TGI Fridays - Lakeside Quay — Restaurant in England

TGI Fridays has always been a staple location for us to eat and have always loves the displays they have as a brand, combined with great food and fun, friendly staff.

Well sadly this occasion was a massive let down.

The music with the 2 double door entrances was stupidly loud for such a small space that we were worried about the music volume internal to the restaurant, which thankfully seemed to have its own volume control and was fine.

We were asked to sit at the bar and wait for a 2 person table as it was busy with an estimated wait time of around 25mins as we were early for our reservation

The gentleman manning the bar was really cool and friendly and even recommended some real nice mocktails.

We were made to wait around 15 minutes longer beyond our reservation time, when we witnessed other people being sat down from walking in, the barman had heard us complaining about this and chased them up for us, at which point we were then immediately sat down

The table was laid with all but cutlery and was cleaned very well and was sticky.

The mood amongst the floor staff was off and we witnessed two of your young female servers verbally slagging off someone else and complaining about something.

Luckily we were saved by the food being of great quality and that the sesame seed chicken was still as good I remember it being, though it did feel like we had a longer wait than we are used to for food to come

The overall cleanliness of the restaurant seemed a bit lacking and even though there was a young blonde lady who was very active on cleaning tables as quickly as possible, the floors were littered and some tables had what looked like restaurant supplies piled on them

Was especially surprised to see a member of floor staff step over a pacifier that had been dropped on the floor by a customers child, to which I had got up from my table to recover for them before it got stepped on.

And just to top it off, when we made our thoughts known to the server, after they tried to sell us an incentive to give you a 5* review, we then found ourselves being stared at and watched by all floor staff, which made us feel super unwelcome and awkward.

Honestly, if the baan had not have stepped in when he did, we would have walked out.

So food was great

Drinks were amazing

Atmosphere was pretty good

Music audio was decent

Bar service and attention to detail super on point

But floor staff organisation and attitude...

Such a shame the service we received today was, without a doubt, the worst we have ever experienced at a restaurant. Ordered our meals which included 2 adult starters, 4 mains and 3 child mains. We was given the option to have our children's meals come out with our starters, which we agreed with. We waited over 45mins for the children's meals and 15mins later 2 mains randomly arrived. This was shortly followed by 1 starter and 5 mins later the 2nd starter arrived (the starters were both nachos). 10mins later the last 2 mains still had not arrived and we just watched as the waitresses walked around in pairs with one dish between them. During the 3rd round of happy birthday songs whilst waiting for our last 2 mains, impatience and curiosity took the better of me and I approached the kitchen which was heaving with dishes under lamps. I immediately spotted our 2 main meals before the chef (on his phone) challenged me stating I shouldn't be standing there. I explained our group had been waiting a long time to complete our order, I could see our meals waiting and the waitresses are walking around in pairs prioritising birthday songs over serving meals. The chef tried to dismiss me stating the meals I pointed out were not mine but I could see a receipt by the plates that had not only our starter meal listed but also our table number. The waitress hurried over and I returned to our table and the meals I picked out under the lamps were (unsurprisingly) served to us. Warm, but not hot. The waitress attempted to apologise for the service but damage was already done. None of our empty glasses, starter bowls, cutlery or plates were cleared at any point. We stupidly ordered ice cream for our children and that took 15mins for 2 ice lollies and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. As we prepared to leave, we had to check through all our plates, bowls and glasses to make sure we weren't leaving any of our possessions. As we left we saw the table next to us was just as neglected of clearing. We were handed a bill totalling £190 for 4 adults and 3 children and it was, quite frankly, a complete waste of money. We always tip and always clean up after our children, but after the blatant discourtesy we were shown, we just weren't in the mood, we wanted out and won't be...

1 star - just because the food was actually OK (although definitely overpriced), otherwise I would want to give 0 stars as I don’t often experience the service level much worse than this. We booked a table for 8 people for my daughter’s birthday, however when we arrived, there was no table ready for us, and a unwelcoming staff member left us standing in the doorway waiting for him to check with someone where we could sit. When he came back, he started checking several tables, trying to figure where to fit 8 people. Finally, we got seated, made our choices for the food and had to work hard to attract anyone’s attention to take the order, even though there were hardly any people in the restaurant. Upon finally starting the order, we were informed that none of the the things we selected were available as apparently, there is a big issue with supply of ribs that had been going on for two months, however we were not informed of it either on the website or on the phone when booking our party or inside the restaurant prior to ordering. So, all my guests now had to waste more time selecting something else from the menu. Even after ordering something else, the manager came back to say that they also didn’t have part of the meals that the children ordered (the corn), and he only could offer broccoli or beans to replace it with, which neither of the children eat. When we said the children don’t eat these vegetables, he was not ready to offer anything else as the price would be different, he said! Only when we seriously expressed out disappointment with this attitude, he finally put some mozzarella sticks in the plate. We also asked the team to bring our birthday cake, and they had no clue how to even do that! They just brough it, without even candle lit, and put it on the table, without singing or anything. We then had to tell them that we would actually like to eat it. So, the lady brought 5 plates (even though we are 8 people). We had to ask her to bring 3 more plates and some cutlery… It was clear from her face that she didn't expect to be bothered like this. We ate small slices of the cake and just wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible… Very bad atmosphere, most unfriendly staff and an incapable manager. You will never see us again,...