TomKen’s Friendly Fried Chicken

Great food and the chicken wings we’re very wet and very tasty. The only problem we had was slow Service. If the service was better we would have gave it a 5. We went there for lunch and it took approximately 20 minutes just to place our order. We were there for a total of an hour and 35 minutes. The waitress /​bartender was the only one working the floor and she was moving at below a snails pace. With the amount of business a single person should have been able to handle that crowd no problem.
I will definitely give tomkens another try based solely on the food.

The wings are the bomb but the service could be better. It was busy on the night that I had a pick up order. When I got in at the time that they told me it would be done, I was stuck standing in the middle of the fully packed restaurant with people walking all around me for 15 extra minutes. Again, the food is good. Just the service is something I would change. I’d go again though.

Excellent chicken. Excellent wings.

From out of town. Read a few things about this place. I’m not really a wing guy but all the hype I had to try them. All of the bartenders were nice and accommodating. The sauce that was recommended was fantastic. The wings are really good. Nice cold beer… just a very nice warm inviting bar. If I lived here this would be on my go to list.

This is strictly a review of the wings. I’ve ordered them a few times for take out and they were awesome!!! I’m very picky about wings. I like them meaty yet crispy, not a breaded soggy mess. These are perfect. They have great sauces with a (weekly?) special featured sauce. I like the grilled variety. Perfect for my young son and I… He gets no sauce & I can get mine with some sort of spicy sauce.
Regarding the bar, I would not spend any time there. But then Stallis bars are not my scene. It’s very bare bones divey atmosphere. Haven’t Been there in a while… Someone said they were remodeling or expanding.

Service was slow. Ate there on a sunday night. 3 of us waited at least 45 mins for wings and a cheeseburger. Also ordered onion rings, but was told they were out… right when my wings were placed in front of me. Would have been nice to know that earlier so my replacement side (a large portion of rather ordinary thick cut fries) arrived with my wings instead of having to wait.
That said, the wings were very good, and I’d go back if in the area or if someone else wanted to go there. I had the dry rub wings and blues of buffalo (or something like that) wings. The dry rub were particularly good. Plenty of meat on these wings. No boneless wings here, bone-​in only. They do have a chicken tenders appetizer, and for an extra $ 1 you can get one of the wing flavors added to them.

Stopped in the other day for lunch after many recommendations on their great wings. They had a surprisingly good beer selection with many crafts and also great draft domestic specials as well. Met a few of the employees who were very friendly and personable which was great.
I ordered their chicken noodle soup and some wings with sauce in side. The soul was a bit bland and not as strong of a chicken flavor as I typically like but not terrible. The noodles and veggies were good in it and the broth was a little lacking but I still ate it all up. It is January in Wisconsin after all.
After multiple recommendations on the wings I must say I wasn’t thrilled. It may have been my mistake to order naked wings with sauce in the side however it could have been worse. Naked wings didn’t have any flavor, but were a good size. Had ranch on side and honey bbq. Sauces were fine. Was full off 8 wings and the wings were a great price. I believe I was too high on this place because of the high praised it’s received but I would be willing to go again.
I didn’t go on one of their wing special days so I may need to try it again another day.

Best wings I’ve had. Crispy, made fresh, great sauce choices. Since they are made fresh it takes a little longer, but worth the wait. They have been renovating so there are more seating options. Wings are on special on Monday nights, so expect to wait awhile for a table.

So apparently Tomken’s is popular for wings, i’ve had them at Wingfest, but never actually at the restaurant, well that is until tonight… Sort of. I arrived and realized the place was super busy. I stood around not knowing if i just wait for a table, or go to the bar when an open stool shows up, so i stood around a little bit till a waitress came and took my name for a table, she said the bar is first come first serve but you can still eat at the bar, otherwise she would let us know when a table is ready. Ok good. 1 Hour later i decide it’s no longer worth it and i decided to leave and make a frozen pizza at home. In that one hour, i watched a table of 4 people wait for their check just to finally get up and leave without paying, i watched 4 different groups of people go from sitting at the bar to rushing to an open table, to people moving from bar stool to bar stool with no rhyme or reason as to how any of their so called «System» works. I also began to notice that the bartender also had his own list of tables. So that’s pretty nice that their is no set schedule on who or where you sit, so if you decide to go against my advice and actually try Tomkens, just go and sit at a dirty table until someone comes to serve you, unless your time isn’t important unlike mine. Pretty upset and frustrated to say the least. Atleast now i have a reason not to come back.

