It takes a lot to not frequent a place. I generally have bad luck eating out so I have become accustomed to my order never being right. Usually the 2nd time they get it right so I just don't expect anything the first time..and I am not horrible complicated ie plain meat/cheese bun burger or well done steak no pink ect..TGIFridays took the cake..We will not ever go back there or any of their locations..
Visit one: Went in and ordered steak well done..no pink and fries with a drink..we wait and wait and wait..and after about 40 minutes we finally get our food..cut into the very tip of it and it was red..not just pink but red..let the waitress know and she sent it back..waited another 30 minutes and it came back out charbroiled..pitch black and hard as a rock..I was upset..it looked like the cook got mad at me and stuck it in the flames..complained again and left with the manager apologizing and gave us a free meal for next time
Visit 2: Glutton for punishment we went back and I ordered steak again same thing well done no pink..(I like steak what can I say) got it and shocking it was well done and tasted great..until I got to a hair imbedded in my steak..I picked up the hair and steak came up with it..and it wasn't mine...wrong color and length..Complained and showed the steak to the manager..offered another comp
Visit 3: Should have known better right? Well went back and ordered a burger..with fries and no ice in my drink..got my drink and ice same as every visit we have had..got my burger and it was cold after waiting for 40 minutes..got it remade and it came back lukewarm...complained again..offered a comped meal..said no thanks and left..
Visit 4: Well we went up to big cities and had a full day at very big mall..We were hungry and the closest place was TGIFridays..figuring our bad luck was local we went in...waited for about 30 minutes to get in because they were busy..ok no problem..we got seated..but where they seated us the table was in the crossroad of the aisle..someone nearly tripped over our daughter's chair..then actually ran into it bumping her..we moved her in further..then someone ran into my husbands chair...one waitress did come over and apologize and refill our empty drinks..our waitress was MIA a lot but finally showed and then we ordered our food..daughter had a cheeseburger kids meal..nothing special except no ice in her drink..mine was a cheeseburger with different cheese and sauce on the side (Specialty burger) we waited and waited..people seated after us got thier food...waited and waited..my daughter being 4 and 1/2 getting whiney because she was hungry..finally after 40 minutes we got our food..and it was cold..my daughters was fine..manager came over and we told him my food was cold and the wait was a long time and the other people who came after us got their food first..he grabbed my food AND my daughter's even tho we told him our daughters was fine..and we made to wait another 30 minutes..I had a very hungry girl...then finally brought out our food and my order was wrong..we asked for the check and left..they let us know that it was comped and to please come back...after waiting for almost 2 hours and leaving hungry..we won't be back.
I mean this in the kindest possible way, but in instances 1 - 3, you may have been the victim of well-done steak phenomenon. This is not to say that you deserved bad service or food, but there's a pretty simple reason that this would happen.
In the service industry, 9 times out of 10, a person ordering a well done steak is a specific "type" of customer to both the kitchen and the waitstaff. The chef thinks you are low-brow for "ruining" a good cut of meat--the perception being you have an unrefined pallet, the waitress thinks you are not used to eating out or you wouldn't order your food well done which equals bad tip. The chef and the waitress KNOW that people who order well done food are the most likely to complain and send it back for being over or undercooked because people have a very wide range of what they consider "well-done"---some people literally believe "well" translates to "good." The chef and the waitress have to time their work to cater to your one item that does not take the same amount of time to cook as the others for the table, so they KNOW that you are more likely to send back the other food for being too cold. It is not nice to stereotype, but there's certainly one out there about the well done crowd.
On your first visit, you pegged yourself as THAT "well-done" steak customer, so my guess is that the hair the second time was not a mistake. Just like you remembered all your bad situations at this restaurant, they probably remember you being a difficult customer. As for your 4th story, customers with kids who get free refills generally are going to be at the bottom of the waitresses priorities. It simply doesn't make sense to cater to a family of four whose bill is going to be less than a party of two who are most likely running up their bill with alcoholic drinks. The party of four will be more work and a bigger mess, it's simple economy when one depends on tips for a living.
I want to reassert that I am not saying you shouldn't expect good service or food, but as long as servers depend on tips to earn a living, they will judge each and every table by how much they think they will get as a tip and service accordingly.
