Friendly's — Restaurant in South Portland

The food was really good. The soda was carbonated and tasted great. Service, once I got it, was friendly and fast. What rained on my parade was the drive thru was closed. I had just spent the past 10 hours in and out of airports, on and off planes. I didn't really want to go in. I just wanted to fill my stomach and go back to my room. (end whining) I saw the hiring sign and figured it would make sense to close either the dining room or drive thru if they don't have staff. It was confusing when I walked in. There's a vestibule type room with a counter. It said "fountain". I'm not from here. I have never been to a Friendlies. So I didn't know if you wanted a to go order, you go there. That's okay. Now, what I had an issue with was when I went to the "wait to be seated" podium. I stood there for about 5 minutes. At least 4 different staff walked by one of the many doors. They practiced what I call "can't see you". That's when they look anywhere but at you. Or they keep their eyes averted to make sure you can't get their attention. A simple "welcome. Someone will be with you shortly" would have pretty much fixed having to stand for a bit. But I did not get any form of acknowledgment. Normally, I'd leave. But I just wanted food and to go to sleep. Its late. I don't know my way around. It's this or whatever the hotel pantry has. Finally sometime came out of the back. I asked to place a to go order. She told me where to go. Nothing exciting. She wasn't unpleasant. So I went back to the "fountain". The girl running the register was friendly. It took a while, not super long, for my order to come. Which is fine. I'd prefer it be fresh. What irritated me further was I watched 3 staff in the back right hand side check phones and not move. Like just standing. The people on the left were bustling about. The register girl is restocking as well as taking orders as well as packing and delivering orders. The other young person was cleaning and helping make ice cream orders. The 3 still haven't moved. The 2 cooks, yes 2, we're slinging out food, cleaning and restocking. 1 of the 3 moved enough to look at orders. The other 2 still just standing. At this point, it's not that they need more help, they need better management so everyone pulls the weight of a busy restaurant and can help where it's needed when...

Seriously great food! We are from Illinois and only moved to Maine last year and we've been struggling to find restaurants we like here for some reason. Two of our favourite restaurants were Steak n Shake and Freddy's which made thin burgers and melts and had thin cut fries and shakes and we were sad to see there aren't any around. This place kind of helped us miss it less! It doesn't have the really thin cut fries or the meat and cheese patty melt but they have amazing food! The fries are great and fresh and actually contain salt.

We were so skeptical because we've had trouble liking places but literally everything we ate there was amazing and we got a lot! The mozzarella sticks were perfect. They were hot, fresh, crispy and the cheese was so stringy and goey and I feel its hard to find good mozzarella sticks! I was wanting that burger and cheese melt I was used to and it wasn't on the menu but they were able to accommodate me and make it anyways which was awesome!

My husband had the doritos cool ranch burger and he loved his too. Both cooked perfectly and we can tell the meat is good and fresh and doesn't take like frozen patties. The burgers were well seasoned as well. He also had onion rings and says the batter was amazing and they were crispy and perfect.

My 3 year old son had mac and cheese with hot dogs. We don't have much to say about this because it was just a hot dog, nothing special and it was kraft mac and cheese but he enjoyed his meal.

Lastly we had Sundays! They had a qr code on the table for new people to join their rewards which I did and that got me a free medium Sunday. Since my husband ordered that burger which was a special he got a free small Sunday and I think the kids meal came with a free small Sunday as well so we all got free ice cream which was really unexpected but great. The ice cream was also perfect. We liked each version we got and really can't wait to come back again.

Overall we had a great experience and we are really looking forward to coming back and hoping the next visit is just as good...

Jil was fantastic. She was one of the nicest wait staff we have seen in a while. A lot of times when you go out to eat you see a lot of fake wait staff, I didn't notice that with her. She knew her menu very well, checked in with us, never left my soda cup empty and was genuinely nice. Hopefully this review will give her some brownie points for her great service. Augusta dosent have a Friendly's anymore so we were excited to come here on our vacation. Prices are very reasonable, probably too reasonable, but I'm not complaining. Lots of choices on the menu, for vegetarians and for those with a healthy eating lifestyle as well. Friendly's always had the best ice cream, it was such a nice treat to get a chance to have it again. The restaurant was very clean and organized including the bathroom. Parking here is good, plenty of space, it's wheelchair friendly, plenty of booths and tables you can navigate around. At the entrance they have a vending machine game you can try winning stuff out of but it seemed to be broken but still a cool feature that kids would love had it been working. They accept debit/credit and cash, no ATM. My husband got a chop steak with nachos sandwich, it was a new feature, it was a little spicy but he enjoyed it. I got a tuna melt with extra cheese, small clam chowder and small salad. The salad wasn't necessarily filling but the clay chowder and sandwich was very good. The tuna wasn't dry and I liked how you have tomatoes in it. We of course got ice cream and was as good as I remembered it to be. The diet soda wasn't flat and was fresh. My only nit picks is it was extremely cold inside the restaurant, they should crank up the heat a little bit, they don't have napkins on the tables, I hate asking wait staff for things and bothering them for things I shouldn't have to. Ice cream took a bit to come out but it wasn't our waitress who was making it. Whoever behind the scenes that was making it, took a while, so not our waitress fault. However, we loved coming here and will be...