As I was looking around for some TGI Friday’s links for yesterday’s entry on the MetaFilter Meetup, I came across this history/critique of TGI Friday’s:
The result is bland food, hyped like the Second Coming, and delivered by an absurd cheerleader. Portions are huge, and up-selling suggestions from servers and table trees encourage you to pile on the extras. After a couple of beers, it all starts to make sense, and it's a lot of fun to drop $6.49 on a half-pound “Tuesday Burger” within a stone’s throw of McDonald’s (another chain famous for its consistency). […]
In some ways, I think TGI Friday’s gets a bad rap. Sure, their prices aren’t always cheap, and sometimes you can get better tasting food elsewhere. But, it’s still pretty tasty, and I know what to expect there.
Also on ArborFood — where I got that earlier link — is this article titled “Chain Gang”, comparing various chains in the Ann Arbor area (including TGI Friday’s, Applebee’s, and Chili’s. According to that article, it looks like Max & Erma’s came out on top, so I’ll have to keep that in mind (for instance) when voting on future Meetups.