I'm not usually a big Applebee's fan, but I do appreciate having the option here in Big Bear, especially later at night when there aren't many places still serving food. We've stopped in before for drinks, and the bartenders have always been friendly. The drinks are good, they usually have some decent specials, and the atmosphere at the bar is enjoyable. Because of that, we came back another night for a late dinner. The service was good. Our server was attentive and friendly, especially considering it was late and they were one of the few places still open. Unfortunately, the food just wasn't very good. We ordered the 2 for $25 special and paid extra to upgrade to the mushroom burger and the salmon. The mushroom burger was fairly small and just kind of "meh." The fries were also a very small portion. The salmon was the biggest disappointment. After paying an upcharge for it, I expected something better, but there were at least five bones in the piece of salmon. Once you keep finding bones while eating, it really takes away from the meal. Overall, the portions felt small and the food didn't seem like a very good value. For comparison, Chili's does a much better job with their $10.99 meal deal, which includes a drink and, in my experience, feels like a better portion and value. I recently read that Applebee's has been dealing with customers' perceptions of the quality and value of its food, and after this visit, I can understand why. I remember Applebee's years ago having the big wood bars, pub-style tables, a comfortable casual atmosphere, and those great Perfect Margaritas. It just seemed like a better overall experience back then. I'll probably still come back, especially for appetizers and drinks during happy hour, because the staff has always treated us well. I just wish the food quality, portions, and value were better. read more

Bartender Trenton was super cool, very nice and efficient. Espresso martini was perfect so he gets 5 stars. However the manager was super ineffective, was not helping the other waiting staff, food took over an hour to come out. Manager also did not come out to apologize or explain anything. Not sure what was the deal with the kitchen and why it was so slow. Food was typical Applebee's, didn't get sick and was good. read more

During my family vacation to Big Bear on October 10th and 11th, celebrating my son's 21st birthday, I met Tonia, the manager at Applebee's in Big Bear Lake. What impressed me most was her dedication, leadership, and genuine kindness. While assisting with DoorDash and Uber Eats pickups, she knew drivers by name, remembered customers' preferences, and made everyone feel welcome. Seeing her interact with people created such a warm atmosphere that I felt like we were all part of one big family. I saw Tonia again Sunday morning, and later that evening, when my sons returned for dinner, she was still there. Her dedication through a busy weekend was remarkable. I personally told her how impressed I was with her work ethic. Applebee's, please recognize what a valuable manager you have in Tonia. Her ability to connect with people, remember customers, support delivery drivers, and keep a busy restaurant running speaks volumes. Thank you for taking the time to recognize great work. read more

Stopped here after a terrible experience at Jersey Mike's and had the opposite experience nice and had it excellent service here five star waited on fast very accommodating staff excellent food highly recommended read more

Food was pretty good! I got the classic egg Benedict, it was a bit sour than I had expected but it was still delicious nonetheless! The service was good, our server was generous, but I will say the service was a bit slow though. The ambiance was nice, it wasn't too noisy, it was very tranquil. I liked how they had it decorated inside, it was nice! I would definitely come back!!! read more

Applebee's Grill + Bar - Inside - Sports Bars Near Me - Big Bear Lake, California

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Really bad service ! This is our 3rd time coming to this place and they have always welcome us! But today 9/4/26 we came to eat around 8:30 PM, not busy at all! We were seated and told our waiting wil be coming in a moment. 10 minutes passed by, and no one approached us at all!! All the waiters kept passing by us, looking at us, but no one came to take our order or drinks ! They kept attending other tables, even the ones that had already paid ! Almost 30 minutes passed and we just got up and left !! We felt discriminated!! Please educate your personell! read more

To warn you, this location is a split establishement- One side is Applebees and the other side is IHOP. Strange. The decor is split right down the middle. I enjoy Applebees, but I dislike IHOP immensly so this was a different sort of experience. We sat at the bar and ordered off of the Applebees happy hour menu. Wonton tacos, spinach/artichoke dip, a beer, and a fruity rum drink (wife) and everything was exactly as we had expected, so we were pleased. Great service. read more