Honestly this is more 4.01 stars. This is a bar but I went for the wings. They got me!
The food, I went for the wings, I did battered sing the bleus and honey BBQ. With a cup of ranch and washing my face, I went away happy. The portions are large, not small, the flavor pops very well. I was surprised that wings could actually fill me up.
The service, there was 3 staff working plus the cooks. Yes I had to wait a bit for my food but it was packed and it was 50 cent wing night, what would you expect. I was pleased with the service I received.
Décor, under construction, as they’re expanding. I’m not quite sure what to say, I’ll just be neutral until it’s finished.
The beer selection is small but most people are not craft connoisseurs. If you are, you know which places to go in, so don’t whine about it, i didn’t. So don’t go expecting to get your rare beers here. The hard liquor was expansive, anything you need they got it.
I’m reading allot of gripes about this place but the reality is, it’s a bar with a grill and its not big, so don’t expect fast food. Good food takes times to cook, McDonald’s is down the road.

Possibly peak Stallis.
It’s a total townie bar and you will likely have to share your table. Half the bar will be wearing Packer gear, regardless of the day. The beer selection is «Milwaukee-​chic» so don’t expect more than a Miller or a New Glarus if you’re lucky.
There was a definitely a grandma and kid sharing our table. Our waitress definitely called most folks «sweetie.»
It was perfect.
Also, the fried chicken is the kind of thing that makes you happy to be alive and eating fried food.
We had a misunderstanding and ended up with a basket of onion rings instead of having those as our side. Even still, we both had a beer, we both had the fried chicken dinner, we had the onion rings. Our bill was like $ 22.
You’ll wait a bit, because that’s how you get good fried chicken. It’s fresh out of the fryer when you get it and comes in a cloth-​napkin-​lined basket that’s closed up, holding in all that deliciousness. You unwrap it and the smell wafts up to your nose and you can’t imagine what you’re going to do with all that food.
There’s fries and a roll and I think I made it through about two pieces of my chicken and ¼ of my fries. I used a frying pan the next day to reheat my leftovers and that kept it crispy and was more than serviceable for second-​day fare.
It was greasy and salty and a little peppery and it was all the things, really. It was a heart-​attack in a basket, but I went to get fried chicken, so I’d be disappointed if it wasn’t.
Basically, it’s cheap, it’s effing spectacular and it’s an experience. I’m not sure what else I could want out of a meal.

Excellent place to get some wings. I recommend the Garlic Parmesan! I plan to go back and continue to try all the different sauces.

Called ahead to get a bucket of fried chicken. It was delicious! Crispy, melt in your mouth, perfect salty spicy bite. The chicken is still tender and juicy. Man I want more right now. Had a pretty good setup, lots of newer tables, a few pieces of bar video games (I think I saw a duck hunter) and looks like a good place for a few beers! I’ll be back, live only a few blocks away.
The only bad thing was the bartender was a little rude. She was in hosting what I can only assume are ‘the regulars’ and acted like I was wasting her time.

We were SO excited to try this place on our tour of Milwaukee Wing places… I can’t imagine how this is on any lists of best wings unless people just needed an option in West Allis area. The service and food were both poor.
The «hot» wings are mild at best and all the grilled wings were slimy not crisped.
We will stick to Points East and Who’s on Third for wings
Side note: who brings kids auto refills on soda and then charges $ 2 each for them «oh, did we forget to tell you we were charging for each fountain refill?»

Awesome wings but terrible service. The wing sauces they have to offer are phenomenal! The bartenders seems to be talkative with the regulars only and rarely check up anyone else. I recommend take out.

