Tomato Street

Tomato Street has locations in both Spokane Wa and Coeur d'Alene, ID.  Not having been here in years, it was time to try it again, especially when some friends of mine invited me to lunch with them.

The Spokane Tomato Street, located on Division and Francis at the Tombari Center Shopping Center, is where we went, and as usual, even on a Monday afternoon, it was a very busy place. It's a rather fun place to have a bite to eat...fast and friendly too,  but you have to be in the mood for a little bit of zaniness and a bustling atmosphere.  The weekends are the busiest times of course.  You may need to make reservations.

The zaniness is low key actually, unless of course you are celebrating a birthday.  To begin with, the waiters and waitresses who work here, all wear silly hats and write their names upside down on the tables with crayons so you can remember who your server is.  They leave crayons on the table too, so you can draw till your hearts content... and write messages to each other, if you want to.  It's creativity at it's best.  I would love to take pictures of all the graffiti!

But I think the zaniness begins before you even sit down... in the lobby, (on weekends when you are waiting in line I imagine.) People can leave notes at the "Imagination Station" with chalk...













As you look around, a lot of interesting things can be seen; these people decorate with foodstuff... 

You see lots-a tomato sauce-a, and pasta, all  around... not to mention, oodles of noodles, you might say.

 
Iinteresting artwork too.












Here is a small sampling of the menu.  Double click on the photo to get a better view.  

 Lots to choose from here, and there are seasonal changes and additions as the year passes. 


This restaurant is very versatile... You can get food TO GO, and they do catering and they have a bar... that they call the Tomato Bar.  I wondered at first if it was like a salsa bar or a salad bar, but it is not... it is a Tomato Bar.




And they give tours of the restaurant, but these ust be prearranged, of course.

Ready to order?

We ordered some really good stuff!  Among our selections were Eggplant Parmigiana, on the right, with veggies, (left)













and


Tomato Basil soup...served with .a very yummy "Street Salad,"
and
some great garlic bread.  There were other entrees too, I just didn't photograph them some were repeats.

Apparently, the only rule here is to have fun... but then there is this proper attire rule too.  As for "proper attire," we did kinda wonder what is and is not "proper attire." Apparently, it does not mean that one must be dressed in silly hats!