T.G.I. Friday’s

Decent food but the service is very hit or miss. Let me just tackle both of these items separately:
Food is decent, some of it is pretty solid 4 star quality but other choices are pretty meh. For example their key West shrimp and Jack Daniels burger are pretty top notch and flavorful, but their mozzarella sticks can be a little bland sometimes and the fried green beans can taste a little odd (like a watery, greasy green bean flavor, bleh…). Most of the food is still pretty good and if you come here during endless apps with friends its easy to get a cheap meal of 12 bucks a person for all the pit stickers and boneless BBQ wings you can eat! (Or just do the 10 dollars for an endless ap, its very easy to save money during endless aps if you calculate your math right!)
The service is… honestly I’ve had more bad experiences than good. I’ve gone to the front to be brought to a table and the lady was texting in her phone for 5 minutes until I cleared my throat and she finally realized my party was right in front of her. I’ve had servers disappear on me to the point where I had to literally get up and look for them. I’ve had a waitress bring me the wrong check TWICE and even then wrongfully charge me for things I didn’t order. I’ve had a virgin strawberry daiquiri brought to me and it was mixed in the strangest way (the daiquiri mix was on the bottom half of the drink and the ice was in the top half, how do you even do that???)! Whether the place is busy or packed, there’s only about a ¹⁄₃ to ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ chance your service won’t have some form of trouble or another. Every time I have been there I noticed that the staff tend to flock where the food is served, and when I sat right next to that area I discovered that all they really do is gossip around random stuff.
Just my two cents, but if you can sit at the bar or get a good server, the food is worth a try.

Came here for drinks on a Sunday afternoon. Luckily they have $ 5 mimosas and bloody mary’s. My friend and I ordered a few rounds of drinks and split a sub-​par French dip sandwich. The bread was crusty but could’ve been fresher and stuffed with more filling. We ordered fries as our side and they were seasoned well, no other major compliments for this place.
This place is a staple for drinks anytime I’m in Tysons and when GB or Seasons are too busy. Drinks could be a bit stiffer and the bartenders could be a bit kinder but I understand that the bar fills up quickly.

I’ve come here before, often more packed than tonight. but seemingly they dropped the ball. I remember when T.G.I.F.‘s were a weekly event for my group of friends. so tonight we hit the town with nostalgia and ended up with stomachs half empty/​half regretful.
Our waiter started off nice. but slowly we started to realize something was amiss…
Start:
–he didn’t place a partial order of ours, eventually placing our whole order.
–disappearing.
–appetizer arrived before our drinks
— utensils arrived after asking for them… upon getting drinks after appetizers
–waiter didn’t take away the menus after we ordered
–plates and menus remained on table and after asking for removal. only the menu’s were removed.
–plates were removed upon arrival of main course.
Food:
–Spinach dip = very good
–peach sangria = strong, but delicious. way too much ice. 4 – 5 large sips and no more drink.
–had to ask for water during main course. waiter never brought any over nor offered upon seeing empty glasses for 20min.
–Jack Daniel’s ribeye — medium rare = cooked properly in color. horrible cut of steak. Extremely tough, way too salty. Seasoned fries were the best part of the meal. mozzarella and tomatoes side. contained about 4 – 5 small pieces of mozzarella, more tomatoes and lots of onions. not a good side
Maybe I’ve just been spoiled with having higher quality steaks lately. but for a $ 20 steak. I was disheartened to spit out about 3 pieces then stop half way. realizing it wasn’t edible for me.
Ah, and call me old fashioned. but I didn’t really appreciate the lack of a paper check. our waiter was using a tablet. but after asking for the check. he just announced the price to the two of us. and stood there awkwardly asking for payment. I get the convince factor. but if I bring someone out on a date (thankfully this wasn’t one) I’m surely going to stay far away from the new T.G.I.F.
Kicker — a table of teen girls next to us were sitting alone and a table of two lonely guys in their twenties were at the table next to them. we got the pleasure of watching him fail miserably with a series of pickup lines. then regress after learning they were underaged. talk about an awkward moment. then having to sit back down… adjacent to them.

