Friendly’s

We recently stopped by the Friendly’s at the corner of Indian Head Road and Jericho Tpk in Commack, NY. for a couple of Fribbles to go. It’s been a long time since we had these thick shakes and since we were in the neighborhood…
When I walked in there was all manner of activity in back of the counter with maybe 8 to 10 people waiting for their orders to be filled, two people were ahead of me on line. Turns out these people had been waiting upwards of 15 minutes for ice cream orders and the like. One guy walked out with an order of hamburger and fries.
Less than ten minutes after I arrived the manager took my order for two Fribbles. Most of the people that were there when I showed up had left with their orders after waiting in some cases 20 minutes or thereabouts.
I placed my order. Two Fribbles. How hard can that be, I thought. Fribbles are basically milk and ice cream — it’s a thick shake. I watched the action behind the counter, it was almost comical how uncoordinated and haphazard people went about filling orders behind the counter. I had a clear view of all the action behind the counter.
Consider that I had a single order for two Fribbles. Half the order was assigned by the manager to one young lady and the other half assigned to a young man — both apparently still in High School. There were easily a 6 or more kids in the cramped area behind the counter standing around, looking busy or playing with their cell phones. The girl was standing by the mixer machines when she got her half of my order, the boy was opposite her leaning against the ice cream freezers (cold compartments?) The area around the mixers was blocked by people looking for something or standing around. The girl had to go in search of milk on the other side of the work area, poured the milk in a steel cup, go put the milk away, then go find chocolate ice cream, put some in the steel cup, put the ice cream away. Fortunately for her the chocolate syrup was near the mixer area. Each time she left the mixer area someone would see the steel cup sitting on the counter, pick it up and look inside. Each time the girl left the mixer area she had to push her way back through the crowd. All this time the boy who was to fill the second half of the order was busy on his cell phone, apparently waiting someone to move so he could get working on the second Fribble.
Having put all the ingredients in the steel cup the girl put the cup up to the mixer, but she had trouble getting the cup to stay in the mixer as the mixer was located higher than the girl could easily reach. She struggled with it for a while until the boy with the second half of my order came by and assisted her. The boy then went through the very same procedure as the girl, perhaps slightly faster. All during the time the boy was making his Fribble the girl’s Fribble remained on the mixer whirring away. The boy resumed his cell phone activities immediately after he put the Fribble in the mixer and wandered away.
I’m watching all this thinking about the incredible level of inefficiency I was watching. It was as if the work area was laid out specifically to increase the amount of time needed to put together any sort of ice cream related order. Ingredients were spread all over the place and the equipment located in places suitable for people 5′ 10″ or higher. Although the area was clean, with regard to efficiency the area was a disaster area.
The girl reappeared, apparently forgetting she had put a Fribble on the mixer. It wasn’t until the girl took her Fribble down the boy woke up and did the same. When the drinks finally made their way to counter, some fifteen minutes later, the person at the register (not the manager) didn’t know why they were there. I stepped up and told him they were my order. I cost about $ 12 for the both of them. It wasn’t until after we left the parking lot that we took a sip of our delicious, thick Fribbles.
Except — they weren’t. By the time we got the drinks they had become chocolate milk. I paid 12 bucks for two glasses of chocolate milk. I image the manager thought that breaking my Fribble order in two would expedite things. In a sense it did — It hurried my decision not to go to Friendly’s in the near future. I’m in my sixties and I can state without qualification that I can personally make as many Fribbles as there are mixing machines in less than five minutes and they will come out perfect every time. If there are a dozen mixing machines set up I will have a dozen Fribbles made and ready in less than five minutes.
This is not rocket science. All it takes is focusing on the task at hand. Straighten out that work area so ingredients and equipment are easily accessible, come up with standard methods for filling customer orders an stick to them. Cell phones absolutely must be verboten in the kitchen and customer areas. If you’re not needed to do something in the kitchen or the dining area chances are you’re not needed to work there at all.

Just to let you know this place is outstanding the food came in 10 min it was hot, and my son and wife enjoyed it so much. also our waitress was the nicest person that I had in a very long time. she was kid friendly and she came to see how we were doing several times. once again outstanding service…

Not for me. My 12 year old likes going here, mostly for the ice cream but she likes the food. I don’t like the food. I do like the ice cream and the different ways they offer it. I only go here for the ice cream. Service is what it is.

