TGI-Mac & Cheese

Not too long ago I experienced my first restaurant brand mac n' cheese (thanks to the power of the freezer aisle, I've got more coming).  That mac isn't currently (and probably never was) served in restaurants, but the whole point of meals like those is to make you feel like you're enjoying those restaurants meals while at home.  TGI Friday's is another chain that has gotten into the business of marketing themselves out and letting a food manufacturer bring inspired by meals to our tables.


The Review

Brand:
T.G.I. Friday's Grilled Chicken Mac & Cheese

Flair not included.

Price:
$3.49 at Safeway

Packaging Description:
(On Front)
New!
White meat chicken and Cavatappi pasta in a classic American cheese sauce topped with cheddar, Romano, Parmesan and Monterey Jack cheeses.
Loaded with five cheeses
(On Back)
Also try our Loaded Chicken & Cheese
Make and day a Friday! Start with Friday's Loaded Crispy Buffalo Wings from your grocer's freezer. Spice it up and stir in 1tsp of hot sauce before serving. Bar suggestions: Ice cold beer.
Zap it quick!

Preparation:
*Take the tray out of the box.

In case you forgot that you just pulled this out of a TGI Friday's box, the plastic film is here to remind you.  Coming soon to a mac near you, TGI Noodles!

*Put the tray into the microwave and cook for 2:30.
*Once the microwave beeps (or dings, or buzzes, or talks to you in a soothing robotic voice) notifying you that it's job is done, remove the tray from the microwave.

Too bad there was no color or heat changing film.  That would have been cool to see the logo move, get bigger something.

*Peel back the film and stir the meal up, being sure to break apart the frozen chunks.

If you look closely in the center, you can see the added Cheddar, Romano, Parm and Monterey Jack cheeses sprinkled on the top.  This will also be the last time you see them.

Stirred up and though a little lopsided, it won't matter in a few minutes when it's being shoveled into your tummy.

*Place the cover (as best you can, these things never play totally nice once peeled up) back over the tray and put back into the microwave.
*Cook the mac n' cheese for an additional 2:30.
*Once the cooking is complete, let the tray sit in the microwave for a minute.  It will be hot.  Cooling will let the sauce congeal some and not scald the roof of your mouth off.

Chicken is a little browner, sauce is little more liquidy

*Stir the mac up one last time.

Mac has gone and gotten it's glamor shots on!

*Get your Friday's On!  (No seriously, that's what the box says). Maybe if this came with some flair or kitsch I could screw to my walls I'd really feel like I'm at the restaurant.  I'm not sure how getting one's Friday on equates to eating, but go ahead and commence with the nomming just to be on the safe side.


Taste:
Pulling this out of the oven I smelled a cheesy sauce and cooked chicken (a good sign!).  As I stirred this up I noticed that the sauce looked very watery and didn't really stick to the noodles.  The sauce itself tasted like what the box said it would. American cheese, which isn't really the best cheese to use when making mac n' cheese.  I didn't notice any hints of the other cheeses that were at one point seen on the top of the noodles and chicken. The noodles were very well cooked, but not to the point of being over cooked.  The chicken chunks were blobs of chicken with little to no texture.  There were a good number of chunks of chicken in the meal (which was a surprise), they just didn't feel like chicken breast (or heck any other part of the chicken that hasn't been processed to high heaven) when you were eating them because they were so squishy.

Final Score:
Reading the directions and other text on the box reminded me not quite of TGI Friday's the restaurant, but of the movie Office Space and when it made fun of places like TGI Friday's.  The box copy just tried so damn hard and the meal inside was just not quite there.  The sauce was just too watery, the noodles too overcooked and that chicken.  Poor poor chicken.  I wish I knew what they did to you (wait, scratch that I really don't want to know what they did to you).

Nutritional Information:
Serving Size 1 Tray (340g)
Servings Per Container 1

Calories  480  Calories From Fat 150
Total Fat 16g (25% Daily Value)
Saturated Fat 9g (45% DV)
Trans Fat 0g (0% DV) 
Cholesterol 75mg (25% DV)
Sodium 890mg (37% DV)
Total Carbohydrates 54g (18% DV)
Dietary Fiber 2g (8% DV)
Sugar 10g
Protein 31g