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The Grilled Cheese Donut.

It smelled delicious and it looked delicious, but it definitely didn’t taste delicious. It seemed almost impossible to me to mess up a grilled cheese and tomato soup – but they’ve managed it, kind of.

Tom + Chee all started out of a tent set up next to an ice skating rink in December of 2009. Passion lead to being featured on shows such as Shark Tank, Man vs. Food Nation, Amazing Eats and The Chew.

With 19 locations, some not open for business just yet; the Tom + Chee menu offers some extraordinary dishes. For example, a grilled cheese donut and a strawberry lemonade donut.

How exciting does that sound? I was beyond excited after finding out the franchise would be featured in Indiana.

My aunt and I got to the restaurant at about noon, and it was quite busy, which was expected, considering it’s a new craze. Right off the bat, we were smacked in the face by the loudness. It seemed the architecture of the building made it very noisy. I could barely hear myself think.

After reading over the very large menu, we finally settled on what we were going to get. My aunt ordered the original Tom + Chee, a bowl of tomato soup and a drink. I, on the other hand, ordered the Grilled Mac and Cheese, the Grilled Cheese Donut and a drink.

Total: $26.95

Although it was crowded, we were still able to sit comfortably in the back corner of the restaurant and the wait for our food was only about 10 minutes.

Luckily, I was able to have a small taste of everything that was brought out to us.

Each sandwich was bland, unfortunately. And neither of them tasted like a true grilled cheese that I cooked at home.

The tomato soup tasted like spaghetti sauce. It seemed that salt, pepper and oyster crackers were no help at all.

Lastly, the famous Grilled Cheese Donut. Let me inform you that the Today Show has named this particular donut one of the Best New Sandwiches in America. I beg to differ. First off, it was incredibly too sweet. Secondly, cheese…? What cheese!? Ok, not really. The cheese was definitely there, in layers, might I add, but the sweetness of the donut completely overpowered the taste of cheese.

In conclusion, if I ever had the choice to stay at home and make a grilled cheese and a can of Campbell’s tomato soup, or go to Tom + Chee, I would for sure stay home.

My overall rating of Tom + Chee is a 3/10.

I only say this because if I ever found myself back at Tom + Chee, I would give them a second chance. Their menu intrigues me, and there are a few things I would still like to try. Just not another grilled cheese, please.

And also, a future note to my lactose intolerant self: if a restaurant has the word “cheese” in it – it’s probably not a good idea to eat there.

Tom + Chee is located at 5650 86^th St.

The address that comes up on Google is not the right address, so be cautious of that.