Friendly’s

The service still has along way to go to get 4 stars. We enjoy going here but the food seems to be wrong most of the ti.e. They get it right but it’s frustrating. The place is not always clean. The ice cream is their shining star. It’s consistent and is petty good.

The ice cream is always out of this world but of course it all depends on who makes your ice cream.
Sometimes it amazing, sometimes it’s overflowing and melting by the time it gets to me. the food takes too long to get to your table.
other than that, it’s ok

Love Friendlys and was so glad to find a location close to me! Definitely underrated. I always get the crispy chicken wrap and the brownie sundae, which are both fantastic!

Can I do zero stars? Big mistake coming here. We ordered the chicken wrap with a side salad after a half hour wait. I wouldn’t have served that lettuce myself. The wrap was just ok and it took a long time to get it. We were almost ready to walk out before ordering but hung in there for a lousy lunch.

Sign says they are open… didn’t open on time at 0700… guess they don’t want any business.

Terrible. Absolutely terrible.
Our visit started with being seated in a section where apparently nobody was working. We had to first move to a different table, and after still not being acknowledged, physically go and find a server. The worst part about all of this was that there were only two other tables seated, and one got finished and left before we even got our order taken.
When the server came to the table, she took our order — Two sundaes and two waters. We never saw the waters, nor the server until she brought the ice creams, and then again for the check. Nobody bothered to check in on us in between all of this.
Had they asked us how things were, we would have informed them how disappointing the sundaes were. For a place that supposedly specializes in ice cream, they’re pretty stingy with it. Our three scoop large sundaes had the equivalent of a single scoop from Baskin Robbins, and came with double the price tag. Pretty lame.
Definitely won’t bother coming back here. I’d rather just trek further down the road to Baskin Robbins, and get my monies worth.
***UPDATE***
I made the corporate office aware of the issues with this place, and nobody bothered to respond to me. I guess as a whole, Friendly’s doesn’t care about any of its customers.
***2^nd UPDATE***
The manager of the Sterling Friendly’s sent us two cards for free medium sundaes. Part of me wants to ask the question — Why bother at this point? It’s been over three months since I contacted customer service.
The other part of me wants to be offended that we were sent complimentary medium sundaes to make up for the terrible large ones we were out of pocket for.
All of me wants to say, «Thanks, but no thanks at this point.»

I hate to give this place 2 stars. 4 – 5 years ago I came to this location and didn’t come again cause of the same bullshit customer service. Food is average. Ice cream is yummy! Service though. …poor. I honestly want to give it 1 star. Waited a long time to get seated. Saw a bunch of servers standing there talking not looking up. Once we sat down. …the waitress was very nice… BUT sloooooooooooooooow. Omg. We had empty water/​ice tea for majority if the meal. Waving to get a waitresses attention was ridiculous. And want to mention the plqlace WAS NOT busy. Mind you this was all before a large party came thru… who all walked out after getting no service… not even water for 20+minutes. Didn’t shock me. I wanted to walk out myself but my friend kept telling me to be patient. One can only be so patient. We have 4 kids who chose the kids menu… and it’s been and long time trying to get them their ice cream. I will never come back to this location ever again for a meal. Maybe just ice cream if it doesn’t take forever to get. Best advice I can give. .don’t expect fast service here. Foods average

Very pleasant surprise. Not a big fan of this chain, but I have to say the burger was excellent. Big and obviously fresh. Our server was nice and very patient with small children.

I never expect much here but today was horrible. Stood and watched employees eating ice cream at the counter. Once they finished we got seated. Waited almost 10 minutes for a server to come. Then had to ask again so we could place our order. The table next to use didn’t get desserts in the usual glass dishes but paper cups because «they ran out.» The place is only 25% full and they have no dishes!!!
Then our sundaes came out… had to ask for spoons. Then had to ask for CLEAN spoons! Neither sundae was correct…

Nope. My expectations were already lowered. I wasn’t expecting stellar service or unforgettable food. I was expecting mediocre everything.
It was a Monday before the lunch rush. Plenty of servers, not many customers. There was still a long wait time for our food. Took a long time to even get our orders taken, actually. My salmon came in a plate of hot broccoli water with a hockey puck biscuit. My salmon was dry and saturated with a sugar sauce. Nope. Husbands food was mediocre, but he ordered hard-​to– screw up appetizers. Kids food was eaten… and that’s a good sign. Our server was nice though.

