A diamond in the vast emptiness of the Brookfield area! My son and I were in the area for a fishing trip and the first thing we noticed was the lack of dining options. Ice cream is always good though so we popped in to J9's after we got off the water and what a pleasant surprise! Janine's is an old timey roadside drive in restaurant with a big menu full of fun food options (burgers, dogs, salads, seafood, etc) with another menu with a long list of ice cream choices (Gifford's ice cream!). Music playing outside and what looked like a live music stage under a circus tent. Outside dining set back from the main road, friendly people working there, clean and decent portions at very reasonable prices. I wish we had places like this at home. If we're ever back that way I will definitely come back. If I was a local I would be here all the time. This is fun food done right. read more

If there was a single example of what "fall from grace" means, it's this restaurant. My family and I used to love coming here. We looked forward to every summer when Janine's would be open and at least 2 meals a week would come from here. Since the new owners took over, genuinely every single aspect of the business has been downgraded. The food, quality, consistency, operations management, and even the employee experience are all drastically worse. I'll list some specifics to illustrate my point... When the new owners took over, they swapped the pickup and order food windows. If you've ever worked inside the building or seen the layout, you know that this makes no sense. It hinders operations and ruins the natural flow of work when fulfilling food orders. It still confuses customers this far into the season. And that's not the only thing that ruined the experience for employees. Previously, employees earned minimum wage plus tips, and now under the new management, the employees get the service worker wage where tips are used to fill in the gap between what they get paid by the owners and minimum wage. The net pay went way down because of this. The three times I've eaten there since the owners changed, it has been a massive disappointment. The food quality is worse. They changed suppliers for staple menu items like fries, tangy gold sauce, and some of their meats. It's noticeable that the new stuff is significantly lower quality than before. And all these negative changes have come without a price decrease, but in fact higher prices year over year. And here's a direct story from the experience that led to this review: we got dinner from there tonight (for the last time), and the service was embarrassingly bad. Our order included a ceasar salad, which was meant to come with no dressing due to an allergy to the ingredients. Despite explicitly communicating and confirming with the employee on the phone (they read the order back), the salad came with ceasar dressing. So we had to call back, and explicitly state that we want the salad "with only three ingredients: lettuce, chicken, and croutons." After going back on the 20 minute side quest to pick up that new salad, it had no croutons and came with cheese. Unbelievable. And finally, the ice cream I ordered with the meal was grainy and disgusting. I've never had a single grainy ice cream from Janine's until this year. I really blame everything on the new owners. They ruined everything about this place. If they know what's good for this business, they'll sell it to competent people who care about its success. read more

It's just not even worth trying and hoping anymore. What was once a great little outing to a great drive-in is just no longer fun, either in time or money. Best to go to Howard's or the Whistlestop, or Rondeau's. This is the third time consecutively over the summer that I've visited for dinner and/or ice cream, and waited about 15 minutes each time - only to then find that the order was completely underwhelming, or wrong, or one time they didn't even put it through so no one was working on it until I asked in frustration. I just can't give it another try... it used to be so good, but today's 15 minute wait for a Cinn-Apple Sensation Sundae - which came out with an overabundance of ice cream, a mere DOLLOP of apples, HALF a stale cinnamon bun, zero caramel sauce, and a stifling amount of whipped cream - was the last straw. Luckily I love Howard's and Rondeau's, and the Whistlestop is a great new option! read more

Our favorite place for ice cream in the summer!! Always great service, love the live bands and outdoor seating!

Always great tasting food, Hot ready to go. Prices are well within reason Only 5 minutes from my house. Staff is always helpful and friendly, will be going there for lunch today. read more

I used to go to Janine's all the time when I lived in town. I hadn't been in a while and I won't be going again any time soon. They ripped me off. I wanted a clam strip mini meal that turned into $18 and a baby sundae that became $8. I didn't know what they were charging until after and I didn't think it sounded right and it turns out now that I have seen the menu it was a total ripoff. She kept saying she was new but the other girl helping her obviously didn't know what she was doing either. read more

You should be a shame of ourselve, 3.50 for a 4 inch hotdog, just crap. The new owners are killing this place. it used to be a great place.

