Tip Top Grill
- This article is about the Bluff Park restaurant. For the former 20th Street South restaurant, see Tip Top Grill (Southside).
Tip Top Grill was a small breakfast and lunch eatery located at 588 Shades Crest Road in Hoover, with a seating area overlooking Shades Valley / Oxmoor Valley to the north.
The small restaurant was located inside a former Citgo gas station at the intersection of Shades Crest Road and Park Avenue in the Bluff Park neighborhood. Developer Ronnie Whitworth invested $40,000 to convert the building into an eatery. Mike Wammack and his operating partner Bob Hoeferlin leased the space to open the restaurant in September 2003.
The owners of the 12-seat eatery were inspired by Gus Koutroulakis' Pete's Famous hot dog stand downtown, which had no seats. They gambled that the views would bring customers back.
Tip Top Grill was named one of 10 best places to eat outside by the Birmingham News in May 2008.
Forrest Smith purchased the restaurant property in 2013. In 2021 Tip Top Grill posted a sign in the door reading "Closed. Lost our Lease". Smith disputed the statement, saying that the restaurant's owners terminated the lease.
References
- Nicholson, Gilbert (August 8, 2003) "New Bluff Park eatery has Tip Top view." Birmingham Business Journal
- Harvey, Alec (May 23, 2008) "10 great places to eat outside in Birmingham." The Birmingham News