Friendly’s

Sherbert with a swirl of frost bite and mold. A cup of coffee with bits of wilted and browning lettuce on the saucer. This place needs to close.

Friendly’s is hard to judge. I’ve had great experiences here, I’ve had down right terrible experiences. But to their credit, they go out of their ways to make up for your trouble if you have it. And to me that’s important that even if a place is to make a mistake, they will rectify it. I’ve had wrong orders, I’ve sat down and waited for 20 minutes without even getting a drink order or menu, I’ve had the power go out as my order went in, I’ve had waitresses spill drinks on me, but each time they step up to the plate and make it worth the trouble.
The food is actually quite good, as is the ice cream. The trick here is get go for the deals and the bargains. Go in with coupons, don’t feel compelled to overspend here. The company overall continues to improve so it’s worth giving them the benefit of the doubt and realize that no one is perfect so long as they choose to fix those mistakes. I would prefer other sit down experiences to Friendly’s but there is a certain charm to the place and the food is actually quite good for a family restaurant.
Be careful when you go, otherwise expect screaming little children or middle/​high school aged kids causing a ruckus. Also avoid the breakfast, their pathetic portions are not worth your dollar in and stretch of the imagination.

It was barely busy with horrible service and how can you serve home fries that are frozen in the middle. On top of that I couldn’t find a soul to pay for my mediocre breakfast and I will leave you a tip for your crappy service, use an umbrella in the rain… Save yourself time and money, go cook at home.

My partner and I like Friendly’s but there are none near our home in NYC, so we seek them out when we are traveling. The one in Gloucester was roomy and clean, the waitress was very fast, but we were disappointed to find that our favorite boca burgers had been replaced by disgusting garden burgers. We ordered the grilled cheese instead, and it was good.

It seems likely that there’s a special table at the cafeteria in hell for people who choose the Gloucester Friendly’s over the myriad of fresh and delicious seafood options in the North Shore. Thing is, though, Friendly’s has become a bit of a novelty these days, with most locations having been shuttered years ago. So, if you’re me, when you see a living, breathing, Friendly’s, you have to go. For better or for worse.
The food was fine. There’s not really much you can say about the standard Friendly’s fare, although the salad was fresh (I’ve been plagued by many a wilty lettuce leaf at other Friendly’s). Also, what’s up with giving little cups of ketchup rather than having the full-​size containers on the table? Clearly, we all want more than a ¼ cup of ketchup. Come on, Friendly’s. This is the one restaurant that’s so nostalgic to me that I don’t even consider the well-​being of my arteries when ordering. At least there are still free soda refills if you want them.
Service was, well… it’s apparent why Friendly’s has had some issues staying around. Despite a half-​empty dining room, it took us 15 minutes just to have our credit card run for the check, and ordering our food with a confused (albeit new, so I don’t hold it against her) waitress was an exercise in patience.
Gone are the days of friendly, veteran waitresses who know the menu by heart and want to get to know their customers as well. Ah, corporate America. We’ll always have the memories, and the ice cream.

The food is good. But the managment is.ehh. They mistreat their employees

I read those reviews in April and May of this year (2014) and I wonder what happened. Are the accounts of accommodating servers and good food some sort of glitch? I agree with all of the other complaints and bad reviews. .. this Friendly’s location is really bad. I just had take-​out — a burger and a shake. They messed up my burger order and had to ask me again about the shake!
All of that is just one part of my bad experience. The take-​out counter was messy, dirty, un-​stocked. .. no napkins, straws, take-​out menus strewn all over, the floor was dirty, the counter wasn’t wiped down. It was gross. The wait staff mostly just chatted among themselves — talked about how badly they wanted their shifts to be over. One guy kept staring at the traffic in the rotary, watching for the vehicle of the staff person who was going to take over so that he could go home! They took my order when they were good and ready.
I had a really long wait for my food. My burger was brought to the window — it was all wrong. The window guy asked me about my drink order: «Fribble. .. right?» no one had even started to make it. He threw it together, gave it 2 seconds on the machine and dumped it into a cup. I had a huge lump of ice cream that went «ker-​plop!» He looked at me sheepishly, knowing that he was giving me bad service.
While waiting, you could look through the take-​out window into the kitchen, which was dirty and messy. I also looked over the menu — I think a hot dog was priced at like $ 7.50! What the…?!
Ho-​hum food and crappy service.

Ice cream
burgers
and
memories
The very first Friendly’s was started in 1935 by the Blake brothers in Springfield, MA. The chain slowly spread across the NE until they at one time they had close to 500 stores operating.
Like a lot of old farts in CT and MA I grew up with Friendly’s, it was the place to go for ice cream, burgers and sandwiches. There weren’t any ethnic restaurants around back then and no fro-​yo or other fast food places. Friendly’s had a monopoly.
Times have changed and now the different types of restaurants and the places for ice cream type treats are incredible. Friendly’s is hanging on but has closed over one hundred stores in the last few years. Just too much competition.
But I still like Friendly’s and although this particular Friendly’s looks like it’s been around for a while it was clean and very pleasant inside. They have expanded their once very basic menu to try and keep up with times.
The ice cream and sundaes are still just like I remember and of course they still have their infamous Fribbles. A huge and very thick milkshake that I remember well as a kid.
The service we received was very prompt and efficient. We got what we ordered and it was just what we expected. The prices were reasonable and both my wife and I enjoyed our visit.
Whether or not Friendly’s will continue to survive or will fade into extinction is a question that is yet to be answered. So many other restaurants do what Friendly’s does and to be honest some do it better. However a trip to Friendly’s always bring backs memories of another time and other places. That’s something you just don’t get with newer and fancier restaurants.

