TGI Fridays – Where It’s Always Friday

I’m going to be completely honest now. I hadn’t ever been to TGI Fridays until a few weeks ago for a friends birthday. I know, shocker. We had a great time (I particularly enjoyed half the restaurant singing the birthday song) so I was really excited when I was asked to go along to the Stoke restaurant to do a review.

Disclaimer: I was invited to TGI Fridays as a guest and our food and drink was provided complimentary.

The first TGI Fridays I went to was at Manchester Piccadilly Station so although it was laid out nicely, I imagine being in a train station has it’s constraints. The decor in the Stoke branch was really fun. There are TV screens with videos of New York and Hollywood and even a yellow cab outside! The massive sign in the photo above was pretty cool but can be blamed for all my weird red tinted photos.

When we arrived we were seated and left to browse the menu. I’d obviously scrutinised the menu before we went and decided what I was going to order already because that’s the kind of person I am. I ordered the Mozzarella Dippers which were amazing (hence my melted cheese appreciation face in the photo). They were honestly the best mozzarella sticks I’ve ever had and the tomato dipping sauce was herby and went well with the creamy cheese. Billy had the cheesey garlic ciabatta bread which had plenty of cheese and garlic.

For my main I had the Roasted Veggie Marinara sandwich with fries which was actually suitable for vegans too. It didn’t look like much when it arrived but I thought the same at my last visit when I had the Veggie Burger which turned out to be delicious and very filling. The fries were more tasty than before as they had a lot more seasoning on. I thought the mushrooms in the sandwich were a bit chewy but I’m not really a fan of mushrooms. I’d have taken them out but it wouldn’t have left me with a great deal of filling. Trust me to be a vegetarian who doesn’t like mushrooms! The marinara sauce was great and the ciabatta bread itself was really flavourful too.

Billy went for the duck fajitas because they sounded a bit different. The tortillas were brought to the table in a pot with a lid which was a nice touch because sometimes they’re left out and get cold quickly. The duck was served on a hot skillet on the bone and it came with a selection of dips and fillings. I tried a tortilla filled with cucumber strips and some of the veggies (I think it was a salsa) and it was really tasty and well seasoned. The portion was really big but you might want to ask for another plate to put the duck bones on because the skillet got quite messy.

I really wanted to try a shake last time but I was way too full. I was determined to leave enough room to have one this time so I ordered a Choccylicious Shake and Billy had the Brownie Obsession dessert. The only thing about the meal that I was disappointed about was the lack of vegetarian desserts. Only four of the desserts said they were suitable for vegetarians. I was a bit confused as to why most of them weren’t suitable for vegetarians because as someone who bakes a lot I believe you can make every single dessert vegetarian friendly. It did make my decision easier though.

Billy’s brownies came with chocolate and caramel sauces, hot fudge and a scoop of ice cream and they looked so good. My shake was a thick chocolate milkshake with whipped cream and chocolate sauce topped with a flake, and Oreo and a browne chunk. It was soooo tasty and I managed to eat almost all of it.

Our bill came to just under £50 including our refillable soft drinks which I think is pretty good for three courses each. The atmosphere makes it great for either a birthday meal or a get together because it’s lively without being too in your face. The staff were all great – we were served by a few people but mainly Michelle who was friendly, efficient and smiley. I definitely couldn’t work there because I wouldn’t be able to keep up with their level of friendliness. It was a fairly busy night so they had quite a few people to serve yet they even remembered what we were drinking to refill our glasses.

We had a great evening full of food! Our nearest TGI Fridays is Stoke or Manchester which is a fair way but I’ll definitely be back again, maybe for a birthday or a girly day out.