The Tomato Head

The Tomato Head Food gotta cook. Don't come out of a can. Serving fresh food and culture for our Knoxville neighbors since 1990. Our lunch meats are nitrite/nitrate free.
(2546)

A Market Square restaurant that was called by the New York Times as “the nexus for all things hip and happening in town” is well-known for our vegan and vegetarian fare. Don't worry - we have the carnivores covered, too. You'll find antibiotic free chicken, Benton's Bacon, Italian sausage and our house made lamb sausage. You can find a second location of The Tomato Head in The Gallery Shopping Cen

ter, located at 7240 Kingston Pike in West Hills (on Facebook ). Our bread and desserts are fresh and baked close to home by our sister Flour Head Bakery, check them out on Facebook ! Our restaurant was voted by Metro Pulse readers as the Best Pizza for the past ten years and Best Restaurant for the past 15 years in their annual Best Of Knoxville poll. If you can't make it out to one our restaurants, look for us in your grocery aisle. You'll find Tomato Head products at Three Rivers Market (regular and vegan spinach & sundried tomato pesto, and hummus + Flour Head Bakery granola and a fine selection of breads) and Butler & Bailey Market (hummus, regular and vegan spinach & sundried tomato pesto and Flour Head Bakery granola). And you can find our hummus throughout the Knoxville and the southeast at Kroger, Whole Foods Market, Earth Fare and may independent stores.

Happy Father’s Day! Really the fathers in our lives deserve to be celebrated all year, but today makes for a good excuse...
06/21/2026

Happy Father’s Day! Really the fathers in our lives deserve to be celebrated all year, but today makes for a good excuse to reminisce or make new memories. Obviously every dad is different, but I don’t think there are many who would be disappointed by a slice of pizza and a beer. So, whether they’re sitting across the table from you or smiling in your memories, raise a slice of pizza and a cold beer to the fathers and father figures who taught us useful things, ridiculous things, and occasionally the difference between the two.
They’ll like that. 
And if you’re hearing their voice in your head while you do it, well, that’s a Father’s Day worth remembering.

Throwback to almost 30 years ago when you needed a fence to serve beer on the square. Now it’s become a designated outdo...
06/15/2026

Throwback to almost 30 years ago when you needed a fence to serve beer on the square. Now it’s become a designated outdoor refreshment area allowing for open containers from select restaurants

Kismet is an old word. It means luck, but not the ordinary kind. Kismet has a little more mystery and magic attached to ...
06/12/2026

Kismet is an old word. It means luck, but not the ordinary kind. Kismet has a little more mystery and magic attached to it.
Every now and then life produces a combination of people and circumstances that feels improbably right. Better than chance. Better than luck.
A little like a good recipe. Maybe that’s what I mean when I think of kismet.
And let me tell you, it was a good week for that word to leap to mind.
It had been one of those days. We were already short-staffed when illness swept through the team, and I watched my hours stretching longer and longer while the list of things that needed doing stubbornly refused to get any shorter. I was tired, overwhelmed, and more than a little discouraged.
Then I walked into the kitchen and saw Ian Branson making sandwiches.
Now, that may not sound like much of a plot twist, but Ian hasn’t worked at Tomato Head since 2019, when he left to become a full-time ICU nurse at UT Hospital.
Yet there he was.
Making sandwiches.
As it turns out, Ashley Parks had sent him a text message lettinghim know we were having a rough day. Ashley has been part of the Tomato Head family for almost 20 years. She and Ian met here years ago, back when they were both working in the kitchen. One thing led to another, as it often does, and these days they share a life together.
So he came in to help.
Simple enough.
Most people think restaurants make food. And of course they do. But they also form friendships. Relationships take root. Lives become tangled together. Years pass. People move on to new jobs, new careers, and new chapters.
And then, every once in a while, one of those stories circles back around and walks through the kitchen door wearing an apron.
Maybe that’s kismet.
Or maybe it’s simply what happens when people spend years building something together.
Seeing Ian that day reinforced in me how special The Tomato Head is. And reminded me that the things we create here don’t end when someone clocks out for the last time.
And for a few minutes, in the middle of a very difficult day, it became clear that some of the best things we make here never appear on the menu.
Kismet.

Have you ever wanted to learn how to throw pizza dough, or maybe you’ve always loved cooking? If you answered yes to eit...
06/03/2026

Have you ever wanted to learn how to throw pizza dough, or maybe you’ve always loved cooking? If you answered yes to either of these the good news is that The Tomato Head is hiring now for all back of house positions. Pay starts at $18 an hour including benefits and you can be part of the wonderful Tomato Head family. Apply through the link in our bio!

