Visited Friends on the recommendation of Yelp on a Sunday evening about 8 or so. In other words, after any rush. There are two halves to this establishment: a bar and a restaurant. I went for the bar because I really wanted just an in-and-out beer and dinner.
The bar side is just that: a local bar that, oddly, does not have draft beer. All bottled beer selections are macro brands, with Blue Moon as "micro" as they get.
Food selection is mostly Portuguese. I went instead for Sirloin Tips for $16, which was very good and a huge portion. Staff was very friendly. The reason that they get 3 instead of 4 stars is the lack of micro beers.
Friend's Pub is awesome!!
I had an app, not sure of the name, but it was shrimp, scallops, and linguica in chef's sauce... it was AMAZING!!! I think the next time I go in I will get it will a size of rice, and make it a meal.
There's a pool table (closed when the dining room is open), fooze ball table, full bar, and a sweet little patio. I went on a week night, but the dining room is kinda small so I am guessing it could get kinda loud on a weekend.
Staff was super nice, and the food was great--this place is a gem! I will be back.
I have been going here for years (both to eat in their restaurant & to hang out on the bar side) and this is one of my favorite places to eat. Â The food is AMAZING, inexpensive, and the portions are more than plentiful. Â The restaurant is small, and tables usually are never full, but I love it like this. Â Never a wait! Â In regards to a previous review about the rolls served...traditional Portuguese rolls (Papo Secos) is normally served cold. Â They go really well with the sauce in most of their dishes. Â
So sad I moved away, but everytime I am in the area, I make it a point to stop in to say hello.
Trying to stay away from our usual repertoire of local places, we looked for "favorite places in Lowell" and agreed on Friend's Restaurant & Pub for Portuguese food. Off a main street near City Hall, the place has a bar and a separate dining area with 11 tables. It looked clean, had white linen tablecloths, and paper place mats.
The waitress was pleasant and knowledgeable, but she didn't fill our water glasses. Before the meal, she brought us black olives and a basket of store-bought (I believe) Portuguese rolls that were a little cold. They needed to be heated and have a crunchier crust.
Our order consisted of Frutos Do Mar Em Cama De Pasta - shrimp, scallops, little neck clams in a white wine, olive oil & garlic sauce served on linguini (I had to do this from memory, as there is no menu online, so my Portuguese might not be correct. Sorry.) and beef kebab in grilled onions, peppers, and a tasty brown garlic sauce with fried potatoes and rice. Two carbs on a plate is more than I can handle, so I substituted a garden salad with dressing on the side. Â The dinner was "delivered" with rice, and the salad was slathered in dressing. She replaced the salad and had me keep the rice. Plenty of leftovers for tomorrow.
Mr. K ordered a glass of red wine ($4.75) and it was just ok. Everything else, especially the beef dish and the scallops, were very good. We ordered flan, but I've had better. This one was very dense and had a liqueur base instead of caramel.
Only one other party was in the restaurant at the time, and it was celebrating a birthday. After they finished singing happy birthday, they cut their Carvel Cake and asked if we would like a slice. At first we said no, but I said, "Well, it's my BD in a few days, so why not?" One of the party came by with a little slice and brought over her lighter, turned it on, and told me to make a BD wish for myself. Very cute. They asked the wait staff if they wanted cake, too. Nice, friendly atmosphere.
I'd give 3.5 stars but will round to 4. We'll be back, but not tomorrow. The whole meal, minus tip, was about $45, which was quite reasonable.
Pretty good Portuguese cuisine!
After a night meeting at City Hall, we walked a block over to Friend's Restaurant & Pub (formerly the Sports Page Bar & Grille) to grab some chow. The place has an upscale dining room (with linen covered tables) to the right and the pub to the left. We arrived here around 8:55 PM and the dining room was just closing up, but the pub stays open until 1:00 AM (Tues-Thurs). We asked the bartender if the kitchen was still serving food and he looked at his watch said yes! The kitchen normally closes at 9:00PM on a weeknight, but they were more than happy to stay open and serve us dinner, bonus points! The pub area is clean and has bar seating and high table seating plus TVs at the bar, TouchTunes jukebox, plus there's a pool table and larger flat screen TV in the back area of the pub.
We started out with Tanqueray & Tonics ($6.75 each) and Diet Cokes ($1.50 each) while we looked over the menu. The menu had a good selection of Portuguese dishes including carne (meats), ave (poultry), peixe (fish), mariscos (seafood), sopas (soups), saladas, aperitivos, kids choice (hot dog or chicken tenders with fries), Â and a full wine and beer list. Luncheon Specials are served from 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM and Daily Specials are posted.
The complementary basket of rolls were big and chewy. The Camarao Alhinho ($12.95), shrimp (with tails), cooked in a spicy sauce of butter, garlic, parsley, lemon, & white wine and served with fried potatoes & rice was pretty good and tasty. The shrimp were tender and the sauce had good flavors. The sliced fried potatoes were excellent, which were like potato chips, lightly fried with a soft potatoey texture inside. The rice was decent. Â The Grilled Sirloin Tips ($11.95) served with French fries & rice, were juicy & tender and a bit chewy. The crispy fries were standard. We skipped dessert since we were filled up.
In all, we had plenty of carbs on our plates and the service was decent. There was only one bartender working and it took a while to get his attention for the check because there were also a few other groups sitting at the bar ordering a bunch of drinks and watching the Red Sox game. The music of Stevie B. was also pumping from the speakers. We're very glad they kept the kitchen open and served us a tasty Portuguese style meal after 9:00 PM because we were very hungry. For that, this place gets a solid 4 STARS.
RESTAURANT HOURS: Monday: CLOSED; Tuesday-Thursday: 11:30AM-9:00PM; Friday: 11:30AM-10:00PM; Saturday: 12:00PM-10:00PM; Sunday: 12:00PM-9:00PM
PUB HOURS: Tuesday-Thursday & Sunday Open until 1:00AM; Friday-Saturday Open until 2:00 AM
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