Friendly's

1060 Stelton Rd
Piscataway, NJ 08854

When thinking of family friendly restaurants, Friendly's is a great choice.  The kid's meals (along with the grown up ones) are very reasonably priced, especially when considering they come with ice cream at the end.  This was on our mind yesterday when we wanted to have a quick meal before running a few errands.

Alas, there was no quick meal to be had at this Friendly's location.  Out of three visits here, we've had at least two bad experiences.  Yesterday, we went a little after noon, and the restaurant was about 3/4 full.  We were sat right outside the kitchen.  A woman, who appeared to be a manager later, took our drink order, and then another woman, who appeared to be our waitress, returned with them later.  She quickly took our food order, and we didn't see her again until our food came out.  Due to our seats with a view of the kitchen, it became pretty apparent to me that they were "in the weeds."

Generally, it would be no big deal that our waitress didn't stop by until the food came, but when you wait for 20-30 minutes for sandwiches at the chain equivalent of a diner, it's a problem.  Fortunately, my infant son had just woken from his nap and was in a good mood and my 3 year old was also in a good mood, though he started asking where his mac and cheese was after waiting about 10 minutes (at which point we assured him we hadn't been waiting that long and that his food would be out any minute.  Oops).  Thankfully, they brought our kids' food out first, followed by my husband's sandwich.  He started snacking on fries, not wanting to eat his sandwich before mine came.  Another 5-10 minutes later, mine finally arrived.

I generally wouldn't hold such an experience against a restaurant, but since it's happened twice, we won't be going back to this location.  As far as the food and the prices; it's Friendly's.  You know what you're getting.  Our food was good and mine was fresh, but that doesn't outweigh waiting for so long to me.