Friendly's

Extremely Disappointing – Poor Quality and Worse Customer Service I spent $70 on a delivery order from Friendly’s while recovering from surgery, hoping for a comforting meal. Unfortunately, the food arrived frozen and completely inedible. I reached out to request a refund, but the owner refused to issue one unless I physically returned the food—despite the fact that it was a delivery order and I had just had surgery. This level of disregard for a customer’s health and situation is unacceptable. Not only was the food quality terrible, but the response showed zero compassion or professionalism. I won’t be ordering from here again, and I would not recommend it to anyone expecting basic quality or customer care. Example as just the photo below disgusting.

I’ve been coming to Friendly’s since I was a baby and now I’m about to turn 42 and I bring my own children. While many locations have closed, the Elmwood Park location is still thriving. While I’ve always been satisfied with my visits, today’s (7/5/2025) was exceptional. Our server, Jacqueline, made sure we were helped and served promptly. As a parent, this is huge in making sure a dining experience can be enjoyed by all members of the party. Additionally, the fun packs given to the kids was really cool, they also got temperature sensitive color changing spoons, and Friendly’s sunglasses with sprinkles on them. The food was excellent. The service was superb. I’m not sure what is going on, but I’m loving these upgrades!!! Keep it up!

Service is always amazing, especially with Jackie making each dine-in experience memorable and tasty! This time was DoorDash and Friendly’s didn’t disappoint! I’d show the entree’s we got but they were inhaled in about 10 seconds 😅. Ice cream sundaes are always a 20/10!

I remeber my Dad taking my brother and I here as kids for ice cream sunday's and Banana Splits .This was a regular thing for us in the 70's .This was the first time visiting a Friendly's as an adult almost 50 years later - back then there wasn't much competition as the local ice cream shops were seasonal but Friendly's was year round .Brought back memories having lunch here but I didnt have room for a sunday so next time!!!

My siblings and I when in for some dessert. The Reese‘s peanut butter sundae was great. Our server was really friendly, nice and attentive gave us our drinks right away, and we had a great time. They weren’t so many friendly around left and I’m glad this one is here with wonderful service. Definitely go there.

When I was dating my wife we’d always stop at Friendly’s in Wayne. But since it closed down many years ago we haven’t been to one in some time. We stopped at this location and it was better than I thought it would be. Food was good service was excellent.

**update 6/26/2025 Price for a burger, fries and a drink are now $21 with tip. It's really getting too expensive to visit here. Should be $10 for all the above as one price and then $3 for a happy ending sunday as a separate price. ... At this current pace of inflation, I'm worried that this simple meal will be above $30 in less than 5 years. If the owner of this establishment is not in control of the pricing, they can pass along my advice to someone in corporate. Bring the prices down, advertise more. Tell people that you get value, great flavor, great prices, fun and a Sunday for $10 instead of $22. Too many restaurants are pushing higher prices. A drink is 97% water and 3% syrup. Costs the owner 10 cents a glass but they now charge $4. This is a good starting point to save money for the customer and bring more traffic in by getting those drink prices down to $2 or free with a meal. ***Update October 4, 2020 Indoor seating is available now! Delicious & mouthwatering food, super yummy desserts, great experience! Pros: Delicious food Juicy & flavorful burgers cooked to perfection Very tasty buns Perfect and addicting cruchy fries with moist bites inside. Everyone kept eating my fries! Clean restaurant Plenty of parking Free parking Lots of tables Super friendly employees Very fast service (less than 5 mins to get food) Good drink selection Outdoor seating under tents during stupid lockdowns of 2020. Indoor seating is back! Cons: Slightly expensive. I would suggest dropping the drink prices to $2 each or include it free with a full meal if the customer adds a dessert. Another suggestion would be to add Joes raspberry tea to the iced tea selection and to the sodas, please add diet rootbeer, and diet Dr Pepper.

The beef tie don’t taste nothing like the steak tips Meat is very hard and almost nothing of taste Broccoli smell like fish

Omg after a long day just wanted to get something fast and good. Greeted very friendly pun intended Since I am 60 and so was my date and we both ordered off senior menu 13 bucks got clam roll French fries and a sundae are you kidding me so darn good and cheap Not a place I would go often as those who read me knows but so hit the spot

No stars for this place. It made me put at least one star. I arrived @ around 7pm and was promptly seated to wait over 10 mins but no one came to the table to even bring water. Meanwhile 3 to 4 employees were standing in the kitchen shooting the breeze. Worth ethics sucks here. Went next store to Parkway Diner where they found me to be valuable.

