Tommy Li’s Restaurant and Bar

This place is quite surprising. I went in with very low expectations based on the odd American Asian fusion menu and the less than inviting exterior, but I was pleasantly surprised. The décor on the inside is modern and cozy and the menu, while short, boasts that almost everything is house made. We started with the spinach artichoke dip. One of the best I’ve ever had. It’s very chunky and is served with house made chips (that are more like fried wantons). I ordered the Singapore Street Noodles and everything on the plate was fresh. My only critique is that it could have had more curry sauce. Very delicious though. My partner ordered the fried rice and spoke highly of it. To finish, we split a piece of housemade cheesecake. Delicious. The service was also really good. My only suggestion to the place is to get more craft brews on tap. They only had a couple of beers and half were domestics.

My wife and i had noticed the remodel going on last Fall and thought we should go and check it out once opened. So this past Saturday we went for a 6PM reservation. The décor is very upscale and attractive. felt much like a warm, living room with tons of booths for quieter dinning. Very nice bar area that was packed at happy hour. We sat at our table and it did take 10 minutes or so for our waiter to attend to our table about drinks. We did have to ask about any specials and what the soup of the day was. Which normally is volunteered in similar restaurants. They had half price apps during happy hour so we got an order of their crab-​stuffed mushrooms. Nice presentation and most of the elements of a great dish were there accept… garlic. There was so much garlic in the stuffing i couldn’t even taste the crab. it could have been bread crumbs only for all we knew. On to our dinner… My wife order the lobster bisque and the fish tacos. ($ 18.00) I ordered a salad and a filet ($ 25.00) that came with asparagus and the steak was topped with a parsley garlic butter. We each ordered a glass of wine and the waiter brought the wrong wine to us, twice. And late. I would suggest to the ownership to really look at the wait staff more closely when hiring. It seemed as though these were rejects from Denny’s and had no idea how to best serve customers in an upscale eatery. So we get our dinners, the soup was very good. But only warm. The salad with blue cheese dressing was done very nicely with a mixture of greens. I asked for my filet to be cooked to medium rare and it was nearly right. maybe should’ve been pulled 2 – 3 minutes sooner from the grill. But next time I’ll ask for rare to be sure. It was topped with caramelized onion chips and GARLIC butter. Once again the chef was garlic happy and it was overpowering. WAY too much garlic. So now we know. Don’t order anything with garlic. Unless you want to sleep alone. We will go back however. We always give a new place two tries before scratching it off the list. I would give the food 3 stars and the service 2.

Every time I’m in town I make sure to hit up this place. The atmosphere and people who work here are awesome. I love the variety of food that they have and I have yet to try anything that is not fantastic.

The only reason I’m giving them four stars is because I only been here once. It was really fun and really good food. I only had appetizers. It’s was the seafood flatbread and something else. I can’t remember. They also served a complementary homemade salsa that was great! The bar tenders were very nice. I want to go back again to try an entrée.

Very nice atmosphere! The hostess looked a bit rough but the rest of our service was good. We tried the crab rangoons for our appetizer. Although the menu said they had crab meat it didn’t appear to be the case. Our cocktails were pretty good (Tito’s & cranberry and caramel apple martini). I had the sesame chicken and fried rice. My broccoli was cold and chicken heavily breaded. I had requested all white meat but was served both white and dark. Hubby had spicy chicken. Also had cold broccoli and lots of breading on chicken but he liked the sauce.

After having driven past this place for months we finally stopped in to give it a try. We were a bit disappointed to say the least. If you want good Asian cuisine go elsewhere.
We started with an order of pot stickers. Not the worst I’ve had, but far from the best. The sauce and sriracha helped cover up the odd taste. Freezer burn maybe, who knows.
We ordered Tommy’s Spicy Chicken, their version of a general tso, and sesame chicken. The sauce was more of a stringy paste. Other than the spicy sauce being spicy they tasted extremely similar. The chicken themselves we decent at best. Very tough and chewy breading. Under all that breading the chicken was still very fatty.

Very nice atmosphere I ordered the Kung pao chicken it was served fast hot and delicious
The peanuts were crushed and put on top. I would’ve preferred they be left whole so they add texture and taste like the traditional way
This place I would recommend

Pleasant American and Chinese (P.F. Chang-​esque), happy hour specials on apps. Now maybe the best restaurant on S. Arlington, certainly the best on the Arlington/​77 corridor. Seems to be the same guy who ran the buffet, but a major upgrade.

Names are fancy but food is just regular.
Variety of beer is short.
Is a nice place, coud have much better food and beer to worth the time and money spent.

