I was surprised to see a T.G.I. Friday's pop up in Watertown earlier this year. The last time I was in a Friday's was over 10 years ago in an airport somewhere and hadn't seen one since. I just assumed all the newcomers in the industry had beaten down this older chain restaurant.
Not so. According to Friday's Web site, the chain has experienced phenomenal growth over the years. The first Friday's opened in Manhattan in 1965. As of last month, there are now 1,013 restaurants in 57 countries.
Friday's started as a way for the owner, a New York City bachelor named Alan Stillman, to meet the flight attendants in his neighborhood, according to Newsweek.
He decided to buy "a broken down beer joint, jazz it up with Tiffany lamps and mod young waiters and christen it — with an eye toward attracting the career crowd — the T.G.I.F. (Thank Goodness It's Friday). Within one week the police had to ring Friday's (as it quickly became known) with barricades to handle the nightly hordes of young singles. Hundreds of blatantly imitative emporiums soon opened their doors in scores of major cities — and an industry was born."
A few years ago, T.G.I. Friday's embarked on a revitalization program with new restaurant design, new menu, new lighting and new music, all evident today in the new Watertown location on outer Arsenal Street.
The Tiffany lamps are still there. The signature red and white motif is toned down, but still there. Young waiters and waitresses open the front door for you with a smile and a hello. The menu is a small book, with pages of descriptions and photos of the food offerings.
The bar area, with lots of neon and lots of TVs, takes up a good amount of space, although it's not in-your-face. There weren't too many T.G.I.F.-ers the night we were there, but maybe that's because it was a Tuesday.
So let's get started. Two giant Cokes, $2.29 apiece, come with free refills. They've also got berry-flavored "slushies." I got a "berry blast," a passion fruit and guava slushie with the energy drink Red Bull ($4.79).
Have you every tried that stuff? It's got a strange yellow color to it and a bit of a berry taste. And I don't know about the energy part. I didn't get up and start dancing or anything like that.
Appetizers were fun, and very good.
Fried mac and cheese ($5.99) was six balls of good old-fashioned creamy, cheesy macaroni in a crispy, golden deep-fried casing served on a classy white rectangular plate with cheese squiggles. Pretty yummy.
Parmesan-crusted Sicilian quesadillas ($8.29) consisted of a flour tortilla packed with sautéed chicken, sausage, marinara, bacon and Monterey Jack cheese. They sprinkle it with Parm and pan-fry it, then drizzle it with balsamic vinegar. Delicious.
Crispy green bean fries ($5.49) were excellent — plain old green beans coated with a tasty breading and deep-fried. The cucumber-wasabi ranch dip had just enough kick and complemented the beans perfectly.
We all commented that both deep-fried dishes weren't a bit greasy.
There are so many entrée choices on the menu, it's almost mind-boggling: steaks and ribs, burgers and sandwiches, salads and seafood, pasta and chicken. An entire page is devoted to entrées grilled with Jack Daniel's sauce. There's a "Better for You" page with low-fat, low-carb features, and, new just this year, "Right Portion, Right Price" — smaller portions of many entrées.
From this category, we tried Asian-glazed chicken on field greens ($6.99). The chicken wasn't glazed at all, but had lots of flavor, as though it had been marinated. The field greens were pretty limp, and not the nicest assortment of greens, but certainly better than plain old iceberg. The cilantro-lime dressing was overly tame. We did appreciate the toasted cashews and macadamia nuts sprinkled on top.
The half rack of ribs ($8.99) had a nice, spicy sauce on them, but the meat was rather dry.
Pecan salmon ($11.59) was a nicely cooked, flavorful piece of fish served over slightly clumpy rice with freshly steamed and still crunchy broccoli.
We decided to take an entrée home to see how it would warm up the next day.
We also thought we'd test the system and see if they could deal with substitutions.
I asked our server, Megan, if we could order "bruschetta chicken pasta," but instead of the chicken, substitute grilled shrimp. Without hesitation, the answer was "no problem."
They call the marinara "bruschetta marinara." It's a good, roasted garlic-flavored chunky tomato sauce with lots of slivers of garlic, served over angel hair pasta. The six grilled shrimp were smaller than I would have liked, plus they were overcooked.
Our to-go meal cost $10.59.
We got a chuckle out of the saying on the wet-nap wrapper: GET YOUR FACE AS CLEAN AS YOUR PLATE.
One of the biggest problems with our entrées was that the full-color pictures in the menu looked much better than the actual entrées. And while Megan was an enthusiastic waitress who did a fine job, someone else brought our order to the table and never knew who ordered what. You know, the old food auction routine.
Desserts were big and described as "fantabulous" by one member of the WDT Reviewing Team.
She proclaimed the brownie obsession ($4.59) "to die for." It's a warm, moist brownie covered with a rich chocolate fudge sauce, then a blob of vanilla ice cream topped with caramel sauce and pecans.
Oreo chocolate cake ($4.39) was rich too, layers of creamy Oreo cookies and crème filling topped with crushed Oreos. For an additional dollar, we opted for the à la mode option.
And you can get a light dessert with Friday's new "mini desserts," large shot glasses filled with luscious flavors like orange cream, chocolate chip mint, peanut butter cup or chocolate raspberry. They're $1.99 each or three for $5.
I got the orange cream. It was just enough to satisfy my sweet tooth — and it tasted just like an old-fashioned Creamsicle.
Dinner for three plus the takeout cost $87 before tip.
Service was fast and the food came out hot, especially the appetizers. I did get the feeling that the protein in our entrées may have been precooked and assembled as the orders came in. Except for the shrimp, they just didn't have that "hot off the grill" pizzazz.
The restaurant was busy with people of all ages and lots of families coming and going all evening. Dress is super-casual. The crowd looked like a sales circular for Old Navy.
TIDBITS
Apples and pumpkins are in season right now. Just outside Canton, there's a neat "u-pick" operation.
Head out on Park Street past St. Lawrence University. Take a right at the blinking right onto County Route 25 toward Russell.
At the next blinking light you'll see the orchard. Lots of fun for the kids and the grandkids (and you.)
You can pick your own pumpkins at Alton Swingle's farm outside Potsdam. Turn at Bickell Building Supply on to the Morley-Potsdam Road and travel about three miles.
You can contact Walter E. Siebel via e-mail: wsiebel@wdt.net.
T.G.I. Friday's
21890 Towne Center Drive
Watertown
785-5651
HOURS: 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. every day of the week, serving the entire menu during those hours.
APPETIZER PICKS: Fried mac and cheese, Sicilian quesadillas, crispy green bean fries.
DESSERT PICKS: Brownie obsession, Oreo cake, orange cream mini dessert.
Rating: 3 forks
