The brick walls look rustic yet chic and dramatically lit. The menu has pastas and other varied dishes. My entrée had no meat but was still tasty and creatively presented. There is also a bar and the cool ambience is aided by an eclectic of piped-​in music.