TGI Friday's Blanchardstown Service Charge

dudara

You should have asked for your change. Make your point by asking for it.

krudler

Its to pay for all those extra pieces of flair.

Exclamation Marc

I once ate in that TGI's and recieved my €20 change from a €50 in a tenner, fiver and coins.

Didn't think much of it until I talked to a friend who used to work as one of the hosts in TGI's and she said that some of the waiting staff do that as a way of making sure you have the coins to tip.
Bit cheeky really!

Back on point though. I refuse to eat in TGIs anymore due to their prices. They had a nice deal going when they had their €15 menu. But then they removed all their popular dishes off the menu and re-released the menu with loads of cheap crap on it. So now any half-substantial meal and a drink will be costing upwards of €25 + 5%.

No thanks.

run_Forrest_run

FireballPitcher wrote: »

Didn't think much of it until I talked to a friend who used to work as one of the hosts in TGI's and she said that some of the waiting staff do that as a way of making sure you have the coins to tip.
Bit cheeky really!

I've noticed this in various places, from restaurants to barbers and I dunno, I think it can also be convenient as I may not have change and will tip once i get the change. But if the service is poor in any way I simply don't tip, no matter what format the changes comes in and I don't feel bad for it.
But not returning at all with your due change is a different story, cheeky and illegal!

P. Breathnach

run_Forrest_run wrote: »

... But not returning at all with your due change is a different story, cheeky and illegal!

Cheeky, sharp practice, bad form, dishonest, whatever: yes, no argument.

It's less clear that it is actually illegal. That is because a trader has no legal obligation to give change, and could have demanded that you pay the exact amount. That said, if anybody tried that stunt on me, I'd deal very actively with it.

[In fact, it happened to me in Germany, and the server pretended to have no English when I challenged him (having spoken English to me earlier). Calm, focused, determined, anger seems to work in all languages.]

10-10-20

Kevin! wrote: »

Go to the one in Blackrock, it's suffering badly with the resession and there food costs practically nothing (two course decent meal, 15euro starter+main or main+desert.

No. They stole the Playwright Pub from us, so they can suffer.

Exclamation Marc

Kevin! wrote: »

Go to the one in Blackrock, it's suffering badly with the resession and there food costs practically nothing (two course decent meal, 15euro starter+main or main+desert.

Are you kidding me? Thats my local one, I only live up the road. They used to have a great €15 menu and €3 pints. Then when business was up, they completely mugged the menu (eg replacing bruschetta on the menu with mozarella sticks, and a JD burger with a chicken finger BLT, and reducing the size of garlic bread from "substantial" to "tiny"). Then they put up pints to €4. It all blew up in their face and now they only open 1-9 (last orders) and its rarely full. They should go back to the menu that brought everyone in.

It used to be a great place about 6 months ago or maybe a little longer, but now its just a rip off.

Kevin!

FireballPitcher wrote: »

Are you kidding me? Thats my local one, I only live up the road. They used to have a great €15 menu and €3 pints. Then when business was up, they completely mugged the menu (eg replacing bruschetta on the menu with mozarella sticks, and a JD burger with a chicken finger BLT, and reducing the size of garlic bread from "substantial" to "tiny"). Then they put up pints to €4. It all blew up in their face and now they only open 1-9 (last orders) and its rarely full. They should go back to the menu that brought everyone in.

It used to be a great place about 6 months ago or maybe a little longer, but now its just a rip off.

Are you kidding me? The introductory menu I'm presuming was a loss leader, to regenerate business. Its inevitable that they have to ween it off to cheaper products.
The 15E menu is still packing good value regardless, and if you want a JD burger just get the cheese burger and ask for JD sauce on the side (they usually don't charge for it) granted you're missing bacon but it's still as nice.

I don't know how you can classify a 4E pint a 'rip-off', it's still cheaper than the vast majority of pubs.
If TGI's 15E menu is a rip off, I challenge you to find much better value for money and quality in the general vicinity.

Exclamation Marc

Kevin! wrote: »

Are you kidding me? The introductory menu I'm presuming was a loss leader, to regenerate business. Its inevitable that they have to ween it off to cheaper products.
The 15E menu is still packing good value regardless, and if you want a JD burger just get the cheese burger and ask for JD sauce on the side (they usually don't charge for it) granted you're missing bacon but it's still as nice.

