TGI Friday's Renovations a 'Family-Friendly' Makeover

TGI Friday's in Braintree is undergoing a complete overhaul, knocking down its inside walls, revamping its menu, moving the bar and opening its kitchen in an effort to serve more guests and attract a family-friendly crowd.

The restaurant across from the South Shore Plaza at the new South Shore Place has a history of alcohol-related problems. It installed a new manager last year to address those issues, and this summer's renovation is another step toward improving its reputation, representatives told the Board of License Commissioners this week.

"This will be just a wonderful facility for patrons who come to the Town of Braintree," attorney Albert DeNapoli said. 

TGI Friday's closed and began construction in April and plans to re-open by the end of August. Its new interior layout and menu is a prototype for the national chain, one of only three restaurants in the country debuting it so far, DeNapoli said. 

By adding more than 50 seats and creating a four-sided bar, the restaurant will bring its seat capacity to 273 and its overall capacity, including standing, to 337. Removing the partitions that previously separated the restaurant into sections will also allow for a larger, open kitchen and improved sight lines so that management can better oversee the operation.

The board approved TGI Friday's renovation plans 3-1, with Chair Joe Powers voting no because he preferred to table the request while the restaurant completes a detailed parking plan.

Powers also chastised the restaurant for not notifying the board that it was closing for renovations, as required by local regulations. The restaurant ran the risk that officials could have voted down its renovations and required it to revert back to its original plan under its liquor license. 

DeNapoli said he took full responsibility for the lapse, saying that he filed the application in April but that it was incomplete and he failed to update the description of renovations in a timely manner. TGI Friday's had received other required permitting and approvals from the planning and zoning boards and building department.

"We're simply looking for a written notification, a heads up if you will," Powers said.

Over the last three years, TGI Friday's has been in front of the license board several times for alleged alcohol violations. 

In June 2012, for instance, the restaurant was cleared of wrongdoing by the board after an alleged drunken driving accident in its parking lot. Officials could not prove that the patron was overserved at Friday's, though Powers said at the time he thought there was a strong possibility the man had been over-served and that he didn't "get the sense that management takes its obligation seriously."

In January 2011, the board decided that T.G.I. Friday's did not violate the terms of its alcohol license at the conclusion of a two-day, six-hour hearing involving an incident the previous December in which a New Hampshire man was found drunk and urinating outside the restaurant.

On March 23, 2010, Friday's was found by the board to have served an intoxicated person after hours and was shut down for three days. Friday's license was also suspended for one day in 2008 after the restaurant was found to have sold alcohol to an underage person.

During the board's meeting Tuesday, DeNapoli said the restaurant plans to continue the police details in place for busy nights and that he would discuss with Police Chief Russell Jenkins the need for any further details.

Jenkins said that the additional capacity could mean more details become necessary.

"We also think," DeNapoli said, "that the patronage will be a little different."