TGI Fridays

Went to Fridays at Willow brook Mall and had a wonderful time. I tried the sampler and the foo was nice and tender. I took photos because I believe they can speak for themselves.

This place seems to be trying to stay decent but is so bad at the same time. They could use stricter supervisors. The waiter never came back to our table which was pretty bad bc we liked him in the beginning. Who just leaves a table? The food came out pretty fast and the mango L.I.T was definitely worth it. You have to have a hostess sit you at the bar table but… there has to be a hostess there to seat you. Lol i don’t know where everyone disappears to but at this rate, i could see this location closing sooner than later.

Came here on a Friday night and Saturday around 3pm to watch a game. Both times my friend and I sat in the bar area.
On Friday night it was pretty full in the bar area but it wasn’t too loud, which was nice. Our table was cleaned by the host right away as he noticed it appeared to be a bit sticky. Our waitress was very polite and attentive, but for some reason they always seem to disappear towards the end of your meal. This was not a problem as they provide the electronic pay stations which allow you to just press a button to call your server.
My friend ordered the buffalo wings and pot stickers which were both amazing. I had the spinach dip which was great as well. My mango margarita was pretty sweet, but that’s how I like it, so you should request less syrup of you do not like it very sweet.
The next day I ordered the fried green beans with wasabi dip and they were amazing! I highly recommend trying them. My friend ordered pot stickers and buffalo wings once again and they were just as good. Both of our drinks were decently strong and not too sweet. I had an LIT and she had the electric lemonade. The bartender was very polite and great overall.
I can’t speak on the regular dining service, but I enjoyed my experience in the bar area.

It’s been a while since I’ve eaten at a TGI Friday’s, so I’m not sure if it’s just this location or what, but I found my experience to be lackluster. I had a group of four with me and we waited a total of about 5 minutes for a table to open up (not bad). As we were seated I noticed the table didn’t look like it had been wiped down well. There was still spilt water and ketchup on the ends and it was just kind of gross. I ordered their jack daniel burger with regular fries and I don’t regret it one bit. This burger was a major redeeming quality of TGI Fridays; super delicious burger and cooked very well. Unfortunately the service started to trail off after we got our drinks. After 25 minutes had past I asked the waiter if our food was almost ready and he said he would go check. Another five minutes goes by and hes still no where to be found. At this point we are kind of getting irritated because we didn’t plan on being here for long, but finally he walked out with our food in hand. I don’t blame our waiter, he looked like he was working his butt off to be honest, but it should be said that the service just wasn’t all that great. Bottom line: poor service, great burger.

The food is gross, the service is lackluster (if not completely indifferent),
and the entire restaurant is dirty.
Need I say more?

Waited for 30 minutes… no one even acknowledged us. Waiters just walking up and down joking around. Manager even passed us twice and didn’t bother to ask if anyone took our drinks.

Where to start? Well, first off. I called to ask if I could make a reservation. The woman who answered the phone (Christie?) said NO… ok? Just wondering. What ever happened to common courtesy? Fast forward to actually arriving to the location. Arrived around 11 pm. Busy and understandable. We were told 25 minutes. We were called right away maybe a 5 – 10 minute wait. Our server presented herself. One thing I noticed right away is that she was tired. She looked like she had it for the night. I also noticed that her work attire was somewhat «disheveled.» She took our order perfectly. Unfortunately I saw something I did not like. For starters, she was handing out my drinks and had three stacked up and one was under her chin. Unsanitary. The food was ok. Our medium rib eye was well done, unseasoned and unappealing. It was very dry. I ate my mash and veggie side. It was good. I noticed how much more their prices were. Between both my husband and my plates, I would say we paid around 50 $+ just for the main course. We did sample the three app sampler. We had the mozzarella sticks, pot stickers and boneless wings. They were all decent, like I said ok. One thing I did notice is that when food was served the plates were messy and not well presented. Presentation is everything. We don’t usually eat at places like this but it was like, semi family friendly and close. Our server Jasmine recommended a margarita which I actually liked! Some kind of blue raspberry margarita? I think. First one was delicious. Second? Not so much. Overly sweet like a melted icy. We were there for under an hour. we sat on a corner and behind us was a phone that wouldn’t stop ringing. It rang obsessively! No one answered that phone! It gave me a migraine! We Ate and left. It surprised me that with the average service, on the receipts, management still has the audacity to suggest 22% gratuity. I gave my server about a 22 $ tip. That’s not a big deal. It was about 20%. She still did her job, even though it wasn’t to my liking. Not her fault. There were a compilation of occurrences on this night that I didn’t enjoy. Who is the manager? This is worst trained establishment I have seen in a while. I’m surprised. My servers pants were sagged under her butt. Why? Who works like this? well, all in all the night was alright. Not too shabby. Definitely consistency is lacking. Training and management is lacking. Quality of service, kitchen staff and food/​drinks is lacking. Try at your own risk.

We came here because we were hungry and it was the closest thing to us. Usually I do not like coming here in general. I try to stay away because of previous experiences. This one takes the cake and now I will never return. I ordered a Ahi Tuna Caesar salad and the tuna came out like it’s been sitting out for a week!!! Ordered appetizer they never came out but it was still on the bill!!! Service is super slow, staff isn’t friendly. I will not be returning EVER again!!! I rather drive an extra 20 mins to another Friday’s than come back here again. But because of this I think I’m afraid in general to go to any other Friday’s. Sorry guys but one more lost customer. Enter at your own risk.