A common place for our "New England Riders" to meet up for good food and ice cream. I've visited many times over the years and keep coming back for more :) The parking is a little interesting when a dozen or so of us on bikes show up, but there's plenty of street parking also. Tonight they had live music playing which is always fun. The food doesn't take long considering how busy they get. Fried calamari was really good tonight. The BBQ burger was cooked perfectly and stacked high with onion rings. Messy in a good way :) At least 4 of us in the group got the whoopie pie sundae tonight and it was really good. I really like whoopie pies, particularly Wicked Whoopie pies. These ones were great! Recently repaved the parking lot is easy to navigate for motorcycles. Thanks for the years of good food and ice cream and entertainment. read more

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Such a great little spot, tucked away off of the main road. The day I went, they had a live band, shaded tables and just good energy from the crowd all around. Prices seem very fair to me for the portions I received. I'm all about supporting local, small business...especially when the food is good! I ordered the lobster roll, plenty of delicious meat on it! The clam fritters were a bit overcooked and really chewy. Onion rings were very good and their banana splits, just like I remembered as a child! read more

Janine's Frostee - Lobster roll with the macaroni salad - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Ware, Massachusetts

Been coming here for YEARS. First ever TERRIBLE experience. Not only did they now upcharge for credit card purchases rather then using cash which is technically illegal currently in the state of MA. But also, they got our order wrong and said we didn't order correctly so they were not going to give us the right order cause we didn't "pay" for these add ons, which we did, but the lady taking our order must not have put it in the computer... at the end of it all I got the ice cream window slapped in my face!!! wow, I work in hospitality and that's not how paying customers get treated. Wont be visiting thier establishment anymore. read more

Ok here goes ,and I hate doing it but I'm not one for giving a positive review when things were definitely not positive! Today was our first time going to Janine's this year. We had a couple bad experiences last year and decided to just take a break from here instead of being constantly disappointed. I ordered for my wife a chicken salad roll with just lettuce and no cheese , grilled roll , small sprite no ice. I ordered 2 hotdogs on grilled rolls , with the works and onions , med curly fries and a small shake. So if there is anything good to be said it is that the shake was good. The rest not so much! You're asking, how can a chicken salad roll and hotdogs be bad. Lol. Well they called my name , I brought the try to the car and got in. My wife looks at me like I have 2 heads or something. She's says you're joking right?? What? I say. She says they didn't give me a roll with my chicken salad roll !! No kidding the chicken salad roll was missing the roll ! Had chicken salad on a bed of lettuce!! Brought it back, told the girl , she says , " you said only lettuce "! I kid you not !! I told her I wouldn't have asked for a chicken salad roll minus the roll and I had asked for it on a grilled bun , she takes it back, they throw it into a non grilled bun and hand it back to me. Ok at least I got the bun. Hop back in the car my wife says take the fries back too , they were cold and soggy ! I had one ! Yup cold and soggy! But before I brought those back I looked at the hotdogs and sure enough non grilled buns , at this point I just wanted to eat so I took a bite and no kidding the dogs were barely warm , actually closer to room temperature. We threw everything away and left. I kept the shake. Ohhh and the sprite with no ice , yup , had ice in it. We won't be going back anytime soon that's for sure , was a waste of 25 bucks. I miss the old Janine's!!! read more

Update: Since I heard that new owners (Clam Box etc.) were taking over, I decided to give it another chance. It was much improved. The fried mushrooms were as good as I remembered, and my burger was decent. I'll return to try other items soon. read more

The staff is friendly. There is a good selection of food and drink. We have always found their food to be tasty. Our only complaint is how much some of their food selections have increased in price this season. Several items have substantial price increases. We like this place, but we won't go as often this year. read more

Since it changed in ownership I have found it not to be as good as it used to be. On last visit it took 45 min to get hotdogs that were served cold . Ended up throwing away Haven't been back since. read more

Been coming here for 18 years and always had a good experience no matter the season. We just waited over half an hour to order food with three parties in front of us. Then another half hour for the food to come out and the fries were cold. Then we ordered three ice creams, the first came out after ten minutes, then the second two came out over ten minutes after that. This place all of a sudden went downhill fast, such a shame. read more

I've been really wanting to be optimistic about new ownership but I can't at this point. Normally May is when they dust off the cobwebs and they're hitting their stride. I went tonight (as I do every week) and this is possibly the worst service I've had in the last 15+ years of coming here. I interacted with the young blonde woman at the counter 3 times and each time it was completely off putting (and I'm not someone who complains about service unless it's notably bad). My food was cold by the time I got it and as I waited I was asked by her twice "are you waiting for something?" in a rude tone. She couldn't be bothered to fill my coke all the way when she forgot my meals came with drinks. In the weeks I've been coming back here after the change in ownership, the food quality is wildly inconsistent (but mostly worse), the service by the new staff largely sucks, and the wait times are abysmal, even when it's not that busy! I wish they'd spend some of the energy they're putting into remodeling and designing on their vision of a nostalgic 50's restaurant and actually put it into maintaining the service and quality that Janine's (was) known for. They're really leaning into the whole '50's drive in' shtick while playing throwback playlists instead of the usual radio easy listening stuff. I get it, but it's really obnoxious to hear soc-hop whatever while my (small) order is 45 minutes late and the person at the counter is rude about it. Put the normal radio back on. I spend at least $60+ a week here every summer because it's an easy dinner and reliable. I'm not sure how much longer I can do that. The season hasn't even really started and I've had several wrong orders, soggy or lukewarm food and several visits where the wait was longer than last season's busiest nights in August. Yikes. read more