Last time I dined at Frendly's was in the late 1970's. I am delighted to report that nothing has changed except that I qualify now for the senior citizen menu. I ordered my favorite clam roll and it is the same clam roll: a lot of fried batter and no sign of a clam. Still yummy from a nostalgia viewpoint. And my dessert was the mint chip ice cream cone, still looking the same and delicious!

This Friendly's restaurant the front parking lot should only be for the two managers one in the morning and one for the night and this parking lot should also be parking lot for the employees we need professional older employees workers who is responsible for this job and we need professional waitress employees worker and for this back window we need something to cover this back window the manger should put a shade for this little window and for the trash bin the employees should clean up the trash bins if it full this restaurant need professional mangers and professional waitress employees to make this restaurant more better in the future.

Great tasting comfort food. Love the old time comfortable atmosphere. Server was very attentive and able to answer all our questions about the menu.

I loved the place, but they closed the one in Bloomfield nj. The food was ok,the ice cream was off the hook The place was clean but very rundown. If one opened locally I would love to go

Opha Friendly's. I grew up on Friendly's so it's not like I didn't know what to expect. I would say the quality of the food has stayed pretty consistent from what one would expect add ad from a friendly. But what I would say dramatically changed is the prices. You can no longer go for a cheap meal at Friendly's. If you're looking for a night out with family, I would say it's still an okay option but do add up your bill before you go. It may be more expensive than you're willing to pay for this kind of dining experience.

Excited to find a Friendly's not too far. Had our all-time favorites. Having a great server was the cherry on our delicious Happy Ending sundae!!

My food was great and my service was amazing. Haven't been here in a long time and I gotta say I will definitely be back.

Friendly server, tasty food, generous ice cream portion, lively dining room, clean restaurant.

Delicious but bring back the old mozz sticks! :) something about the soda makes it better than anywhere else.

Emily was the best, will come back. I love coming here with my family. Thankkkkkkkk youuuuuuu

My sever Nick was excellent and very helpful Food was good and nice environment Love the music

Friendly's are disappearing now so I try not to be critical when I don't need to but whoever is making the ice cream at the Garfield location, you need to be retrained on how to make a sundae, especially when the customer is spending $10-$12 on one. I ordered a 3-scoop via DoorDash and I got more like two scoops with meager toppings including hot fudge which looked like only 1 tbsp was used. You can go cheap like that but you just ruin it for the customer. There used to be a Friendly's by me but it shut its doors after COVID and they used to get it right with the ice cream and eating a well-made sundae is always an enjoyable experience.

attentive service by Kate Continuance asking if everything was good Clean restaurant

The service was phenomenal. The grilled cheese was not the best in America. As advertised but it was close. Kelvin was the GOAT. Reeces peices super sundae was gas. GIVE KELVIN A RAISE!

Not really worth your money. It used to be pretty good, I don't know what happened. Although it was during the weekend, the place was pretty much empty ( which should've been a warning). I ordered a hot chocolate with a sandwich & fries. None of the food was hot (the hot chocolate wasn't either) & the fries were shoestring fries (kind of like McDonald's). I thought they served steak fries. Either way, I won't be going back.

I actually really like this location. A lot of the Friendly's I've been to in the past had their share of problems ... bad service, not clean, etc. This one actually has no issue with either. The restaurant itself is extremely clean and the folks working here are all super nice. Really had no issue on either front. Our server in particular was extremely nice and friendly, no pun intended. Food-wise we all know we are here for the ice cream, but I will say the A1 burger that I ordered was actually really well made. It was perfectly juicy and very well prepared all around. The fries were just average but I was impressed by how well cooked the burger was. As always, their ice cream options are gargantuan and I enjoyed the small sundae that came with my burger. I opted for a mint chocolate chip scoop with some hot fudge. Can't go wrong with Friendly's ice cream. All in all the experience here was great. There's also plenty of parking in the lot. The bathroom here was also very clean. Generally speaking it's nice to visit a Friendly's that is well-run, which I can't say the same for many other locations I've visited in the past.

Our waitress Ronni B is great. We've had her before and we were happy to have her again. She's pleasant, friendly and smiles and is purely looking to be of service. Food is never disappointing.

Service, food, ice cream all a Grand Slam!!!!! Thank you Crystal for your excellent service!!! I can't wait to for my next NJ visit from Wisconsin!!!

This was an amazing experience. Me and my partner brought our daughter here and she loved her sundae! The service was great will definitely come back! They make sure your table is nice and clean!

I've been coming here since I was in elementary school. Servers vary from very nice to very rude, but food is what you'd expect from a Friendly's. Friday & Saturday nights are extremrmy loud. I usually get the Honey BBQ Chicken Sandwich. I love the mozzarella sticks for an app. The ice cream rocks too.

