Use the form at the right to log in for more options.
They say that everything is bigger in Texas, and it certainly holds true for the airports. A recent cross-country journey required me to change planes in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport on the trip there and again on the way back. I suppose that I shouldn't have been surprised to learn that in such a vast airport there would be an equally vast disparity in the quality of both the food and the service at two of the five on-location T.G.I.Friday's restaurants, but I was.
To be fair, I can't entirely blame the staff at the A-Concourse Friday's. I can easily see how their morale might be low, which would result in lower productivity. For, while the C-Concourse location is a bright, airy place with one wall of windows which allows diners an impressive view of the finest that Boeing has to offer, the A-Concourse Friday's is a dark, cavernous establishment. It is wood-paneled, and decorated in a way that is meant to be homey, but rather conveys the impression that the décor was selected by a demented outdoorsman/barber, as evidenced by the garish red and white striped tabletops. I could feel my soul being crushed with each step I took toward my table.
I've not been a frequent diner at T.G.I.Friday's, so when I had been looking around for a place to eat on my first layover, I was attracted there by its proximity to my departure gate, and my relative assuredness that I could acquire beer and probably mozzarella sticks. I was pleasantly surprised by the availability of the 3-course meal special, and when I was returning through Dallas-Fort Worth two days later, I decided to partake of it again (I never claimed to be an adventurous diner). By then, though, the novelty had worn off, and I was looking at the whole experience with a much more critical eye.
In both locations, for example, I ordered a beer and was presented with an opened bottle and a napkin to set it on. In both locations, I requested a glass. Here is where my experiences began to differ. In the C-Concourse Friday's, my waiter (Jeff) promptly returned with a chilled glass. In A-Concourse, I would also have preferred a chilled glass, but would have settled for a clean one. Alas, it was not be.
Shiny...
Deciding to stick with a proven commodity, I chose the 3-course special in A-Concourse, only changing the entrée selection. I'd never had fried macaroni and cheese before, and I must say it's quite a culinary innovation. Regardless of whether or not the pasta is cooked al dente, for example, it still has a satisfying crunch. Serving it on a long rectangular plate with a healthy (or rather, generous) portion of cheese sauce to dip them in was also a brilliant choice, as it allowed me to place a layer of cool cheese between my tongue and the piping-hot golden-brown fried breading that encased the macaroni. However, while my C-Course portion arrived with the cheese sauce copiously drizzled on the plate in a Jackson Pollack-inspired display of dairy goodness, the cheese on my A-Concourse serving more resembled the type of anemic discharge that might be produced by a desperate fourteen-year-old who got hold of a particularly racy edition of "Redbook".
If the glass that I was provided in A-concourse wasn't cold, my bacon cheeseburger more than made up for it. Perhaps I'm being hypocritical. In the past I've expressed a fondness for a nice sharp cheese, but I don't like that to carry over to having the corners of the American cheese slice on my supposedly hot sandwich being as well-defined as they were in this instance. I could have done geometry with them if I'd been so inclined. Further, I wasn't provided with a whole leaf of lettuce, but rather a pile of shredded lettuce that I ended up scraping off with my shiney, metallicized knife. I'd encountered these knives on my previous visit, but while I found them novel and amusing the first time ("Oh! It looks like metal, but it's not! Just like Super-Trooper!"), the second time I just found them frustratingly ineffective and wondered if they are any more dangerous to the groundwater supply once they reach the landfills that are their ultimate end.
The service at A-Concourse was slightly redeemed when dessert came and I ordered coffee. The waitress asked if I wanted cream for it, which I appreciated. In C-Concourse Jeff hadn't asked. He just deposited two Teas-sized tubs of half-and-half on my table next to mug and left with a smile. I've long since resigned myself that I simply look like someone who likes cream in his coffee, even if it means I rarely get a cup that's filled to the brim. To his credit, though, Jeff may have sensed my momentary distress, as he forgot to include the coffee on my tab. I enjoyed this, since it allowed me to engage in a brief ethical dilemma. What is the point of having ethics, after all, if they are never challenged? I brought the oversight to his attention, of course, and he was gracious and humble in the true Texas fashion. The waitress in A-Concourse was, if nothing else, accurate.
Who can say if my travels will ever take me back to the sprawling vistas of the Dallas-Fort Worth airport? If they do, perhaps I'll get to sample the fare at any of the other three T.G.I.Friday's located therein. Or perhaps I'll take a chance and try someplace new and exciting to eat. There are plenty of options, after all, since the airport proudly boasts that it is the size of Manhattan. Maybe next time I'll get to take in an avart-garde production of a new Brecht translation, or peruse a Mapplethorpe retrospective. The possibilities are endless.
Posts: 154 Rank: 53 Joined:
12/7/2006
Location:
Capital of Awesome, IA
Posted: 2/8/2007 8:39:14 AM
last time I went through DFW I got so loaded I could hardly find my gate. I love it when you order beer and they ask if you want the big glass...they must know.
Posts: 92 Rank: 2099 Joined:
1/3/2007
Location:
Chicago, IL
Posted: 2/8/2007 9:54:31 AM
I ate at one once, and will never return, I was quite disappointed in my burger. That strange gloop of fried cheese that they put on top just screws everything up.
Not to mention the fact that the fried balls of mac n cheese have no flavor whatsoever.
TGIF's suck ass at best. I don't know what's worse, their constantly shitty service or their desire to fry every food they serve in an attempt to draw in guests? I thought Sonic had the rights to fry every thing edible but I guess TGIF is giving them a run for their money.
Posts: 1524 Rank: 6 Joined:
12/7/2006
Location:
New York, NY
Posted: 2/8/2007 1:44:35 PM
But executed poorly. I can't believe there's five TGI Friday's in the same airport. DFW seems big enough to have a bad neighborhod and some suburbs in it. Jesus
Use the form at the right to log in for more options.
