Friendly's — Restaurant in Town of Hempstead

I am trying to figure out a way to explain what the Friendly's experience is for those who have never been. The best I can come up with is imagine if a diner and Denny's had a love child. Friendly's has been around for years. I used to love going to it as a kid. I arrived at this one at about 5:00 on a Saturday. It was pretty crowded. The parking lot was full. As I look around, I see a lot of middle school, high school and families with children there. So it seems like the tradition of an attracting younger taste buds still holds true. A big part of that is they are known for their ice cream, although I used to love their burgers. With that in mind, I ordered the fish and chips. I know, who orders fish and chips at a Friendly's? ME! 😂. The other order at the table was a kid's meal. I think it was a great value. For $7.99 a grilled cheese sandwich, french fries, a drink and an ice cream hot fudge sundae was all covered for that price. Keep in mind those items are interchangeable because the child can pick from a menu of what they want. For example instead of french fries, broccoli could have been chosen. Are instead of grilled cheese, a quesadilla could be ordered. It is also kind of cool that the child menu comes in "sizes". They have one for smaller children and one for bigger ones. That's pretty cool

The fish and chips were not the highlight of my visit. The fish came out very hot which is great. However, the texture is a little hard to explain. I was expecting a light and flaky bite. The fish was more "chewy" and it was salty. I put generous amounts of the provided tartar sauce on it. I also ask for extra lemon. I did eat it all, mainly because it was $17. But I will probably not ever order it again. Speaking of the price. I expected a higher grade of fish for that price. Additionally I recall the french fries being better when I was younger. These french fries are the thinner variety almost shoestring like. Unfortunately they get cold rather fast because of the small mass.

The kid's plate seemed fine. That makes me happy because this is the kind of place that belongs in your childhood memory. Eating with your parent and just having a good time. The meal came with an activity book and a spoon that changes colors based on the temperature of the food you put it into. Not sure if I'm putting that into my child's mouth, but we may use it for science fun.

Keeping in mind that this establishment isn't known for the meals more than it is for the ice cream, let's talk dessert. The kid's meal allows a choice of three different ice cream creations. The classic hot fudge was chosen. And I was told it was very good. I ordered the large sundae. Came with three scoops and three toppings. I had a hard time choosing. I ended up with a mocha ice cream, cookies and cream and chocolate chip. I topped it with hot fudge, cookie dough and marshmallow. At almost $10, it definitely filled me up. It was very sweet and satisfying. I definitely enjoyed the dessert and would come back for that.

I definitely still see this as a place for the high school and college crowd. I also think it's a great option for parents who want a simple establishment to take there children to. The charm of Friendly's is its still very old school. No fuss. It's not fancy and you can get a good value on a child's meal. And I don't know any child who's going to complain after eating ice cream! 😁

Slight Update: I returned to Friendly's with my son. I ordered the tuna fish melt. I know, again with the fish from friendly's 🤣. I don't eat red meat give me a break. Anyhow, that sandwich is the bomb. I bet it's a sleeper on the menu. I enjoyed the tuna fish and fries. If you want to kick it up a notch, get a side of...

Went to the Friendly's on Hempstead Turnpike. Easy to see why this chain resturant has closed many locations. While it features a ample parking lot and spacious seating, this is where the Friendlyness ends. Having revamped their menu, many of the old favorites are gone, replaced with questionable choices such as the Doritos burger with the chips toppingthe myriad of other things piled on top of it. Our server, a young girl didn't know what a pattymelt was and never heard of it. After explaining what it was, she happily said she would see if the kitchen could make it. What I got was anything unlike the old favorite served years ago. It consisted of under cooked ground beef with a marginal amount of onions and hardly any cheese on sound kind of marble bread that they said was rye. The other entree was their country chicken wrap. This consisted of chicken, lettuce and tomatoes in a wrap with a vinegarete sauce, which was requested to be on the side, but was coated over the wrap. The heat quality was lacking on both items and the fries as if they needed to be refreshed. The onion rings were good, but cut very thick. In looking at the ice cream and dessert menu, many of these favorites are gone. Like most ice cream places, chopped peanuts as a topping is gone in favor of the food police. Some of the old flavors are also gone in favor of their best selling ones. Every thing seems to have a coating of whipped cream on it, from tge ice cream to the milk shakes. There was a time that Friendly's evoked good tasty dinning that was not just for kids. But it appears the lackluster has gone. While I may choose to grab a pint or quart from my local supermarket freezer, dinning at their resturant is no longer on...

Service was awful.waited 40 minutes for our food bc of some kind of problem in the kitchen. Restaurant was only half full. App was hot,but soup and partners entree were cold. My entree was warm. Asked the server A few questions and was less than impressed with the answers. "Hey,do u know how much longer until our food is ready?" Server: "idk man, I really don't know". The correct response should and always will be" oh I'm not sure,let me go check on that for you". Finally after complaing the server brings out my soup ND my partners sandwich,but they were both cold. Which the only reason why they wouild have been cold was because they were sitting out on the plate. My pasta entree was warm when it came out though. At the end of visit, the manager ended up taking the sandwich off of our check,but they didn't offer to heat up the sandwich we had or give us another one, or give us a hot cup of soup. At the end of the visit,the food was still good. And we eventually felt bad for the server because clearly he was having a hard time. But, I will not be returning back to this friendlys ever again . Please teach your waitstaff how to do their job and how to have some manners and how to talk to customers. I know it's only A friendlys,but you should always strive for good...