No help Cold food Melted ice cream Coffee burned Lava cake cold Food took hr too come out And it was COLD STAY AWAY FROM HERE

It has been years we haven't been to Friendly's. We are so happy and grateful we came here today with our granddaughter

The establishment is very clean and the service is quick. Great food especially Dessert! Jason is a great server!

EMILY WAS AWESOME! WE WILL DEFINATELY BE BACK WHEN SHE IS WORKING! She explained upfront that she had a party she was attending to but still expedited our order. Lovely customer service and location was very clean.

Emily at the Elmwood location was excellent. Very friendly and everything came out perfect.

Great place to come with family food is great nice and fast. The bacon cheeseburger is my favorite. Got the cheese bites fried pickles and onion rings for appetizers. To top it off for the brownie sundae for dessert. Great place server was sweet and fast. Definitely coming again.

Got seated quickly on a Saturday night! Everything came out perfect and QUICKLY! Thank you Emily for the great service!

This place is SO good. The food is great, but the ice cream is the BEST around. It's always clean and updated. The service has been great and consistent each time I've gone. Friendlys is definitely a hidden gem in Bergen County!

This is the best restarant EVER I swear this is my dream job. You all are amazing. I really hope this still goes on until forever, this should not be history. The food is so good, nothing can compare to this delisious food. The employees are so nice even one gave me a 5 dollar off free on the MENU of my project. I will always honor this restasrant because it is amazing.

First of all the only reason I even gave a star is because it would not let me continue without a star review. We wanted to give a better tip but felt no accommodations were given or consideration for a special birthday request. My girlfriend and I were out with her nieces for her birthday. Since having her nieces with us and the girls wanting to sing happy birthday to her; you know embarrass her a little. However, this waitress KATE even after getting the youngest to be taken to the bathroom and KATE agreeing to do the birthday thing. She still chose not to. No the restaurant was not super busy, and no she did not have a crazy amount of tables. She came by asked us for our desserts etc and me reminding her still nothing. But no ice cream no candle nothing, no type of celebration. SHE HAD ONE JOB....!!! I am very disappointed...!"

Food was made fresh. Always enjoy crispy chicken salad. Service was good. Always call ahead and food was ready by the time I got there. Icecreams are also good

the food was alright it used to be way better but my kid got a kids meal they brought out a huge soda even tho he's five and the girl Doreen our waiter only came around like three times but this place definitely fell off

Food is decent but the service is absolutely terrible. I called to switch a side for another side they have. Even offered to pay extra for the changes, which other restaurants on DoorDash are able to charge me extra no problem for any accommodations. One of the employees had me on hold for 10 minutes then hung up. I called back and spoke to the manager and he was just completely dismissive. He told me " What is it we are busy." Like I didn't spend $46 for a quesadilla and a chicken sandwich. Just terrible customer service especially on how the prices are now and can't even try to help just dismissive from the start. I won't ever order from friendly's again!

Met a friend - Jackie- a waitress from a Friendlys that closed in Hillsdale. So nice seeing her

The service was great. Food was great and served just as it was ordered. Fribble was delicious.

The waiters our super nice! Amazing service! I love the decor! It's super calm and exciting! Definitely family friendly.Delicious!

Came in to pick up an order and no one bothered to even look my way. As it got crowded no one was up front to seat people as they came in. Service sucks here

Came on a weeknight and it seemed like a place popular for families and their kids. We had burgers and a sundae but the food was just okay and not anything super impressive for a dine in restaurant.

I have been going to this friendlys since as long as I can remember (I'm 22) since I was literally in a car seat and I used to LOVE and BEG my mom to take me here after school but lately things have changed. First of all the food has gone way way down you can tell almost 90% of the stuff is microwaved and left out for quite a while. The quality has changed the only good thing as usual is just the ice cream but how can you mess that up. The service has become slow the waiters sit around and talk to each other while we wait 30-45 minutes for them to check on us.I would understand if they were busy but they are not busy and the business is literally dying. When I used to come here I had to sometimes wait for a seat but now I walk in and there's maybe two people after 3:00 pm and later. Save your money (and your taste buds) and go somewhere else that's worth your money.

