TGI Friday’s

I have a little soft spot for TGI Friday’s. When I moved to the UK nearly 20 years ago, American food was thin on the ground, and I was homesick (hungry!) but lucky TGI Friday’s filled the void.
Nowadays you can go loads of places for really good American-​style food, but still, sometimes I just need to go and have slightly overpriced American chain-​food like the dirty, dirty Yank I still am, deep down.
I hadn’t realised TGIF had moved in to the old Yates’ underneath Capital Radio, but on a cold winter night, with time to kill before the theatre, its lurid red lights and promise of fattening food served by abnormally jolly people was a siren call I couldn’t avoid.
It’s all new and shiny and very big inside. The bar dominates the centre, but the layout of the restaurant is such that there are lots of little sections, which makes it feel a bit cozier. Even though we were there early on a Monday, the bartender stood in the middle of that huge bar and flaired away like his life depended on it — perhaps it did. No one was at the bar, but he was like a machine. Well, a machine that occasionally dropped a cocktail shaker but still, good effort, dude. My arms hurt just watching.
I knew there was an app which gave you some freebie, but as I left my phone at home, my OH was tasked with downloading it while I used the loo (it’s downstairs and clean). The app gave us a free appetiser so yay. We opted for what is an old favourite of ours, the boneless chicken wings (ie, chicken nuggets with hot sauce). They weren’t as good as before — it’s a decent wing sauce, but mild, and not Frank’s, so it lost that salty savouriness that made them really tasty before. And at like £6.50 for 6 small pieces, one to give a miss.
I’m more than a little embarrassed to say I ordered the chicken finger BLT — something I used to always get, but they’ve changed it, and now you can order it on a waffle. Sweet Jesus. It’s meant to come with rocket and tomato, but as I dislike rocket and midwinter tomatoes are generally nasty, I left those off. I also upgraded my chips to sweet potato fries.
It took me a few bites to decide that yes, I like eating chicken sandwiched between two sweet waffles. There’s a honey mustard sauce which gives a bit of bite, and a bit more sweetness. In hindsight, ordering sweet potato fries was a step too far — just too much sweet on one plate. The sandwich isn’t really that big, but because it’s 2 waffles instead of a bun, I could only manage half. Upside? Didn’t need pudding.
Service was fine, but not amazing for TGIF. 2 Cokes (free refills!), my sandwich/​breakfast/​dessert, & OH’s more normal chicken sandwich came to around £30, so for the location, to be expected.
I’m sure I’ll be back, but I might not admit to it again in a Unilocal review…