Friendly’s

Heavy hearted to have this tale of woe to tell. The agony of defeat for a treasured tradition was upon us as Friendly’s began closing locations in our CT shoreline. Where once you could depend on Friendly’s for a delicious meal and fabulous ice cream treats, corporate decisions stripped us of the establishments I dined at on many high school dates and where I took all three of my children for a treat, to celebrate their successes. Friendly’s are now few and far between, making us nostalgic and forgetful of the declining service and quality that occurred during the late 1990s/​early 2000s. Thus was it when visiting Sturbridge Village on Columbus Day that we found ourselves compelled to go the Friendly’s we found there. My grown children were super excited and eager to revisit the splendor of Friendly’s. Commence with agony. We were a party of six and it was three pm on Columbus Day. There were empty tables and four waitresses so we felt optimistic that a good experience was possible. We were greeted and promptly seated with menus for our perusal. Then, ten minutes rolled by without a server stopping by. The waitresses seemed to be studiously avoiding our six top table. No one would make eye contact with us. No one would address our growing grumbles. No glasses of water were distributed with a «be right back to take your order» maneuver. We were mystified and very hungry. My husband discreetly went to the manager and made her aware. We got the impression that she was having trouble with the waitress that was to be attending to us, but figured someone would be right by. Ten more minutes go by and we still have not seen a server and are still without even a complimentary glass of water. We see three tables that came in after us be served. My hungry crowd of twenty-​somethings begins to get quite aggravated. We again alert the manager as it has now been twenty minutes of waiting for anyone to come by our table. It was another 5 plus minutes before a flustered young waitress appeared, apologizing and telling us that the beverages would be complimentary. We place orders for meals and drinks. Drinks finally appear, but one soda has been forgotten and we wait some more for all of us to get our drinks. Then the meals arrive and it is clear that some have been sitting waiting for others orders in our party to finish cooking. So, some of us have delicious hot food and others of us have meh luke warm and unappealing food. Oh, and one of our party’s food doesn’t arrive AT ALL. Apparently it was forgotten, not put in, or something. As five of us are finishing our meals, the sixth meal arrives with the salad another member of our party had ordered, but now has no interest in. Total cluster. We say no thank you to the salad and the waitress seems surprised and shares she just made it for us. But, salads don’t come after your meal. We send it back and ask for our sundaes to be made to go. We then wait some more for the sundaes and have to have the check adjusted. To cap it off, the restroom has no soap. We leave with heavy hearts. We love Friendly’s and mourn what was once a top of the line experience for casual dining out.

Outer waitress was super nice, there were plenty of wait staff and the place was not so busy, but…
Our meals took long to arrive, one of our orders was wrong, when we needed a refill it took a long time for our waitress to notice and there were plenty that walked right by our table without asking if we needed refills, so we had to call on our waitress attention to please get a refill and when the refill arrived it was wrong; when we order the dessert to go one of them was not served on a to-​go cup. I was a bit disappointed as it seemed like our waitress was super distracted, but very pleasant and the reason I gave 3 stars.

To be honest, I don’t expect good service when we go to a Friendly’s location based on the numerous times we’ve waited way too long for our food and/​or our server wasn’t «friendly» at all, but it’s our toddler’s favorite restaurant so we keep coming back. This time, however, I was pleasantly surprised with the service! My wife went in before me and said the check in and seating process was chaotic, but once at the table our server was pleasant and very friendly to our daughter. The food came out quickly and even the ice cream (which for some reason always takes the longest to come out. it’s just scooping ice cream into a cup) was brought to our table fast! It’s too bad this location is so far away from us.

Noisy, yes, but it’s vacation week and children are restless since its April and snowing outside! We wait and wait to be seated. The gal seats is and goes to get a waitress. She can’t find one she says do she says she will serve us. Fine. We decide and after many minute she returns, gum chewing. We order two simple salads. Thirty! Minutes later she returns to tell us she just found out there are no avocados for salads. And did I want to put in another order ??? My husband never got his for some reason either, so we left angry, hungry and tired. Another disappointing friendlys visit. when will we learn? We went to fresh city up the street for a quick herby lunch!

