2Toots Train Whistle Grill

Service was horrible they were to busy standing around talking to help customers. our orders were not only messed up the burger was cooked to Jerky, and the buns were stale. No refills on the soda. The cooks were sitting at the bar chatting and seemed bothered when an order came in. We weren’t asked how we were when food came we had to either wave or stand up an walk to were server was. We have been coming here for years and it has gone down hill. Teenagers are running this former great place to the ground.
The owners need to wake up and be there when their investment opens and stay until close, to get this once great destination back on track.

Cute little grill. Took my two year old here after church, she loved it.
Booth table where she could sit and see the train. She was so tickled by it bringing her food. Yes, you need to watch out for little hands grabbing your food, but that is not the resturants fault, only the parents. C’mon!
*Grass fed burgers? Excellent. Fries were bland, but delicious meal none the less. Daughter ate the Dino nuggets.
Small menu — Could expand. So minus a star.
Jenny did excellent service, asked and for everything I wanted in a timely manner. Will have to come back, daughter enjoyed it so much and even ate her whole kids meal!!!

Horrible. Do not go. I mean it. Bad food. Bad service. Look, if you are the owner, listen to me very carefully.
Go to All Aboard Diner on 75^th and Lemont. Learn from them. They run an awesome train diner for kids. Seriously this place was a joke. From a parent with 4 kids.

This place has a great idea that isn’t executed very well. I will start with the positives. The waitstaff was extremely friendly and accommodating to our group. We did see them be rude to another patron, but it didn’t involve us so I won’t comment on that, our interactions were fine. Unfortunately, the wait staff being friendly isn’t the only aspect of a dining experience.
First off, the set up is kind of a joke. The train that delivers your food isn’t very cool. It’s just a metra looking train pulling baskets of food. There weren’t interesting trains or train cars, or even a caboose. Now, you might think I’m just being critical, that might be fair, but there were more problems with the train than just appearance. The track just slowly follows along the edge of the counter, it’s neither exciting nor reliable. We watched the staff have to push it along several stretches of counter top and even witnessed the food topple over on to the floor and have to be thrown out and started over. The track layout was designed poorly and the train didn’t have enough power to get food to where it needed without help. Like I said, great idea that was poorly executed. The staff handled the food topple excellently. They were very quick to get the food restarted and sent back out to us and comped us our kid’s meals. Zero complaints about the staff.
Now the important info: The food. I will gladly pay over 8 dollars for a cheese burger and fry, I’m not cheap, and I think that 8 or 10 bucks is very reasonable for a good burger. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a good burger. My wife’s burger came burnt to a crisp, my burger was not burnt, but it certainly wasn’t good. They claim that they are Tall Grass burgers but they seemed like they were just frozen patties pressed on a grill top. It wasn’t a thick juicy burger that one usually associates with Tall Grass. Maybe it is the chef? I’m not sure. Would they lie about the burger and say that it was Tall Grass and then have it be some GFS frozen patties? I don’t know, but I do know that what we ate wasn’t worth the price. Five of us ordered burgers and five of us agreed that the food was not up to the quality expected at it’s current price point.
The reason I’m even giving it any stars instead of zero is that despite all of this the 3 year old and 5 year old we brought had a good time and the staff was nice. It fails in everything it’s trying to be. This place is basically a mediocre diner that was able to sneak in to an upscale downtown location because of it’s perceived theme. I wouldn’t recommend this place to other families and in fact have been dissuading friends and families from considering it.
Yes, I’m overly salty, just like the fries.

