Has anyone tried All Aboard Diner in Downers Grove?

Has anyone tried this place? I am trying to plan my soon to be 5 year old's birthday party and just stumbled across this in a flyer. It seems to be a train themed restaruant. food any good? Are they good with kids and/or parties?

Any input about this place would be great! I am a mom on a mission and want to get something booked but wondered if this place was worth a trip to check out. The party will be for 10-12 kids.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Let us know what you find out. We are fans of train diners.

Ok, leave it to your guy 2000 miles away

A tale of 2 train-themed family dining establishments in Downers Grove.

At Christmas, a group of us visited 2 Toots and in August, a dozen of us made the trek to All Aboard Diner. On the heels of the closing of the legendary Snackville Junction, here's the scoop on both of them.

Location:
2 Toots - Across from the Metra BNSF station in downtown Downers Grove, steps away frm the Tivoli Theater and Every Day is a Sundae (Sherman's Ice Cream)

All Aboard Diner - in a mega-strip mall steps away from Toys R Us

Facilities:
2 Toots - small restaurant, limited seating along "train rail" with booths along one side

All Aboard Diner - large facility with huge "U"-shaped train rail counter and booths on both sides. Party room up front along with small kid-operated train layout.

Food:
2T: Standard burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches. Ice cream and shakes looked good although I'd have a hard time passing up EDaS next door! Quite frankly, it seemed that they were still working the kinks out and that they were trying to learn the restaurant-biz on the fly.

AAD: Larger menu but focus is on the same stuff. Nothing bad, but nothing outstanding.

To me, 2 Toots is the winner here, and it's because of its location. AAD is set up well and the family that owns it seems to really care about it, but it just feels a bit artificial. However, they may succeed better because of their size and their marketing. Sadly, I didn't think either of them had food that was chow-worthy, although they were both inoffensive. Bottom line as a train guy, it IS very cool to have your meal delivered by train, and seeing the excitement in my kids eyes made the visits worthwhile. RIP to Snackville Junction, but I hope things go well for 2T and AAD.

We've been to 'Toots' a couple of times with our granddaughter and with my nieces and nephews (all 5 of them under 6 years old). It is your typical burgers, grilled chicken, hot dogs, etc., but I have to add that the burgers and grilled chicken sandwiches were quite good. The owner and employees are very enthusiastic with the kids and even cleaned up the few 'mishaps' with smiles of their faces. Having the train station across the street and seeing the joy that the passing trains brings the kids is well worth the trip there. However, I do not believe they do parties. You can certainly have a group there, but as far as setting up a party there, you're SOL.

Thanks to all for your help. I am in the midst now of trying to make a decision.

I did call AAD yesterday and they were very friendly. I am going to both in the next couple of weeks and will report back our decision.

My son is a HUGE fan of trains so this is a big deal for us. We are fans of the Choo Choo burger in Des Plaines but that is too far away from N-ville and the crowd coming.

Thanks again and I will report back.

Well, as I wrote before, AAD is probably better set up for parties, but maybe at a tween time 2Toots would do it well as well. I think the big opportunity here is if you did 2Toots you could take the train from Rt 59 or downtown Naperville to DG and walk across to the restaurant. Depending on the day/time, you could even do a movie at the Tivoli or bowling at Tivoli Bowl and/or ice cream at the place next to 2 Toots. As a kid, any of those would be fun, esepcially the train ride and as a parent, you could take advantage of Metra's kid policy...I think up to 3 kids ride free with an adult on weekends.

Great idea about the train ride to 2Toots -RSMBob! I will call Metra to see what the policy is for sure...I really like your idea.

Great ideas too about ice cream, movie, etc..

I appreciate all your help..thank you

No problem...DG, trains and good food are 3 things close to my heart! By the way, it is 3 kids under 11 free with an adult on Metra...and Metra has the $5 weekend pass for the adults.

Hope you...and especially the kids...have a lot of fun!

We took our son for his 3rd birthday last night. On a Sunday night, it was nt packed, so we had some breathing room. They put a high chair on one of the counter stools so we could all enjoy the trains.

This place has the concept down cold, and the family that owns it (and works it) seems to still have the joy in running it. My wife got a burger, I got a french dip, and we split a cheese fries. The fries were hand cut and were real good, as was my french dip. The burger was good, too. The onion rings that came by on the choo choo for another group looked yummy as well.

I was prepared for 'Costco' type grub, and was really pleasantly surprised. I let the owner's son (I think) know when I was settling up and he remarked that they put a new emphasis the menu 'for the parents.'

We will go again, and likely on a Sunday afternoon, as I bet the Saturdays there are chaotic and insane.