We ate at Friendly’s last night. It was a little slow, but other than that exactly as it should be. I grew up in WMass and Friendly’s was a staple. Friendly’s and their Reese’s pieces Sunday will forever be in my blood.
This is a great spot to bring the kids, enjoy a burger and fries. The best part is you can finish with a sundae!

Service here is blah they aren’t friendly but they also aren’t rude… Almost like they just don’t care. I had the Asian salad and it was pretty decent actually but my husband had a bacon cheeseburger and it was pink inside when he asked for well also the fries weren’t that great. Honestly we probably won’t bother to go back not worth it.

If you don’t mind terrible service, long waits in an empty restaurant or cold cheeseburgers then this is the place for you! As a child I had fond memories of the chain, but as of my last visit to the northeast I soon realized that quality and service were no longer a concern of theirs. With way more employees than clients, and I see why, you’d expect your meal to be fast and hot

Worst of the worst. I just moved to Mass recently and was told Friendly’s is a local original. I’ve tried their ice cream from the grocer and thought I’d give the restaurant a whirl. What a bad idea. The food is sitting in my stomach like lead. The service was putrid — the server dumped the fries from my side all over the table and my lap and didn’t offer to replace them. She had a major attitude and my MIL’s fish was rock hard. I always say you can judge a restaurant’s cleanliness by its restrooms and the restroom’s smelled like a nursing home — very bad sign and makes me wonder what the kitchen looks like. i will not return. ever.

Just stopped in to grab ice cream. Unfortunately none on the 10 people working there right around where we were waiting felt the need to help us. The girl at the register walked away after helping the people in front of us because she was «clocked out.» After 5 minutes of being completely ignored we left without ice cream. Not the way to drag yourself out of bankruptcy Friendly’s.

I have to say this was one of the most disgusting restaurants I have EVER been in. Almost every table was littered with dishes and food scraps, the staff was arguing with each other and the table we sat at was sticky.
The problem was clear to our party of 4, the management is inadequate.
Really disappointing! The only silver lining was our waitress who was polite and nice.

This was the perfect place for
to have our power lunch on the way to Boston. The waitress was an angel and the food was certainly… hot. Four stars because Jessica (waitress) was kind and professional to us kind of smelly guys on the road.

Everyone has a bad day. Today, was my first visit to a Friendly’s in ages.
The waitress was FANTASTIC. But, she was hobbled by an-​untrained cook. No help at the breakfast rush (handling all tables) and a manager that was congenial enough. («welcome» «sorry about your breakfast» and «we’re not charging you this morning») seem to be his specialties.
The adventure began with two of us, both ordering the Eggs Benedict. After about 30 minutes, the waitress had apologized twice and the manager once, and finally… «ahhhh. here it is… »
Delicious plate of uncooked eggs showing on top of the plate from under the hollandaise sauce — on both breakfasts. So, of course, we sent those back and ordered French toast. Hard to screw up fried toast. Especially, after another 15 minutes. So, we did eat, but, took more than an hour. so, here is the conclusion.
1 — Don’t go to Friendly’s for Eggs Benedict
2 — Managers should wait tables when the restaurant is short staffed
3 — New cooks should be trained and tested before allowed to serve customers
4 — Managers should get in the kitchen and show cooks how to do better and move faster
Just a note, the breakfast, across the street at the hotel. GREAT. but, that’s another review. We had checked out and wanted to hit the road, thus the stop at Friendly’s. Go there for what? Yes. the Eggs Benedict.

We’ve only had ice cream. Great choices but the last time we went to this location they were very busy and after a 2 hour wait (no kidding) we walked out. Were patient people but they took our order and never came back. Our waitress disappeared. We were only ordering ice cream. The next day we went to the Friendlies in Palmer.

