T.G.I. Friday's cooks up new menu items: It's all about the details

I used to work at T.G.I. Friday's -- I was young, I needed the money -- and when customers would ask me what they should order, I unfailingly advised them to stick to appetizers and cocktails: no mussy, no fussy, and no details for me to screw up.

J. Wohletz

Curious to see how T.G.I.F would handle mussy-and-fussy-sounding new menu items like Corned Beef Sliders, Warm Pretzels with Craft Beer-Cheese Dipping Sauce, Korean Steak Tacos, Caribbean Rum Spiced Ribs and Salted Caramel Cake, I decided to pay a call on "ol' stripes."

I stopped in at the Thornton location shortly after 2 p.m., the slow time between lunch and dinner rushes. Only a handful of tables were occupied, and the place was about as peaceful as T.G.I.F can be, given the inexplicably loud '90s dance-party hits blaring from the sound system. I hadn't heard that "blue deeb-a-doober" song in a while, so, bonus.

J. Wohletz

T.G.I.F servers are still insane perky. They are supposed to be all shoot-from-the-hip conversational and upbeat, and mine was, indeed. I remember the various legal/illegal substances I used to use to keep up the bouncy, and was glad my liver and kidneys survived my tenure as a Friday's employee. (It's debatable whether or not my brain survived it.)

T.G.I.F has always had an ample and relatively great selection of starters: The wings, potato skins and potstickers are undeniably amazing bar food. I scanned the menu for appetizers that were actually new -- not recycled from ingredients on hand -- and decided on the Corned Beef Sliders and the Warm Pretzels with Craft Beer-Cheese Dipping Sauce. (I skipped the Langostino Lobster & Shrimp Mac 'n' Cheese, because last I knew, T.G.I.F used Stouffer's macaroni and cheese, and although that may have changed, I didn't want to pay $8.99 to find out.) I noticed that T.G.I.F no longer offers a soup/salad with entrees: It's a $2.69 up-charge now. But I skipped that option when I ordered the Korean Tacos and Caribbean Rum Spiced Ribs; the dishes both had their own sides.

J. Wohletz

The starters came quickly, and the sliders were above average, even by T.G.I.F's standards. The warm pretzel bun was all the good sort of chewy, the beef was fall-apart tender, the caramelized onions and melted Swiss cheese were in the right amounts to be complementary but not overly sloppy, and while I hadn't been wild about the combination of mayonnaise and mustard -- "mayostard" -- when I saw it on the menu, it worked.

J. Wohletz

The breadsticks and beer-cheese dip were a fabricated sort of delicious: The bread looked and tasted par-baked (it comes into the restaurant already partially baked and is finished on site), and the bacony sauce not only had a distinguishable pre-prepared quality, but was so salty that it made the grains of pretzel salt on the breadsticks seem even more overwhelming than intended. Pick one, people: Over-salt the dip or the bread, but not both -- unless, of course, the goal is to get customers to cleanse their palates with massive amounts of beer.