First day open grand opening. Parking lot and inside was packed. Lots of employees and assisting a full restaurant. Food service and atmosphere we're all great. Prices are very reasonable. They don't offer the IHOP advertise $6 breakfast or the $9.99 burgers special but they do have the two for $25 deal. My wife ordered the blackened shrimp fettuccine alfredo and I have a bacon cheeseburger which was excellent. The burger patty was huge and not some Frozen pre-made patty. My wife enjoyed her meal, real comfort food. Rosalee was our waitress and she was great! So friendly and helpful. We will definitely be back read more

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1) My friend's meal came out last, which they say, "best for last". It was not the best. The waffle, though crispy, lacked the fundamentals of what makes a good waffle. Even drowning it in syrup was disappointing, and that is putting it mildly. 2) My cheese on the spinach artichoke dip was white and looked like mush. My chicken... oh my chicken parm was forgettable as in I did not eat it at all and could not even remember it now. 3) My man's chicken tenders were "fine" and the fries were cold and mushy. 4) the steak was great but it wasnt mine. Ps was promised hashbrowns as well, no hashbrowns were hashed. Overall our server's ability to sike us out every chance he got was the most entertaining part of this meal and saved you guys one star. I would offer zero if it wasn't for Noel, my goat. Thank you. read more

Applebee's Grill + Bar - Spinach & Artichoke Dip - Sports Bars Near Me - Big Bear Lake, California

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For a dual menu restaurant it's small, maybe 45 tables. I went and it was slow (only 5 tables occupied and two at bar). Our server was responsive at first; however had to ask another to get her to take our order. Fries served to us cold, we sent back. Ketchup at table employed, snagged on off another table myself. Had to ask another server to get our check. Chicken won ton tacos were good, bourbon chicken was okay. Plan to stay awhile and don't be in a rush if you order here. read more

Applebee's Grill + Bar - Chicken wonton tacos - Sports Bars Near Me - Big Bear Lake, California

I'm a firm believer in second chances so I gave them one lousy service lousy food. Sizzlers was better.

Service was lousy They rip you off! Check what your receipt says especially if you order the two for $25 including appetizer They OVER CHARGED US!! read more

The five stars go to our server Noel. hands down. A lot of people could learn from his customer service etiquette. We had a big party and he accommodated with grace. The food was standard. read more

Service was the worst I have ever encountered in a restaurant. People who came after us were seated first, then when we were seated, we waited about 25 minutes before anyone came to even take our drink order. I had asked a waitress before then if someone could take our order and she said, "You're not my table." Once our designated waitress came to take our order she didn't even apologize for the wait. The food took half an hour to get to our table and they had forgotten my French toast. My partner went to the kitchen area to ask about it and was given a lot of attitude. I eventually received it and it was raw in the middle. Even to pay it took a long time for someone to attend to us that we tried paying at the front counter, but that also took some time. Overall, we spent 2 hours in there, 30 minutes of which we spent eating. Again, it was the worst service ever read more

Standard casual offerings with a fresh modern interior. I popped in for a quick lunch. I was welcomed and seated immediately. My server (Tobias) was informed and friendly. He was efficient but not overly present. I have to say the staff was well trained. I had a positive experience! read more

Applebee's Grill + Bar - Bright and modern interior - Sports Bars Near Me - Big Bear Lake, California

So happy to have this in the neighborhood. The service is great and they have a full bar! Hours are good and there is something for everyone. Please to have Cierra take such good care of us! read more

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Food was great, but the service was really disappointing. I asked three separate times for honey mustard and never received it until the bartender noticed and brought it out herself--so thank you to her for actually paying attention and helping me out. Unfortunately, the manager (Shawn Michaels) gave me an attitude when I was trying to wave him down just to place my order. It's pretty sad because this place has a lot of potential and the food is solid, but the customer service seriously brings the whole experience down and ruins the mood when you're just trying to enjoy your meal. read more

Visited the new spot. Everything was nice, great work on the remodel, my server was Calissa (sorry if I spelled it wrong) she was very kind and attentive, we were the rest of the staff, Kelly, Erica and Tiffany all made sure to check on me even though I was not their table. Everyone was very helpful and kind and the food was great. Nice to have a new spot in town! read more