I don't know how you can classify a 4E pint a 'rip-off', it's still cheaper than the vast majority of pubs.
If TGI's 15E menu is a rip off, I challenge you to find much better value for money and quality in the general vicinity.

I never said €4 pint was a rip-off, I said the sum total of TGI's was, and they were definitely not loss-leading with their original menu.

Gourmet Burger down in Dun Laoghaire. Burger & chips for a tenner. And the range of burgers extend beyond "cheeseburger". Bigger portion of chips as well. Throw in a drink and its €12.

In TGI's you can have a cheeseburger and a starter (which range from tiny garlic breads to mozarella sticks or a whole 4 (!) chicken wings) and a drink for €18 on its special menu.

previous user

I feel story for the staff, on another note yeh TGI is a f*cking rip off for the quality and quantity of food you get,
I'm gonna try wagamama in Blanch for lunch next time, I hear it's 10 euro, so i'll see.

paddydriver

Can't believe there is a whole thread on TGI's and no one mentioned "Tesco Clubcard Deals" - I thought everyone paid with them in TGI's

I have a stack load of them and got €300 worth of TGI deals about 4 months back and we head down every few weeks with the kids and they love it.

All things aside - I would not pay for it in cash as they have totally cheapened the menu and I honestly think that is because of the Tesco tokens cause I see so many people using them. The menu used to be far better - they used to do a great surf and turf etc. I prefer the one in Luigi Malone's now but they don't do Tesco deals...:eek:

I too didn't realise that the 5% did not go to the staff so I may tip a little more in future as generally they are good and they are always very accomodating of the kids and provide lots of crayons etc.

No boycotting from us... as long we have our tokens... Sorry

Kevin!

FireballPitcher wrote: »

I never said €4 pint was a rip-off, I said the sum total of TGI's was, and they were definitely not loss-leading with their original menu.

Gourmet Burger down in Dun Laoghaire. Burger & chips for a tenner. And the range of burgers extend beyond "cheeseburger". Bigger portion of chips as well. Throw in a drink and its €12.

In TGI's you can have a cheeseburger and a starter (which range from tiny garlic breads to mozarella sticks or a whole 4 (!) chicken wings) and a drink for €18 on its special menu.

You forget to mention that this offer is only valid Monday thru Friday - and the chips are most definitely not bigger.

So basically, you can get a

Burger+Fries+Desert/Starter and if you so choose to buy a drink it's free refills.

OR

Burger+Fries+Small Drink for three euro less


imo TGI's is still better value, but have you got any other examples for value?

Exclamation Marc

Kevin! wrote: »

You forget to mention that this offer is only valid Monday thru Friday - and the chips are most definitely not bigger.

So basically, you can get a

Burger+Fries+Desert/Starter and if you so choose to buy a drink it's free refills.

OR

Burger+Fries+Small Drink for three euro less


imo TGI's is still better value, but have you got any other examples for value?

The Gourmet Burger meal I gave you is straight off the menu, its not a "deal". Also, the burgers on the TGI deal are limited to Cheeseburgers. The Gourmet Burgers are any burgers, whether its chicken, beef, veggie and includes a variety of toppings aside from cheese, lettuce, tomato and onions.

Shikei

FireballPitcher wrote: »

I once ate in that TGI's and recieved my €20 change from a €50 in a tenner, fiver and coins.

Didn't think much of it until I talked to a friend who used to work as one of the hosts in TGI's and she said that some of the waiting staff do that as a way of making sure you have the coins to tip.
Bit cheeky really!

Back on point though. I refuse to eat in TGIs anymore due to their prices. They had a nice deal going when they had their €15 menu. But then they removed all their popular dishes off the menu and re-released the menu with loads of cheap crap on it. So now any half-substantial meal and a drink will be costing upwards of €25 + 5%.

No thanks.

I'm a waitress and I'm always worried people will think that's the reason I'm giving them change, but it's not! Sometimes I just don't have enough notes because everyone's been paying with 50s!


Does anyone know if this 5% thing is actually legal? Because I work for this company and I hate the "service" charge with a passion, first because I don't think people should be forced to pay a service charge and second because most people understandably presume it's going to their server and then they don't leave a tip.