For First Friday, June 5th, The Tomato Head downtown is having a DJ perform from 6-8:30. Join DJ Soularia for Vinyl Vibe...
06/03/2026

For First Friday, June 5th, The Tomato Head downtown is having a DJ perform from 6-8:30. Join DJ Soularia for Vinyl Vibes! Spin into the weekend with an all vinyl set full of soul, funk, and feel good tunes paired with your favs from Tomato Head

Tis Farmer’s Market SeasonThere are certain moments in the year when Knoxville feels especially alive, and the opening o...
05/29/2026

Tis Farmer’s Market Season
There are certain moments in the year when Knoxville feels especially alive, and the opening of the downtown farmers market is certainly one of them.
The Market Square Farmers Market has become one of the great rituals of downtown life. By midsummer it will be absolutely humming — packed sidewalks, armfuls of flowers, strawberries disappearing by the quart, tomatoes people speak about with near-religious conviction.
Things are growing again. You can already see the season gathering itself. Radishes. Lettuce. Early greens. Strawberries beginning to appear. And somewhere out there, waiting in the wings like the headliner everybody bought tickets to see, tomato season.
And after that comes the rest of the bounty — peaches, peppers, beans, apples, and more, oh my… all the beautiful succession of things. So come downtown. Fill a basket. Wander the stalls. Make a day of it.
And when you need a break from all that excellent shopping, we’ll be here too — with a few shady patio tables, some very respectable air conditioning, and the kind of food that probably sent you to the farmers market in the first place.

It’s graduation season! Spring has always felt a little bittersweet to me. It is a season of transition, and transition ...
05/15/2026

It’s graduation season! Spring has always felt a little bittersweet to me. It is a season of transition, and transition — even the good kind — carries a little ache with it.
Spring brings freedom, sunlight, and the approach of summer — but also the realization that things are changing. Friends move on. People graduate. Certain routines and familiar faces quietly disappear from your daily life. I suppose that strange mixture of anticipation and regret is just part of growing up. The restaurant business understands this better than most.
Restaurants are transitional places by nature. People come into them for a season of life — between classes, between careers, while figuring things out, while building toward whatever comes next. The lucky thing, for us, is that so many remarkable people have passed through our doors over the years. And they leave marks behind.
A phrase that becomes part of the culture. A dish made just right. A friendship. A habit. A laugh from the kitchen. A favorite server whose section people quietly request every time they come in. At Tomato Head, we’ve been especially fortunate. People stick around and become part of the fabric of the place — and part of our lives. So much of human connection happens around food, and when you spend years making and serving meals together, those relationships matter.
This graduation season, between our two stores, we have around thirty staff members moving on to the next chapters of their lives.
Thirty.
That’s extraordinary. And yes, if we’re honest, it’s a little emotional too.
We’ll miss them. Deeply.
But it is also one of the great privileges of this business to watch talented, thoughtful people grow into whatever comes next. Teachers. Artists. Lawyers. Doctors. Parents. Travelers. People still figuring it out. All of it counts.
So this season, as we shuffle schedules, train new faces, and quietly feel the shape of these absences, we also want to say congratulations.
Thank you for your work, your time, your care, and your presence.
Long life. Happiness. Continued success.
Or, if you prefer:
Live long and prosper.

Mother’s Day looks different for all of us. Everyone has their own way of celebrating; my mother was the cook in our fa...
05/10/2026

Mother’s Day looks different for all of us. Everyone has their own way of celebrating; my mother was the cook in our family and so on Mother’s Day, I eat.  And I remember.
However Mother’s Day looks for you, we hope you find a way to honor it gently. If your mother is with you, love on her and if she isn’t, bring her close — a flavor, a flower, a habit, a small ritual that belonged to the two of you. If part of that day calls for a table, we’ll be here.

If you don’t have brunch plans for today yet, let these beautiful biscuits guide you. This particular batch was even mad...
04/19/2026

If you don’t have brunch plans for today yet, let these beautiful biscuits guide you. This particular batch was even made by a Brit and, as wrong as it sounds, they are better than mine. Y’all just get to enjoy the benefits

Continuing Knoxville’s big weekend, it’s Marathon Sunday! It’s a beautiful day to run or support a runner, and we can co...
04/12/2026

Continuing Knoxville’s big weekend, it’s Marathon Sunday! It’s a beautiful day to run or support a runner, and we can confirm the best way to celebrate completing the race or to recover from a day spent cheering is your favorite tomato head pizza hot out of the oven 🍕

Address

12 Market Square
Knoxville, TN
37902

Opening Hours

Tuesday 11am - 9pm
Wednesday 11am - 9pm
Thursday 11am - 9pm
Friday 11am - 10pm
Saturday 11am - 10pm
Sunday 11am - 9pm

Telephone

+18656374067

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Tomato Head posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category