Tgi Fridays - River Kelvin

I thought I had written this review ages ago but somehow must have forgotten. A couple of months ago I attempted to go for some food here and very quickly changed my mind. I was a fan of this chain many many years ago when it first hit Glasgow, but over time the gloss came off the city centre location as the food quality went down and the prices stayed very high. I have now not been in years. The one at the Fort has not done anything to improve my view of the chain. On entering it was very very dark inside. They seemed to have cut out all natural light. Which on a sunny day is not what you want. We got shown to our seats and I immediately started to think of an escape plan. The place was really dirty. Nasty sticky seats, sticky tables and menus caked in old food. I could not stay, we got up and left and went elsewhere for food. I can't imagine going back here, but If I did I would be taking my own antibacterial spray with me to clean up before eating. The place needs a good scrub.

Went the other with partner, the very loud music really put me off. Then we got sat next to a very loud group of 14 kids and teenagers. Which where very loud. Louder than the music. So if you are prone to head aches this place isn't for you. The food is good I'll tell you that. Just too loud for my taste. The light is very dull I'm the place too.

For my dads birthday we gave him the option of many a fine dining establishment, yet his choice was a meal with his girls at TGIs! I much prefer this branch to the city centre one. Its a lot more roomy inside, has more booth seats which is always a plus and more room between tables. On a Saturday night around 6pm it wasn't too busy and we were seated straight away at one of the booths. A few bottomless soft drinks whilst we browsed the menu were brought over quickly by a super friendly waitress. The menu has the classic American diner style option, burgers, ribs, fajitas but also some pasta and tapas so there's something to suit most tastes. I opted for the veggie burger with salad instead of chips. The brioche bun was nice and sweet and I liked the fact that I got a proper size portion of salad with different leaves with dressing on the side. As for the veggie burger itself, I'm probably spoiled from having some good ones in Burger city Glasgow, it was tasty enough but not anything to write home about. My folks and sister had burgers and chicken dippers with chips or sweet potato chips, and they all thoroughly enjoyed them. My dads usually a pretty healthy eater but splashed out on one with bacon, beef and cheese which he proclaimed fantastic. No way was I passing up dessert, but from previous experiences I know the desserts can be pretty substantial so we ordered one chocolate fudge fixation cake with ice-cream with some spoons to share. I dominated the chocolate fudge ganache topping and fudge (which tastes like actual fudge) filling. It might not be healthy or particularly fine dining but it was blooming tasty. Price wise it was as you'd expect and although it might not be my top choice of venue, its somewhere I'll likely return... mmm that cake.

Have eaten here a couple of times now and it's really not up to scratch. The service is the same brand of exuberance as other branches, sure, but the food is not. Dishes are incomplete or have unannounced substitutions. Last time I ate there, I had to send back a steak as it was majorly overcooked to the point of being inedible. They remade it for me, but it took so long to come back out that my partner had already finished his dinner, so I ended up taking the steak home for the dog (it was still over-cooked again). They offered us a free dessert to compensate, to be fair. I haven't been back since as the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

We decided to take a trip out to the Fort for something to eat and, despite several poor experiences with TGI Fridays in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle and Orlando, for some reason I wanted to try the TGI at the Fort. The outside of the restaurant is very bland, less flamboyant than both the Glasgow and Edinburgh branches. The interior was also a bit different, one wall with a big T in the Park homage. The rest of the place had small items, but it wasn't filled with the nostalgic clutter of other TGIs. We were quickly shown our table and our drinks order was back in a flash. Our food order was taken soon after. The food was fresh and tasty, our drinks were refilled as soon as they started getting low and the service was great. Considering our past poor experiences with the TGI chain, we were happy to have had our faith in the brand resurrected. As I sat eating my meal, the place felt right. There were loads of families, some with screaming kids with balloon flowers etc that staff had made for them) but we were seated above the noise, on the second of the three levels. It was great to see such a mix of people, from family groups of adults, families with young to teenage children, couples and even a group of older ladies having a good natter with their cocktails and snacks. After our main meal, we decided to stay for desert and a few extra drinks something we don't often do) and, despite my better half's first choice of drink not being available which was dealt with very professionally), it was a great end to the meal. When getting the bill, we found out that our server had just started serving serving tables that day, which was a surprise considering the service we received. I'm sure we will be back, and I'm glad we visited as our experience yesterday saved the reputation of the brand in our eyes.