Friendly’s

Why oh why did Friendly’s not remain a nice, ice cream-​centric parlor?
My boyfriend and I stopped in one night to grab a nostalgic Reese’s pieces sundae, and it was just a gross visit. We could see, and hear, what was happening in the kitchen from our seats, and it was a cacophony of noise, employee joking, and loud music being played by the kitchen staff. Our table was gross, as was the weird ordering and game machine located on it. Our server was nice enough but not someone I’d want to be handling my food.
The ice cream itself was good. At least that hasn’t changed. However, I will not be back, as the kitchen looked super gross, and the staff also made me question their food handling standards.

Got a $ 25 gift card, so I took my 4yo for lunch.
The food came out quick and my 4yo loved the tablet — he purchased the $ 1.99 unlimited play before I even had a chance to see what it was.
he got the ice cream and loved that as well.
only issue was i couldn’t use the gift card at the table-​top tablet, but they told me they were working on getting that option up and running.

Friendly’s wonders why they’re losing to the competition. Just look at the portion of the food. I remember back before 2001 you could go to any friendlys, fill up, and fill satisfied.

Wish I could give zero. I literally waited 30 minutes after being sat before I even saw my waiter. To top it off 90% of the tables were dirty. And the staff just stood around doing nothing but talking. This and the one in east Windsor should be shut down!

We walked in and walked out. 20 minute wait for a table for 2? Meanwhile, there’s a ton of empty tables and was told that they were short staffed so we couldn’t sit at any of the available 15 tables. My 5 year old only wanted a bowl of soup. Are you kidding me? They couldn’t sit us at a booth, bring two glasses of water and some chicken noodle soup. Really?! They suck! I got in my car and drove 10 minutes to Friendly’s in Vernon and received great service. — Peace out.

Stopped by after shopping and found the overall experience relaxing, and most of all economical after shopping. My kids could play games while the adults could visit before my sister headed home to Boston and I to NY
The restaurant was clean and servers were attentive and not intrusive.
This was a fantastic choice for us today

My daughters and I enjoyed the free ice cream that comes with each kids meal. You can’t beat the prices when your feeding 5 kids! The atmosphere is retro and awesome we have had a great time eating here!

I wish I could give Zero … Ice creams are good… service sucks… I was here 3 times in a week … And these guys were rude and lazy all 3 times … There are more waiters than customers and they take forever to take care of a customer …
I talk to the lazy manager and she’s like okay we will look in to it …
I’ll never come back to this stupid place

I would never come here again… but the kids love it. So here I am suffering through another terrible meal. I order a cheeseburger well done. and I emphasize WELL done. And cheese waffle fries. And what do you think I got. I got about 7 waffle fries hard cheese sauce and a bloody burger. NEVER AGAIN!!!

This place is a nightmare. Called to order a chicken tender basket, and a honey barbecue melt… Sounds simple enough right? Well not to the gems they have taking orders. I was told to «hold» for about five minutes while I can still hear the person walking around asking everyone if they have a drawer. Apparently she didn’t have one and couldn’t take my order without it. Then when she finally starts taking my order she has to yell back to someone to ask how to enter each item. At the end of this back and forth I asked for honey mustard on the side and if she can please read my order back to me so I know it’s right. She reads it back to me but has honey barbecue as the side so I correct her and tell her I want honey mustard. We show up 20 minutes later and my chicken tenders are slathered in bbq sauce. Why? I have no idea. Done done done with this place.

We brought the kids there on a half day. The kids started by ordering the pizza then were told they don’t have it anymore. It’s on the menu. We ordered a burger asked what was on it said ranch and bbq sauce said no ranch. It came out had mayo on it. They took it back and fixed it. We ordered ice cream asked for it to go and the check. The check was wrong charged me for an adult drink for the children’s. 30 minutes later we had paid and still no ice cream. Then the manager came over and said they no longer had what we ordered. Finally 35 minutes later we were able to leave. Really 35 min to make ice cream. I complained to manager but he was not phased at all by the poor service.

«Forget it, Jake; it’s Friendly’s»
Okay, so that’s not how the movie Chinatown ended, but it could have. Friendly’s has never been good. It’s like the McDonalds of casual dining. Terrible service, greasy food, all hallmarks of Friendly’s. They recently redid the interior and are constantly redoing their menu. All this is window dressing. I wish they would focus their attention on customer service and food quality.

Totally disgusted. Went in for a 9:30 meal. Could not get anyone to seat the two of us. Staff came and went and we just stood there. There was just several booths taken to the left of the door. No eye contact or anything after an initial delayed greeting. My friend and I finally just walked out and went next door to eat. We probably waited 5 minutes to the point where it felt uncomfortable. Really rude.

