TGI Fridays

«Hey, I have an idea. Let’s go somewhere really Long Island.» — Ruggy’s famous last words.
After this statement we ended up at TGI Friday’s with a commitment to eat only the endless appetizers that they’ve been promoting on TV. We would not stray and we’d eat till we felt sick… literally.
The good: Ummmm… let’s create another category as «good» simply does not apply.
The alright: The boneless wings, undressed with sauce on the side. Surprisingly the PB&J was a nit with our group, with the ghost pepper coming in a close second for me. Not nearly hot enough but I suppose these mega-​chains have to temper things like this for the average Joe.
The bad: The potato skins. Remember these things? They were (and maybe still are) a signature item for the TGIF franchise. My buddy drew said it best: «tasted like we popped into the supermarket, bought TGI Friday’s microwavable meals and served them.» Dead on.
The ugly: The tostada should not be served to anyone or anything. Soggy and small with a flavor combo that was baffling. Simply put, disgusting. If you decide to jump into the endless app pool stay away from these suckers. Just a bad, bad, bad idea.

Some highs and lows at my first visit to Friday’s in quite some time…
Highs:
* Our server was sweet and constantly put our orders in so we always had food at the table
* Endless. Apps. $ 12.
* Chicken fingers, fried green beans & potstickers
Lows:
* The rest of the food… tasted like we popped into the supermarket, bought TGI Friday’s microwavable meals and served them. Stay away from the spinach dip (an old favorite), the mozz sticks (sad) and the skins (what happened here?). A serious warning for the tostada, don’t eat it. It’s… slimy.
* Most of the sauces had a film over them. Not great.
* Bathroom was unclean
Could you have fun here during happy hour with cheap drinks and unlimited chicken fingers? Sure! But really, I don’t trust any place that can’t make simple menu items, especially ones that are signature items that they’ve been making forever. Friday rocks, TGI Friday’s… not so much.

Service hasn’t improved. Sitting here at the bar, with 3 other parties in the whole restaurant. Ordered spin dip. Took 20 minutes to heat up the dip and dish out some chips.
Asked for the check when the food came. Another 20 minutes.
At the bar.
Gave this place another shot and it blew it. Hard.
Do yourself a favor and eat glass instead of coming here. It’ll be less painful.

I’m sorry but this place is absolutely absurd. My friend and I come in after a long day of work, and want to chow down and have a drink. They said we «already look messed up». (which we weren’t) we are both well about the age of 21. I was extremely disappointed and defiantly will not be going back!!! This coming from the guy with the orange shirt with the white collar and my buddy with the north face on! Please do not delete this review as it is crucial for other customers to see.

I can’t believe they did it to us again!!! the first time we came here I order the salmon that came out tasting like cardboard!!!
I was a little reluctant to come again but the kids wanted to eat at Fridays so we jumped in the car and headed out. we got here and although the restaurant is about 25% full (and filthy) we still had to wait a half an hour! finally after sitting down and ordering to no surprise I ordered the Jack Daniels Rib eye steak and shrimp with a side order of mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese. I asked for my steak to be cooked medium rare and of course, it came well done with cold mashed potatoes NO shrimp and no macaroni and cheese. My wife ordered sizzling chicken and cheese with no onions and no peppers how did it come out? She got three orders of sizzling chicken with no sizzle loaded with onions and peppers!!! Another half hour goes by and we decide to leave without eating!!! I took the kids to the car while my wife paid for the kids meal and talked to the manager (who by the way was dressed like a plumber) this place has the worst service and filthy!!! There are not enough gift cards in the world to make me go back to that location!!!