I went here earlier this afternoon, with my husband, and at the request of a friend recovering from surgery and wanting a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup sundae.
Our friend ordered said sundae, I got the Cracker Jack sundae, and my husband ordered a Boca burger. We ordered our sundaes without cherries on top, because neither of us likes maraschino cherries.
My sundae came without a cherry, though it had had a cherry put on it, evidenced by the bright red-​pink stain on the whipped cream they’d tried to hide with more whipped cream. Our friend’s sundae came without any peanut butter cup in or otherwise on it, and it came with the cherry he didn’t want. My husband’s burger came without sliced tomato as he’d ordered, and it had been cooked into hard cardboard crispy oblivion. Boca burgers are usually quite tasty, and this one wasn’t at all. The accompanying fries were floppy and tasteless.
After taking our order and bringing out the sundaes, our waitress couldn’t be found anywhere. Another server had brought out the burger, which arrived about the time we were done with our sundaes. When we were finally able to flag down the waitress about the things that were wrong with our order, she was unhappy about being told that there were problems, and told us that we should have said something earlier. We pointed out that this was the first time we’d seen her in 15 minutes, and we can’t say anything to a waitress that’s not ever here. She then tried to say that she had been busy with other tables. It was 3pm and the place was pretty vacant, from other reviews, I’m pretty sure I know why the place was empty. It was an obvious lie, or she’s such an inept server that two tables has her in the weeds. All three of us have waited tables in busy restaurants at some point in our lives, and we didn’t need to have had that experience to know she was just making shit up. She got all petulant and didn’t like that we pointed that out, and got her manager instead. The manager, to his credit, was apologetic, and asked what he could do to make things right, though at that point there wasn’t anything left to do.
As we made to leave and asked for our bill, the waitress informed us that our meal had been comped. That was probably the only pleasant surprise of the meal, we certainly hadn’t expected that, and it was nice that they did. It will not, however, convince any of us to come back at all, ever again.
Overall, the food was either unremarkable on the high end, or disappointing. The service was abysmal. Find somewhere else to go, anywhere else.

We came in on a Tuesday. Our party had 3 kids and 3 adults. They took our order and didn’t come back to check on us for 45 mins. We didn’t get our food for an hour. The manager was not helping with refills or customers.

We stopped in this evening with our young son while running some saturday errands. I have fond memories of Friendly’s from when I was younger and was really looking forward to it.
Standing in the lobby, waiting to be seated, i noticed that majority of the empty tables in the restaurant had still not been bussed. I pointed it out to my husband and said «we should probably just go someplace else»…but we stayed. We sat at our table and waited a while for our drink orders to be taken. Once again the topic of leaving came up, but we stuck it out. We got our drinks and placed our food orders. Food came, but it was for the family next to us who placed their orders after we did. The manager came by, «your food will be out soon». The family behind us finished their food, my husband went looking for the manager. The manager said «your food will be out soon». At this point an hour had passed. We put $ 3 on the table to cover the milk our son drank and headed to Wendy’s.
Kind of a bummer… we were really looking forward to it. Maybe an off night? anyways, we should’ve trusted our initial instincts and left before we were seated. They seemed horribly under staffed, and the manager had very little sense of urgency.

I knew it wouldn’t be good, but I had never been and decided it was time to at least give it a try. I love the whole dive/​diner vibe, especially when the food is good. But Friendly’s fails to compare to even the lowest chains on that totem pole.
Yeah, I know they’re supposedly famous for their ice cream and desserts, but I didn’t try any. The dinner menu is a mish-​mash of fried foods and healthful options that just don’t sound good. (Turkey tips and broccoli, anyone?)
The service was OK, but the restaurant was pretty dirty. There were two framed paintings by the booth, the glass on them was very smudged/​dirty/​greasy. That’s just one example.
So I ended up ordering the clam boat as the result of a process of elimination. It was fried clam strips and fries, not bad, but just like any you’d get from the frozen section at your local Shoppers. Considering that, everything seemed a bit overpriced (though certainly still not ‘pricey’).
I guess you could do worse than Friendly’s but I’m not sure where off the top of my head. I can’t imagine a scenario where I would ever want to go back.

