TGI Fridays — Restaurant in Mérida

Terrible. This was our second time in a TGIF here in Merida. The first time the service was non existent and the food was horrible. This time we went to a different location. Started out well. Not too busy for a Friday night (our 1st clue it would seem) server was nice, smiling. He took our order and returned shortly with our drinks, minus my water. He said he would be back with the water shortly. 20 minutes later I had to wave him down and ask again. It's ok, it happens, no biggie. One hour after we ordered we were still waiting for our food. Two tables who came in after us received their food and were eating. Our order was simple food. Burger, some wings. We gave it 5 more minutes before we just asked for the check, explained why we were only paying for our drinks and left. They did apologize and compensate our drinks for us, so service wasn't a huge problem here, but waiting an hour for bar food when the restaurant was half empty...

Maybe I went on an off night. We sat at a table for 20 or 25 minutes after drinks were dropped off before finding the hostess to ask for a server to place an order. The hostess took our order and gave it to the server. Something was miscommunicated so we clarified our order with the server directly. The food still came out wrong and we had both native English and Spanish speakers at the table. I ordered a steak medium and it came out blue. An item was missing from my entree, even though clarified my friend received incorrect sides. When I brought it to the server's attention he took the entire plate back (rather than bringing a side plate so the steak could be sent back), so by the time I got my food my friends were already finished eating. No kind of adjustment was made to the bill for all of the inconveniences....

It's a Friday's, so as a franchise it does its job of being similar to other TGIs very well. That being said, it's very cool that it has a lot of different seating areas, each with a distinct mood: there's a patio, a cool rectangular bar at the center of the indoor section, there are booths, there's an area slightly above the rest (like, just four steps) with nice tables. Service is fantastic. Air conditioning is on point, which is a must in Merida. The vibe when there's a sports event is lively and enjoyable. It's even good for a meeting, since in some of the area's the noise level is not that bad. No fifth star because the noise level is only "not that bad" instead of good: they could turn the volume down a little in some areas. And, alas, it is...