A new restaurant concept from Great American Restaurants is coming to Gainesville, bringing a brand unfamiliar to many local diners to a highly visible intersection.
Key Takeaways
- When & Where: Date and opening timeline not announced; planned for Route 29 and Linton Hall Road in Gainesville.
- What Happened: Great American Restaurants announced plans to open Tommy’s American with a co-located Best Buns Bakery.
- Why It Matters: The project adds a new dining option to a fast-growing part of Prince William County and reuses a long-vacant commercial site.
- Who Drove It: Great American Restaurants, a Northern Virginia-based restaurant group.
Full Coverage
Great American Restaurants, a well-known Northern Virginia hospitality group, announced plans to open a new restaurant called Tommy’s American in Gainesville. The restaurant will be built at the intersection of Route 29 and Linton Hall Road, at the site of a former bank building later used by the Virginia Department of Transportation.
The building served as a project headquarters for the Virginia Department of Transportation during construction of the single-point urban interchange at Route 29 and Linton Hall Road in the late 2000s. Since then, the site has remained largely unused.
Tommy’s American is described by the company as a new concept, separate from its more established brands that many Prince William County residents already know. Those include Sweetwater Tavern, Coastal Flats, Ozzie’s Good Eats, Jackson’s Mighty Fine Food & Lucky Lounge, Mike’s American, Patsy’s American, Artie’s, Carlyle, Silverado, Randy’s Prime Seafood & Steaks, Stupid Good BBQ, and Best Buns Bakery & Café.
In addition to the restaurant, Great American Restaurants said a Best Buns Bakery will be co-located with Tommy’s American, giving the Gainesville location both a full-service restaurant and a bakery café.
On its website, the company traces its roots back to Fairfax City. “In 1974, Randy Norton and Jim Farley opened a 16 table pizza place in Fairfax City, VA,” the company states. “Mike Ranney joined them a year later, and with the opening of Fantastic Fritzbe’s Flying Food Factory (now Silverado) in 1976, Great American Restaurants was born.”
The company credits its long-term success to “their entrepreneurial spirit, enthusiasm for hospitality, and a ton of hard work by thousands of the best team players in the industry,” according to its published history.
Details about the restaurant’s menu, design, and opening date have not yet been released. The announcement signals continued commercial growth along the Route 29 corridor, where several new residential and retail developments have been built in recent years.
What do you think about this new restaurant concept coming to Gainesville? Comment below.
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This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Potomac Local News editors for accuracy and clarity.