I have brought the nugget to this restaurant several times over the years. He loved it at age 2, 3, and 4. At age 5, the thrill is starting to wear off.
The food here is pretty consistent. You have your choice of a burger, hot dog, grilled cheese, or chicken nuggets. I think they also have salads on the menu. The kids meals come with the entrée, drink, fries, and a handful of baby carrots (much to my son’s dismay). The portions are decent. The burgers here are different, the patties are very thin and a bit crispy on the edges. It seems that most of the food is organic, if you are into that, it must be great. I have decided that it is hard to eat gluten free here. Even if I don’t get fries and omit the bun, I end up getting sick.
They have kid friendly desserts like cupcakes and krispy treats. They come with a train whistle. I think if you collect them you can trade them in for stickers or something like that. They make shakes here too. The hubs says they are good.
The fun thing for kids is the train that delivers your food. You can pretty much see the train from every seat in the place. Sign up for their email list and they send a coupon for your kid’s birthday. They play a birthday song and toot the train whistle for you. The kiddos can also see the Metra and freight trains out the window.
This is a pretty small place, the maximum capacity sign says 66 people. If you come here at a normal meal time on a weekend, prepare to wait.

We used to love taking our daughter her because she lived watching the train bring our food to the table. She especially loved when it would bring a cupcake. The food is good and love that the hamburgers and hot dogs are made from grass-​fed beef from Tall Grass. The last two times we’ve been here have not been the greatest when it comes to service. In June 2015, we were ignored after getting our menus while the staff was too busy chatting but we overlooked it. However, this time (2/​20/​2016,) was inexcusable.
We came in at 4 o’clock. There was a kids birthday party going on and all the booths were taken but there were seats available at the counter. We didn’t mind if we were going to offered them as we waited to be seated. 10 minutes went by and not even once were we even told that they would be with us. This is common courtesy for any good restaurant staff when you are busy. Let the customer know you know they are there and you would be with them in a few minutes. When you tell your customer that, they overlook the wait. We got tired of waiting and sat ourselves. We waited another 10 – 15 minutes to get a menu watching the servers walk back and forth like they don’t know what to do especially the older woman whom I am hoping was her first day or week working there. (I also noticed signs in the window that they were looking for help. I wondered why.) This older woman constantly walked back and forth frantically looking like she was overwhelmed and stressed. She looked at us several times and not once give us a menu but she had plenty of time in her walking back and forth to angrily put menus away which were a foot away from us. The counter where we sat was a mess. Clearly the people who sat there had a cupcake with sprinkles as it was all over the counter. My husband grabbed a napkin and wiped it all off so we could sit there. This same angry server quickly grabbed the napkin and threw it away and seemed so annoyed that we did her job for her and still NO MENU. My husband was starting to get annoyed himself reached over the counter and grabbed a couple menus for us. After waiting another 10 minutes, another female server came to take our order and I’m guessing she was the one in charge seemed annoyed to or disinterested in taking our order and rushed us through it.
As we waited for our food, more people came in. There was a group of 6 adults and a baby and another group of three. The male server told the group of six that there would be a 10 – 15 minute wait for a booth to be open. A few minutes later, a booth and a half (the half booth sits 2) opened up and they made the group of three sit there. The father from the group of three told the other group to sit there as his group could wait. They all agreed it was ridiculous how they were being treated. We also noticed that they waited an extremely long time to get a menu let alone an order and no they were not busy with the birthday party. You would think it was that but nope.
Their menu states that sodas get free refills. I waited and waited and left the place without even being asked for a refill. I did want one but we were ignored by our server and the other two as well. I would have been happy to get at least a glass of water. I had to take a sip from my husband’s cup so I could take my medicine. At this point, we noticed a family of three sitting at the counter by the wall being totally ignored. We did see they had menus so we knew someone on staff gave them menus. A little later, my husband noticed they were leaving due to the fact they were ignored. Before we left, my husband stopped the male server and told them they lost business by ignoring a family and pointed to where they were sitting. His response was «if they sat themselves that’s probably why we didn’t notice them.» If someone got them menus, someone did notice them. They weren’t near where the menus were kept to reach over and get them like we could. We, too, almost walked out.
Yesterday, this place not only lost one family because they were ignored but they also lost this one too. This place has serious problems with service. They need to come up with a train light at each table that customers can use to let waitstaff know they need something whether it’s to take their order, a refill, or simply to get the check. This would help greatly and could add to the train theme by making it look like a train stop light. This would let waitstaff know a customer needs something and not make the customer feel like ignored and forgotten. It would also help waitstaff feel not so rushed. Also, they should put a sign by the mechanical horse limit one person per ride. This would prevent kids from piling on there all at the same time. It also doesn’t help when parents ignore their kids even after staff has told the kids to go on the horse one at a time.

