TGI Fridays - Doncaster — Restaurant in Doncaster

My partner and I visited tonight 01/12/2024 after feeling nostalgic as we both hadn’t visited TGI’s since kids!

I have to say, if it wasn’t for the delicious food, I would be ranting and raving to avoid this specific restaurant.

The staff;

We was greeted awkwardly by the host who had no knowledge of the restaurant from what It seemed when we enquired about the cinema promotion which was outside the front door. We were sat and served by a gent who was decent enough, we ordered Long Island ice tea’s, I have no idea what we was served as they tasted awful so we had a couple of sips before deciding to say something.

I took these cocktails back to the bar where I was ignored by the host and waitress until finally the waitress came to check my issue.

She apologised, I returned to my seat and shortly after a lady came over to our table to what I can only describe as ‘confront’ us over how the cocktails were made. We simply explained that we dine out all over the UK and we know how long islands ice tea’s taste and that the taste can vary. However,What we was served did not taste like a Long Island ice tea.

The lady proceeded to then tell us she will remake the drinks but they will be from the same specs, we settled on changing drinks to beers instead. These were brought to us around 15 minutes later.

At this point we was pretty put off and ready to leave, but then the food was brought out, threw on the table and the guy bolted off. We had asked for 2 side plates when ordering which were not brought out, so I asked the same guy for them, a girl later came back and threw the plates down and walked off. We literally gasped at how rude the staff was being, our original server then came over to check we was ok as he must have noticed his colleagues actions, he apologised and we asked if someone was offended as they were serving us with the worst attitudes and passive aggression.

Now for the positive’s;

The food was great! We really enjoyed the meat sharer and sticky chicken strips and chips. Really couldn’t complain, tasted great everything had its own taste and we really enjoyed the cleaned up our plates. We was starting to regret choosing this place for food, but honestly the chef’s really made up for it! 10/10

To be honest we got the vibe that tonight must have been a lot of new and inexperienced staff at the front that had no abilities in customer care. We spent £62 for a quick snack before watching a movie, nowadays that’s a lot of money to be spending on food and although it was great, the service was crap and the wait on drinks and the attitudes and bad vibes were really uncomfortable and I think we’d hesitate massively to returned...

I went for lunch yesterday and it was my first time out without the kids in forever. It was also my first ever time at a TGIF. I shall explain why I've given it the rating I have. Firstly let me start by saying I've been a waitress before, my husband is also a chef. So we know the environment and how hard it can be. Firstly myself and a friend walked in and we were stood there for quite a while before we were greeted. There were only a few tables at this point. We were eventually greeted and shown to our table. A blonde member of staff was walking around with a lad, obviously a trainee however the only member of staff actually working and earning their money was Alisha. She was running from the door to greet, the tables to take orders, to the bar and even the kitchen!!! Food was being left under the pass/hot light for around 15 minutes until Alisha took it to the tables. Despite the blonde lady and the lad standing right next to the food they actually only delivered food to two tables during our visit. Alisha was quite literally doing everything. She even apologised that our fries were late, she said she forgot to drop the fries, absolutely no problem my darling because you were the only one working yesterday in my opinion. The girl needs a raise. I get that the blonde lady was training .. however the food shouldn't be sat there that long, break training and take food to the tables. If you know you're training a new staff member that day get more staff in to cover the trainer. We weren't the only customers noticing this. Poor Alisha was run ragged and was still serving with a smile. I did make a comment about her seemingly working on her own. I know that she felt exhausted and agreed with me in this one. It's bad management and I will be writing to head office aswell because Alisha needs some kind of recognition. If the store has CCTV managers need to watch it back and see just how much she did yesterday. She's not being paid enough. She's doing 5 roles in her shift and not being appreciated enough.

Alisha you are the only reason I would come back and try the food again. The fact you were so run down and still serving as perfect as you were and making sure customers were ok is amazing. You should of had support that matched your work ethics and the manager has failed you. If you are the manager - fire and replace some staff because everyone else slacked! If the blonde lady training was the manager - shame on you!

Food was lovely...

Arrived as a family of 7, although seated quite promptly, it went down hill from there. Service left a lot to be desired. A few of our party got drinks at the bar before being seated. However, when arriving to the table, the remaining guests ( myself and partner ) had not got drinks and it took 3 times at least for a waitress to notice this, despite having been to the table for other reasons, before I had to just say can we have a drink please. Moving onto the food, the choice was limited as a lot of items were unavailable. We ordered what we could and when it arrived ( worryingly quick for a table of 7 ), it wasn’t appealing. Presentation poor, portion size very small for the price of meal. Food was cooked, but was quite bland and dry. Plates were being taken whilst members of our party were still eating which is unacceptable service and made us feel rushed to finish. Drinks, like everything else, extremely overpriced. £9.50 for a single vodka!!! £380 for a whole bottle at pub prices. Mental. Cocktails £10.50-£11 for a glass mostly full of ice and watered down drink. Clearly asked for drinks to have no ice, but still arrived the table with ice in. Shows staff aren’t listening and communication and talent between floor staff and bar is lacking. Asked for a cappuccino to be told machine was out of order, decided to have a rain on me instead. That never arrived to the table. Had the chocolate fudge cake for dessert, it was ok, nothing to write home about. For £8.99 it came with a melted pool of ice cream (clearly been left under a heat lamp to have it melted like it was, in turn that made the cake dry ). Come to the bill, the rain on me which I never got, was on the bill ( £10.50!! ) And when challenged, staff said that it’d be repaid in 5-10 days which is fine but it shouldn’t have happened. Overall, not a good experience. Overpriced, underwhelming and not acceptable for the price! Having gone out the night before, still as a party of 7 to relish in town, we all had a starter and obviously a main meal and a few had a dessert. The bill came to £297 for that there. At TGI’s nobody had starters but again, obviously had a main course, and all 7 had desserts. Bill came to £271!! In my opinion that just says it all 🤯 ludicrous!! Sorry to say we will...