Known for their wings, I wasn’t all that impressed. They have 2 nights, Mondays and Thursdays, when they offer $.50 wings. I went on a Thursday to check it out. They were busy! We were able to grab seats at the bar, thankfully. Although that didn’t mean were getting served anytime soon. There was one bartender and two waitresses working, in a packed house. They needed more staff. When we were finally able to get drinks, we ordered a pitcher of beer, knowing if we got individual beers, it would take too long to get a second. I asked for a wing menu as soon as we got our pitcher. It took another 15 minutes before the bartender came to take our wing order. We ordered 18 wings, total: 6 from the Medium category, 6 from Hot and 6 from Insane. You can get them deep fried or grilled; we chose grilled. We waited a long time for our wings. By now, our pitcher was empty, and, of course, we had to wait a while for the bartender to finally come over and get us another one. It took about 45 minutes for our wings. They were good. We liked the flavors we picked, although none were spicy. Apparently the wings are less spicy when you have them grilled because they toss them in sauce prior to grilling. When you get them deep fried, they come out dripping in sauce and will have more flavor. Maybe we’ll try that next time, if I decide to go back. The wings were good, but the service was bad.

My wife and I love boneless wings… and good ones are hard to find. Tomkens has knocked it out of the park! Starting with the meat itself, they use cut up chicken breast and bread it themselves… it turns out to be outstanding! The sauces are simply amazing as well… have now had four or five of them and love them all! Brian the chef makes his own sauces which means flavored you can’t find anywhere else!
Do not be fooled by the smaller space for dinner, if a table is open, sit down and enjoy great food at a great price!

Old school neighborhood bar in West Allis. Kinda like cheers, everyone knows your name right? Lots of rewards for TomKens as they are plastered on the walls. Its decorated as you would expect your local bar to be.
I stopped in during the final four with the family. We all went back and fourth with what we were gonna eat. Totally stoked to try this chicken that has been celebrated as such. Dreams were deflated when the sole waitress came along and told us a party of 7 that we couldnt get a bucket of chicken, strike 1. So we had no choice but to get the hobo chicken (Weird name huh?) which is a 4 piece basically. So we had to have 3 orders of this.
It was during final four so the kitchen was backed up no problem. I also ordered so drummies (Wings) they came first. I dont like sauce to much so im like how are they cooked. They are cooked with sauce on. Im thinking that the sauce will be cooked through the food kinda like how Point East Pub does it. I was wrong. I also do not like buffalo sauce. I wanted them to be hot wings… just hot like hot sauce. Nope all of the sauce is Buffalo. So i settled for the honey bbq. So i got the half grilled and half battered. Im like oh yea oh yea… first bite… oh no! The chicken was really bland and had the slightest bit of seasoning on it, strike 2. Luckily i ordered a side of onion rings, this saved the day.
About 20 mins after my food came, the tables food came. A bucket of fries… I mean like kfc bucket. The chicken special came with fries so they said the hell with it give um a bucket. Good right? Nope! the fries were old school crinkle cut fries. Dry and un-​salty. They sucked really bad i kid you not. I should have taken heed to the table across from us that didnt touch their fries and left them on the table and took the rest of the food they didnt eat to go.
The main course this hobo chicken was no different. No salt at all. Im like what the hell is this. It was pretty juicy but with no flavor that didnt matter. The chicken come out to you in a bread basket with white cloth napkins. No issue with that it was just that my 3 of the 4 napkin baskets had orangish red sauce stains on them. Strike 3… Your out… right. Nope there is more!
Its a table of 7 and we asked for bbq sauce and we got a small sauce cup full of bbq sauce. With as unflavorful as that chicken is they should be throwing bbq sauce at you. Thats it no more strikes.
I wouldnt go back for anything not because i hate it, the bar, the people, or the nostalgia that TomKens has. Its simply because there are other places serving better food.

We usually come for their magnificent wings and have wanted to try out the fish fry for awhile.
Walking in, we were surprised that there wasn’t a wait. This is a small corner bar and were expecting it to be as crowded as a wing night.
Received our soup (which was absolutely one of the best I’ve ever had) soon after ordering but the the fish and shrimp took almost a full hour. After watching take out order after take order leave the kitchen I finally asked if our order been lost. So disappointing. :(Don’t know if the 2 guys in the kitchen were overwhelmed or if there was something else going on as the waitress and the bartender were back there trying to figure out their orders quite a bit.
The food itself was very good!
Will absolutely try it again but will maybe call ahead and preorder.

The best chicken joint in Milwaukee and that’s no exaggeration. Ambiance, service and ice cold beer what else could you ask for in a five star establishment? The tacos are fresh and the crew are there to serve!!!