Okay hear me out , I've given the " under new management " grace and time to figure it out but I'm so distracted. Not only with the customer service but also overall . First order was a take out , am entire part of our order was missing . Called when we got home and they " thought we were still there " drove back to pick it up and got no apologies that they forgot to give it to us . I asked if it was supposed to be a hot item and they said " well it's been sitting under the warmer " , no offer to remake it ( at least 45 min had past from pick up ) . Every one we encountered that visit was rude and grouchy . Second time we called to place an order and they had " no sea food " also very grouchy . Third time we ordered the kids meal portions were tiny , there was like 10 fries , also everyone was grouchy . Just called to order again and they're out of fritters . Go to pick up what we did order and they didn't realize it was take out , no biggie . Came back and the sauces had no tops , I asked for tops and you'd had thought it was the end of the world . I understand things happen , there's things to figure out but being rude and grouchy while trying to do so doesn't sit right with me . Not once in those four visits was anyone friendly or polite . read more

Me and the wife went to this place for the first time tonight and we were excited to try their ice cream! We googled local ice cream shops, and this place came up as closing at 9pm. There was a few people getting their cones through the window when we got there at 8:30. We looked at the menu for 5 minutes and then tried ordering. They have a bunch of younger people that work there, and one of them opened the window and said (she almost didn't even open the window) "umm we're closed" while rolling her eyes at us. We said "huh? We've been standing here for ten minutes we were looking at the menu"!They saw us and NEVER said that they were closed! The girl keeps looking at her friend, who was possibly a manager(she was very young also)and then says "ok what do you want?" The other girl jumps in her way and says "we can't do it, we closed at 8"! I politely informed them that we saw them literally serving someone as we pulled up at 8:30. My wife noticed that the rest of their crew, who are all VERY young also, wer'e laughing at us! We were very upset, and let them know that we were offended at their lack of customer service skills! The girl replied "ALRIGHT!" with an attitude and slammed the window on us! HORRIBLE FIRST TIME EXPERIENCING, WHAT A SHAME! read more

Traveling a bit out of the way after our hike at the Quabbin, we decided to try this famous frosty place. While I didn't have a Frostee, probably because it felt a bit indulgent, they did have both hard and soft ice cream and lots of great flavors that would appeal to anybody looking for a treat. The lines were very well organized, and we had no problems getting through the line quickly. The pull off is a bit tricky so pay attention when you go to get there. Yes, if you do not see Parking in the lot, do park on the road. Just be careful because there is traffic that drive-by on this little pull off. I would recommend a cup if you get soft serve, because it is a bit melty. There are nice picnic tables set up under a tent which do help. I would definitely recommend trying to frosty even if I did not have it at this time. Enjoy! read more

Janine's Frostee - A small! - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Ware, Massachusetts

Good food. One girl rolled her eyes after giving our ice cream and acted super annoyed at our presence. Everyone else was nice though.

One of the few places open during the 2020 virus Called ahead for an order of yummy cheese curds and picked up an awesome hot fudge Sunday with cookie dough & pistachio ice cream. All friendly smiling people at the counter. I thank each and every worker for being open and there for the town :) read more

Janine's Frostee - Hot fudge Sunday - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Ware, Massachusetts

Clam box has good food and good service. Same owner....what the hell happened to this place?! We were about a cars length from the window and it took almost 40 min just to be able to order our food! Whole bellies were so overcooked and we got upcharged for tartar sauce? Seriously?! Ordered a medium iced tea and got a small. I wish this guy would stop buying up all the seasonal restaurants in the area because he's ruining them! Won't be back. Rude, slow customer service and loonng wait times are a good way to lose customers! read more

Everything I have ever had there for at least ten years has been great. Seafood is fresh and cooked perfectly

Usually a pretty decent meal is had from here. It gives you "drive-in" vibes. The icecream is pretty good too.