My two year olds LOVE this place, and so do my wife and I. It’s the thoughtful details – train whistles with the ice cream, Thomas playing on the (small – good!) TVs in the corners. The food is delicious and the service is excellent. We love coming here when we need a break from cooking.

Burgers are pretty good but service is the worst! Ate there for lunch, even though we were the only customers there the waiter and waitress just stood there gabbing with each other instead of taking our order. Finally the cook from the kitchen yelled out to them to take care of us. Did not refill our drinks, ask how the food was, nothing. The whole time we ate the waiter just stared out the window in our direction. It as so weird. Didn’t he have anything else to do? Maybe refill the empty soap dispenser in the bathroom? They need to improve their management.

Revisited 2Toots because I heard things had gotten better since new owners took over. The service isn’t perfect, but is definitely a lot better. The food, however, is still only so-​so. I don’t find it that awesome that I could justify the price. Kids meals are a bit high. My daughter was disappointed that they still don’t have Mac ‘n Cheese. You’re definitely paying for the ambience. Would we go back? I’m doubting it. I appreciate that they’ve improved on service, but nothing else has really changed

I really like this location kind of stuff is really nice and sweet and then I also like the food is really nice and I don’t think I won’t go anywhere else!

I hate to write a poor review but the server we had ruined our visit. She was beyond rude. She spoke to me as if I was dumb when in fact she’s the one that made herself look ridiculous.
We had asked for a bandaid and this annoyed looking man came and brought us one like it was a huge task.
The food wasn’t anything special but wasn’t bad. I do like that it’s grass fed beef.
They had Thomas playing on like a 9inch tv, couldn’t even see it. It would be cool if they had larger tvs playing more Thomas.
Not sure we’ll be going back.

The chicken sandwich I ordered was tough and rubbery and hard to bite through. I asked for a veggie burger instead and would have been happy to eat this instead. It never arrived, however, and the server brought the check 20 minutes later. I asked about the veggie burger and she said it was «probably still on the way.» I told her we were done eating and no longer wanted it and that I wasn’t happy I was charged for the chicken sandwich I didn’t eat. She said it was «a matter of preference» that I didn’t like it!
At this point I asked for a manager and the owner came over and rather than allowing me to explain about the server’s comment and why I was upset, he said he had heard about the problem and that they use precooked chicken to explain why it tasted like that. He did take it off the bill after I asked, but seemed annoyed rather than apologetic. A simple apology from anyone would have been fine. You never blame the customer, especially someone who will eat virtually everything without complaint, because the food was inedible. Fun atmosphere for kids, but we will never eat here again.

The location is great. It’s right along the train tracks. I brought the kids for dinner during an evening rush hour commute and we got lucky to get a seat by the window that faces the tracks. They loved watching all the trains come in.
The food is just okay and a bit overpriced I felt. We shared a basket of cheese fries and while the cheese sauce was delicious they seemed to be frozen fries and the amount was fairly small for the price charged. The meals were okay, but nothing great. None of us finished our meals and I would have liked a couple of other options for the grown ups, even the option to add tomato on the grilled cheese. We did enjoy the milkshakes though!
The service seemed absolutely overwhelmed. There were 3 people serving and it seemed at least 2 people in the kitchen and it wasn’t very crowded at the restaurant (maybe 5 parties at any time), yet the servers seemed rushed, overwhelmed and grouchy. I asked for a different bread option for my sandwich and while they complied it was obvious that the waitress did not like this request. I also had to remind them of one of the drinks we ordered, and rather than apologize she almost seemed annoyed that she had to get the drink. They were also doing clean up and restocking while we ate (perhaps why they felt rushed), and we were there about 2 hours before closing so no real reason to rush to get this all done and it made me feel unwelcome.
The kids said they enjoyed it, but prefer the other train restaurant in the area that we go to. The best part was the awesome location, although that could also be a bad thing because of the traffic, parking etc (metered parking, not free) but it wasn’t too bad for us. We may be back, but I think I would just go for a snack or milkshake rather than a full meal.

