Friendly’s

And here I am again, only six days after finally writing a review on the place — this Friendly’s location is now CLOSED! Kind of annoyed, since it put two of my daughters out of work, but I guess it was bound to happen sometime since it’s part of the Granite Run Mall property that is going to be redeveloped soon. Right before the holidays though — UGH!

Hands down the best service I’ve ever had. The manager Matt was awesome && very attentive. It’s perplexing that I can get 5 star service from a joint where my children eat for under ten bucks. I’ve had great service at Sullivan’s Steakhouse but he put them to shame. He treated my family like the royalty we are. Yes these kids wear crowns over her (Drake vc) he deserved that $ 30 tip. Food was really fresh and good. I never eat when I take my kids here but I had a starter, entrée and dessert and everything was great. Well done we will be back.

They do have really good burgers, I was surprised. My boyfriend and son love it there so we go pretty frequently.

Run but teenagers and extremely slow service — bordering on ridiculously slow.
Meanwhile our 8 year old loves it here and we hosted a «sundae party» here for she and 5 of her little friends last September.
We have been back a few times to eat — and prefer this location to the SPringfield Mall one — but you have to tell them you are in a hurry (maybe even if you’re not!) to get your food in a timely fashion.
Avoid the iceberg-​blah salads.
Burgers are OK — a bit greasy.
Ice cream is the main reason to come at all.
Got kids? They’ll like Friendly’s.
Got tastebuds? You may not like it so much!

Long wait, dirty place, uncaring staff. NEVER going back.

The usual, except this place is in a strip mall.
Went on a Sunday morning and it was empty. Don’t know why, since it seems like every other Friendlys I’ve been in. It’s a quite area and there is a McDonalds just one block away, so that could be the reason, but really, on a Sunday morning diners are usually crowded.
Even though it was empty, it still took a very long time for our orders to come out. All we had were eggs, bacon and toast, nothing special. I always feel that Friendlys are slow with service, but this place was empty, so there was no excuse.
Our waitress was very pleasant and I almost felt sorry for her. How many tips can she get if the place is empty on a Sunday morning?
Hope that helps!

We had to wait for 20 minutes to be seated on a non-​busy Saturday afternoon. It took another 10 minutes for the waitress. The food quality was very low and expensive.
Overall very disappointing experience.

Ok Ok I know this place is considered crappy but it deserves a review.
My daughter turned 11 this week. It was the first year that she didnt really want any toys or dolls, she wanted her ears pierced.
me: What do you want for your B-​day? A doll?

female offspring: no, I want my ears pierced.

me (uncomfortable): ha ha sure you dont want any toys?

girl I hardly know anymore: no, I want my ears pierced, and some new outfits an mp3 and a cell phone.
me (getting desperate): LOOK BARBIES!
so I had to face reality that my little girl was growing up. We picked up her best friend and headed to the Granite Run Mall. I got into a slight fender bender on the way there (not my fault of course). My mood was darkening.
A few tears escaped my eyes as i watched a mall employee mutilate my daughters ears.
Friendlys was not my first choice but as fate was proving that it wasnt my day anyway. the girls wanted to go so we headed for Friendlys. A multitude of emotions tore at me on the way there. Lets just say i wasnt feeling too friendly.
The Friendlys experience always starts the same way. No matter how busy or dead they are, they make you wait at the door for a little too long. It almost seems like your visit is an inconvienence, as if you showed up at Aunt Agnes’s house uninvited. Sure shed put you up but youll get the attitude.
There is also a long wait after being seated for the server to visit. Since im in the biz, I recognize when someone is in the weeds and they often are at Friendlys.
Ok, things start looking up from here. Once we were acknowledged, the girl did a fine job. She checked on us, got our refills, all the things that we should expect but are often lacking.
The food works for me. Its not fantastic, but its filling and reliable. I got a Reuben. Ive had better but it was good. I was actually not hungry due to the days tragedies and when the plate was put before me, my appetite started to return, and along with it a better attitude.
The girls shared a sampler, which they raved about. My notoriously picky son got his standard Grilled cheese, which met his approval. My wife also got a sampler, which was good (I especially liked the mini cheese sticks).
i like the diversity of the menu. Theres really something for everyone. Its all very tasty. The prices were right too. We laughed and joked and had a good time, and isnt that what its all about (not the hokey pokey like we were led to believe as kids).
As we all ate our ice cream (YUM!) i reflected on it all. The car could easily (if not cheaply) be repaired, noone was hurt. My daughter is behaving naturally for an 11 year old (and i, naturally for a dad). And Friendlys is not so bad, in fact, quite good. And… hey wait, did that boy wave at my little girl?! OH HELL NO!

I don’t care what anyone says, I freaking love Friendly’s.
This is mostly because I lived in Ohio from ages 2 – 5, and I have vivid memories of the Reese’s PB sundae. Man oh man. After we left Ohio, and were distraught at the lack of Friendly’s on the West Coast, we made it a point to go to Friendly’s as often as possible any time we were in the vicinity of one, including but not limited to: (1) A midwest road trip with a detour through Ohio for the sole purpose of visiting a Friendly’s and (2) A trip to Boston in which Friendly’s was visited twice in one day.
Why, you might ask? For the peanut butter sauce. Oh yes. The peanut butter sauce. It is warm and thick and gritty and absolutely delicious. One time I bought a whole tub of it, froze it, and wrapped it in about ten layers of foil to fly it home to my parents for Christmas. True story.
This Friendly’s is much nicer than the one that’s inside the Springfield mall, so it was the first place (literally — we came here before we stopped at the house to unpack) we took my parents when they came for their first visit. They were not disappointed. The peanut butter sauce was as good as ever. The ice cream and the other toppings are good too, of course.
For the record, I don’t mind eating actual food at Friendly’s too, even though they’re not exactly the height of fine dining. The grilled cheese is fantastic. And they just started serving these mini mozzarella sticks that are like little nuggets of happy. I love Friendly’s!