The rest of the poor reviews are spot on.

A particularly unfriendly Friendly’s. Staff here is surly and can’t generally be bothered with you. The food is the same as every other Friendly’s you’ve ever been to. The manager yells at her staff in the kitchen when there is a restaurant full of people. No wonder they can’t stand working here.

I feel like a business should always live up to it’s name. The name of the business may even lead you to what they have to offer, or what you will find inside. This place should be named Grumpy’s, Sleepy’s, Dirty’s or any of the other 7 (or made up) dwarf’s names.
All we wanted was ice cream so we went to the window in the lobby area. We were the only ones there and waited a good 5 minutes for anyone to acknowledge us. I ordered a Happy Ending Sundae, and the bf got a «Frendzie» or whatever their version of the Blizzard is called. We waited… and waited… and waited… and while we waited we had a lovely view of the disgusting floor in the kitchen area. I don’t think they own a broom… or a mop… or a hose. I almost walked out but I had already paid $ 10 for two ice creams, and I saw her making my sundae and watched her every move. I didn’t want anything close to the floor to go into my food!
We finally got our ice cream and left. I opened the cover of my «sundae» to find that the whipped cream had been smushed into the cover and the black raspberry ice cream had frostbite all over it. I asked how my bf’s was and he just looked at me and said he was going to go get a straw. What? It’s a blizzard for crying out loud. Nope. Soup. Where were the chunks of peanut butter cup? No where to be found. It was like someone left out a pint of ice cream.
Completely disappointed, and grossed out.

Been to a couple Friendly’s. The décor was a nice hometown New England feeling however the service is to be desired.
I walked in and the servers looked very unhappy and look mad that I walked in. We got seated and the server was rude and didn’t care much to be serving us. Took her more than 5 minutes to get our soda’s. When we got our food my burger wasn’t cooked to Med-​Well, it was cooked beyond well done. I asked for frunonions and bacon I got 1 strand of the frunion and the bacon was in bits just piled up on the burger. When we ordered Ice Cream the server threw the checkbook on the table and walked away.

We dined in this location and the service time was awful. It should not take 2 hours to eat at friendly’s when there are 4 tables of people in the entire restaurant and 4 waitresses! The staff here needs to be more concerned with their customers than with trying to vacuum and sweep to close as soon as they can. I shouldn’t have to rush through my food with kids at warp speeds so that they can get to bed at a reasonable time and the staff can ignore us. Getting refills on soda during the meal would have been nice, as well as having silverware with our appetizers! My child would have liked a sauce with her meal but the waitress could not be found, unless we checked the employees out front smoking maybe! It would have been nice to know that they were out of cole slaw less than 45 minutes after I ordered it. This is not the first time I had bad service at this location but it will be the last!

I’ve only ever gotten the waffle fries. Pete got a sundae. I was pretty bummed because they had a sorbet advertised, however when I tried to order it, they were out. LAME-​O. Don’t advertise ya got something then not have it. Never again.

although very tasty and a great place to bring kids, be prepared to be BFF with your potty by the end of the night.

Friendly’s is pretty similar no matter what location you go to, but if you go in expecting a sorta crappy dining experience and not very healthy food, you won’t be disappointed, haha.
Seriously though, Friendly’s is kind of my guilty pleasure. I have every reason in the world to think it’s ‘gross’, but it’s just a little too tasty to be okay. :) Their burgers are really good. I don’t know why, but they just are. And their french fries are too, and their barbecue chicken fingers. I’d steer clear from anything beyond that type of food though. When you start branching into ‘steak dinner’ and other seemingly more upscale entrees, you’re asking for some tough as rocks meat and crappy sides. Stick with the typical fried and greasy stuff and you’re good to go.
If you’re going for ice cream, the only thing that really makes it worth it to me aside from it being one of the only ice cream places that’s open year round, is the peanut butter sauce. If they didn’t have that, I would never look forward to a Friendly’s sundae. Friendly’s ice cream tastes like stuff you’d get at the grocery store. It’s not like brigham’s where if you get it at the actual restaurant it’s really good… it’s just kind of boring. The consistency doesn’t ‘stretch’ like really good ice cream does, and it’s just not that great. But if you get a sundae, at least you have the sauces and toppings to mask some of the lackluster ice cream underneath.
Friendly’s, you will always have a place in my heart from middle school cast parties and low-​budget college friend dinners. Just don’t be so expensive and stop trying to serve ‘meals’. We love you for your crappy food that tastes a lot better than it should.

Friendly’s has some of the worst food I have ever eaten. Everything on the menu is delivered with a side of lard it seems. This location is no different. Disgusting food!
The people were nice… even though they all wobble when they walk due to the amount of fat they have on their bod’s.