TGI FRIDAYS Ximen Restaurant — Restaurant in Wanhua District

We ordered quesadilla, spicy thai chicken noodle, idk why but they all tasted bland (complete opposite of what I had in Nankan) and sundae (i didn't try it tho) but overall the waitstaffs were pretty friendly, and the seat is quite spacious.

It's the forth time we met, we stepped back from dates to friends, and I somehow felt relieved despite not knowing exactly why at the time.

She was late, again. When she arrived, she asked if we could hug, I said yes. I then asked when's the last time she came to Friday's, she said she's only been here twice. I said okay, the last time i came here was like two months ago, these are the things that I ordered, so she said let's order the same stuff, and a dessert for her bday. We talked about her mom's health, her career plans, her feelings, etc.

Then she brought up her exes again (i already know how she'll describe them, the words she used, the confusion and hurt on her face) she's clearly not over them, unlike what she had told me. I gave her an earring as her gift. Bc I have the tendency of wearing only one on the right side of my ear, hence I gave her another half. One is pink, another is white. She instantly put it on, and later that night, she told me she's gonna wear it to work tomorrow. After I got home, she texted me that she likes the gift a lot.

After lunch, she rode her scooter and took me to YuanShan park, we sit and chatted for a bit. When we were crossing the road, I brushed her hair with a comb and my fingers. While we were talking, I leaned my head on her shoulder, and she pulled me to her side softly, she lowered her head and smelled my hair saying that I smell good, and I said let me smell you too, then I said hm...you smell good too. She said really? and proceeded to smell her own. Then, as she was talking about her job, I was transfixed by the passion on her face, our eyes met, she lowered her head and chuckled. She then admitted that whenever I looked at her like that, she wanted to kiss me. I asked her, what if we kiss? She said, it'll just be something casual right? We'll still be friends, right? I said yeah, ofc. But we didn't end up kissing, bc I didn't have the urge, and only planted a quick peck on her cheek. She said that was quick, I said it's been a long time since I've last kissed someone, I don't even kiss my family.

I thought us being incompatible was only because we're at different stages of life, so I said if we settled down in the future... she continued my sentence "we could try to go on dates again?" I said yes, then she said but again, "but im not sure if i'll have time after going back to my country" I said understandably "ofc, that's why i said earlier your focus should be on your family and career first"

Then as I was walking her to her scooter, we met her friend, who shook hands with me. Then later on, I took out a wipe to clean my hand. She said "you really don't like physical touches, huh?" I said "yes, unless it's with you." she didn't say anything and changed to a different topic. She also tried to joke a little by mimicking what I said to her. Then she asked for another hug in front of her scooter, it was probably the longest one we had, and I said "you smell so good" unconsciously. She then said "see you three months later, jk, i'll be back at my country by then, let's keep texting." I asked "when will we see each other the next time?" she said "idk, wbu?" I said "I'll always have time for you." She said "me too, but I'll have to clean my stuff at my apartment during the weekends, I probably won't have enough time..." We then said goodbye, as usual, I said I don't wanna go yet, she said I know, but she never tried to ask me to stay.

And that wraps up the memories that I had with her, the ending doesn't feel like a period, nor a comma. But something that still lingers in my mind, the longing of her body wrapped gently around mine, and wishing her to be the person who could reciprocate my affection, hoping her to be able to get past her trauma and stay in the peacefulness that I brought to her....

I ordered the Chicken pasta dish and it came to my table looking very presentable. However, upon taking the first bite, it was very, very oily and the taste of garlic was too overpowering. It was a bit too much for my liking.

Also, a few hours after eating it, I began to have stomach pains and needles to say, I went to the bathroom more than one time. I never had any issue with TGI Friday's before while in the States, but today will be my last time ever eating at any of one of their restaurants.

On another side note, the service was a very poor. They did not come to my table to check upon me and to offer me a refill on my sprite. A person who was a supervisor and or manager came passed my table and I asked him for a refill. He politely took my glass and I assume that he pawned the task upon another server. This was disrespectful towards me. He should have been the one to bring it back to me. I worked in high end restaurants and the management there took it upon themselves to make sure they were involved in bringing refills to a customers table, should they be of need. However, this man put the task to another server because he brought it to my table, totaly disregarding the customer. Management needs to be more personal in their interactions with customers instead of being in the office. They should take time to pass tables and interact with them (customers) it makes the customer feel more welcomed. This place was sterile. Maybe because I was a western, they didn't interact with me as much. I don't know, but it was classless.

I would use extream caution when...

Garlic spaghetti was ok, steak linguini was ok, Cajun prawns and chicken pasta was tasty, prawn fajitas was dried and grilled chicken was tough. The mud pie wasn't what we expected. It was just like a piece of frozen ice cream for NT$199!

I last visited Friday's 5 years ago. I remembered the cheerful greetings, lively ambience, Americanized vibes, enthusiastic service staff who are eager to please.

Today I came with 3 friends and the feeling was totally different. The front desk staff were polite, showed us our table and a young lady came to take our orders. No smile, she didn't understand very simple English like soda, coke zero, refillable or soup of the day. She missed out one drink order ( she should have caught it when there were 4 of us but she only took order for 3 drinks). We are foreigners living in Taipei and she knew it when we asked for English menus. When she repeated our order, it was totally in Chinese and she was rambling on like an express train.

I observed that other older crew looked very experienced and always had a cheerful tone and smile on their face. So I asked one of the experienced crew if this young lady who served us, is she new. We were told that she's not. Well, we finished our food, nothing unpleasant, paid N$4000+ and left. There was no attraction to want...