TGI Fridays Green Hills — Restaurant in Newcastle-Maitland

We had TGIF in Melbourne in 2017 and thought it was an absolute fantastic experience, their meals where reasonably priced and they had free refills for soft drinks which we thought was a great touch to the service and I could see why they were always busy. After knowing that a TGIF’s was coming to greenhills, we couldn’t wait for one to be close to home after having it in Melbourne and having a great experience, so we decided to make a booking for Mother’s Day, they were busy but not overly busy when we arrived, looking at the menu the items seem overpriced and the only thing to justify prices at a first glance would be if the meals are a decent size, seeing that sides are an extra $4.90 at least each, we like to have sides but was not going to pay that much extra for mash and then veg, there are only a couple meals that come with sides such as lamb shank with sweet corn mash, so don’t expect sides with any meal unless you are willing to pay for it. The meals took 40 minutes to come out which isn’t bad seeing that it was a little busy, but for the amount of staff in the kitchen it should have been more timely then that. As for our meals, the $14.90 burger by it self was almost he same size as a cheeseburger from Maccas, the lamb shank wasn’t to bad but could have used something to bulk it out “oh wait- you gotta pay for that”, the pork belly nachos don’t even get up to the standard of a pubs nachos- pork belly??? What pork belly - the half dozen pieces that managed to find there way onto the plate weren’t even worth $1, and lastly the “Falling off the Bone” menu item of Slow cooked ribs and Chicken wings of $39.90 which also had no sides unless you want to spend more, I was excited about getting this meal as I really enjoy ribs and wings on menus. Gotta say, I wasn’t impressed, the wings came out raw, and to their shock and disbelief, they couldn’t understand why/how, even with the blood oozing out of the wing, so then it was returned to the kitchen, and then the strangest thing happened, something that shouldn’t happen in an open kitchen, “All” the kitchen staff stopped working... just stopped in their tracks and they all had to examine the wings like it was the 1st time they’ve ever seen a raw piece of meat, like they didn’t expect something to come back, if they checked the food and took more care then it wouldn’t have happened. After a short recess and discussion about the wings I assume they started cooking new ones whilst they placed my ribs under the grill to keep warm, probably shouldn’t be in view of a customer who returns items, then after 10mins a staff member finally comes over to inform us of what’s happening and if it is ok to wait another 10mins for my meal, i said “as long as it’s cooked, do I have a choice”. The meal came out and all in all it was nice but overpriced for the amount given, at least one side should available with each meal included. The drinks are also overpriced, cheaper beers and wines need to be on offer, $7.50 for the cheapest beer “Carlton” is ridiculous, so if you want to have a good time there and have a few drinks make sure you get a 2nd mortgage first. If TGIF’s is only looking for single time customers then there doing the right thing. If you want return customers then a lot needs to change. Overpriced / left there hungry / $140 for nothing / no chance...

Three stars for the American diner style photos on the wall and two star for everything else. Some Australians visit America and think it's a good idea to open a franchise in Australia. Some succeed and some fail miserably. I've visited TGI Fridays twice and each time was frustrating. The first time we tried ordering on the app it didn't work correctly but the table service was still reasonably good. This second time is the last time I'll eat there The prices of the food jumped quite a bit from the last time I visited. Cost of living, I get it. That's fine. What wasn't fine is that for the amount of money we paid I expected the portions to match and for the food served to match the photos on the menu. The child serving of a fajita plate was meager. I get that it's a child's size meal but three strips of grilled chicken, some lettuce, a tablespoon of cheese, and two mini tortillas isn't enough for an average sized kid. My son was happy to get a "snack," so hence the one star. The potato swirls were a huge disappointment. The menu had a vegetarian option and an option usually requires a choice. It was supposed to be mexican flavoured Pico de Gallo and the queso cheese The dish missed the mark on this one. There wasn't an alternative for queso so the plate was only these fried potato chips( like Smith's chips at the supermarket) a few sprinkles of cheese, and the diced tomato for over 20 bucks. They were oily and I've had better potato twisters at the markets. We got stiffed on our drinks as well. Even the manager that we spoke to about our unsatisfactory meal experience said that the portion isn't accurate. We got served beer out of a tall glass instead of a schooner glass which was what advertised. My wine glass wasn't to the line either at 250 ml even though I paid 16.50 for my glass. My husband has worked in fine wine and said it was 2/3 of what it should've been. All up we spent 70.00 on an entree, a kids meal with a milkshake ,a glass of wine, and a beer. We felt ripped off.

This is obviously an upper management issue getting staff to cheat sizes. I'm surprised our drinks weren't watered down too. Those potato chips, though seriously. Vegetarian options shouldn't mean that people miss out for having different dietary requirements. The manager sympathised and gave us a side of queso. Again, one star. I've been to TGI Fridays in the USA and this isn't even close to the quality of...

The chairs are ridiculously uncomfortable, they could consider putting cushions on them, especially if you’re going to be left waiting for over an hour despite the fact that there was almost no one else there. The server brought out our drinks (an iced coffee and a chocolate shake with baileys) the entire glasses were covered in cream and they leaked all over the table and they didn’t give us any napkins nor were there any on the table. The Iced coffee didn’t have any option to add sugar and it didn’t come with any either, which wouldn’t have been bad if the coffee flavour was actually nice but it wasn’t. The chocolate shake was bland, it had no flavour whatsoever! Chef Gene's Signature Loaded Fries (Whiskey Glaze Blaze) / the fries were actually swimming in some sort of sauce/oil and weren’t anything like what the name makes them sound like. We didn’t eat them, they were awful! We also ordered Whiskey Glaze Sampler, which came with some chicken strips, they were okay in flavour but became a bit much after about 2/3 bites. Prawns that had a flavour on them that didn’t suit anything else on the dish. Like 4/5 ribs that were incredibly rubbery and cold, and some onion rings. I tried everything on the dish and ended up only eating a few onion rings, the only thing that tasted half decent and was actually hot food… With the very disappointing fries, sample plate and drinks, we had a lot riding on the dessert we ordered, the brownie obsession. We sat waiting, and waiting and waiting. We had to go and find a server to tell them that we were still waiting and all we were waiting on was a brownie! He came out and told us 3 minutes. It came out and The brownie was only slightly warmed was about 3cm squared with a blob of ice cream on top. Very underwhelming! $112 later, we barley ate a thing, left there annoyed and still hungry. The customer service was severely lacking and basically...