TGI Fridays, Covent Garden

Summary: Great place to go in the evenings, not so good on a Saturday afternoon unless you don't mind lots of kids and slow service. Food portions are large and tasty, cocktails list is extensive, toilets have blue lighting (dodgy!). Two-course meals for three people came to just over £50 in total, not including the bottled San Miguels.

Contact Details:
TGI Fridays
6 Bedford Street, Covent Garden, London WC2E 9HZ
Tel: 020 7379 0585
Fax: 020 7240 3239
Email: tgif.covent-garden@whitbread.com

Full review:

The bar is a good evening out - very friendly atmosphere, a large range of cocktails and the bar staff toss the bottles about like it's become a compulsion. I do wonder if they're capable of just pouring a shot any more. BTW, avoid the "Mini-Me" cocktail sampler. It looks cool but the drinks are warm, sticky and flat and taste nothing like their full-size counterparts.

I was there last Saturday afternoon and the place was packed with diners and a kid's birthday party. The food took about forty minutes to arrive but the waiters were friendly and brought drinks quickly. The food is slightly pricey but extremely tasty and comes in large portions. I ordered the fajitas was slightly unimpressed to find that the lid of my tortilla-bowl-thing was missing and they had substituted a plate instead, but it tasted very nice! Beef and chicken were both thoroughly cooked and tender but they way they're served makes fajita-construction a bit precarious, especially when trying to apply sour scream or guacamole from the top shelf, which is above eye-level when seated. My bf had a giant burger and chips and was very satisfied, as was our friend whose meal I can't remember but his side dish of onion rings did appear to contain an entire giant battered onion and almost threatened to put him off his three-scoop chocolate ice-cream popcorn sundae thing. Almost.

(I should really start taking notes if I'm going to write reviews, huh?)

Every other time I've been there has been in the evening, around 7-9pm and the food has always been just as good but usually arrives within a reasonable amount of time. I think Saturday lunchtimes are just a bad time to go.

The toilets are mostly clean with just the standard bits of clean bogroll littered about the floor. I was mildly perturbed by the blue lighting in each stall though - I hear that blue lighting was a method of stopping drug addicts from shooting up in your establishment but then again, as long as they're not inside and you don't go walking down too many nearby dark alleys looking rich and alone, I suppose that's okay.

Tagged: london | restaurants | food | american