TGI Fridays

I just don't even know where to start and finish with this one.  I'd heard of TGI's a fair bit from a few people but have never thought to look it up or ask what it's like.  Just accepted that it was awesome and we should go there.  We saw a voucher for it while flicking through the entertainment book, it was for 30% off I think and it seemed like a good deal, because I want as much $$ off as I can get! Nothing wrong with being a little cheap :) 

In Australia there's a fair few in Melbourne and one in Adelaide.  Good ol' Adelaide.  That one is in Marion which for us in the hood (the north eastern hood that is) it's a bit of a trip (not really, but a little bit).  Paul picked me up from work and we were on our way on a chilly Friday night.  I had looked up the place during the day at work and my jaw dropped at the menu.  AMERICANA.  Burgers burgers steak ribs potato jackets steak DEEP FRIED EVERYTHING.  I didn't see onion rings on the menu which I was super disappointed about.  And I was glad we had our voucher because while it wasn't ridiculously expensive, it was a bit more than we had on a standard date night. 

Neither of us have reeeeeally frequented around the Marion shopping centre, and frankly to me it's a bit intimidatingly big.  I've never really made an effort to go there except to get to the all you can eat Pizza Hut (the things I do for food) and even that's on the outside.

SO we drove around the giant shopping centre for a little while trying to find where it was.  Called to find out where and they started naming what they were near.  Not sure why I called really because I was just doing the ol' "ohh yep yep okay great thanks we'll see you soon"… I had no idea where they were still but I didn't want them to judge my lack of knowing where things are. 

We got there.  It was normal for about 5 seconds then it was just loud noises (Anchorman, anyone?).  But not like yelling across the table at each other loud, just constant noise.  There was a lot of people around the bar and it took me a little bit to realise that people just go there to drink on Fridays (or other days I assume but for the fun of it lets say Fridays).  We sat down and got introduced to our waitress and ordered drinks.  Standard stuff.  All of a sudden a bell starts going.  Not like a door bell.  Like a clangy WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING THERE'S A FIRE hand held sounding bell (held into a microphone and turned up).  Then someone starts yelling something and everyone at the bar cheers and then it's back to normal.  We were obviously the only first timers there because I didn't see anyone else flinch (or get on their knees on their chair to look around and see what was happening/try to take photos "subtly" like I did).  

We got to order our meals before the bell started again, and still again I had to look around then look back at Paul like LOL are you even hearing/seeing what's happening right now?!  I still looked each time it went off as if that would help me understand.  It didn't.  If you're looking for a romantic night out where you can be cute and look into each others eyes do not come here.  

I started with potato jackets which I wasn't that keen on.  I think they were deep fried maybe and they just tasted weird, so I ate the healthiest bit (the cheese and bacon, obviously) with a bit of the potato that didn't taste all fried.  I'm sure that's the exact thing some people go nuts over, just wasn't for me.  When I was debating whether to get chicken wings or the jackets I asked our waitresses advice and she said if you like spicy things go for the wings.  I don't so I didn't, but for those of you out there that do - get them and tell me how they are!

I'm sorry to be crass, but FUCK the potato jackets.  Forget them and never think about them again.  I had the best goddamn burger of my life (not comparative to Burger Theory because it's different).  If you like the flame grilled perfection that is a Hungry Jacks whopper you will LOVE the cheeseburger at TGI's.  Because - yeah you better believe it - it  tastes like a bigger, better but very similar version of a whopper.  Oh my lordy.  The thing was in my hands (another similarity - it takes two hands to understand!) the entire time I was eating it, which embarrassingly enough was not a very long time at all.  I didn't touch the fries, I didn't need them.  I was so completely fulfilled by the burger I'm lucky it wasn't bigger because I would have eaten it all regardless.  I didn't even offer to share any, but Paul seemed pretty caught up in his ribs so I don't feel all bad. 

Even though I was so full from the burger (and the potato jackets) I think I was so caught up in coming somewhere that we wouldn't usually go that I wanted to "make the most of it".  So I did what any binge eater would do - I ordered more food.  Granted, we did order it a solid 15 minutes after our mains got taken away.

Dessert.  We didn't go all out crazy and get one each.  We did however, get the biggest dessert they had on the menu… What of it?  It had rich chocolate cake, vanilla and chocolate ice-cream, cream, strawberries, rich chocolate fudge sauce aaaaaand a curly wirly.  Talk about mind-blowing sugar overload.  

It was so good I didn't know what to do with myself.  I was so full I was about to explode but I didn't have enough self control to stop.  Really, I think it's actually some kind of issue but for my tastebuds it's fantastic.  We ate as much as we could, then the iced mocha that Paul had ordered and forgotten about came out.  It was a "well, you're paying for it so you should probably at least drink some of it" kind of situation.  I genuinely felt a little bad for him, because watching him drink it made me feel sick with fullness and I couldn't imagine how stretched his poor belly must be.   But like the man that he is, he drank it.  

