I'm just not an Applebee's fan.... An ex-wife kind of ruined it for me when she was doing Weight Watcher's and was too lazy to count her own points. And then every time I find something I like... It seems like they remove the item from the menu just to spite me...! Lol The location I was drug to time and time again was in Clive (now closed) and I've been to the Ankeny one (not impressed)... And that should explain why I'm just not an Applebee's fan... So the othe night I ended up at the Merle Hay location for a late dinner with a friend (sigh)... Their choice. We were greeted and seated right away when we walked in. Our server popped over after a couple of minutes and took our drink order. A few minutes later she stopped by to take our food order and realized our drinks hadn't been dropped off yet... She apologized and within a couple of minutes we had our drinks and she let us know dessert was on them tonight. I got the new bourbon street shrimp and andouille sausage penne. My companion for the ultimate trio of appetizers. For dessert we got the sizzlin' caramel apple pie... Except for that small bump with the drinks... Our service was fantastic and the food was suprisingly good! Am I an Applebee's fan now? Let's not go that far...yet. But they definitely redeemed themselves a little bit. We'll see. And it might be dependent on if the bourbon street pastas disappear... Lol One of the dishes I used to love that was removed was their chicken parm. I see they have a new iteration of this available now. I'm going to have to get back there at least one more time...soon...to give that a try. read more

Asked to try new speciality drink advertised at the and all over. Couldn't make one because main ingredient is gin. What bar is out of gin, especially when its the main ingredient in your advertised drinks. Then went to order and was informed I can't get mashed patatoes. How is this possible!? What a waste of a trip! read more

Went on a Friday afternoon with my parents. Steve's had the Honey Glazed Chicken & Bacon Skillet with greenbeans and mashed potatoes. I had the sirloin with mashed potatoes and greenbeans. I added a salad. the steak was over cooked and not much flavor. the chicken was good. I think mom had a salad. their meals were good, mine was lacking. service was good. bathroom was clean and respectful. read more

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Service was terrible. So slow, we ordered right as we came in and it took almost an hour to get our appetizers.

We love going to this Applebee's location. We have always had good service and always had good food. No complaints! read more

Applebee's Grill + Bar - Tex-Mex Shrimp Irresist-A-Bowl - American Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

Me and my family love this place! My daughter is a picky eater and no where else has Kraft Mac and cheese but Applebees does! My server Zoe was great, and my person food favorite is the boneless wings with honey bbq sauce. Will definitely be going back some time soon. read more

Excellent service! We were able to have our picky ordered accommodated & our server was busting his butt to take care of us. I have read plenty of previous reviews regarding sticky counters & tables, poor service & food missing the mark - however, our experience was the polar opposite. We were sat quickly, our food came out exactly as we asked, our server was attentive & our drinks never past 1/2 full without a refill being brought & everything was in a timely fashion. The restaurant could do with updating, but that doesn't change my review overall. read more

Play buffalo wings versus subpar. Pre-ordered two orders of the boneless buffalo wings from the appetizers menu. We asked for extra ranch and extra celery sticks on but we did not get any extra celery sticks and we did not get any extra ranch. I ordered a glass of water and my son ordered a Dr pepper. The waitress would pop up and then disappear for long periods of time. It took a very long time to get the drinks. It took a very long time to get our food. And it took a very long time to get our check. Maybe it's because she was too busy eating food at one of the empty tables in the area right next to us. LITERALLY! She was standing at a table in the section next to us eating a sandwich. She then licked her fingers, wiped her hands on her apron and walked off chewing. I highly doubt she went around the corner and washed her hands before picking up our plates from the passthrough window with her saliva covered fingertips. This is a huge food safety violation. I am a restaurant manager and know this as a fact! Plus, it's GROSS!!!!!!! And her nose was runny and super red. Her name was TIFF S. at least that's what it says on my receipt from the Applebee's located at 3900 Merle Hay Rd. in Des Moines, Iowa on 11/27/2024 at 11:42 am. read more

Good food. Service was amazing Allijah is a great server super friendly and quick. We ordered de salad ad tomato soup.

