TGI Fridays — Restaurant in Plantation

I've lived in the surrounding neighborhood for 15 years and over those years I've patronized this establishment quite a few times throughout that time. The level of service has run the gamut from exceptional to lackluster and every where in between; however tonight takes the cake with just a horrible experience from the moment we entered the door. The maitre d/employee (Manny) tasked with greeting customers must have had a particularly huge chip on his shoulder tonight because things got off to a terrible start right away. We are a family of four, two kids, (one a toddler) and two adults and yet he offered us a booth knowing full well that what we need is the space to place a high chair to accommodate our toddler. After we requested a table, of which there were 4 vacant within clear sight, he remarked that he couldn't seat us there as the high chair would pose a fire hazard by blocking the lane. I explained that we've sat at those tables several times over the years and never had a problem because our child would be placed on the inside closest to the glass wall and out of the way of isle traffic. He still refused to seat us and the said he would double check with the manager; something I assume he never did because of her reaction 20 minutes later when I later called her over to complain about the treatment we were receiving. The manager goes ahead an promptly seats us in the exact same section that he refused to seat us in. Furthermore, after waiting another 5 mins and dealing with a very upset wife and hungry kids at this point, I have to hunt him down to receive a menu which he begrudgingly gives to me before promtly turning his back to me to address another client who has barely made it in the door. The one and only saving grace to this night has been our hostess, Ebony, who after listening to me explain our ordeal, has gone above and beyond to try to correct and alleviate the negative experience that we've experienced thus far! I know that TGIF can do better than the employees like Manny and strives to have great employees/assets like Ebony around to not only make a family night out enjoyable, but to keep families coming back for another 15 or so years in an area saturated with competition all within 0.5 miles of this location! Manny needs to be retrained or needs to seek employment in a field not related to customer service because his display tonight was one of disservice to my family and I; and to this restaurant because he caused me to write this review!!! On the other hand, if you go to this establishment, please ask for Ebony,... she will make all the difference in the experience you'll have and will be the reason you come back.... beisdes the...

After a looong week the hubby and I decided we did not want to cook and so we decided for us and our 2 kids to go and have dinner. We came in around 630pm and were greeted happily by the host staff and were seated immediately. Within 5 minutes our waiter Chris came over and introduced himself. Very quickly you could tell by his demeanor he has either been a waiter before... We ordered our regular drinks including my much needed Rum and coke, for which I was completely underwhelmed, Chris was concerned about my drink and sent it back and of course apologized, i decided not to reorder. We then ordered Mozz sticks as an app that were delicious. For dinner my hubby ordered the ribs and salmon meal which my husband liked very much and then had our kids try and they loved as well. I ordered the bacon cheeseburger with fries and also juicy and delicious. One kid had the sliders (7 year old) it was her first time having a burger and she loved it and also had the fresh fruit which was in fact fresh and a nice change to see strawberries and pineapples. The other kid ordered Alfredo pasta and broccoli. I tried the pasta and thought it was COMPLETELY flavor-LESS BUT my daughter (8 years old) claimed she enjoyed it and she ate it all and honestly that’s all i care about so whatever. We also, then decided to get dessert (we NEVER do this) and decided on the Brownie Ice Cream with caramel and pecans which was out of this world and the Donut Cheesecake which really seemed like they could’ve been from a higher end restaurant! The cHeesecake was the perfect balance and not overly sweet and the donut was a super awesome touch that really seemed like something you would eat at a dessert place you’d find on tv.....BUT the real hero here was our waiter Chris....he was genuinely attentive and friendly. His customer service was impeccable! Every time he came over and spoke to us he addressed us by ma’am and sir, and addressed our children as if they were adults and they mattered we were super impressed! I have worked and visited many high end customer service oriented hotels and restaurants and he immediately reminded me of them...Although, we had a couple of hiccups i don’t even care! Chris is the real deal and i really hope they appreciate him! I dont know who reads this but wanted to acknowledge how awesome Chris was and let his superiors know that he is doing an...

I really hate to put down a place, but it wasn't good and the service was terrible. I'll add credit where it's due and say they were checking temps at the host station before seating.

We were seated at the far end of a wall where there was a lot of traffic between the staff and other guests due to the location of the restroom. Not great but we dealt with it. Fine.

Moving on, we waited almost 10 minutes before our server came. We ordered a sweet tea, a strawberry lemonade and a water with an appetizer. Appetizer came out fast and hot. Drinks came back and we received a strawberry slushy, a regular lemonade, sweet tea and a water. The sweet tea tasted old and we were planning on asking for something else. Our server never came back around until the food was brought to the table which was 40 minutes later.

We all needed refills and the person that ordered the sweet tea, wound up keeping the lemonade because the server never came back since the last visit at the table when she took our order. When the food was dropped off, we asked her for two things, refills and fresh avacado for a salad. The avacado the cob salad came with was mushy and brown. It looked like someone in the kitchen grabbed it with their hands, hopefully at least gloved, and threw it on the plate. You can see it in the pic.

After about another fifteen minutes, fresh avacado was brought to the table but no refills. At that point, the person with the other salad was saying their caesar dressing tasted like gummy bears. When I tasted it, it was sour. Not to mention, discolored. - also in the pics.

Once the server removed the salad from the table, we didn't see her again until she stopped by asking if we needed a box which was about twenty-five minutes later. I kid you not, she came back with the box ten minutes later and then asked if we needed the check. She came back WITHOUT it. Why would she do that?

Anyway, we were polite and said yes. She dropped off the check and then we never saw her again. Me and one other person wound up going outside to wait and the third person with us went to the host station to ask for help cashing us out.

The whole time we were in there, we didn't see any management. No one stopped by the table to check on us. If it wasn't for the small caesar salad being removed from the check, I would have thought there wasn't a manager there. Needless to say, I...