It is to my shock as well that I am giving a mediocre at its absolute best chain restaurant 4 stars, however, I had quite a surprisingly pleasant experience here on a weekend evening. After trekking all the way out to Tysons for dinner and movie night, gift card in hand for a particular eatery only found at Tysons, we arrived sans reservations around 6:30 and were told they «were fully committed to reservations and could not accommodate walk in guests» that evening. The place was empty at this time but whatever. We called 3 – 4 other restaurants in the mall and were more or less told the same thing. I had not been to Fridays in at least 5 years, since it’s always a rather painful experience with both food and service at any location, but they said it was only a 20 minute wait so here we found ourselves. First +1 was the actual wait was only 10 minutes. Second +1 was all day Saturday happy hour. Yes, you won’t find anything beyond a mediocre beer on special but $ 4 for a Stella was fine by me especially after braving the absolutely ridiculous gobs of people who came from who knows where flooding the mall that day (but that’s for another review…) I ordered the sizzling chicken and spinach (chicken on a bed of spinach with mushrooms, onions, and yellow squash) paired with a tomato and mozzarella salad. When the dish was brought out our server poured a miso glaze over the chicken for the «sizzling» effect. This dish was, and I’m still in shock myself, pretty tasty coming from a place more well known for its fried foods and wings. It was flavorful, due to the miso glaze, portion size was quite filling, and the tomato mozzarella salad was equal tomato to mozzarella ratio. My partner ordered a build your own burger with pepper jack, chipotle mayo, bacon, and fries. He was a happy camper. The real star of this experience, and why I’m awarding the extra star to what would have been a 3 star review, was our server, Ebenezer. I can truly say he provided one of the best service experiences I have had in quite some time. He was on top of everything, whether it was another drink or getting us condiments and extra napkins without even asking. He checked on us regularly and got us checked out quickly when we were cutting it close to our movie time. Kudos to him for really making our time at Fridays more than palatable!

Great quick place to grab a bite before or after a movie! If possible, ask for Timmy Dang or Pablo Valencia. Both are great servers and are very attentive. Made my visit here every time very enjoyable.
I usually get the JD wings or the JD Burger with extra JD sauce!

We came here to watch the game as my husband’s team, the Carolina Panthers, made it to the playoffs. We got seated in front of a bunch of tv’s to choose from.
Our waitress, Heidi, could see what team we were rooting to win thanks to my husband’s jersey. She promptly said she was a Seahawks fan since that’s her hometown team. I respect that, but still… we’ll let the game decide.
I don’t know if it was due to the fact the Panthers were winning the game or not, but we got some pretty poor service the entire time. Our friends joined us a bit later and it just took a while to get their orders put in. It also took a while to get refills on my friend’s soda throughout the entire game. We just felt that she didn’t check up on us enough and we were there from kickoff until the end of the game. I think if she had, we probably would be more inclined to order more drinks and food than we did. Oh well, go panthers!

This was the best experience I ever had at a Friday’s restaurant. The waiter was super attentive. He would pop up somehow just when we needed a refill or something else. Every time he came to check on our table or refilled our drinks I made sure to thank him. The food was good. The waiter left a note on my receipt saying I was one of the nicest people he ever waited on.