My boyfriend and I came in to grab a appetizer and drinks. We walked in and the hostess didn’t even welcome us. We were pressed on time so we thought by sitting at the bar would be our best choice. Well we were wrong. After 5 minutes of not even being acknowledged I was beginning to get a little frustrated. Finally the bartender came over about 8 min after we sat down and took our order. We got a side caesar salad and the Jack chicken strips. When they finally came out they were way over cooked. I honestly do not know how you can over cook them all they have to do is throw them in the fryer. So I told the bartender and she did take it off the bill. She did offer to get us another one but we didn’t have time. The bar was not really crowded so you would think the service would have been a little better. I’ve been to many TGIF and honestly have to say this was the worst experience ever!

So a part of the reason why this establishment has gone down is due to its popularity with people from all over Essex County. It really use to be a place where the surrounding 3 – 4 towns frequented but now you have everyone there. Another reason is the professionalism and training the employees receive. Now this isn’t about the food, it’s a chain it’ll typically come out the same. But the workers are unprofessional and over worked, the front of house is extremely unprofessional blaming their own colleagues for things taking place at the restaurant instead of trying to maintain a positive image for the entire establishment are just a few reasons why this place is a mess. If you do decide to go, go during off peak hours.

A trainer successfully failed at training. It was not the trainee but the trainer. She came back 3 times to take a drink order of Irish coffee… gave a rum on the rocks instead of rum and coke and still managed to miss everything. Not a good day.

One of the worst Friday’s I’ve ever been to from the service, attitudes, CLEANLINESS, and burnt food. I will never EVER come back here again. I advise everyone to find a better Friday’s to dine at. This place is terrible.

Went on a Sunday, since they have all day happy hour. It was a bit crowded on a Sunday night but we got lucky and found 3 chairs by the bar. The bartender was super friendly and attentive. I was surprised to find out that they make different flavored Long Island Iced Teas. We ordered a strawberry, mango, and raspberry LITs. All were great and on the happy hour menu. I ordered the loaded potato skins and the Jack chicken and it was great. This is one of my favorite Friday’s to go to.

The worst Friday’s I’ve ever been to, asked for waters 4 times and got them at the end of my meal, asked for spoons 3 times from 4 different people and one person got them to me after 10 minutes. Food quality has dwindled so far down its just simply gross now, doesn’t look anything close to the images in the menu. I would give another Friday’s a shot but this one is just filthy.

Multiple times going here, if you order two appetizers they forget to bring out one. The service is painfully slow and rarely stops by the table. Good luck getting water refills.
Burger sliders were delicious.
They accept most of your coupons and you get free chips and salsa is you are a Show Your Stripes member.

TGI Fridays is a decent restaurant chain and every one I’ve been in looks the same, has an assortment of food for a good price, and if you sign up for their email list thing you can sometimes get coupons. I got a buy one get one free entrée, so for a Sunday lunch, you can get a decent meal for a decent price. I personally also really recommend their soft pretzel appetizer, which is always crisp on the outside, soft on the inside and comes with a great bacon cheese dipping sauce.
Whenever I am lured to this location though, I always get slow service. I went for lunch not long after they opened and the place was empty and still get slow service. I can understand when it’s busy, but here it doesn’t matter how crowded, it will take forever for a server to come to you and bring you drinks and you’ll be lucky if you see them again before the bill comes to get a refill. So it’s hard to resist coming again when I have a coupon deal but I know not to expect much else for service which definitely deters me from coming and paying full price.

I have been here several times with my friends but this should have been the first indication to turn around when someone threw up their meal outside the establishment. Smh… I told one of the waiters that greeted me at the door and she was completely disgusted and asked why did I show her that? ! Don’t you work here? ??
We were seated immediately but it took forever for a server to take our drink order. Then to wait for the drinks was another long wait… we finally got our food order in and the quality of the food was just okay… it could have been better. also, the bathroom was deplorable… smh
This visit was definitely a hit or miss.

There’s a reason I rarely come here anymore.
The food tastes like it’s previously frozen.
The staff is pretty disinterested.
The beer has a funky taste to it.
The place never quite seems clean.
It gets crowded on the weekends as it’s one of the more affordable family dinner options in the area.

I dont often have a terrible experience at any TGI FRIDAYs, well there is a time and place for everything and this location takes the gold!
We arrived on a Wednesday evening, place was not busy at all and there were two people in front of the hostess booth waiting. I didn’t think much of it and went to stand right behind them. Few minutes passed, no one showed up yet, fine I thought, another few minutes turned into 10, another couple was already behind me also and there were some outside waiting. Finally the woman behind me asked if I was being helped, uhm no I replied and she just lost it and ran to the back, I thought she was an employee, but she was not, just an upset customer just like me. After an exchange of words in the back, in another few minutes the hostess finally showed up, not even rushed at all. I should have immediately left, but my kids were hungry and I promised them Fridays dinner they were looking forward too so I went in and sat down at a booth.
Not too long have passed when the waiter showed up, he wasn’t very enthusiastic or energetic as I am used to from a typical Fridays staff. He took our order and went on his way. He did check up on us a few times, however kept on asking if everything was still good like he was expecting an issue. I found it a bit odd. When the check came I presented a perks coupon which I never had an issue with in the past, He said they are not taking coupons as the food I ordered was already on a special. Again this is the first I ever heard of this, but I didn’t bother to argue as I just wanted to get out of this location and never come back.
This was a very bad experience at this location and I hope there are not any more like this one anywhere.
Needless to say I will never return even if this is the last place on earth serving food.

This was not a positive experience.
My friend ordered a jack n coke that came to the table looking like iced tea in a glass.
My friend also ordered the bottomless potato skins. The potato tasted like it was deep friend, there was hardly any bacon on them and the cheese that they used tasted like a cheese sauce not a shredded cheese. I have had them there before and they never tasted that bad…
My husband and I both ordered the Ultimate Mojito that definitely did not have top shelf liquor in it. Yes some of us can tell.
Service was good which is why I gave it two stars. Also the bathroom was very clean considering how busy they were. Not going back for a while!