Friendly's — Restaurant in Pittsfield

This is the first time I have been to a Friendly's in a long while. But it was a staple during my childhood days of yore and yesteryear, for sure. One of my earliest memories was losing my first tooth at Friendly's if memory serves me correctly. I remember the day I was probably in tears when my family told me they would not be taking me to Friendly's once again as I was used to as a child. They wanted to let me know there is more to life than Friendly's and my broken heart was repaired by a restaurant called, "The Ground Round" that probably went out of business years ago that had silent black-and-white cartoons and arcade games throughout the late 1980s and 1990s. It was the equivalent of heaven and never thought about Friendly's for a long time.

As a 40-year-old adult, it was raining relentlessly throughout my entire trip to Pittsfield, MA from Albany, NY. I could not handle the trip back in these conditions without taking a break. Every single diner in the area was closed, closed, and closed. At long last, Friendly's was open like a beacon of light in the late evening hours. Open until 11:00 PM for world-weary travelers. I was so distressed by the relentless rain and the fact that I was carrying exposed electronic equipment that I simply charged like a banshee in the restaurant instead of waiting at the hostess table that I barely saw because of my frazzled state and promptly sat at the table. Immediately afterwards I felt like some sort of a Sketch due to the fact that I should know after four decades of life that it is proper etiquette to wait to be seated by standing at the front of the restaurant. It was not a big deal, for them. Due to my tenacious phobia of unnecessary waste, I pleaded with them to toss the dressing on the salad instead of putting it in one of those non-biodegradable plastic tins that will end up in the ocean for one hundred years. They accommodated my request and it was not a big deal for them. There are a lot of things that would not be a big deal for them due to practicing the iconic name of the restaurant.

As someone who lives with a disability called Asperger's syndrome (so-called, high functioning autism when not much is always functional), I will not dignify poor treatment, servers talking down to me, or someone walking past me pretending not to notice my desperate attempts to get someone's attention after being neglected for too long. My thoughts are that there are plenty of places that would treat me like toxic waste for free, and it is quite ridiculous to end up paying for it. This was not the case at this particular restaurant and probably would never be the case, for that matter It is also seems like they have hired a young woman with special needs to be a hostess, and server. Good for them. She is doing one hell of a good job as far as I can see right now.

It is still raining relentlessly outside and this is even mixing with snow. (REALLY?! It is April 16th already and this is freakishly unfair. Spring should be arrested for emotional abuse and gaslighting by giving us nearly-seventy degree days this past week only to violently yank it away and return to a wintry extreme.) But now I am not frustrated about something that I can't and shan't control. I am just very much content here at this magical Friendly's. After forty years of consistent change, there is one thing still standing that outlasted bankruptcies of other chains in addition to unnecessary changes to save a dime that seem more like fixing something that was working perfectly fine as it was. I am now oblivious to the mess outside and shall have the strength to face it while driving

My name is Jesse Saperstein and am a published author of two books with Penguin Group (USA). You may Google my credentials in hopes that my opinion may matter when you are debating whether to try out this particular restaurant...

I went to friendly's last night with my girlfriend and 2 year old son and had the best dining experience Ive ever had in pittsfield . Seriously Im not that picky about food as I am the service that Im given while eating my food . I Ordered a honey bbq burger for myself and my girlfriend and chicken fingers for the 2 entrees and desert for 20 bucks . Not only a tangible value for price but when I complained about the small portion burger which really wasnt that small , I just was extra hungry the server gave me another burger free of charge . Not only that but the server was on top of his game 100 % . Friendlys was extremly busy and he had no problem dealing with a high volume of customers and maintaining his cool with both deliverying a great meal but also a great attitude . I would of paid for the extra burger because I know Im a big eater , the way he reacted to my complaint about the size was 110% perfect . There is not alot of places I like to eat in pittsfield simply because good service is rare in the resteraunt industry here , but I feel the only place I want to eat anymore around here is friendly's due to this great experience . And to show the server that the extra burger he gave me was not about the money I tipped him $10 and wish I could of given him more . He is due for some ackalades from friendly's and they are lucky to have a server like him . I think his name was Kent I feel guilty Im not sure if that was his name . But I complimented him to the manager as well , I hope he gets a bonus or something . Thank you Kent for our wonderful friendly's...

Horrible service. Went to Friendly’s two weeks ago and had Quinn for a waiter. He got our orders completely wrong. It took over 20 minutes to correct them. Then I ordered a small happy ending and got a huge sundae meant for multiple people. I sent it back and said I wanted a small happy ending sundae. He brings out a medium sized sundae after it had been sitting on the counter for 15 minutes with the same ice cream from the wrong sundae dumped in it. By now it’s completely soup and inedible. At this point we didn’t feel like dealing with him anymore and just wanted to go home so we went to pay the bill. He charged us for both sundaes. Had to have him fix the check. When we got the new check, the total was STILL wrong. We decided to just leave a bad tip. So a week later we decided to give it another chance. We got him for a waiter again and once again he completely messed up the orders. One of my family members ordered a tuna salad supermelt and got some weird turkey sandwich. By the time he brought out the replacement, everyone had finished eating. The fries were thrown back in the fryer and were now inedible. Some of them looked like someone had taken a bite out of them! When it came time to pay the check, once again he charged us for both sandwiches, which we had to have fixed. What a hassle! On top of that, my family member got violently ill after eating the food, which NEVER happens when we go there. Needless to say we won’t be back to the...