It's great on Saturdays too! (TGI Fridays)

Member Name: kingfisher111

Product:	TGI Fridays
Date:	12/10/09 (185 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: reasonable prices, wide menu, good for kids

Disadvantages: none

We do occasionally like to treat ourselves to lunch out for no particular reason but finding somewhere that has food that we like as well as the girls can sometimes be a problem. Also with two young girls we are always hopeful for quick service and something to entertain while waiting for food. TGI Fridays does tend to tick quite a lot of boxes for us and the girls really enjoy the experience too!

Our nearest TG! Fridays is in Reading but I always like to check the menu on the website too. Also if you are online, you can book provided it is for more than forty eight hours in advance. If it is less than that you are advised to phone and book directly with the restaurant. I always think that it is worth booking as it is the sort of place that can get very busy at the weekend especially if they are catering for a few children's parties at the same time. We booked for Saturday lunchtime less than twenty four hours before and had no trouble getting a table for five.

The Reading TGI Fridays is slightly out of town on a retail estate which also has Mothercare. Lidl and a couple of other stores. Parking is never a problem as there always seem to be ample spaces. The restaurant has a fairly modern American feel to it and all the staff are extremely friendly and helpful. We were shown to our table straight away and as soon as they realised we had young children with us, both girls were given a little goody bag containing a colouring book, coloured pencils and a game. It's always great to receive something like this as it keeps them busy and occupied while we ponder the menu.

There is quite an extensive menu divided into different sections - main menu, kids' menu. Light bites and take 2. There are also quite a fe photos of what the food looks like which I always find quite helpful for my daughters choosing.

The main menu starts with a range of appetisers such as loaded potato skins, mozzarella dippers and bruschetta. They also have a number of variations on the theme of wings - chicken wings that is coated in a hot sauce and accompanied by various dips. Appetisers vary in price from £2.99 to about £7 but you do always have the option to share which I think is a really good idea. WE actually chose the Times Square Big Share which had a selection of Jack Daniel's® sweet 'n' smoky wings, cheese & bacon skins to the brim plus crispy breaded mozzarella dippers. Served with celery sticks, Jack Daniel's® glaze, sour cream topped with spring onion and marinara dips. This was all for £13.29 which between five of us was very good value and also gave our daughters the opportunity to try one or two different things too. I thought everything on this plate tasted great but I hate to think how many calories I consumed and that was just the starter!

There are many main courses to choose from. The menu is sub divided here and you can either choose from steaks, ribs, grills, burgers, chicken and shrimp, sandwiches, Southwest, salads, pasta and side dishes. After the extravagances of our starter I decided to be a bit more restrained (and save myself for a pud) and I went for a very nice chicken Caesar salad for £8.69. This consisted of slices of chargrilled chicken breast on top of our Caesar Salad with crunchy croutons and grated Regato cheese and was very tasty indeed. I also have to say that my plate was very full as they are very generous with their portions. My husband had a Cajun chicken ciabatta for £7,99 which came with a large portion of chips too. He said this was very tasty also. I can't comment on how the rest of the food tasted but it did all look very tempting!

There are lots of mouth watering desserts as well - many with chocolate! However, especially after everything we had already eaten, we were all tempted by the dessert minis. These are a selection of light mousses such as Key Lime Pie, Blueberry Cheesecake, Chocolate, Mint Chocolate Chip or Raspberry. You can either select two of these for £3.99 or again you can go for some sharing plates with five for £6,99 which was much better value. We three adults opted for these and they were a very nice, and slightly unusual way, to round of the meal.

It probably looks like we brought our daughters with us but didn't let them eat anything as I have not mentioned their food - yet! This is because I wanted to mention the kids' menu which is also very good and reasonably priced! The girls both had a hamburger for £2.99 which came with various potato options and baked beans. These were good sized portions for children but not too much as to be over phasing. Both girls really seemed to enjoy their meal especially after they had added the obligatory tomato ketchup. Both girls finished off with a dirt and worm pie! It sounds disgusting but is actually a lovely combination of vanilla flavour ice cream with warm chocolate fudge flavour sauce, topped with chocolate curls and jelly worms! This was only £1.79 which I thought was excellent value as were all the items on the children's menu. I think TGI Fridays really does cater for children well and the girls love eating there especially when they are given a balloon as well!

We didn't look at the Light bites which are more snacky items nor the Take 2 menu as that is only available from Monday to Thursday. It is worth knowing about though because if you are there between those days you can have two courses for only £9.99 and three courses for £12.99. I believe there are only certain items included in this offer though. Even without this deal, our bill was just about £70 for five which I did not think was too bad as that included all the drinks and everything.

We also had drinks with our meals - beers and soft drinks which were all fine. The service was pretty good throughout the meal with never having to wait too long for anything even though the restaurant was quite busy. It also wasn't too noisy and although the tables are quite close it is not so bad that you are forced to listen to your neighbours' conversations! Nor was it so loud that you could not keep up your own conversations which can be the case in some restaurants!

We were quite leisurely over our meal and were probably there for just under two hours. There were quite a few birthday celebrations and we were encouraged to join in with various renditions of 'Happy Birthday!' which we were very happy too. It is definitely not the sort of place to eat at if you want a quiet romantic meal for two but if you want to take the kids, have a good meal at reasonable prices, and enjoy a bit of an atmosphere you can't go wrong with TGI Fridays - especially the one in Reading.

Summary: a good place for the family to eat!