TGI Friday’s

We went on a Thursday afternoon for a special birthday lunch for our friends bday and it was relatively quiet. The food was really tasty but we were let down by two of the drinks on tap being unavailable (the budweiser and becks) and that we kept having to ask for the bill several times which took a while to arrive and we were late going back to work.

You can’t go wrong with TGI’S. We love the place. Service is always friendly and cocktails are amazing. Food is great for snacks or meal. Kids love it too.

It’s a given that most would have already visited TGI Friday’s — sat at their stripy tables and spilled Jack Daniels Sauce down themselves. Yet let me share a beefy secret with you…
*whispers*
On your next visit tell the waitress — ‘You’ll have what Jack’s having!’
*A burger from the TGI Friday’s secret menu.
I won’t spoil the surprise as to what it tastes like, or what it contains.
Just know it was delicious!

It was busy despite being a Thursday evening in August — when there should be many less students about. (Cardiff is a notorious student town.) It took us about 20 – 25 minutes to be seated but we browsed the other restaurants in St David’s while we waited.
Our server was friendly and we didn’t have to wait long for our order to be taken (which she committed to memory) and for food and drinks to arrive.
I got a Holiday isle smoothie which was delicious and my friend had the Raspberry Crush smoothie — refreshingly tart. The rest of the drinks menu sounded enticing too, but I wasn’t up for anything alcoholic today.
My main course was the 8oz New York strip steak with bourbon peppercorn sauce, which was served on the side. It came with a choice of two sides, so I got the cheese mash filled potato skins (they give you two pieces) and wedge salad. I also received a surprise serving of fries (I’m guessing perhaps the waitress mixed up my order of the potato skins as they were missing at first — but they quickly fixed this).
The wedge salad was… bizzare. It was literally a chunk of iceberg lettuce drizzled with a slightly overpowering blue cheese sauce sprinkled with grilled bacon bits. The most difficult thing about it was taking it apart in order to eat it! Messy business.
The potato skins were better. The cheese wasn’t melty like I expected, rather in a cooled melted lump in top of the skins but the texture and taste were still alright.
The steak reminded me of why I am usually wary of ordering steak. I got it medium, but it was still too tough and chewy for me and the taste wasn’t really there. As the peppercorn sauce was so thick it didn’t spread particularly well on the steak. The fries were so-​so. I ended up spending £15 on something I’d rather not eat again.
Overall: good drinks, decent service, good ambience (beware of birthdays though — if you want to come here for a birthday take note that there are probably 3 other parties here for the same reason, and yes, you will have to sit through the birthday sing-​song 3 more times.)
Would i come back? It wouldn’t be the food that bright me back here. Rather than the high price for ‘meh’ food, I’d come here for casual drinks at the popular bar area. However if I had to come here for dinner, next time I would get the ribs with the Jack Daniel’s sauce instead.

Now I’m not sure how to review this one. Did I enjoy it? Sort of…
I enjoyed it mainly for the food. The food was fantastically delicious and left me wanting more after I finished (although I wasn’t prepared to pay more because the prices were very high) the drinks were great although again very pricey. The selection of food is great and I found myself wondering which dish I would choose because they all looked great. I had the ribs and do not regret making that decision. Delicious!
But to bring it all down it had to come to the service, which was rubbish in all honesty. I went in a group of 5 and they messed up 2 of our orders not cooking the steak properly and not adding the shrimp when they ordered a surf and turf. Plus the extra sauces didn’t come. As far as first experiences go; this was the worst. The waiters and waitresses seem to be more interested in flirting with each other than serving the customers making sure their order is right. Needless to say I

Echo Anna’s sentiments!

Thank God there’s a new TGI Friday’s in cardiff. Its only been open a week so I only have one visit to rate this on.
Firstly its really big and split into lots of different spaces upstairs and down. Despite its size I think they may have been suffering from a lack of staff or a few teaching problems when we went because there were a lot of empty tables but we had to sit at the bar for 20 minutes before we got a table and that was at lunch time. It wasn’t a bad wait though since it gave me time to try out the cocktail making skills and since the menu is so long it was lucky the barmaid had a few suggestions!
Anyway once we got a table the service was quick and the food was perfect. Of course its just burgers and that kinda stuff but I’d defiantly recommend the ribs that just fall off the bone.
There was a real buzz to the place and it’ll be interesting to see if it lasts. Its far better than the Newport road branch, I just hope it lasts, though I really wish they’d stop the birthday chants!