Usually have a very good experience here, but this past week was not.. went in the afternoon to get ice cream and it first went wrong when I was handed a soft serve, and I had to correct that I asked for hard, was then told "well, that's not what the receipt said but I'll do it", which already rubbed me the wrong way. Why not just apologize and offer to fix if it was put in incorrectly? They fixed that, but I received the second cone, another worker handed it to me and the cone was broke/crushed from her gripping it so hard.. needless to say I'm glad I had a cup in the car because it completely fell apart.. I was just not in the mood to seem rude and ask for another but reflecting back I probably should have. Sad to say this was a very poor experience and rude service from the young workers on this day. read more

The food use to be great and would always be excited to go when I was younger but the way they treat there neighbors is not good the food has gone down hill and the place is dirty and shouldn't be opened half the year none of the year it's not good anymore but if you want ice cream it's good but that's it overpriced to. read more

The food was good. The customer service was amazing. The lady taking the orders ,(I think her name is Karen)was amazing!!

Love coming here on a summer day when it's nice out. They have live music, lots of tables outside, it's always packed cause the food is amazing and the ice cream is fantastic!! read more

Janine's Frostee - Fish n chips - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Ware, Massachusetts

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Good food!! The best ice cream both hard and soft as well as frozen yogurt! Plenty of seating and they have scheduled events. You won't be disappointed! Quick service with a smile. read more

We have contacted Janine's via the contact form on the website, because someone in our family has certain food allergens. So we asked what exact ingredients were in their soft serve. Apparently they couldn't be bothered to get back to us about it. Which kind of sucks. Also the last time I came here I had a vanilla malt milkshake. And there was just way too much malt in it. It burned my throat it's a bit excessive. My husband's fries we're soggy too. I don't know how long they were sitting under the heat lamp but it was quite a while. While it is a popular stop in the summer and I can definitely see the appeal because it is a place of nostalgia for me, it just doesn't seem that great when you can't get back to a customer especially when it comes to food allergies. read more

I recommend the ice cream! The food...not so much... I wish I could say more when it comes to talking about their food, but to remain honest it's not worth the money. Most items come out soggy and soaked in oil. Unacceptable. Plus I don't feel like the oil is filtered or completely changed at times. The oil tastes sour, and it makes everything taste fishy. As a professional food service manager and employee I'm more disappointed than not when it comes to talking about their food. Their live music is awesome! Ice cream is awesome! Food..not worth the wait or the $$. read more

I love Janine's every time I go! I never thought I'd go to an ice cream place more for the food than the ice cream. I'm willing to drive almost an hour for their food and the staff is always super friendly! The chicken tenders are a consistent craving of mine. read more

Janine's Frostee - Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Near Me - Ware, Massachusetts

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Such a good place! They have food for everyone. Have never had bad service and order has always been right! Overall i would 100% recommend trying this place out if you are in the area. Ice cream is good too! read more

I have been disappointed in some of the food. I ordered a Turkey burger with cheese and onion. No cheese. The burger was so thin and obviously frozen. It was terrible. The regular burgers are not good either. The prices seem to go up every year but lousy food. The ice cream is great. I give up on the food. read more

It's a local icon! To be honest it's been years since I had food there but my family says is "not bad". I go for the ice cream and have never been disappointed! They have live music in the summer. Shaded seating. Run by good people. read more

Swung in for lunch as it always catches my eye when I'm driving past. They have an extensive menu but as soon as I saw the volcano burger I knew what I was getting, that along with fries and a soda. Everything was great, including the service and the positive vibe. Easy in and easy out with plenty of parking and the prices are reasonable. Lots of outdoor seating and most is covered to shade you from the sun. read more

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This place used to be great, haven't been in a long time due to living out of state. Ordered a hot sausage grinder and a cold cut grinder. Both were horrible. The sausage grinder was a soggy mess, it was not really what you would expect for sausage, it was more like a spicy hot dog that was overcooked topped with a pile of greasy grilled onion and peppers that were so greasy they made the roll soggy. My wife had the cold cut grinder which wasn't much better it was on a tasteless soft roll giant pieces of lettuce and hardly anything else. The meat was cheap cold cuts that were not good at all with the rest of the vegetables being sparse. All in all I shoulda kept driving right by and thrown my money out the window as it was a waste anyway. Never again will I go there when I'm in town. read more

Great summer place for fried food! They have ice cream, too! You can sit outside and there are plenty of seats! You must go there!

Love the food and ice cream! Huge menu, good service, car shows, music, clean bathrooms.

I really love their food, especially that my gluten free kid can get a gf Brown Derby Sunday. It is a bit pricey though. Just reduces the number of times we go to be able to afford it. read more