TGI Friday's

I'd give it zero stars if I could; it was a terrible restaurant experience, the worst I've had in years. I can't even narrow it down to one area; all areas were equally bad.

First, we decided to eat at this TGIF because the parking lot was nearly empty of cars and it was 12:15 pm, prime time lunch hour for a Sunday afternoon.
Our party of three walked into the restaurant and the first thing we noticed were people waiting to be seated with half the restaurant, to include the bar area, empty of customers: UNDERSTAFFED.

When the hostess finally arrived to the front, she informed us it would be a 15-20 wait.  I looked around in amazement at the half-empty restaurant and asked her why the wait.  She answered the restaurant was suddenly rushed with customers and the wait staff couldn't handle the load. I told her TGIF had a YOU problem that was quickly turning into a ME problem. UNDERSTAFFED

As I was in the waiting area, I noticed the hostess was also pulling double duty as a waitress as well as the bar manager, franchise owner and his wife. UNDERSTAFFED

After the aforementioned 15-20 minute wait, we were finally taken to our table.  As I walked there, I noticed a strange thing; NO ONE was eating, they were all waiting for their food. UNDERSTAFFED

The waitress took our order consisting of two of their 2 for $10 specials.  It took FOREVER to receive our appetizers and, of course, they were stone cold when they arrived. Much later, our entrees arrived, and you guessed it, they were also stone cold and cooked improperly.  My cheeseburger was cooked to death, dry and didn't look anything like the picture in the menu.   My wife's pasta dish was also cold and unappealing.  The waitress asked us if we wanted it fixed, but we told her we didn't have another hour to spend there.

I won't be back there and I encourage others not to go until they solve their staffing problem.  I did find it ironic that when I was waiting in the beginning; an off duty wait staff person called the hostess and asked if they were on the schedule for today.  She replied, "No, you're off today" in which I told her "You might want them to come in, it looks like you need all the help you can get".

The customer service of the waitress, Jessica, was ideal. She was pleasant, responsive, and attentive. When my order arrived I noticed tomatoes garnishing and I informed Jessica that I was allergic and didn't know that this items had tomatoes. She apologized and picked up the plate to have the cooks/chef to re-do the meal without tomatoes. She asked if she could bring me something else in the interim since my husband's food was already delivered.

In times like these, I've seen some of the worst responses in the past. Jessica was a super star and handle this little challenge with ease. She was such a joy to have as a server.

TGI is always the same no matter where you travel to but what often makes the difference is the servers. It can hit or miss depending on the server or bartenders mood. This time it was a hit, our bartender, Jessica, was wonderful. Quick to help with or correct our service request. She made our quick stop for lunch enjoyable, thanks.