Friendly's — Restaurant in Delaware

Horrible service. Several individuals "staff" were in the building, however only 2 waiters were attempting to serve people. MInd this is arounf 5:30 pm (beginning of dinner timeframe on a weekend). 2 -3 cooks in the back. My family was seated near the kitchen entrance and my grandaughter kept looking back watching them. I physically watched a cook accidentally push a chicken tender on the floor from someone's plate while placing a side of dressing onto the plate. He didn't realize it at the time, turned away. When he realized it, he picked it up off the floor and put it back onto the plate and walked away to work on another order. He never hesitated, or "blinked" just did it. Our server took 5-10 minutes to get our drink order. I asked if they had sweet brewed tea or fountain. He said brewed and yes to both sweet and unsweet. I ordered sweet tea. He brought out the grandkids drinks, forgot about the adults. When I finally flagged him down for our drinks, he brought out unsweetened tea and said " we have the sweetener on the table". I told him I didn't prefer sweeteners which is why I asked in the beginning. I changed to a diet coke which seemed to annoy him. We placed our food order which was the munchie mania (mini mozerella sticks, chicken tenders and loaded waffle fries. with a side of ranch.) He left. During the waiting period, my grandaughter spilled her drink, I flagged him down AGAIN and asked for some napkins. "Absolutely" he said..3 minutes later (after the spill had dribbled down onto her and the seat, he brought me literally A (one, singluar) napkin. REALLY!!! Then after about 15 minutes he came back apologetically..I'm sorry, we are out of mini mozeralla sticks. Is there something else you would like? I was so frustrated, but didn't want to make a scene. Watching the "manager/owner wander around doing nothing was fueling my frustration). I continued to watch the kitchen for fear that our order would also have something "fall on the floor". I observed our order being finalized, it was brought to the table by the cook. The fries were NOT loaded and there was no ranch. He took it back, loaded them up and re-delivered. As for payment, I was ready to walk out!!! We were never "checked on". When we were done eating and ready to go, I went to the counter for my bill (payment in hand). I was told "the waiter would take my payment from the table. So I went back and sat down to wait. And wait, and wait. The manager made eye contact several times (and stood in lobby). I ended up sending my daughter and grandkids (ages 2 & 4) out to the car, cause they were getting restless. I still waited!!! Another staff member came in from smoking his cigarette ( i know this becasue I smelt it on him and his clothes) but he observed my body language and asked to assist. I thanked him and handed him my bill (with payment). He apologized and thanked me for my patience....which I appreciate. I have gone to Friendly's for over 20 years. it used to be one of my favorite places, NOW...I have been disappointed time and again fromthis location. The cleanliness and service has decreased over the past 3 years. I WILL NOT be returning, have made a FB post and have started tellling my friends and family (even perfect strangers) about my experience at this location. Word of mouth is a very strong...

Don’t come to the Rehoboth Friendly’s because they won’t be Friendly to your wallet. I came here with my girlfriend the other night, and they decided to charge us with ratty, additional undisclosed fees for EVERY ITEM that we ordered. They charged extra for honey mustard we did not order with her appetizer, charged extra for my waffle fries and I didn’t know it, and then when we ordered dessert, we changed the flavor (not the amount) of 2 of the 3 scoops of ice cream on our desert that was already $8.99, he decided to ring us an additional $3.79 per scoop. That made our dessert $16! I also received root beer when I specifically ordered cherry coke (who cares) and it was bc the server didn’t the order down. I am not mad about the coke but I am mad because they charged us an additional $25 on our meal, WITHOUT TELLING US ABOUT ANY OF THESE CHARGES. The menu also did not disclose this. I would have cancelled most of this if the server decided to tell us. Not to mention they seated us right behind an eight year olds birthday party. I am 20 years old, a reasonable guy that normally never writes reviews or is upset with restaurant service but a $60 check at Friendly’s for two did it for me. Figured I’d hit em’ where it hurts with my first review. I told my girfriend to not dispute it bc ik they do this to everyone at the beach. Truly a shame bc the food was actually quality and tasty. Tourism sucks. Don’t...

So I will warn that the forth star is for nostalgia. For those unfamiliar with it, Friendly's is a cross between IHOP or Denny's and Dairy Queen. They had some financial troubles a few years back so there aren't a lot of locations left. This particular one has held on. The food and service are both just slightly above average with more of a down-home appeal to both. They have burgers, which are actually better than expected along with various sandwiches, salads and other diner-type options. They do serve breakfast but were a hold-out on the breakfast-all-day trend and only serve it until 11am. Their stand-out offerings are their ice creams, particularly their variet of sundaes, shakes and of course the obligatory soft-serve with candy and/or cookies mixed in, which they call a "Friend-z". Their ice cream is generally their best offering as they long-ago made the decision for that to be their purpose. So if you do eat here, I would reccommend leaving room for desert. Otherwise, if you are actually looking for a good meal, you may want to choose somewhere else. The food is perfectly edible and not bad but even for chain food it is really just average. So unless you also have a nostalgia reason for eating here, set your expectations on average if you eat here and...