Applebee's Grill + Bar - Sports Bars Near Me - Big Bear Lake, California

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Poorly organized restaurant with bad food. Server was nice and tried. Bar drinks came after food was served and was super weak. Won't be back. read more

Ordered delivery. Food subpar. Ordered extra sauce for chicken strips. Didn't receive any sauce at all for $20 platter. Fries overdone. My grilled chicken sandwich was good but pricy at $20. Would not recommend this restaurant. read more

Fire your manager immediately and get someone who can handle stress and pressure that comes with running a restaurant like this in a resort town, because Tanya ain't cutting it. We dined here twice for dinner back in early November and had terrible experiences with service. The first time we sat in this restaurant with a whole section of other tables for 35 minutes before finally asking the hostess what was going on because no one had serviced any of the tables in the section. "Oops manager forgot to assign someone to that area" I quickly figured out who the manager was and realized I had watched her walk past our section multiple times but she somehow forgot to assign us a server. Second time we dined in, service was going great until after we got our food we never saw our waitress again. We didn't get refills, and by the time we finished our food we just wanted to leave but our server had disappeared and so we had to ask Tanya the manager up front for the check. We were ready to cut back on our otherwise good servers tip but then Tanya let us know "oops I sent your server to the bar to bartend and forgot to take care of her tables" horrible management. If the servers are reading this review, your manager doesn't have your best interest. I left our server the tip she deserved because it wasn't her fault that her manager sucks. I just wonder how many other tables didn't get that explanation and didn't leave the waitress a good tip. We came in one time during busy season a few days before Christmas and service was a nightmare, they had 1 server for like 6 tables with parties of 6+. We ordered an appetizer and it never came, we got our meals first so I had them cancel the appetizer altogether.Food is decent you can't beat the 2 for 25 deal at Applebees. The service here only sucks because management does otherwise they've got some great waitresses here. Im the general manager of a pretty popular Italian restaurant in down town San Diego (so imagine big bear during busy season but every dinner shift every night ) and the idea of completely forgetting about an entire section of tables is unimaginable to me. Tanya is doing horrible things for this establishment read more

I went there yesterday with my family, and all of our meals were delicious! Our waitress, Rosalee, was probably the nicest person I've ever met. We will definitely be back for both the food and the best waitress! read more

Food is okay. Drinks ehh. Hip hop music is disabled on touch tunes. Manager closed the blind while my table wanted to see the sunset.

I went up to visit my kids who live in Big Bear. They raved about Applebees so I thought the 2 for $25 deal would be great for 5 of us and it was! My little one loved his chicken taco and yogurt with berries. My son loved the onions rings. Our server Darby was attentive, professional and very sweet! The restaurant is spotless and we will definitely be returning! read more

I don't recommend coming here. Service wasn't great and the food was absolutely horrible. I was with a group of 4 we all ordered steaks with mashed potatoes and when they came out the potatoes were cold and the steaks tasted horrible. I wasn't expecting a top tier steak ordering from here but this tasted like bad meat. They offered nothing to make up for the horrible cold food - very disappointing will never come back here. It wasn't very clean in there either. read more

For the price we paid, expected better. Fried pickles were over cooked. The rice on my fiesta chicken was dry have had the Fiesta chicken at other Applebees and this was by far the worst. Won't be eating here again. On the plus side the service was good. read more

Terrible bar service. Has to ask the bartender to wipe down the bar after sitting. Never spoke to us after serving our beers, wasn't busy, bartender talking to fellow bartender while she was making 5 mimosas that took 20min for her make and instagram. read more

We sat the bar for dinner on a Sunday evening. The food was great & the bartender Philippe was friendly & helpful!

This place is so "Big Bear" if you know what I'm talking about, you know what I mean. Service sux, food took forever, forgot my beer.