IF YOU ARE ON YOUR iPHONE RIGHT NOW AND THIS IS THE FIRST THING YOU ARE LOOKING UP — DO NOT GO HERE (unless you are going for alcohol & then maybe an appetizer or 2.)
Applebee’s & Ruby Tuesday are very close by– go there instead. There is also a White Castle up the road. And for just few dollars more –per person– there is a Cheesecake Factory on the other side of the mall. IF YOU ARE A SMALL RODENT or SEAGULL do not even EAT OUT OF THE DUMPSTER of TGIF at this location! Go around to the Panera Bread dumpster on the other side of the mall.
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I have not been here in YEARS. (This location OR any other TGIFs)
In the «crap-​chain» restaurant race; I have found– Applebee’s is the «best» (appetizers are excellent — sometimes), with Ruby Tuesday as «second best» (their salad bar truly sucks however) and this …
TGIF (That Gross Icky Food) rates DEAD last. (Well– with me. Obviously the «gerbils of the Long Island dining society» love this place– always packed ²⁴⁄₇. WTF? Why? Was Olive Garden closed ?)
* _______12:00 lunch /​noon holiday season of 2015._____________ *
With friends & family (it was THEIR choice to come here – not mine)
Ordered a convoluted chicken & shrimp combo. Now it was $ 16.00– so I guess it was NOT the «lunch menu» but the regular dinner menu?? ?? Photo in menu was BIG & looked GREAT !
My co-​eaters ordered «light» (always discomforting when YOU are STARVING and they aint) LOL. Anyway…
The Chicken & Shrimp dish arrived to my place at the table…
You know that feeling you get when someone pees on your grave?
Yeah. That’s how I felt.
(I SO HOPE THE MANAGER IS READING THIS because that’s one of my favorite jokes in my collection)
My plate was huge and the «food» only took up about 35% of the plate area. LOTS OF EMPTY SPACE on the plate.
* If I was on a diet this would have been perfect!*
The «shrimp» were SMALL — they were not-​even one inch in diameter ones– (you know, the type that cost $ 6.99 for a giant bag at Target or Wal-​Mart.) They were in a marinara sauce & cheese on the bottom (why not on top? One wonders). You could fit this portion of the dish in the PALM OF YOUR HAND and still have extra hand room!
The «chicken» portion was hard and rubberized. It was obvious that it was a chicken breast section that was frozen– then microwaved (WAY TOO MUCH) to defrost it– then grilled for 2 minutes to FOOL me. It was very very very hard to cut because it was so rubbery (sorry to use the «rubber» food texture cliché — I’m late for work right now). It was also SMALL– also would fit in the palm of your hand — with extra room in the said hand.
It came with a SMALL side of mashed potatoes — tasted OK but for the love of God– why not pad out the too-​small dish with LOTS of mashed potatoes?
Make the damn plate look good!
Make it look like I’m getting my money’s worth!
I worked in a kitchen in the early 1980s. At the end of the evening — I always had a HUGE tray of mashed potatoes that went right into the garbage – so I know this is an expendable side dish (just like rice & pasta). Again PAD THE F**KER OUT WITH SOMETHING — ANYTHING to not make the dish look so f**king skimpy God Dammit !
I was sooooo going to send this back but I hate doing this; 1) out of courtesy to my dining partners. No need to make a happy table uncomfortable & pause for me to get my new food back. And 2) Who knows what they will spit up in my food (the replacement meal). Not worth it. That’s why God made Unilocal.
Dinner, soda, tax, tip (service was fine) = $ 23.00 (aprox.)
For that amount of money I could have eaten at any given FAST FOOD restaurant THREE times and actually enjoyed my meal !

Going to start by saying, chain restaurants are not my thing. I have not been in a TGIF in roughly 10 years… Now I remember! All this food is frozen, quickly thawed and thrown on a grill or microwaved, second worst steak I have ever eaten next to a Bob Evans in PA when no other restaurant was around for miles, but that is a different story.
Kali our server was very friendly, a transport from California, and most efficient with taking our order.
(Kali from Cali) very sweet, move on to something better.
This restaurant is missing customers, at 6pm there were 8 in the whole restaurant. The music was way to loud and the servers were dancing throughout the place with nothing else to do. I ordered a bottle of a Cabernet but Kali came back to say they were out, so settled on a Malbec that was fair… Bottle retails for 8.00, they sell for 25.00
Wouldn’t be here, but I was greedy and received a buy one entrée and get one free, so I went for it… Not again, these are processed foods with very high sodium contents and I’m sure abundance of GMO’s. My fault, won’t be falling for this again. You have been warned!

Dark an depressing… we were seated an the table was soaking wet. After 15 minutes of waiting for service (the place was empty) we left. I wont be returning

So I returned to this Friday’s location and guess who was my server again? It was Jackie and once again she hit it out of the park. She just seems to be a naturally pleasant upbeat person. She represents the brand excellent. The food once again was good. You really can’t go wrong with a jack Daniels burger or any of there appetizers. I ordered a mud slide once again and I have to tell you folks this was the best mudslide I have ever had at Friday’s. Jack the bartender hooked me up. It’s all in the hands. One person can make the same drink and yet when someone like Jack makes it, it turns out next level. This is still my favorite Friday’s for food and if Jack keeps it up this will turn into the best Friday’s bar.*
All said and done this location has good food and great people.
* Thank you Jackie and Jack for providing excellent costumer service keep up the excellent work.

Poor experience. It took 5 minutes to be greeted by our server and 10 minutes to get drinks on the table on a slow Wednesday night. Even the table where we were sitting was unstable. The food took longer than usual to come. Waited spoke unprofessionally to us.

Worst Experience Ever. Food Undercooked, Slow Service, Attitude From Waitresses, Cold Sponach Dip. If You Are Going to Go Here, Don’t. Go To The Cheesecake Factory Down The Street.

We had went there with my mother-​in-​law and my son during the beginning we had one of my sons food to come out first when my food son arrived it was cold the bun was hard the fries were stale and the chicken was cold at which point we told the waiter she had taken it back to the kitchen 30 minutes later when our food had came out we’re still waiting for my son’s food in which case she asked oh you wanted another plate for him seeing as though he never eaten I suggested yes that would be a great idea. My sons second round of food appeared to be the same food just set on the kitchen counter for another 30 minutes we had the manager come over and since there were three complaints at the same time both our table and two other tables next to us had our meal free of charge however we didn’t eat we left and we went to a local restaurant beware of this restaurant the service is her horrible and the staffing is worse.

