One of the great things about writing restaurant and food reviews when you're not getting paid to do it is that you don't expect anything special in the way of prepared food or the service at an establishment.
You're just another customer walking in to enjoy a meal and a night all, and you get what you get.
This past Wednesday evening was no exception. We decided to go back to our favorite spot for hamburgers and other food and drinks.
On this night, we forwent the alcoholic drinks and went with ice tea for me, and Patti had water. Yup! Plain water.
No matter what we had in the way of drinks, the food was where it was at, and Fridays didn't let us down that night except for a mix-up in the order, which I'll get to in a minute.
My Food
I ordered the Whiskey Glazed Bacon and Cheese Burger with all the fixings except the onions and lettuce. I don't get the onions because I don't care for them, and as for the lettuce, I'm not too fond of soggy lettuce on anything.
As hamburgers go, I'm sure some other great places around this area have great burgers, and I know a bunch and have been told about a few to try and review. Patti and I will cover all of the suggestions from comments in the coming year, no worries.
For now, though, Fridays is my choice, and even Pattis for their burgers. Not only are they thick and juicy, but they taste great and are always cooked the way you order them. I can honestly say I've never had a burger overcooked or undercooked since we've been going to Fridays.
Eating out often and ordering burgers at other places in Fresno and Clovis that's something to be proud of if you're Fridays. I don't get to compliment a restaurant often because my burger is cooked the way I ordered it.
This burger meal comes with fries and a side dish of the whiskey glaze, which is great for dipping your fries. Much better than ketchup, in my opinion.
The burger is so thick I had to cut it in half to take a bite and not make a mess of the juice dripping out on my clothes. However, I will admit a little whisky glaze dropped onto my shirt. Sorry Patti, laundry time.
Other than that little spill, my hamburger was perfect in every way.
Patti's Order
Patti decided to order the special dish of the month on the front of the menu, including ribs, shrimp, mashed potatoes, and broccoli. All with a whisky-glazed sauce.
When they brought her order, we noticed no mashed potatoes or broccoli. In their place were boneless chicken wings and shrimp. Something was up, and we waved our server down.
Sitting Down
When we first walked in, the manager on that evening walked us over to our table and told us our server would be right with us. When our server came, she came with another server in tow. After introductions, we concluded our main waitress was training, and the one in the background was her trainer.
We have been through trainees at Fridays before and lived through it, so we didn't care. We were hungry and wanted to eat. Bring on the food.
Back to Patti's Order
As I stated above, Patti's order was botched, and we called over our server to let her know. At first, the training server came and said, "you ordered the sampler," which is what the plate served was, but I said, "we didn't order that we ordered what was on the front of the menu with mashed potatoes and broccoli."
The manager overheard my slight frustration( my frustration was that she wanted to argue about what we ordered) with the training server and came right over. Now that's a great manager.
The manager knew exactly what happened and told us it had to do with the trainee waiting on us. The thing was, I remember the training server repeating what Patti ordered, so I know in my heart she got it right. The kitchen got it wrong.
Anyway, the manager was kind enough to let Patti keep the wrong order, making her order fresh instead of just adding mashed potatoes and broccoli to her botched order. Now that's better than great PR and managing. I'll be writing to the company about her.
Patti's correct meal finally came, and everything was perfect. The meat was falling off the ribs. The shrimp were fried perfectly and not greasy, and they didn't overcook the broccoli.
Patti said the mashed potatoes with garlic were creamy and had the right amount of garlic mixed in. She knows mashed potatoes better than I do, so I listen to her reviews, and you should also.
In The End
It was a great experience again at Fridays. I can't write enough about their servers, their food, and the general ambiance of the place. It's a great night out casually or even for a more formal dinner if that's what you're looking for.
As always,
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