For anyone who knows me this review will be very shocking, as I have been Friendlys biggest fan and supporter for literally the past 20 years... unfortunately tho my most recent visit here will be my last. No one comes to Friendlys because they love microwaved chicken fingers. So if the food sucks you would expect the service to try to make up for it. Well, my last few visits have proved otherwise. Came one night on a fundraising night, which one would assume is scheduled in advanced. They had maybe 4 servers. You come to a family oriented restaurant with kids you expect fast service. I mean seriously how long does it take to microwave chicken tenders, 2 minutes? Yet left waiting in a dining room of hungry kids for 40+ minutes for food to come out. That's not even the worst of it. Came here to celebrate my 9 year old nieces birthday on a separate visit. Waitress, who was rude and unprofessional, did not rally the servers to sing happy birthday..... Talk about a let down kid. Came here specifically for the little bit of attention and the waitresses can't even do that? To top it off the waitress hand wrote her tip on the receipt... so after not doing her best to make a kids birthday special she thinks she deserves to declare her own tip. LOL what a joke. If you don't want to work with children maybe you shouldn't work at Friendlys. After complaining to the manager nothing was done. This guy running the place is an absolute dud. He is going to run the business to the ground and it's a complete shame. After getting our receipt back and paying cash, noticed the totals were all crossed out and made less. Hmm bet that cash was pocketed. Haven't seen Jesús there in a while who really embodied the Friendlys spirit. I used to love coming here for a quick bite and decent ice cream. Sadly will not be back. Do better Friendly's.

Not a good restaurant messed up my ice cream and never came back super slow so not come here

This was my first time at a friendly's in my life and the experience was so/so..As I walked in I had to wait to be seated about 10-12 minutes because there was no host in the front and workers kept walking by us finally the manager came and took me to my table..Me and my fiancé sat down and looked over the whole menu decided what we wanted and it took about 15 minutes before a manager asked us have we been helped we said no and he sent the server over to us and as we waiting him and a another server was arguing..we finally ordered and the food was good the shrimp was amazing and the fries were really good but I'd advise never ever get rice from them so disgusting..my fiancé enjoyed his grilled cheese as well and our server never checked on us at all finally once the food was done she came over we ordered ice cream which was absolutely amazing the sundaes are the best..finally it came time to pay I gave the server my credit card and she was gone for about 20 minutes with my card in this time I witnessed her get into a whole argument with another server because neither wanted to take a table that just got sat finally she gave me my card back...all in all the food was great the service tho definitely needs work they have to many employees who don't really wanna work oh and cleaning needs to get better 2 tables were sat at sticky tables like come on it's Covid so clearly cleaning isn't being taken serious

Friendly atmosphere haha okay food ... amazing ice cream sundaes Reese's anything special place in my heart for their chicken fingers w/ fries and honey mustard.

Terrible service, came in with an iced coffee from dunkin and they said "you're not allowed to bring drinks in" and asked me to pour my drink into a Friendly's cup, which mind you what's the difference between my dunkin cup and the cheap paper Friendly's cup??? Also the waitress we had seemed lethargic and didn't care about how we were doing. Never come here if you want decent service

I am even wondering how this place is still open..The worst service ever. Slow service.. Bad attitudes.. Slow service... Messy... Slow service... Oh and did I mention...Slow service. I cant even dignify given anymore time to review it. Picked one star because it wouldn't let me post without it. Enter at your own risk.

I would give it zero stars if I could but they don't allow you to do that. I came in with my parents a few weeks ago, we come in pretty often. they are senior citizens and thought they could get a senior Sundae with their meal. it's not a big deal, it's only a small sundae. the thing that made me AND my parents who are in their 70's (and my mother is handicapped) so upset was that we heard a few of the servers laughing about it and making fun of us. my elderly parents did not deserve that. the manager Monica was no help and was laughing with them so I didn't even want to ask for her help. plus she's been no help in the past. too many young people in there, some even seemed under the influence. I really used to love friendlys and this experience just ruined it for me. what me and my parents used to enjoy and have fun memories from is now ruined. seeing them upset getting laughed at broke my heart. and it wouldn't hurt if they cleaned up the place either. everyone was standing around doing nothing! what a shame

Just go to the diner next door.. Or you know some place where you'll get decent service. A friend & I went and ordered an appetizer and two entrees. The entrees came out after 15 min wait which isn't bad however the waitress was clueless when we asked about our appetizer. She went to the kitchen, came back & told us it was under the warmers and blamed someone else.. (Uhm as a waitress it's your responsibility to make sure your tables get the correct order and fix it when a mistake is made, SMH.) So, then she tried to take our entrees back and when I grabbed mine to stop her she said she'd "put it under the warmers" while we had our appetizer. (WTF why would you do that? So dumb!!) Nicole M. was a bad waitress, gave poor service & poor at fixing the mistake. EDIT: Nicole M is also very unprofessional as she goes out of her way to harass you if you leave a negative review. DO YOUR JOB NICOLE & STOP CONCERNING YOURSELF WITH WHAT PEOPLE WRITE, you gave us poor service how about you own up to your mistake & move on by learning how to not make the same mistake again? Seriously grow up. Edit 06/08/14: I attempted to contact the manager to discuss the poor service but it appears they don't care about how poor the service is, and it appears they undermine the power of one.