We were hungry and needed a place to stop off the highway. There wasn’t much around except ol’ Friendlys. I haven’t stepped foot in one in forever, so we thought it would be good for some old time memories. Well some of the memories I must have repressed were mediocre food and slow service, because I found both of them here.
We stepped into the Friendly’s and stood around the front podium for a good minute or two before someone stepped out to escort us to a table. The restaurant was slow but so was the waitress, and it took us much longer than it should have. There is no way we should have been in Friendlys for over an hour and a half!
I ordered a simple cheeseburger and with waffle fries. The burger was meh and full of greasiness. The waffle fries were a pleasant surprise but weren’t enough to save the entire meal. My friend ordered a grilled cheese and tomato soup, and it wasn’t until twenty minutes later when the waitress came out to inform him they were out of tomato soup. I understand things run out but it’s something the waitstaff should know about from the get-​go, or something the kitchen should inform them of as soon as possible.
All in all, below average food and horrible service result in some pretty low reviews. We might have stayed for ice cream but after waiting that long for our dinner there simply wasn’t enough time. If you get off the highway and see this restaurant you’re best bet is to jump back on and try your luck at the next exit.

We ordered from the senior menu the Turkey sandwhich and fitzamajig sandwich with fries. We finished this off with the included Ice cream sundae. Very tasty and hit the spot. Service was good. Only complaint was too much tartar sauce on the whitefish sandwich.

Stopped in for a quick bite and was glad I did. Very friendly staff and kayla and ashley were two of the most pleasant managers…

My wee one wanted to go to Friendlys and I felt the need to go someplace different, so we trucked off to Sturbridge to try this location. I should have suppressed the urge. Mrs. B has warned me in the past not to visit here and again, I should have listened.
I drove up and took my first good look at the place and never realized how big it was. We walked inside and was surprised to see two separated dining rooms. Other then a bucket in the middle of the floor for a leaky roof (wonder how long that’s been there) the place was amazingly clean.
We both enjoyed our meal. She had a grilled Cheese Meal and I had a Chicken Strips Basket Meal. Food came out hot and tasty. We both enjoyed a free ice cream with our meal. Maybe it’s me but it seems like the meal deal ($ 9.99 or $ 11.99) choices has gotten smaller over the last year or so.
Our server was very pleasant, took the time to learn Baby B’s name and spoke to her throughout our meal as she checked on us a few times throughout. The speed that we received our food is a different story. It didn’t seem that busy and maybe it was the fact she had to hike the North 40 to get to the kitchen but it was a loooooong wait for our meal. With no munchies on the table (free popcorn perhaps) it seemed like an eternity sitting at the table with a hungry three year old. Needless to say, our visit here lasted over 90 minutes which was way too long.

I hadn’t been in a Friendly’s in years and had a night to myself. When I walked in, I was greeted with a smile and immediately seated. After at least 10 minutes, my waitress finally came up and took my full order. The food came quickly but I felt rushed into ice cream. All-​in-​all, I spent around 30 – 40 minutes there and spent far less than I remember Friendly’s cost in the past.
The menu was on the fast food side — a change from my high school days where it was more like Big Boy instead of Steak’n Shake. I got their regular burger, which tasted more like a turkey burger with less than fresh lettuce. The waffle fries were great (just think Arby’s curly fries flavor on Champs quality fries). The ice cream (vanilla with peanut butter topping) was so so. It tasted like the topping was masking the plainness of the base.
I probably won’t go to a Friendly’s again but this one wasn’t a deal breaker as much a reminder I usually eat far better quality food that’s a heck of a lot healthier.

This was a perfectly acceptable stop on a long road trip. They have some good combos, and the staff was friendly. I found it to take a while to get greeted by the server and the food took a while, but the experience was good overall and I like they have vege burgers that can be substituted for any of their regular burgers.

A Review of Friendly’s. By Dimitri D.
Friendly’s in Sturbridge is either a hit or miss. Sometimes their food can come to you really tasty and delicious (which I’d say is about 85% of the time) or it can come out cold and tasting like crap. I enjoy most of the food there. It’s good, it’s cheap, and for the most part the people are nice (Friendly!) I did however have one particularly memorable more experience there as far as service. The place wasn’t even busy but yet it took forever for our food to get there. AND she kept on telling us «It’ll be out in a minute,» She was of no help and not that bright either. It angered me!!!
Anyway they also have delicious ice cream sundaes, milk shakes, and «Frend-​Zs.» That’s is what I normally get what I go there. When it’s good, it’s great, but when it’s bad it’s freaking terrible!