The Hot Tomato

4 of us went to lunch. 4 of us got horribly ill. Not going back.

It’s kinda like a Ma & Pa place. It’s not all touristy nor fancy so if you tend to be pretentious and can’t stand being in a place that’s appearance isn’t quite as spartan as your yacht club then don’t go there. The focus here is on the food and if you want a huge sandwich that rocks for $ 9 go there, your stomach will kick you in the mouth for not going there sooner. One full sub will feed two people with average appetites.

I eat here quite often and the food is always great. Their sandwiches are always flavorful although sometimes they loaded up a bit much and is hard to eat, other then that it’s always great.

Their food is always good and the bakery items are always fresh. Love the salted Carmel cheesecake!

Nothing to write home about. I like to support independent restaurants. I wouldn’t go back.

Great apple pie! Pleasant surprise in a small town. Homemade pastries. Not much to look at but GOOD stuff! Heard the sandwiches were great.

I work pretty close to here, so I’ve driven by more than a few times. I’ve had breakfast and lunch here, and came away mostly happy both times.
Breakfast: Ordered their special to-​go: Scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, and Cuban toast, along with coffee. The food was cooked right and tasty. The cuban toast especially was great. Unfortunately, the coffee was lackluster, which is disappointing. Specifically, it tasted like vaguely coffee-​flavored water. That said, I think the problem lies not in what coffee they’re brewing, but rather in how they’re brewing it. The unfortunate part of this is that that was my coffee for the day, and it did nothing for me :(
Lunch: I stopped by after work a couple weeks later for some lunch. I ordered their chicken sandwich meal. The sandwich was huge, and very tasty. I also got one of their frosted brownies, though this was merely OK. The flavor was excellent, though it was a bit dry and cakey, rather than moist and chewy like a brownie ought to be.
Overall though, I plan on being back.

We stopped in after going to the dog park, so glad we did! The wait was long, but worth it. Prices are resonable. They had free samples of cupcakes and cannolis at the door. I ordered the Italian and my bf got a Cuban, they were both delicious and huge! We will definitely go back to try other things.

Since I’ve moved to Florida I’ve been trying to understand the love of the Cuban sandwich … Today I found out. This sandwich was so delicious! I really wanted to eat the whole thing! But it’s huge. Share if you can. I also had the frosted brownie. Also scrumdelicious! The frosting tasted like I made it in my kitchen from scratch. Yum. I can’t wait to try more stuff from there. We needed something this good in Ruskin!

Stopped by for lunch on the day after Xmas.
The tomato pie is okay — I make one, too, but theirs is really more of a single serve, deep dish pizza in a flaky crust. It’s heavy on the oregano and quite oily, but it tastes good. My husband had his first Devil Crab, and my daughter got a veggie Cuban which she shared with me, and it was superb! The ambience is nothing — just a handful of tables, and basic counter service, but the staff is super-​friendly and service is fast. We brought a delicious whole cherry pie home for $ 5! (They were having a sale). No booze, just sodas.

Nice little Cuban shop with a great selection. For breakfast they have options of different types of sandwiches, omelets, toast, eggs, etc. They have espresso and Cuban coffee. Nice seating area with Wi-​Fi.

Its just Ok. Ive been there three times and I want to love the place, but cant. They try but
fall short. They miss the little things. Getting the order right, salt, and pepper on the tables, napkins,
a decent hot sauce and not the cheapest they can find at save a lot. Last visit
the floor was dirty and the place was a mess. Kind of feelt like I was at a truck stop.
They have a large way over priced pastry case. Prices are not posted so if you
decide to buy ask prices first. Buyer beware here.
I get the impression they are a Bakery that sells sandwiches. I drive by all the
time but will never stop in again. But if you want a $ 9 dollar sandwich give it a try.

Now here is a bakery that I can get excited about!!! I love cannolis and theirs are freaking great!!! It has a crispy, flaky outside and filled with delicious cream cheese filling. Yes Please! I have had the tomato pie (a little strange at first, but really good). It is kind of like a deep dish pizza with pie crust. All the baked goods look and smell amazing. I cant wait to try the Elvis Pie! The only knock I have is, I would like the sandwiches to be a bit bigger. Overall, this is probably my favorite bakery in the Tampa Bay area based on the selection of pies, cupcakes, cannolis, and cookies.

