db eats: TGI Friday’s Covent Garden

The relauch of TGI Friday’s in Covent Garden, London, promised a night of unashamed nostalgia and sticky cocktail indulgence after the venue’s management revamped the bar.

Yet for all the effort that has gone into focusing on the chain’s “All American Bar” identity – with walls plastered with jukebox-fronts, car grills and various sports memorabilia – they seem to have neglected the quality of the drinks.

Many a top mixologist learned the ropes behind a TGI’s bar, and the chain is widely credited with making cocktails fashionable among young Londoners through the 1990s and early part of this century. Indeed the Long Island Iced Tea was a Friday’s invention.

The brand lost its way somewhat in the last few years, as the concept of a cocktail bar no longer seemed as original or as appealing as when it was the new kid on the block.

Noisy tables of sugared-up kids and snapping parents came to dominate the atmosphere in recent years and, despite the relatively late hour of our arrival at the venue’s official relaunch party, I was struck quite early on that little seemed to have changed in this respect.

Although not quite at primary school age, a rather hefty majority of the diners noshing down on burgers and chips were clearly well below the legal drinking age and as such were sticking to Coca-Cola and Fanta, giving little indication as to how the chain can justify bigging-up its cocktails to such an extent when their customers are often unable to enjoy them.

the drinks business, of course, is not hampered by such legal limitations and settled down to be presented with an impressively sprawling list of tantalising-sounding cocktails. Service was bright, if a little too enthusiastic at times, and the staff seemed genuinely excited about the bar’s relaunch.

My sense of anticipation had been enhanced by hearing the new bar team had drawn up a new list of 60 cocktails and I was looking forward to sampling the creations of some of the new young pretenders on the London scene.

Doubts started to creep in when I noticed the bar staff and waiters were all sporting nicknames on the back of their shirts. “If you get thirsty just let ‘Chuckles’, ‘Hero’ or ‘Inches’ know and they’ll sort you out,” enthused the manager.

When I enquired why his staff sounded like characters from a kids TV show he explained that they were trying to create a laid-back, chummy and informal atmosphere, both for the customers and the staff.

I couldn’t help feeling a little patronised by this. When I go to a restaurant or bar and I wish to know the name of the waiter, barman or sommelier I generally expect to be told their name, rather than have them hide under the “hilarious” mask of a totally inexplicable nickname.

Casting aside our growing fears, my two companions and I launched into our first round of drinks while we awaited some food. Feeling rather bold and in need of something strong, I plumped for the rather blokey-sounding Rusty Nail (£6.50), consisting of Drambuie and Scotch.

I had expected the barman to add his own little slant on what sounded like a relatively basic cocktail, but what arrived at the table was literally what it said on the tin – a large glass of Drambuie and Scotch over ice. As imaginative drinks go, it’s down there with a vodka and coke. It also tasted like sawdust mixed with hairspray.

My companions were slightly more successful in their choices of drinks, plumping for fruity options rather than the full-on throat-burner. The problem with these wasn’t so much the flavour – both the Strawberry Daiquiri (£7.79) and Seabreeze (£6.29) were well mixed and initially refreshing – but the sheer size of the drinks meant that by the time they had got half way down they became a little sickly and left them both wishing they could get something else.

Above all else, the size of the drinks was unnecessary when you consider TGI’s is essentially a cocktail/diner and management might want customers to leave some room for the food, rather than fill up on sweet sickly fruit juice.

The food, when it arrived, was ok without being a vote-winner. We were presented with a Times Square Big Share at £14.69, consisting of finger nibbles such as Jack Daniel’s sweet ‘n’ smokey wings, loaded potato skins and cheese bites, which was fine and at least we knew what we were getting.

However, one of our party was vegetarian and the platter they presented us with contained nothing veggie-friendly. When we pointed this out, our (admittedly apologetic) waiter said they would remedy this unfortunate situation.

The waiter returned with a bowl of mushrooms in melted cheese. It looked completely inedible, but being famished after a long wait my companion almost reluctantly slopped it down.

With awful trashy pop music assaulting our ears for too long, we decided the best thing to do was to make a break for it before the precious memories of a diner/cocktail bar chain which was once held in such high esteem were lost amid a buzz-killing soundtrack of S-Club 7 and Bryan Adams.

While it would be churlish to be too heavily critical of a bar which can never be accused of taking itself too seriously, a lot more fine-tuning and hard work is needed if TGI Friday’s is ever to regain its once lofty status on the London scene. Your kids will love it, though.

TGI Friday’s Covent Garden
6 Bedford Street
Covent Garden
London
WC2E 9HZ

Tel: +44 (0)844 372 7904

Email: coventgarden@tgifridays.co.uk
Web: http://www.tgifridays.co.uk  

Alan Lodge, 08.12.2009