TGI Fridays - Food to make you smile, service which made me frown

I've been a fan of TGI Fridays for more than 20 years.  During that time I've been a regular customer and because I'm a dad, every visit is a family occassion so through me they have a relationship with my wife and children.

What we've always enjoyed is a) great food and b) a relaxing and fun experience.  It's clear that everything about the experience has been intentionally designed, from the decor of the restaurant to the training of the folks who are the face of the brand.  It has obviously worked for me (and my family) in the past because we've gone back repeatedly.

But it didn't work during our latest visit, which on this occasion was to the restaurant in Sutton Coldfield.  The food was again good but the experience fell sadly short.  There were three key issues:

• Every member of staff we interacted was going through the motions.  They seemed to be there in body but had left their sense of humour and warmth at home.  Each point of contact, from buying a drink at the bar beforehand to paying our bill, was transactional with no added value.  This in turn meant that the little problems we experienced became magnified;
• I wanted to add my drinks order at the bar to my bill.  In order to do this he asked for my card.  I assumed he wanted to take a card impression just in case I should disappear without paying.  However, he wanted to keep it until I paid the bill at the end of the evening.  He didn't explain this properly and neither did he ask for your permission, leaving me feeling temporarily out of control and questionning whether it was in my best interests.
• My son, 15 years old and very fashion conscious, was wearing a snap-back cap and was asked to remove it as it's apparently the restaurant policy is for customers not to wear hats.  He was put out.  Whether it's right to have the policy is a different question - my personal view is that it's strange to 'ban' a fasion accessory.  However, I was disappointed more about the absence of an explanation for the policy (if you're asking people to change what they've chosen to wear during a night out is it unreasonable to explain why) and about their inconsistent application of it.  At one point my son put his cap back on because a man on a nearby table had been allowed to enter and sit down without being asked to remove his.  Our waitress immediately asked my son to rmove his cap again, at which I pointed out the inconsistency.  Her response was to ask my son again to remove his cap and then ask the manager to ask the other man to remove his.  All a bit heavy handed!
• When ordering a steak for his meal, my son asked for an accompanying barbecue sauce.  He was told that it wasn't an option which his order.  Subsequently when the meals came my daughter asked for some barbecue sauce with her fries and was given some immediately.  I have no idea why the waitress couldn't make the decision to change whatever sauce was allowed with the steak, to satisfy her customer.

 The cumulative impact of these things, coming as they did spread throughout the evening, prevented us from having fun.  There wasn't much laughing or smiling happening at our table!

It's also a real example of how quickly customer loyalty can be lost.  Before the meal had ended my son, supported by his sister, had decided that he didn't want to eat there again.  We also visit one of TGI Fridays competitors and I suspect they might get more business from us, at the expense of TGI's. in future.

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