Tony Roma's of Bloomington Illinois opened February 25th, 2014. Located at 1901 Jumer Drive, in Bloomington Illinois, Tony Roma's opens its doors at 7am every day of the week and closes at 10 pm weekdays, 11pm weekends, with the bar staying open slightly later.
It features a wide variety of high quality food and beverages, specializing in Steaks, Seafood and Ribs, with the Ribs being the key feature. Most entrees featured on Tony Roma's dinner menu range in the ten to twenty-five dollar range, with alcoholic beverages averaging around eight dollars apiece. A special breakfast and lunch menu are also available earlier in the day, with breakfast starting at 7 am central time, and lunch starting at 1030am. Tony Roma's also is host to a local live jazz night every Tuesday, from 6-9 pm, featuring local jazz bands from the central Illinois area.
As mentioned earlier in the article, Tony Roma's is famous for it's ribs. This includes three styles of ribs, Baby Back, St. Louis Style and a Beef Short rib. The Baby Back ribs are described as being more lean and tender than the others, and is by far the best selling option. Baby back ribs come from the back side of the pig itself. St. Louis style ribs on the other hand come from the belly of the pig, and thus have more meat and "more" flavor, however they also contain more marbelization (fat content). The beef short rib obviously is a beef style of rib, and is commonly described in relation to a beef pot roast. Typically the beef short rib is a generous portion of beef, wrapped around a single, long flat rib bone.
The season the famous ribs, Tony Roma's has 5 signature sauces available.
They include-
- Tony's Carolina Honeys, a sweet and mild barbeque sauce.
- Tony's Blue Ridge Smokies, a traditional style barbeque with a smooth smoky finish
- Tony's Original sauce, a unique blend of sweet and tangy
- Makers Mark BBQ, an infused BBQ with jalapeno juice to give a bit of heat
- Tony's Red Hots, a spicy but full bodied BBQ
Reviews for the restaurant were very mixed in the first few months, ranging from incredibly negative to generally positive, however as Tony Roma's developed it's staff the quality of service, food, and overall experience drastically improved. Now Tony Roma's hopes to compete with the other 4-5 star rated restaurants in the Bloomington/Normal area.
Some reviews include comments such as:
3 months ago-
First time there, and we really enjoyed it! Food was delicious (filet medallions, ribs, loaded mashed potatoes, baked mac & cheese w/ bacon & broccoli).. Service was great as well, nice ambiance and atmosphere. Will definitely be back!
3 weeks ago
Great atmosphere, it's social but not too loud and the bar area is a decent distance from seating. The food was very good and prices are well within most people's budgets.
10 months ago
They can do better, but they've only opened recently. Some rookie mistakes marred an otherwise tasty meal. On a Friday night at 5:30, we only had about 10-15 minutes wait to get a table. Which was nice, we were there to celebrate and not wait for a table. The place began to fill up quickly, and that's when the service started to slide. We ordered drinks - my wife a non-alcoholic drink, and a beer for myself. The server seemed very nice and on top of things...at that point. My wife's drink showed up, delivered by someone else, but mine did not - didn't see our server for quite some time. Our server came by eventually and asked if I'd gotten my beer, and I said no. It still took another 5 minutes to get it. Mistakes happen, right? Well, it turns out at Tony Roma's, yes they do. Our food shows up. I ordered their Mojo Grilled Mahi Mahi fish (it was a Friday in Lent, no meat for me). I cut into it, and it was clearly chicken. Luckily, I didn't eat any. It was also lukewarm, not anywhere near hot, which was disappointing even if I'd ordered chicken. Again, our server was nowhere to be found, so I flagged down another server. He took the chicken away and apologized, and I waited for my Mahi Mahi. Our server brought it, and truthfully, it was very good (and hot). Then a manager walks by and asks how things are. I said "they're fine, now." He asked - why just now? What's going on? He didn't even know about a major blunder like bringing the wrong dish to a table?? Not sure if the server just didn't tell anyone or what. I explained how I couldn't eat meat on Fridays for Lent, and ordered their Mahi Mahi, but got Mojo Grilled Chicken instead. He asked, "Sorry about that, you didn't eat it though, right?" He then explained "well, we have Mojo grilled chicken as well as Mahi Mahi on the menu." And then said, "Enjoy your meal, folks" and walked away. Any offer of reconciliation over the problem would have been nice...even a refill of drinks or something? A fresh glass of water? Not just a status check, finding a bad situation, then him moving on. That reeked of unprofessionalism in an upscale restaurant like they're trying to look like. Glad he feigned interest in managing his restaurant, though. On the bill, I noted the waitress had punched in Mojo Chicken (not Mahi Mahi) so I pointed this out to her, that she just be careful in entering it if someone orders the Mahi Mahi. She didn't seem to care too much and rushed off to another table. This place can do better. Disappointed overall in the experience, but the food was okay...when it was hot...and what I ordered.