While I do generally review positive places deserving of good press, this place deserves a ding for completely useless hostesses at the front. Plus, the prior meal we had here was awful, so it’s plenty deserved.
Anyway.
Short version: The three (!) hostesses were collectively clueless. Memo: don’t speak to me like I’m stupid.
Longer version, including a 1-​Act Play: «Never. Again. Here.»
Scene:
Showed up to Tyson’s on a Sunday night, thought we’d get a quick bite/​drink pre-​movie. There were plenty of open tables in the bar area, although the bar itself looked full.
Me: «Hi, 2 for the bar area?»
Hostess #1 «The bar itself is self-​seating, everything else you need to be seated for. But you can check the bar for a couple of seats first if you like.»
Me: «Fine, we’ll take a pass through then.»
(we walk in and look around; no seats available except singles; we are careful not to just grab one of many (!) open bar tables, and instead head back to hostess stand)
Me: (says NOTHING; I just got in line, and didn’t even protest that some woman shoved her kid ahead of me so they could be attended to next)
Hostess #1: She looks up, sees me, and says, «See my hostess.» (She then turns her back and starts talking to the woman)
Me: «Um.» (Not even protesting, life is too short).
Me: (turns to hostess #2) «Hi, she told us to see you.»
Hostess #2: «Hi, were your names called?»
Me: «What? No. We were just here, looked at the bar, and she (pointing to H1) told me to talk to you. We were hoping to sit in the bar area.»
Hostess #3: (at a computer terminal) «Did you get a text?»
Me: «No. We were just here, tried to sit at the bar, and she (pointing to H1) to me to talk to her (pointing to H2).»
My Brain: «eject, this is a fucking clusterfuck already.»
H3: «Oh, do you want to go look around the bar and see if you can get a stool there? All the other tables need to be seated.»
Me: «We just did that.»
Brain: «WHY THE HELL ARE WE STILL HERE?»
H2: «Did you get a text?»
Me: «We. Haven’t. Put. Our. Names. In. Yet.»
H3: «If you give me your name, I can put you on a list.»
Me, looking at all the open tables in the bar area: «Don’t bother.»
And, SCENE!
Look, I get that Tyson’s Corner has gone to hell, and that it’s now a giant mass of humanity who wouldn’t know an ounce of politeness if it were covered in gold chains and crushed velvet. But the hostesses, ought to, you know, show some actual control, and be PROactive, not REactive to people walking up. That’s the advantage, presumably, of having 3 of them there.
So, big ol’ fail, and we just went to Five Guys, which had a better burger than this place could serve anyway.
Edit: I’m seeing a surprising number of reviews mentioning this place’s various hostess fails, so maybe it was worth firing this review off after all.

I’ve been here many times, and the food is, for the price, just OK. I go there for the convenience of location when I’m in the mall.
This past Sunday, the manager there looked genuinely surprised when we left because the Tyson’s location wasn’t carrying the NFL game we wanted to see.
Seriously — when you overprice the food at a place like Tysons Corner, I find it hard to believe that Friday’s can’t fork over the cash for the Sunday ticket. Especially when sports is supposedly a draw for you on Sundays.

Met with some friends here last night. Food wasn’t that good, but customer service was great. We were waited on by Anthony, young, nice and handsome gentleman. It was a busy night and he was very attentive and responsive to our needs.
The manager on duty was visible and engaging. Very important in this line of business.
I just want to say thank you for great customer service.
Gotta be better food second time around.

Their cajun chicken pasta and fried green beans are amazing. They always get you extra sauce and cajun spice. The fried green beans are the best appetizers, hands down.
However, its not all rainbows and unicorns. The service is a hit or miss, and frankly lately its more of a miss. The hostess gave the feeling that she’s gonna strangle me to death. And it seems like she wants to hit someone, anyone… everyone. We wanted to sit outside. They said sure. The guy came and took us outside; why?- I foolishly asked– we don’t have servers outside — he rudely responded– I didn’t wanna argue since I was hungry and sat inside.
We ordered immediately. The fried green beans arrived. The main course is MIA after almost an hour and 15 mins.
Needless to say, I will only comeback here if I wanted to punish myself and talk to rude people who obviously hate their jobs.

Terrible service. Our server was slow and rude. The wine was terrible and the liquor selection was lacking. The bartender tried to insist that Crown Royal was bourbon, which was very annoying. It took 30 minutes to get a refill of my drink and my check. The next time I have an hour to kill before a movie it won’t be at this place.

The hostess is terrible here, the two Spanish girls need to be first. don’t know their name but they weren’t even doing their job. The place was not busy, those two just stood their did not even acknowledge me and my friend until i came up to them to ask for a table. Really bad service! That already killed the mood for the entire night. I wouldn’t tell any of my friends to come back to this TGIF.
Our waitress was good though, did her job and was very friendly. Food was made properly but didn’t have any taste on my shirlon steak that I had. I was recommended by a friend that TGIF has good steak but I tried it, did not taste anything good about it.

