Rockin' Tomato

i was introduced to the "Tomato" by a friend who said it was one of his favorite places.  And I can see why.  I ordered the BB King Burger....OMG, it is one of the best burgers I've had.  I went back and ordered the same still very good.  A little well done for my liking, so next time I'll be sure to ask for it to be medium.

The beef is local and I'm told they mix it themselves.  Very Good.   The salad is organic fresh and local, also a fav.

I live very far North and i will visit Rockin Tomato when ever I am in the "Hood"

Simone Gruden

Nom! Nom! So good! The pizza is super fresh on the buffet and the veggies on the salad bar are all organic and so good! The tomatoes especially! Great place for lunch!

First off, the reason the pizzas here "taste good" is because they are  salty.  Still, we have eaten there and gotten pizza to go for years, since the place is locally owned and there were no pizza joints near our house (until recently).  We did notice late in 2012 that the pizzas had gotten sparse when it comes to their toppings.

But that's not my complaint about this place.
In March 2013 my husband and I bought a pizza to go at Rockin' Tomato.  While eating this pizza I bit into a "seedless," sliced olive and broke the top off a very expensive bridge in my mouth.  I immediately took pictures of the tooth pieces, the pizza slice and the two olive pits in my slice.  I wrote a detailed letter about the experience and sent it to the owners along with one of the pictures.

The owner responded quickly and acted like he cared.  Meanwhile, I went to my dentist to get a bid for the damage, which amounted to well over $2,000.  My own insurance coverage would cover all but $900.  So that's what claim I submitted to the restaurant's insurance company, which is ALLIED INSURANCE.  A company I've never heard of, by the way.  Now I know why.

At first the company responded well and wanted all the details, all over again, even though they had the paperwork I had submitted to the restaurant owners. I was told by the adjuster named Jeff Mabrey that they were going to contact my dentist (I guess they didn't believe the written bid she had given me) and would get back to me.

Three months after the incident I finally got a call this evening from some bitchy woman who started asking me questions and going over the paperwork all over again.  I told her, "You already have this information.  And what happened to Jeff?"  
She told he had been "transferred to another department" but I didn't believe that for a minute (and indeed, I called his extension after talking to this woman and he still has the same job).  The case obviously got kicked to the department that refuses to pay even a small amount for a claim.  And believe me, $900 is chump change to an insurance company.  But it can be a lot to an individual.

So I ultimately told the woman that she has a shitty job at a shitty insurance company (they're not ALL bad - our USAA insurance has been wonderful to us over the past 40 years).  I told her to have a nice day and hung up.

Avoid Allied Insurance like the plague!  And be very very careful when ordering a pizza with olives from Rockin' Tomato!

Oh, and two pizza places have opened near us in recent years and we have ordered from them with much success:  Southside Flying Pizza and Homeslice, both on So. Congress Ave.  But I still check for olive pits, having learned a hard lesson, no pun intended.