You Say TomAto, I Say Tomato!

If you were to see The Tomato Kitchen from the outside, you would think it's just a hole in the wall. It is in a tiny shopping center on Orchard Lake Rd. in Sylvan Lake, which is just West of Pontiac. This restaurant is more like a diamond in the rough. Right when you walk in, the decor makes you feel like you are in a cute deli in the big city. The food is even better than the atmosphere!

The Tomato Kitchen has a huge variety of food. Our group tonight started off with the complimentary breadsticks, that are addicting on their own. Once you add their Cheese & Garlic Dip to it, they are to die for. After our appetizer, everyone at the table took a completely different direction with their main course. First, there was the Turkey & White Bean Chili that was super, super hearty and you get a giant bowl. It's a little on the spicy side, but very good. Another big hit was the Greek Salad with chunks of feta cheese and fresh sliced beets. The small salad is definitely enough for a full meal or for two people to share. If you would like to take the more traditional approach and see what their tomatoes are all about, definitely try out the Spaghetti & Meatballs. Even Sadie liked it and she normally will only eat her family's homemade Italian food. The entire table shared a side of Sweet Potato Fries that are like no other and served with a side of applesauce. This dish would even be great as a dessert! The winner for the night was probably the BBQ Ribs & Chicken. Like we said, they have something for everyone! The ribs were super tender, their sauce is great, and their BBQ Chicken was excellent! It didn't have any greasy, funky parts like you sometimes get elsewhere...You know what we're talking about.

Obviously most of these dishes are for the carnivores, but there are plenty of choices for vegitarians too! The menu has tons of pasta, sandwiches, salads, and even pizza. There is even a display case with everything from Olive Salad to Chocolate Cake that must have been a foot tall. Our tummies were way too full to try everything though! 

The only down side to this restaurant is that they only serve non-alcoholic beverages. So all of you wine-o's are out of luck. However, if you decide to pick up some carry-out, they do have 6-packs of great beer, like Magic Hat #9 available.


Overall, The Tomato Kitchen is a delicous choice. It might be a little bit of a hike for some of you, but the great food, served in big portions paired with the great prices makes it worth the trip! If you want to try this place out, make sure to keep an eye on Groupon because they have deals popping up on there all of the time!

~C