Came to this restaurant around 1230pm on a Tuesday for my brothers birthday. We decided to sit at the bar on an empty side with available sits. A couple came and sat on our side. When the bartender came back to the bar area he proceeds to take care of the couple first & walks pass us 3 times and never acknowledged us and made an effort to avoid eye contact with us. We got up and left!!!
I would also like to mention that the bartender was Asian, the couple was White, and we are of course Black.
I will never come back here! Totally unacceptable service or lack there of.

This review is based strictly off the dessert and to watch the basketball game.
Awesome place to watch sports. Plenty of TVs and bar space.
I got the Tennessee whiskey Cake. Don’t know where the whiskey came from but it just tasted like a gingerbread cake with nuts. It was okay. Didn’t taste home baked but I know I didn’t come to a special bakery — it’s TGI Fridays.
Bf on the other hand got a brownie overload. That was amazing. Warm, gooey, fudgey and drizzled in caramel and fudge with ice cream.
we were both in sugar comas afterwards. Next time I will keep it light with a spiked coffee.
Our server was great and attentive. I would definitely come back and try more of their cocktail menu.

99% of my visits here are at the bar or the bar tables. So my review is strictly for the bar area.
I hate to admit that I do enjoy coming here from time to time for guilty bar appetizers (i.e. potato skins and wings) and great HH prices. Service has been fine too. No complaints here– I rikes.

Went for an early dinner.
1. The hostess at the front awkwardly decided to address the guest behind us before addressing us. Thanks.
2. We were given a buzzer, but it almost immediately went off. I guess it’s part of their protocol, but a bit unnecessary when there is clearly no line.
3. Service was very slow.
4. The other things are forgiveable because I don’t care too much (it definitely doesn’t help though), but to top it off, my burger, the very food (not the service) I came here to enjoy, came with a meager amount of innards (e.g. cheese, guac, jalapenos and whatever else was supposed to be in there). When I go out to eat, I want to at least be able to enjoy my food and think I got what I paid for. The fries were fairly tasty, but a bit undercooked.
I guess they were nice by offering freebies, but that won’t give me back my time or dignity.
Good thing you can sit on the outskirts where you can stare at people walking by, or they can stare at you like an animal in a pen.

This place is kind of a mixed bag. I came and was immediately seated which was nice. The not so nice part was that I waited twenty minutes. Not a single waiter or server came. The place wasn’t unusually busy. There were a fair amount of people for a 4:00pm on a Monday. After 20 minutes one of the guys came and asked me for my drink and apologized since he saw I was visibly irritated and he knew that no one had came. I waited another ten minutes then left.
I went to the bar instead and the bartender was really nice. She got my food order put in fast and was very polite. However I asked for a medium ribeye and got a well done one. I also asked for Mac and cheese and got mashed potatoes instead.
I guess the effort was nice but I don’t think I’ll be coming again.

I think Friday’s has gone through a bit of a rebrand! It’s admittedly been a while since I’ve been a patron, but I gotta say I’m pretty impressed with all the new bells and whistles I saw this recent time when dining. They’ve redone the interior so it’s pretty chic and slick looking now, with lots of mirrors and art on the walls, and fancy new hardcover menus.
Aside from a bit of a weird thing where they seemed to run out of pagers and had to take down my phone number while we were waiting for a table, everything else on my recent visit to Friday’s went swimmingly. Our server was very attentive (actually, every employee was like, crazy friendly!), my French Dip sammy was delicious, and overall I really have no complaints! I know it’s a chain and all that, but hey, credit where credit’s due. They’re clearly making some changes and I think they’re working for ‘em!
I definitely recommend the French Dip sandwich, as well as the green bean fries as an appetizer. They’re my faaaavorite. This location gets really crowded on big movie nights, and when there are popular sports games on, but if you’re looking to do the whole dinner-​and-​a-​movie thing at Tysons, you can’t beat the location!

Come here for the game, stay for the ribs.
I came during the world cup. I think England lost that game, oh well. Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised by Fridays.
The ribs were skinny but cooked well. The accompanying spinach and rice were seasoned appropriately. What else could you ask for?