TGI Fridays - Edinburgh Castle Street — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

Went to TGI Fridays for my 1 year anniversary. When ordering our first meal we were given a list of things that weren’t available - one of which we were going to order, we then waited just over 50 minutes for it to arrive. We were then given cold sesame chicken, Cajun chicken pasta with no creamy sauce, soggy halloumi fries which tasted awful, bacon cheese fries with hardly any toppings or anything on them, and freezing cold regular fries. The staff member who attended our table didn’t ask us how our food was otherwise we would’ve complained. We then ordered dessert - 2 chocolate fudge cakes, we witnessed staff standing laughing and talking whilst food was left sitting on the counter for them to take away - when our chocolate cakes were finally brought over our ice cream was almost completely melted and our “hot” cake was cold, therefore ours had clearly been one of the orders left sitting for a while by the careless staff. When it was brought over we made sure to ask for the bill at the same time so we would make our train considering the service was atrocious so without doing that we would’ve likely waited for ages on our bill and missed the train. Whilst eating our cake we witnessed a staff member stand in plain sight touching their hair and doing their makeup in the mirror, this was disgusting. We asked a member of staff to speak to the manager after this because we found our experience totally unacceptable. When the manager came over and we told her our issues we were met with a terrible and very defensive attitude - “the woman doing her hair and makeup isn’t on shift”, we found this to be no excuse as we as customers would not know this and this is not something we want to see while eating, we were also told even if she was on shift she would “obviously” wash her hands, then we were told when a staff member asks how our food was this is our “opportunity” to tell them, however we did mention to her that we weren’t asked this or we would have mentioned our food was terrible , however we found her response to be very unprofessional and quite frankly found her to be very rude, she thanked us on our feedback and walked away. Overall we would not recommend this place to anyone if it was the only restaurant left on the planet - we could’ve made a better dinner at home, disappointed with the customer service and definitely won’t be going back - do not...

We arrived at TGIs and were sat very quickly, it wasn’t that busy when we first arrived but it definitely filled up, the poor girl serving us was rushed off her feet with over ten tables and pretty much everything we heard her telling the other tables was apologies. We ordered our drinks and after 15 minutes of waiting had to pull her aside to order our mains. Just to point out I ordered the sweet cocktail and it was full of seeds, i couldn’t drink the drink because I kept getting mouthfuls of seeds! We ordered a single sesame chicken starter and then two sesame chicken mains and a chicken burger. The starter came after 30 minutes of waiting and we were shocked to see only 7 pieces of chicken to say it cost £10. We then waited another 35 minutes for our mains to be brought out and while the plates were red hot the food was cold, clearly they’d been sat under a heat lamp for a long time. My mother ordered the chicken burger and to say it cost her £23 the portion was tiny! The piece of chicken was half the size of my palm and burnt to a crisp! Upon seeing it the waitress immediately apologised and took it back to the kitchen to be remade but after 20 minutes we had finished eating and she was still waiting and in fact I started to feel quite ill so we said to forget about the burger and we would pay and leave. The waitress was kind but perhaps the management need to help her out slightly! She took the burger off the bill but that was all she did and seemed to think that was compensation enough for a 1 hour 30 minute wait for cold food and a missing meal, despite us not even receiving the burger in the first place! We had somewhere to be after so just chose to leave it and when she asked if we had a nice time we were honest and said no it has been a disappointment and all she did was tell us to leave a review because it would do more than her passing on the message! Two of the tables next to us asked for a manager to speak to, one of them had their side brought out after everyone had finished eating and the others were waiting over an hour for their meals too. Not to mention the staff kept arguing with each other. Overall, tgi chicken is amazing but I’m definitely gonna resort to ordering it from Iceland because this branch was an utter disappointment. We paid £80 for two bad meals and left feeling...

A summary experience of 2 visits: mid March and mid April.

Both me, and my partner in gourmet adventures love ordering a mix of starters and deep fried stuff.. So we went for the Times Square Big Share a set of the Fridays Wings, Cheese & Maple Bacon Loaded Skins and Mozzarella Dippers. Though suggested to be shared by 4 the portions are far from American standards.. not just for this set, the portions in general are surprisingly small.

My menu favorite: the Fridays Legendary Glaze that they serve with chicken strips or wings..it’s addictive.

Second time we again ordered a selection of starters. And unfortunately except the chicken strips (the GLAZE) the rest wasn’t impressive, Mac and Cheese was the blandest. Cheese & Maple Bacon Loaded Fries were quite regular fries with sprinkles of bacon and sauces with nothing tasting maple-y..

Cocktails deserve special attention though 🍹 I was surprised by a really varied selection.. Quite a few curious options and very nice presentation. They taste quite pleasant though hardly any alcohol recognizable.

I really enjoyed Bubblegum Daiquiri for the fun presentation with popping candy and slightly chemical bubble gum taste.. Barnamint Baileys - second favorite- desert in a glass..that tastes like After Eight chocolate..

Speaking of deserts: we shared the Salted Caramel & Chocolate Brownie Sundae..it was..intense. Seriously sweet but very indulgent.

It’s super busy and hectic during the weekend and quite relaxed during the week.

The prices are high for the portion size and quality. But they always have deals running during the week, which makes the visit overall worth it. Weekdays cocktail offer is great if you want to experiment with their favorites, without breaking the bank. I would also recommend to download the app for further special offers.

I quite liked the atmosphere, though the food wasn’t particularly impressive I will probably be back to experiment further with cocktails...