Friendly Restaurant — Restaurant in Kawartha Lakes

We love fried rice. Maybe about a year ago my wife and I stopped getting food at Friendly Restaurant. Another restaurant in town made better tasting fried rice for a similar price, so we switched over to them and didn’t think about Friendly restaurant anymore. The other day, we felt like trying Friendly again. Very interesting points to make - first, the usual Chinese/Asian staff were not there - looked to be completely Westerners/Caucasian - not a big deal, happy to see that - friendly too - weren’t short with me like the Chinese staff usually are. You’ll almost never see that in places like Toronto. We ordered the Chopsuey which was perfect… We also ordered the fried rice… Big mistake… What happened to the fried rice, guys? It didn’t look or even taste like it was fried… It almost seemed… Baked? The food was still edible so we had our dinner and I’m not looking for any freebies - I’m not a Karen like that - just surprised at how strange the fried rice seemed. Pics attached. I would even say the fried rice today tasted worse than when we first switched away from Friendly restaurant. I’m a bit of an Asian cook myself, and I make fried rice at home sometimes - I know what fried rice, cooked in a hot wok looks like. This did not look like it had been in a wok. It looked baked… Anyway, we’ll probably switch away from Friendly again for another year and try it again to see if there are any changes/improvements to the quality of the fried rice. We aren’t putting Friendly down - just concerned - did you replace the cook in the kitchen? Why is the fried rice so bland and looking baked? Fried rice is supposed to have some light charring, shiny from the oil involved and a golden brown colour from the soy sauce used in the cooking process. 2 stars for the friendly staff and the good chopsuey… lost 3 stars for the strange...

Terrible buffet. One of the worst I have ever eaten at. I feel bad for the waitresses having to come ask how your meal is, because it’s garbage. My plate of food was cold to luke warm at best. Besides one item. I don’t think the one hot plate was even on. I couldn’t eat half of it due to the temperature.

The trays of food were limited in stock and never refilled the entire time we ate. We tried to eat one plate each and then couldn’t even do second or third as it was that terrible. I went to check to see if they put out hot fresh food and they hadn’t. I told my husband to come at least check out the desserts. We walked to the table. Sparce, lacklustre and a mess of the area was how I describe the desserts. The ice cream may have been an option however the freezer was filthy looking so We decided to pass.

When the bill was brought to us we couldn’t believe that it was $43 with two pops. That is insane the quality, quantity etc were horrible.

I felt bad for the people coming in after us. One lady beside us said she would check out the buffet before ordering off the menu. I said Don’t eat the buffet. When they came back from looking they told the waitress they would stick to the menu. I said good choice.

We told the lady at the cash that the food was the worst we ever ate. She looked at us with a stunned look on her face. This is why the place is like this as I guess they are oblivious.

Zero stars. I’m so upset that we had to pay $43 of our hard earned money on valentines day no doubt. no one should charge anything to eat what we just ate. It was that bad.

I will never return and I suggest you don’t make the same mistake and waste...

So I was there this past Sunday to pick up my takeout order which I was told would be ready for 1715. Upon arrival, I noticed there was nothing to sanitize my hands with anywhere in site. With covid I would expect that at both entry points to the restaurant. There were 3 people ahead of me when I arrived waiting for their orders as well. It took a solid 20 minutes or so before staff even acknowledged me standing there and asked for my order number. At one point someone came in after me and their order was ready before mine, talk about frustrating. I get the phone was ringing but customer service needs to improve. It took an additional 40 minutes from the time I was told my order would be ready for pickup (1715) to when I walked out the door. Was offered to take a seat while I waited but that wasn't happening since I didn't know when things were last cleaned. When I asked for a discount because I had to wait an extra 40 minutes, it was as though the staff had to think about it. I mean come on customer service. When they said yes they wanted to know what "free" item I wanted right then and there, not to mention she wrote my info down on their hand. I was looking for a discount on the meal I just ordered not a free item. I will not be going back here and I would not recommend this restaurant to any of my friends. I'm all for supporting local businesses but I will not be taking my business back there until I see some vast...