2 stars for the food, 4 for the excitement my 3yo gets from the train.
It’s a great place to bring the kids for lunch or dinner. Every seat in the house has an unobstructed view of the train. The décor is very cute and the oldies playing adds to the ambiance. She also loves the .25 mechanical horse ride.
The food is something left to be desired. Last time I was here, I ordered the BLT. Like another reviewer mentioned it was very dry and my bacon seemed like it was cooked in the morning or the day before. Meh. Ordered a root beer float and that was very good. My suggestion, come for the dessert (shakes, floats).
They have a groupon often. I’d look for that before coming to save some $. Also sign your kid up for their birthday club where they receive a free meal in the month of their bday.

Love this place to bring our grandkids to and other kiddo guests! They play 50’s & 60’s pop songs, have a super friendly all-​female crew, and the train that delivers the food orders is a delight for the little ones. TV screens play Thomas the Tank Engine cartoons, silently. I love the genuine train whistle. Food’s not bad, actually, and the milk shakes are good! Only issue I have is that the wait staff seem to want to rush you to finish.

We took our daughter here for the first time. So many of our friends bring their children here. I guess you pay for the ambiance. It’s a cute concept and, contrary to some of the reviews on here, our service was fine. Not excellent. Just ok.
My biggest issue is the food. It was absolutely awful. I had the BLT. It was dry and flavorless. There were barely any fries with my order and they were stale and bland. My husband has the double-​decker burger and asked for it medium. It came out burnt to a crisp. My daughter had a grilled cheese and it was also bland and flavorless. We each had dessert and our bill was $ 40, which I found expensive for 3 people and awful food.
I’m glad we went here once just to see what it was all about, but we will not be going back.

Great place. My kids loved it and it’s much more chill than some of the other train joints around town. I personally loved that the only ride on toy they had was only a quarter! Everyone sits on the tracks and that’s awesome.
The only complaint (which is what makes me torn on which train place is better) is that the food is just not that great and majority is frozen…

This is of my favorite places to visit when I come to visit my friends. I always have to stop here at least twice during my visits and get one of their Bacon burgers and their chilli. The burgers are amazing and better than any of the other big burger chains around and I love the fact they use grass feed beef and glutin free products. Their chilli is always great, especially on top of their burgers.
The staff is very friendly and you always receive prompt service. Food is always fresh and arrives quickly and made the way you ordered it.
This is a great place to bring the whole family, especially the little ones. I love how the food comes on the trains and you always see the excitement in the kids faces as they watch the trains deliver the food and the fact they are right next to a train station, makes the place that more authentic.
Without a doubt this is my place to bring my friends and family and hopefully they open one in Florida as I would be a regular.
I love the fact the owners are there and a part of the daily operations and are very friendly people. The staff they have are amazing and friendly and feels like a family when you walk into the place.

Great place to come with kids. Food is good and delivered by a train! The staff is awesome. The place is a good size and decorated with a lot of cool stuff from trains to an ammo can, oorah! Love it.

This is not a good place to come if you aren’t dining with young children. It’s not a good place to come if you’re looking for a peaceful meal. It’s not a good place to come if you’re a 2 month old baby who’d rather sleep through dinner. However, it IS a GREAT place to come if you’re a train-​loving toddler or preschooler, or a parent who wants to dine out without stressing too much over their kids’ behavior.
It’s loud, probably overpriced, and the food is just okay. But small children are super amused by the train delivering food to the tables. I give it three stars for the novelty factor, and the food is better than most fast food or concession stands.
A note about food handling, since I read another review regarding the absence of gloves in the kitchen: this is pretty common practice, and the thinking behind it makes sense to me. Would you rather have someone touching your food who has paid careful attention to thoroughly clean their hands with soap and hot water, or someone with poor hygiene who came in to work and just put on a pair of gloves? I’d go for the clean hands, myself. I bet if you looked in the kitchens of most restaurants, you’d find the staff free of gloves, and instead trained in proper hand washing. Just thought I’d share since I’m a bit of a germaphobe myself :)