Not really expecting much out of a Friendlys that isn’t in Springfield, Mass. where they do it right. Food is alright though we like to go on Mondays and get the dollar ice cream cone. One night, my son was a little overtired and was upset he couldn’t get two flavors on his cone. He’s 4, it happens. The manager saw and heard him, and gave him a double cone with his two flavors.
The only problem is the freezer case is never peoperly stocked. Where in other places we knew we could get what we wanted at the restaurant, here we expect to find what we want at the grocery stores.

An otherwise very good experience was adversely impacted by two self-​inflicted wounds by Friendly’s.
The bad:
First, they’ve quit making malts-​REALLY!!! Is it so-​o-​o much more trouble for them to carry a container of malt powder and drop a few spoonfuls into a milkshake?!? Amazing!
Second, the waitress disappeared after serving us our food and quickly asking if we needed anything before I realized there wa no mustard-​had to go to the back and ask as the entire waitstaff ignored efforts to flag someone down and then disappeared as well!
Now the good:
The brioche bun was grilled just right, as was the burger. Bacon was just right as well, and the cheddar cheese was real and just the right amount to balance-​one of the best bacon cheeseburgers I’ve had in a long time. My wife’s turkey club was good as well.
The happy ending sundaes were just right to end the meal.

I love this place! The hamburgers are great and the ice cream is outstanding. Friendly’s is my traditional Saturday lunch stop. I always enjoy it. The staff is super friendly and very efficient. The breakfast is good, too.

Came here on a random Wednesday night. Waited a couple minutes at the hostess station for service while the servers were converging in the back. Eventually got served but the service throughout the night was awful. We had to wait forever to get each part of our meal. The table next to us decided not to wait for their ice cream as half an hour is a bit ridiculous to scoop 2 scoops. We waited… it was melted…
Not coming back

First time I ever ate at Friendly’s was in college in PA, and I was pretty excited to see one less than 1mi from my new house in Sterling! Like Jesse C said, it’s a great place to get yummy fatty food and ice cream for cheap. It’s not fine dining, but I’d say it’s on par with other kid-​friendly chain restaurants. Their honey bbq chicken supermelt sandwich is fab when a bbq chicken/​cheese/​ranch dressing/​buttered toast craving hits! And the ice cream really is good, they have tons of toppings. The service is a bit lackluster; they’ve been prompt every time I’ve been there, but they’re not the super-​friendliest. Like somebody else mentioned, they’re staffed primarily with teenagers, so it’s not the biggest surprise.
Edit: I forgot to mention, their waffle fries are really good.

Where else can you go and get a super buttery sour dough sandwich stuffed with BBQ chicken tenders, bacon, cheese, ranch dressing, then a side of fries, and an ice cream Sunday, and a fountain drink, for $ 10? You got it, Friendly’s! My prego wife was really hungry and craving ice cream so as we were driving by she said lets go there. It was about lunch time anyways so why not kill two birds with one stone?
When we walked in it was pretty busy on the Sunday afternoon. We were seated right away and our drink orders were taken. A few minutes later our drinks were brought out and our orders were taken. I guess they are running this new special for $ 10 lunch and dinners. It really is a good deal and a lot of food. The food is actually pretty decent for a chain restaurant. I was actually pretty stuffed my meal I could barely handle the dessert part. In fact I changed mine to a milkshake and had it to go. My sandwich was good and hot as were the fries. My wife like her meal also, I don’t remember what she got though.
The service was good up until the end. Things started to get busy and my 2 year old was going nuts. All in all it was good. I’m always a fan of fatty foods for cheap prices =) If you are looking for high quality stuff, then this isn’t your place. If you want decent food for cheap bucks, then here it is. Not the prettiest inside, but it’ll do. It’s like an old diner style inside. Nothing fancy, but it’ll do. Hey if you don’t like the food, just get the ice cream or a shake =) Remember, ice cream is good for you. There is milk inside, and milk is good for you =)