So. kids meal. almost ran off the table… dripped blood right onto the blood soaked bun… if you want to potentially give bacteria to your kids eat here… I have pics of the food served. …BEWARE! The manager comped the kids meal… but my girl was horrified by the blood.

Food was very good and I am pleased as a stripes members with the rewards they offer. However the SERVICE IS HORRENDOUS. The manager was very nice and apologized for the poor service. They need to get more experienced wait staff in there to make things better.

On my 2^nd trip there on a Friday night, there was definitely an improvement. Food looked a lot better (see pictures) and I didn’t have to constantly chase down my server. I still wasn’t blown away but much improved for sure.

This place is horrible. The waiters are great but the food is really bad. Everything is burnt.

The food here is good. However, the service here is anything but great. My family and I have gone here on Sunday afternoons but usually try to avoid it. Other TGI Friday’s locations usually do not have a service problem but this one in particular is both slow to greet and bring us to a table when the restaurant is halfway empty. The food here takes a much longer time to be brought out than expected. The waiters also never check up on us. If it were a one time experience it would be fine. But, this has happened each time we go there. I do not recommend this TGI Friday’s.

We have been going to this particular location for pretty much as long as it has been open and have never encountered such poor management/​lack of customer service by the manager (who refused to give me his name and last name multiple times).
All our entrees did not come out together and our waitress didn’t tell us why and then forgot to go check on the food when she walked by our table and asked where the 3^rd entrée was while ours sat getting cold. One of my companions got up to try to find a manager and ended up having to ask a busboy to send him over. The manager arrived and the distaste for our inquiry about the food could not have been MORE apparent if he tried. He seemed like we were a complete inconvenience to be asking to speak to him and he could not have cared less that we were having an issue. We actually said to him that he just seemed to not care in the slightest bit, at which point he rattled off a list of possible solutions to us like he was reading out of a book.
At that point it wasn’t even about the food, but about this man’s attitude, which seriously needs readjusting. He needs to be send back to customer service class because he has zero regard for the needs of the customer, from his body language to his bored tone like you were lucky you were getting to speak to him. Thanks to his obnoxious attitude, we won’t be returning to this location. You know the manager is useless and rude when even the guy opening the door and seating people apologizes for what has happened. Wow.
We also ended up with 3 servers for some reason — one who took over after our original waitress, and then another who dropped the check off to us while practically running past us. .. totally checked out staff who didn’t care that we were having a poor experience. Thumbs down in a huge way.
That said, so long as you don’t have to deal with that guy and his attitude, the bacon mac n cheese bites are yummy. I still find it annoying that this location calls it a pick-​three when wings are preselected for you and you only actually get to «pick» 2 items. It’s not like this at all their locations and I wish they would change this. All the Jack Daniel’s items are so yummy even if they are so unhealthy. It’s a shame we didn’t get to try the sizzling chicken after all that drama, nor did any of us finish our food since we lost our appetites with the attitude. Ugh.

Can’t go wrong on a Thursday night. 3 $ LI Teas, Mojitos, Margaritas. Half prices appetizers. Pecan crusted chicken salad is also very good. But who can really mess up a salad. lol

I really hate to admit it, but I think that this TGI Friday’s in Huntington Station may have turned a corner. It has improved immensely since we visited them over a year ago.
However, now for the caveats. First off, we ordered a «premium» entrée. Second, because we were TGIF members, we used a buy one get one free entrée promotional email coupon. Third, this particular Friday’s is located within an area that has experienced a huge growth in available casual dining options during the past eight or nine months. The Walt Whitman Shopping Centre location now offers significantly more options than they had before. Therefore, Friday’s, as one of the original three casual dining establishments in the area, has had to step up their game else be crushed by the competition.
That being said, I believe we hit the jackpot at this particular location. Because we were card carrying members the TGIF club or whatever it is they call it, they gave us complimentary chips and salsa. It wasn’t an overly generous portion, but I tell you, these were no flimsy, salty, greasy, chips with catchup sweet salsa. Oh no, my friends. These were strips of chips that were thick enough to qualify as Tostitos Gold chips (see the photo). The salsa was noticeably improved as well. It was clean and fresh tasting and free of the sugar and corn syrup from the old concoction. You could actually taste the onion in it too.
For the entrees, we ordered Jack Daniels meals … I ordered the Flat Iron Steak, my wife ordered the Shrimp and Chicken Breast. The shrimp was meaty with a crunchy coating, the chicken was succulent and tasty. This was clearly, not the chicken typically used in their Parmesan Chicken dish.
The Flat Iron Steak was as close to the best I’ve ever eaten. It had a great taste and was tender enough to cut with a fork. The tomato and mozzarella salad had small crisp grape tomatoes and was actually quite tasty. I had the standard fries as well and, while they were great tasting, they were slightly on the limp side.
To sum up, it was an unexpected and pleasant surprise. But, as I said before, it was a premium entry. If anyone wants to roll the dice and try one of standard entrees, please do so and post your review as well. I’m curious to see if you were as satisfied as I.
Take care!