I’ve driven past a couple times and finally stopped, so glad I did!
Doesn’t look like much outside but then you open the door and there’s cases filled with amazing desserts. I could hardly choose everything looked amazing. I went with cannolis & the parfait. Holy shitballs! So good!! Not some wimpy little cup, I guess it’s meant to share but you won’t.
Also got a club sandwich (piled high ham & turkey) & a Cuban, didn’t disappoint. The chicken soup was on point, just like Moms. They don’t skimp on the bird and the noodles were perfect.
New to the area and this is definitely the place for baked amazingness and great sandwiches.
The staff was really nice and it was spotless. Great service, I will definitely be back.

The rueben, dirt bird, tomato pie, strawberry shortcake, guava and cheese blueberry pastry are all delicious. Only been here 2x and even as busy as this place gets the staff is wonderful. I haven’t seen such a rush since I worked in the corporate park! Definitely a great find and sure hope after the snow birds leave they can maintain the business.

Stopped by this place to check it out since it always had its parking lot full and people in and out of the door. Place was clean which is important for me! I was pleasantly surprised as I walked in to see a case filled with amazing desserts just about anything imaginable!!! Needless to say, I left with one of their peanut butter pies!!! Delicious!
On a different day I had one of their breakfast sandwiches which was also very tasty. I will enjoy returning again soon as the prices are very fair for the gourmet sandwiches and desserts and the employees that work there are very friendly.

Looking for some place new on Unilocal!Seems to be what I do a lot of now. I’m tired of chain crap…
This is not a place I would have normally come to. I think it has been converted from an old gas station. Anyhoo…
There is a selection of hot and cold sandwiches and many pastries to choose from. Hubby and I split a Cuban and a Chocolate Cream pie. With drink the total came out to $ 14.52. Our sandwich was prepared wrong but the friendly staff quickly rectified the situation. I will pass on this particular pie in the future, not that great.
All in all… I will probably be back in the future at some point but won’t seek it out.

We had heard many positive that about the restaurant and we were happy to finally be able to dine there. Seating is adequate and there is no table service. The sandwiches were large, with almost too much meat. I ordered a club sandwich, which was nearly all ham with very little turkey and bacon.
Not sure I will return

I was looking through new openings on Unilocal,and saw this bakery. I asked my coworker if she lived in the area, and in fact she drove by it every day. She had no idea that inside was a gem of fresh sweets. Outside it doesn’t look like much.
She brought a handful of about 6 sweets back to the office including a coconut cupcake, strawberry éclair, sundae pie, peach bread, chocolate dessert, and pineapple upside down cake. I tried a little bit from three different options. They were all very good, nicely sweet, and moist. It’s often hard to find something tasty and moist in all of them. It was in fact the case. My favorite was the pineapple upside down cake and the chocolate.
Now I totally want her to bring stuff from there for us. It was all so good.

Passing by any establishment that has a grand opening sign outside puts my car in auto pilot. As a true Unilocaler this is almost an addiction. I did a u-​turn and headed back to this small store in Ruskin. When you enter you are enticed with 2 glass cases of pies, pastries, cookies and assorted sweets. There is also a small glass case with hot items. The interior is not huge but has seating at tables and counters. I am assuming most of their business is take out and catering.
Although not ready to eat I decided to try a few items to take home. I got a crab croquette, individual tomato pie and individual key lime pie. I asked what was in the crab croquette and the server could not tell me nor offer to find out. I let it slide as I have no food allergies but probably staff should know what they are serving and selling. I tried it later that night and was pretty dry with not much crab found.
The tomato pie was delicious. The flavors all went really well together and was just the right size. Only drawback was the bottom crust was kind of gooey and underdone. I did not try the key lime pie but husband told me the flavor was excellent but bottom crust was overdone.
So flavor of food was good but they need to perfect the pie crust cooking times. I will go back and try a sandwich and pastry next time I am passing by.