Puke
yeah, i started this review after being here 4 times more than when i said it was the last time. they just redecorated, still could have burned the kitchen down and would have helped out the overall experience, but hey, experience will vary.
i mean, i cant believe after one of many shitshows of a meal did i tell the wife, this is the last time, i mean, this has got to be the last time, but yet, here we were again. the boy wants to come here for his birthday a few days from now, i cant say no, but i know whats gonna happen, flighty service, gross food, and long waits, oy veh.
oh well, your kids can scream and throw anything anywhere and get gummi worms in some halfway meh ice cream, and thats why ive been here way too many times, i just wish i could find something to eat that didnt make me want to, oh how did i phrase it, oh yes, puke.
*shiver*

A group of about 25 of us from a school theater group came to eat post-​show as part of a tradition. 5 booths in total.
After waiting 45 minutes to be seated in a nearly empty restaurant it then took another 20 to order drinks. Our initial waitress was very nice but it was also her training night. After another 20 minutes we ordered our food, 10 long minutes after that we received our drinks. Slowly our food arrived first and appetizer of loaded waffle fries with cold cheese and burnt bacon. 45 minutes later a member of our table recieved the side of fries she ordered, they were unseasoned and soggy. 5 minutes after that I received my ice cream, completely melted and not the flavour I had asked for. It was now about 20 minutes before they closed and half our table had not received food. Shortly after that the manager came out and asked what we were missing, He left the establishment 5 minutes after. One plate came to our table after that and it was my food that I had waited over an hour for and the fries were nasty and all I waited was a take out box so we could just pay and leave. After asking a waitress for a takeout box and her ignoring my existence and her being completely and utterly rude when I repeated my request 10 minutes later it took 20 minutes to receive a take home box. Still one half of our table had not gotten their food. We asked them to remove those items so we could just pay and leave. It took them 20 minutes to fix the check and another 5 to get it to us. We paid and left a tip for the nice waitress that actually tried to help.
To review the food that we actually received calling it decent would be overstatement. The burger that a member of our table ordered medium was dark brown all the way through and about a quarter inch in thickness. The chicken supermelt that I received late and then took home was disgusting and the chicken was burnt and mostly breading covered in rubbery cheese and burnt bacon on bread that was saturated in butter. The milk shakes were okay because can you really screw up ice cream and milk. The imaginary onion rings, dippin chicken and sundaes that were ordered and never arrived would have probably been like the other food we received.
Never go to this Friendly’s the staff is incompetent and absolutely atrocious at their jobs besides the one woman who was getting trained that night and was the nicest person we had met. This restaurant needs to purge the staff and replace them. If you are a group of kids planning to here don’t they will not respect you and they will ignore you.
Go at your own risk.

Probably one of the worst restaurants in Manchester. Very run down, cranky staff, not very sanitary… You should see what goes on in the back sometimes! A waitress even took a guys food out of the trash once to give it to him because she accidentally threw out his takeout… I’ve seen them just quickly wipe a dirty coffee cup down with a wet paper towel and serve it to someone… Terrible!!! And still slow as ever on a busy night. I don’t even blame the people who work there completely. I blame corporate for having things run the way they do. Such delicious food, it’s a shame.

Friendly’s food roulette.
Nice enough staff but the condition of the restaurant is run down, dirty, food on the floor. my daughter’s chicken fingers were like rocks, my sons quesedilla (sp?) Could’ve been wrung for grease, my wife’s well done burger was nearly RAW, and the avocado was rotten. FAIL! Just don’t do it, don’t go for dinner… ice cream still great but for take out only in the ‘to go’ cups.

I’m very disappointed as to the state of Friendy’s. This is a great memory from my childhood. Now, it’s an also ran. I take my kids there for ice cream and nothing more. The food is not good. As a matter of fact, you what I think needs the most work? The french fries.
The menu has become a mess. The service is terrible. This restaurant could be turned around with the right focus. You are better off at Shady Glen.

We were passing through the area and were starving, so we figured Friendly’s would be a quick stop.
The place was pretty empty when we got there, but there were 3 groups ahead of us waiting for tables and no staff in sight. After 10 minutes of waiting, all of us were finally seated. The service was better while we were seated.
We started with waffle fries and we both had burgers. My burger was so greasy that I had to stop eating it. I was sick to my stomach about three bites in. At the end of the meal before the check, he ordered a fribble to go, and I a cup of ice cream. When it arrived, mine had no spoon. I had to go wait at the ice cream counter for a while until someone noticed me and was able to give me a spoon.

It’s been over 10 years since I’ve eaten at Friendly’s and the belly ache I had after eating here reminded me why I stopped going. My friend and I decided to visit after a day out shopping. We waited a bit for a table and once seated, we decided on their 2 for $ 20 deal. My friend ordered the clam strips, remembering how she used to love them and I decided to go with what was supposed to resemble a French dip. I’m not exactly sure why I thought Friendly’s would serve a decent French dip, but holy cow, this thing was disgusting. Utterly bland and super greasy. There was this weird ketchup tasting jelly on the soggy ciabatta bread and the fries were stale and cold. My friend and I both sent our fries back and after bringing out another batch of stale cold fries, they finally decided we couldn’t be fooled and brought us out fresh fries.
Woeful experience, won’t be back.