Lunch Report: TGI Fridays...is not that good.

You may recall that my wife and I endured a bizarre dining experience at the TGIF's over on 151 and 410 a while back but I wasn't going to simply write it off as a potential dining place based on a single experience.

So today, a freind and I went out to lunch and he suggested Friday's. I had no issue with it and figured, what are the chances that something crazy could happen twice in a row?

I'll keep this short.

I must say that I regret not having my camera or even my cell phone with crappy camera attachment, because what I am about to describe deserves pictures. Remember that movie Office Space where the Jennifer Aniston character is in trouble for not wearing enough, oh what did they call it, Flair or something? Anyway, our waitress, a nice young lady was wearing some sort of weird railroad engineer cap like those popular in the 70's. Oh, is it all coming back into style now? I guess that explains her hoop earrings too. My bad. And there was another waitress wearing some sort of British "Andy Capp" hat, but in red plaid. WTF?

Okay, to the meat of the story. I order up the Tuscan Portabello Melt. According to the menu, it is " Sliced portobello mushrooms between layers of Provolone and Monterey Jack cheeses, roasted onion and tomatoes on grilled, buttery bread. Served with a cup of Fire-Roasted Red Pepper Soup. "

My friend ordered the Sizzlin' Chicken and Shrimp which is described thusly, " Sautéed garlic-marinated chicken breast with onions and peppers paired with zesty shrimp in a Roma tomato-basil salsa. All served over sizzling American and Mexican cheeses with a side of our signature mashed potatoes."

So just so you are aware, when they say that the chicken is served over sizzling American and Mexican cheeses..., they aren't kidding. His entree came on one of those cast iron plates you get fajitas on at Chili's, and the two kinds of cheeses were sizzled to the bottom of it. I mean, fried and stuck and no chance of getting it off. But, it certainly stayed hidden under the plank of chicken until my friend noticed that there was no cheese - not one kind or two - on top of his chicken, and went digging around for it. But, it was as described in the menu.

And what I got was also on the menu; it just wasn't what I ordered. Instead of getting the Portobello Mushrooms I really was eager to try, I got the Tuscan Chicken Melt which is the same thing as the Tuscan Portobello Melt, but with chicken and no mushrooms.

Of course, I did not know of the error when the nice lady brought out my lunch and asked me if everything was okay, because I had not bitten into it yet.

Don't get me wrong, the Tuscan Chicken Melt was great and I highly recommend it as long as you are willing to take a chance on being served the Tuscan Portobello Melt instead.

No, if you are asking if I sent it back, the answer is always no. If you send something back in a restaurant, you are asking for boogers in your food. Plain and simple, end of discussion. But when the girl finally did come back, I did ask her to check my ticket because I didn't want to be charged for the more expensive chicken when what I ordered was the mushrooms.

Good news, she tells me, we charged you what you ordered, not what you got. Thanks, and with no snot or other residue on the ticket, I'll even leave you a tip for being sure to clear that up.

Look, I hate to sound whiney, but can we please be a little more like the Red Robin over by The Rim? Hat's off (no pun intended) to all you TGI Friday's wait staff and your 37 items of flair, I know it is a tough job but the reason they give you a little pad of paper is so you can write down what people order.

Am I being unreasonable? Tell me about your dining misadventures.