It all came to about $94 I think, but with the voucher it was only $60 something, which was a huge discount to us and much appreciated by our bank accounts.  So car ride home I had to unzip myself and didn't talk a lot.  It was a bad move on my part eating so much, but looking back I had no regrets.

I would love to go to TGI's again, I think i'd just stick to the burger though.  And maybe with more of a group to appreciate the loud noisy crowd vibe.  Two enthusiastic thumbs up. 

Chenzo's Italian Restaurant

It's great on a winter date night when you find yourself in a small, warm and cosy atmosphere for dinner.  This particular date night I was a bit sick and feeling a bit sorry for myself, so I just wanted a hot yummy meal before I cuddled up with a blanket, movie and some bad food.  And Paul of course.

Paul booked Chenzo's and we were off!  I was happy because it's in Greenwith and I really didn't feel like going back into town after work.  I really felt like a pasta meal so tonight I wasn't particularly fussed about trying new things.  I just wanted food and warmth.

Walking in it was lovely.  It had dimish lighting which for me made it look warm and inviting.  I loved the yellow light covers which gave it a glow and liked how small and quiet it was.  There was only a few other tables full - one with a couple of kids which made it seem that little bit more full with them running around the place.  At one stage a little girl started peaking over her chair at Paul then hiding whenever he would notice.  It was hard to get his attention back for a little while haha. 

The service the second we stepped in was really really good.  When we didn't want to sit on the table that was super close to another couple, they made up another table next to the original one without a bother (people had just left that one so it didn't have knives forks etc).  They were friendly about it and were all "of course this will be a better table for you, more space" etc.  It was just something that made me appreciate the staff straight away.  There was no eye rolling, no sighs, no looks of "are you serious", just flat out helpfulness. 

When we were ordering our drinks the waiter (who had helped us change tables) wasn't just about the ordering, he asked us if we had a good day, had plans after dinner… just general small talky stuff.  But it was general small talky stuff that we don't usually get!  I'm not saying other places have been rude or anything, most situations they've been far from it, but it's not usually the next step like Chenzo's did.  It's certainly not a big deal, it was just nice.  It's not like I would have wanted to sit there and have a big conversation about my day or anything… You get the jist. 

We decided on our meals pretty quickly.  Paul has developed a taste for gnocchi now so as soon as he saw that option on the menu he was there.  I'm a sucker for chicken and bacon in pasta so my choice was pretty easy too.   We also went the garlic bread.  Which was buttery and herby and greasy on my fingers - so perfect garlic bread really. 

Then the mains came out.  Surprisingly it didn't feel like the garlic bread had really made a dent in my belly so I was plenty hungry still.  There was a monster of a meal put down in front of me.  For whatever reason, even with my belly rumbling it didn't smell/look that appealing to me.  I was certainly happy I didn't have Paul's meal.  The bowl was way over filled and looked kind of slopped.  They were huge bowls too.  But that's just me being picky - who am I to judge how a restaurant plates up their meals?  I'm no chef or restaurant owner. 

Just from looking at my pasta I could see heaps of bacon and onion and chicken and spinach.  I was certainly looking forward to digging in.  The main thing I remember is the sauce being really salty, which may have been because of the bacon… or the amount of salt they put in haha.  The first bit of chicken I got was tender and juicy, the next was dry.  It went like that for each bit I got but hey, it kept me on my toes wondering what the next bite was going to taste like.

I stopped eating the bacon because nearly all of it was stuck together and looked like this:

and I had to rip it apart with my teeth (it was just too much eating it all lumped together) which made me look like a slop and then most of it would stay clumped anyway.  Wasn't worth it.  As I said before it was very salty and wasn't something that made me want to keep eating once I was full.  And I didn't get it take away because I knew I wouldn't eat it at home. 

Paul didn't particularly enjoy his either, but that was more because (as he found out) he prefers creamy sauces to tomato.  He said the gnocchi itself was good, just not the sauce. 

As we were finishing up a couple came in who appeared to be regulars.  By that I mean they were greeted by name and given a dessert menu straight up (eavesdropping whaaaaat?).  They got asked if they wanted the "usual".  It made me sad that I was too full for dessert because obviously they're awesome. 

I've heard great things about this place, and it has a fantastic rating on Urbanspoon.  It's family friendly and had a good number of people coming through for a cold winter night.  Being to a few italian places now I think we're spoilt for choice.  Plus I'm a bit of a picky eater and Paul prefers creamy to tomato-y so we can't really give a proper guide on the gnocchi either.  I personally wouldn't go back, but I'm sure there are plenty of people who would.  As always, don't take our word for it, if you're in the area give it a go yourself!