According to our tester, TGI Fridays' superiority came down to three factors: The quality of the meat, a generous serving of caramelized onions which worked well with the sharp cheddar hit, and (rather surprisingly for a frozen product) the bread. "It's a simple yeast-based roll, but it has that sweeter taste and pillowy texture of a potato bun," we wrote. "It was the only bun that really impressed me out of the bunch, so I believe that deserves extra kudos."
The flagship TGI Fridays opened on Manhattan's Upper East Side in 1965, but it wasn't the family-friendly operation that exists today. The first T.G.I. Friday's, as it was called then - the company dropped the periods and the apostrophe in 2013 - was the world's first singles bar. The bar was founded by perfume salesman Alan Stillman, an Upper East Side bachelor who himself was looking for a place to mingle with other singles.