We’ve gone here twice, hoping the second time would be better. It wasn’t. The food isn’t terrible, but it really lacks flavor. The first time we went I had the fish special and the second time I had the filet… both lacked seasoning. My husband’s salad was basically mixed greens from a box. The lettuce wrap portions were very small. The prices don’t jusify what you get. The drinks were just okay also. I was really hoping this would be great, since it is local. We won’t be back.

My first time here in this new restaurant. I found the Tommy’s Spicy Chicken to be excellent. Other diners reported that the lobster bisque and the salmon were very good. This is not a buffet; they have a full American menu as well as Asian selections. I will be back.

Stop in for lunch on a Saturday no to busy, great service friendly staff awesome food give it a try

Having been here before the transformation I can tell you the aesthetic appearance of this restaurant is 100x better. Modern and trendy.
Service was good. Server recommended dishes and was attentive.
As for the food, it was also greatly improved. I would have gone higher on the rating, but this place is charging PF Changs pricing for their Asian dinners, and the chicken was still that B quality scraps most fast food Chinese joints sell. It would not hurt your food cost that much to move to white meat breasts.
My son had the burger and it was of the same quality you would expect from any pub in the area and priced accordingly.
Will definitely come back and try some other items, and will update my review if appropriate.

We all enjoyed the food… but it took forever. Once we got out food, it was cold. The prices are pretty expensive and portions are small. Needs some improvement but has potential. Service needs work alao.

We decided to stop in and give it a try after a little shopping tonight. Our first impression was a well put together bar and grill. The waitress was attentive and friendly. Prices seemed reasonable and the menu complete.
Once we got the food we changed our view.
It was plain and common and what we got wasn’t what we ordered. The vegetable of the day was yellow squash but I got under cooked, I mean cold green beans. My Tommy burger was good but the edges of the pretzel bun were burnt giving it an unwanted flavor. I should say my wife thought the Panko breaded fish salad was delicious.
The waitress stop by to check on us at least 6 times. When I was through with my meal she asked if I would like a second beer how ever by then we were ready to leave.
It was ok if your just out and about but not for a dinner destination, not for what you get.

So I was in Akron a couple months ago on business and this wasn’t open yet. Thankfully today it was and I could not have had a more pleasant experience.
Inside the décor and atmosphere is first class. I was concerned my measly expense account wouldn’t cover a decent meal but I was pleasantly surprised.
I sat at the bar and was promptly greeted by Racquel and Beth. Total sweethearts. They have a specialty cocktail menu that made it hard to decide on just one… so I ended up having two! The Litini and the Red Lotus. Wow. Wow. Wow.
So once my Ahi Tuna salad and lobster bisque were delivered (both amazing… food gets an A+++ in my book) guess who’s sitting at the end of the bar. Tommy Li himself, being an unbelievable host to some patrons at the bar. What a great guy. Seriously!
This whole place rocks. He has hired a tremendous staff, the food is delicious, and I wholeheartedly recommend this restaurant to anyone in the Green/​Akron area. Whenever I come to this area on my business trips, Tommy Li’s will be my place. No more searching… I’ll come straight here from my hotel. Nothing else will be considered. You should too.

Situated in what was previously the Lion Garden, a mediocre Chinese buffet, Tommy Li’s is a vastly superior dining establishment than its predecessor. I was informed by an employee that the owner of the old buffet sold his other businesses and closed the Lion Garden in order to re-​open as Tommy Li’s. In doing so, he breathed new life into this restaurant.
The building itself was completely renovated and does not resemble the ghost of buffets past. From a new exterior paint job to a refurnished and dimly lit dining area, the ambiance of the restaurant is clean and upscale. The section of the restaurant that formerly contained the buffet now features a bar, which was bustling with activity when I arrived. The customer service here has vastly improved as well. My waitress was attentive and friendly. She checked on me several times throughout my meal, which was greatly appreciated. Even her soft sell, a bid to get me to order desert, was delivered tactfully and my decision to skip desert was taken gracefully.
The ultimate barometer of a restaurant’s appeal, however, is the quality of the food. In this arena, I was pleasantly surprised. I ordered the kung po chicken dish and the soup of the day, both of which were flavorful and prepared with care. The kung po, in particular, was impressive. I’ve eaten kung po at many other Chinese restaurants and I have often been disappointed with how most places cook the dish. Tommy Li’s, however, managed to cook my kung po dish perfectly.
To sum things up: You should come here and witness the rebirth. You should order the kung po chicken and, maybe, even desert.