Great Ice Cream, But Not so Friendly Service
Written: May 31 '00 (Updated Oct 28 '06)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Ice Cream is Superb
Cons: Food Isn't
The Bottom Line: Friendly's offers many great ice cream flavors, but the food isn't that great.
|
|
|
| Bryan_Carey's Full Review: Friendly's |
Friendly's Restaurant is a family- style, full service restaurant. Its roots can be traced back to Springfield, Massachusetts, where Prestly and Curtis Blake opened up the first Friendly (the "s" was not added to the name until 1989) in 1935, in the middle of the Great Depression. Originally, Friendly was only an ice cream shop. Regular food items were not added to the menu until many years later.
The main reason for Friendly's success is its ice cream products. There are more than 50 flavors of ice cream and the specialty products are outstanding. My favorites include the Reeses Pieces Sundae, the Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Sundae, and the M&M Sundae. These large ice cream treats are rich, filling, and delicious. They are worth every penny of the $3.79 price that you pay for them.
Friendly's does offer a diverse menu with food selections like burgers, supermelt sandwiches, dinner platters, soups, salads, appetizers, kids meals, and even a senior citizens menu featuring smaller, lower fat and lower cholesteral food options. They also offer breakfast foods. The breakfast is good, but most of the other menu items are worthy of only a C+ to a D- rating. I am surprised that Friendly's hasn't done more to improve the food quality, considering how great its ice cream products are. I assume that the reason is because most customers associate the Friendly's name with ice cream, so the quality of the other food isn't a high priority.
Service at Friendly's is anything but friendly. I have seen waitresses spill food on customers; argue; and behave in a discourteous manner. They often take much too long to check back at your table, and they mix up orders. I have given Friendly many chances and it seems like something goes wrong on about 40 percent of my visits, which is unacceptable.
Friendly's has made some noteworthy improvements at some of its restaurants. They offer carry- out service at most locations and many of these stores have a seperate entrance for carry- out orders. This helps keep the store from getting too congested. Also, Friendly's ice cream is sold in half- gallon, and pint size cartons, in some grocery store chains, like Kroger. This is great because you can pick up some delicious ice cream without having to go to one of the restaurants.
In 1979, Friendly's was sold to Hershey, who owned the chain until 1988 when Donald Smith, a private investor/entrepreneur purchased the restaurant chain from Hershey. He took the company public and it is now traded on the NASDAQ.
Friendly's is an ok restaurant to visit from time to time; if nothing else, just to get some ice cream. If they could improve the other food, and the service, it would be a pretty good restaurant. Until that happens, Friendly's will continue to be a place known only for its outstanding ice cream.
Be Sure to Click the Links Below to Read Reviews of Other Full- Service Restaurants:
American Style Food:
Denny’s
Hooters
Perkins
Waffle House
Damon’s
Steak ‘n Shake
Cracker Barrel
Frisch’s
Max & Erma’s
Golden Corral
Shoney’s
Bob Evans
Hard Rock Cafe
Outback Steak House
Red Lobster
Texas Road House
Bill Knapp’s
Ground Round
Fricker’s
Hops
Applebee’s
O’Charley’s
BW-3
Ponderosa
IHOP
Ruby Tuesday
Sonny’s Real Pit Bar-B-Q
Famous Dave’s
Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville Cafe
Ryan’s Restaurant
Italian:
Olive Garden
Carrabba’s
Romano’s Macaroni Grill
Mexican
Chi- Chi’s
Cozymel’s
Chipotle
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.