Our 1st time visiting this new restaurant, which shares a menu with IHOP. Tonight, we ordered the 2 for $25 special and tried the cheeseburger (fair at best) and chicken parm which was terrible (chewy and overcooked). Service was great, however. But the food quality needs quick and vast improvement. read more

Terrible service, food was cold and took extremely long to come out, was never checked on to see if my service was ok and was overcharged! If I could leave 0 stars I would. This was not how I wanted to start my trip here. Hoping it improves but i definitely wouldn't recommend this place or return read more

My daughter, mom and I stopped by for a quick appetizer. We should have known something was up when we sat down, everyone around us was upset. Our drinks took 20 minutes to come out (one didn't come out) one appetizer came out 40 minutes later COLD. Then when i tried to say something ignored... 25 minutes later the next appetizer came. We sent it back... asked for a manager to remove the appetizer and the drink I never got... she never came... an hour and a half later I left $50 and left and that was generous. Stay away... it wasn't even busy! read more

If I could leave zero Stars I would. I went in there last Sunday at around 7:00 p.m.. The place was practically empty. Only about three tables with guests. As I walked in the front door, I saw a group of about six employees just standing around socializing with each other near the front. As I made my way into the dining room could see That there appeared to only be one server waiting on the only three tables in there. Meanwhile, there was another cluster of employees just standing around socializing. I sat at the wait to be seated sign. Nobody acknowledged me. After about 5 minutes. I finally had to stop someone and they told me to grab a table anywhere I liked. I sat down. And then was ignored for 20 minutes. Never even approached or handed a menu. Meanwhile, I watched one guy wait on the three tables that were there while the rest of the staff were just standing around socializing. So I got up after being ignored for 15 minutes and not even being acknowledged and walked out. As I walked out. I saw the same six employees that were also in the front and the same spot they were when I got there again socializing not paying to any attention to anything around them. What a great start Applebee's in Big Bear. I will not be returning. I live here. Your loss folks. I gave a lot of business to sizzler when they were there, but your service absolutely stinks. You always put your best foot for when you open. What a disaster this place is. Adios... read more

I can only speak for my experience. Food is overpriced and poor quality. I will not be returning.

Great service! Fresh new location. Very clean and nicely done restaurant. Food was consistently good quality. As alway, the prices are fair. Being open late is wonderful on this mountain! read more

Quesadilla burger: Bacon was rock hard, lettuce and pico was too light. Cheese and patty were good. Fries were not hot

The food, service and ambience was great. Thank you Applebee's for a wonderful dining experience.

I wish I had a better review but our experience was less than. Starting with getting a drink order wrong, saying we could have BBQ sauce on the wings in the sample platter but brought spicy buffalo wings for a child instead. They asked us if we wanted ranch dipping sauce then didn't bring it until after the meal, asked us if we wanted extra plates and we said yes then they never brought them, forgot to bring a second drink order then had an 11 dollar charge for an alcoholic drink we never ordered. Before telling us, they voided the charge but the amount was already taken from the card then they wanted to charge the card again and said I had to wait up to ten days to see the original wrong charge returned. Staff was clearly inexperienced and in over their head. The Applebees food was not good. If I go there again it will be just for breakfast food from the IHOP side. read more

My family and I had an amazing experience here!!! Server ROSALEE has the best hospitality we've ever seen and was so sweet and kind to us. My two little girls made friends with all the employees they are very friendly and helpful. Food was SO GOOD and very fresh. Service is timely and we were seated within 10 minutes of arriving. Inside is cleanly and comfortable. And also great parking! I definitely recommend this restaurant to everyone. Bring your friends and family here you won't regret it! read more

The place was nice and little. The service wasn't the best and some were food/beverages were out. Some of the margaritas tasted watered down and they took about 25 minutes to get. I ordered the Top Sirloin Tip Steak that comes with Garlic mashed potatoes and seasoned broccoli, unfortunately they ran out of the Garlic mashed potatoes. They asked if I wanted a different side and I asked if I could just get the Mac and Cheese but they said no and that it would be extra? Well if you ran out one of the main sides why can't I have Mac and Cheese? Currently while writing this, we haven't gotten our food and waited for an hour. Other customers are getting their appetizers, entrées, and drink. It's disheartening as a local to wait this long when it's not even business. The servers don't even know what they're doing nor how to do their job. The manager was nice but clearly this place needs help. I wouldn't recommend this place read more