The worst in service. Like all kids, my eighteen-​year old daughter and her friends stopped here for some food after one of them got off work from target. They got to the restaurant around 10:10PM. They close at 11PM. I think the staff ignored them on purpose because they were not seated until about fifteen or twenty minutes. They were being leered at– not being asked if they wanted a table. Mind you they were not busy– I think they were trying to discourage the kids from coming in to order as that can delay from going home on time at 11pm. They finally got seated but after a plate of appetizers and milkshakes, they were told very nastily that they cannot order more food as they were closing in ten minutes. At fifteen minutes before 11, my daughter said that the staff were already sweeping/​vacuuming the floors, all while about ten tables were still occupied. Where was the manager to stop this outrageous treatment of customers? Don’t they want business? Well, with the myriad of choices for eateries around Commack, I think my daughter will take her business elsewhere. Id give zero stars if I could.

Delicious ice cream. Again and again. But. Worst. Service. Ever. Doesn’t matter where you sit. When you go. Especially take out. Admittedly, it’s crazy busy in there. But they have no system. No supervision. And it’s chaos. If you are ever in a good mood and want to get out of it, go to Friendlys and try your patience and the take out line. The ice cream will be good. But there’s a good chance you’ll have to remind them what you ordered. Refrain from jumping over the counter and strangling the people that work there. It’s not worth it. They’re probably well intentioned kids but management is completely non existent. Good luck.

This place was good. The waitress was really nice and courteous without being facetious. I ordered the Reuben supermelt with waffle fries which were so good. My boyfriend got the honey bbq chicken supermelt which was amazing. All in all, an inexpensive, cute place with a good amount of variety to choose from. What more can you ask for?

Ever since the East Northport location closed I have been coming here for my favorite honey barbecue melt /​munchie mania type appetizer meal. They have a seperate take out service area from where you neet with a hostess for seating which is convenient. I have received food cooked like I expected it to be and tasty as usual.

Today I went to my favorite restaurant in world and I had the best time ever because of the the fantastic service from my favorite waitress Cassidy. Me and my buds had a great night.
Yours truly,
Zach

We had a nice time at Friendly’s and our food was good. It’s been a while since I left L.I. and I don’t remember anything particularly good nor bad about it, just liking it. Our server was really nice too. I’d eat there again.

Came here for late night dessert. The place was pretty empty we were seated right away. I ordered a Chocolate Supreme Waffle Sundae, what I got was a really good chocolate sundae without the supreme waffle. I know some places don’t make fresh waffles but at least heat it, defrost it, or microwave it. I was extremely disappointed in the waffle, but the ice cream and brownies were really good.

Everybody’s favorite place to go after _​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​practice. Every night of the week you’ll see kids in their jerseys, cleats whatever getting a much deserved ice cream. With two kids that are active in sports, we eat here more than we eat at home.
The menu has enough variety to cover most kids and adult tastes. Except for couple of times when the food came out not as hot as I’d like, it’s usually prepared well. They do change the menu around a little to mix things up. But for the most part the kids menu stay the same, chicken fingers, quesadilla, hot dogs, mac & cheese.
Over the years they’ve maintained a few regular waiters/​waitresses, with a few new ones that come and go. Some better than others and some sharper than others. Case in point…
A couple of weeks ago, while we were there for lunch, there was a power outage in the area. All the waiters had to write up the checks by hand. The items we ordered came out to about $ 25. It almost cost us $ 225 dollars because our waiter couldn’t do the math for the check. We watched him use up two sheets of paper trying to figure out that the tax on $ 25 was $ 200. He multiplied 25 by 8 (for 8 percent tax). My 11yo son started laughing… I had to tell him to walk away. In the car i looked at both of my kids and told them…“that’s why it’s important to go to school”. :)
The waiter seemed like a nice guy… but really $ 200 tax?!?

If you’re looking for a family place for younger kids this fits the bill nicely. You know what to expect. Not fine dining.

This place is great for kids.
I’m a clean freak and this place is just to sticky and dirty for me. while they offer good yummy food, It takes a lot for me to actually go here.
The prices are great and they have awesome ice cream sundaes. You can also take anything to-​go from there to-​go window.