Horror at TGI Fridays

Now I do realize that some restaurants are just not supposed to be gastronomic Meccas but cater to that simple straightforward requirement that you sometimes have for something more utilitarian and affordable. Affordable is on my agenda these days (very much so) so enticed by the offer of a buy-one-get-one-free offer at the new TGI Fridays that has opened by Fulham Broadway tube Chris, Portia, Helena and myself decided to give it a try last night. I suppose the distinct lack of clientele on a Thursday evening should have been a giveaway but we were hungry bargain hunters with our discount vouchers in hand. We didn’t even get the hint when the cocktails at the bar were 80% ice and we weren’t even put off by the painfully poor quality sound system which gave the restaurant a “shouldn’t you be leaving now” ambiance. We wanted burgers. We ordered the largest looking Monterey jack monsters on the menu and chatted over a bottle of Rioja (the Merlot we wanted was out). After an inordinate amount of time the food arrived only for it to be the wrong order, odd really as we had all ordered the same so the repetition factor should have helped along with the fact that we pointed to the damn thing on the photo menu. So back they went. By the time our correct order arrived we were plastered of course, as well as damn hungry, we should have been grateful for anything really but even they at TGI could not meet out meagre expectations. Cold, rubber, bland, tough burgers with tasteless source garnished with oily onion rings seemed expensive even at half the price. This restaurant is horrible on every level - avoid like a plague of flesh-eating zombies!