Tegan was amazing and very quick at getting everything for us and the manager drea was extremely attentive! Very great service at this location and the food was delicious. Overall great place and a good atmosphere! read more

Service was good but the value for the amount of food for the price was less than worth it. I ordered the half rack of ribs and upgraded the side from fries to onion rings for an extra $2. I received 5 onion rings and the 2 of the ribs barely had meat on them. Not worth it and won't order that again. read more

Had to go in to get me carside pickup and my soup chicken tortilla soup was a spicy watery mess with 2 small strands of chicken! I probably won't be going back Applebees has falling victim to the pandemic unfortunately. read more

I had a great server tonight (10/5/2023) not sure his name but he was the bartender. He was an older gentleman and he was working his butt off. Can't complain at all. The manager also came over to apologize for food taking a while but I honestly hadn't noticed. All the praise for the sever/bartender and for the manager as well. The hard work was clearly showing! As a prior bartender and sever, this was tremendous service for how dang busy it was! Props to all!! read more

This used to be one of my favorite Applebee's until recently. Now it's towards the bottom as well. I would still go here, as a last resort since it's close and I know what to expect as far as food and pricing. But the last time I was here it was very busy, and the girls who were seating people were not professional at all. One of them kept hiking their pants up (as they were falling off) and then everytime another server wandered off they would loudly trash talk the one that walked away. While this was entertaining while we waiting on our booth, it was not at all professional nor respectful. We finally went to get seated and the couple that arrived after us had a fit because we were seated before them (we arrived before them) and due to their acting out, we had to wait longer. From the moment this couple walked in, they were bothering the people who sit us, and they were last in line. I was not impressed with this either. They sat by us and complained the entire time and excessively asked for help and we were ignored mostly, because they were busy and limited staff. So these people took the majority of our waitresses time. While I can't blame Applebee's for these 2 customers who felt like they were the most important people on the right side of the building, the servers and waitresses need to not ignore everyone else for 1 group of 2 people. She's just lucky my boyfriend tipped anyway since she was friendly in the brief times we saw her. But I wouldn't have tipped as nicely because she didn't go above & beyond, no one did. Except with the 2 people constantly complaining and asking questions at the table next to us, as if they'd never been in an Applebee's in their life. My steak wasn't medium rare either, it was medium. That is a HUGE difference to someone who prefers medium rare and even my boyfriend noticed that. Everything else was okay and he was pleased with his meal as well as drinks. Also while we were sitting there I can see around the corner where wait staff hang out and speak with management, and another reason for my decreased ratings, as I saw a female server over there digging in her ear and then touching things, definitely didn't see her washing her hands. So I would have preferred not to see that, though she didn't wait on us or help us, that was appreciated. If I go back, it probably won't be on a busy Saturday dinner. As I've never had issues when they were slow and definitely never noticed any staff being less than professional. read more

Such improvement the wings ate right on spot! They were delicious love the revamp of the wings.

this review is strictly for our waitress Ms Emerson. she did an amazing job. very attentive. she had many customers and kept up with us. asked how our meal was. offered refills. we didn't have to ask for anything. she was on top of it. awesome service. thank you Emerson! read more

Food was good, but nany other really bad things were upsetting: chairs and tabkes were very sticky, silverware was dirty from just water cleaning, sometimes u have to physically scrub off stains. Large booth, the seat fabrics were ripped and git caught stuck with legs. Seating staff could not talk. Flies, and more flies on our food constantly, keep doors closed. Huge deep potholes in parking area. 5 yrs ago it was top place. Only 8 people at 5:31 pm. Very sad management is causing thus decay. Clean, fix holes, seats. Waitress was great. read more

Service: Four of us arrived around 7:00 and were seated promptly. Our waitress arrived quickly for the drink orders. After she left, it was awhile before we saw her again. She apologized when she came back and the rest of our visit was very timely with everything. Food: We all ordered a beef and potatoe dish, chicken quesadilla, spin art with chips, and lemon Chx with cranberry rice. The chicken quesadilla got a great review and our waitress said it is her favorite item on the menu. The beef and potatoe dish was good but the portion was smaller than expected. The spin art was a hit as well. What peaked my interest the most was the drink menu, specifically the rasberry Cosmo and bourbon berry drink. I didn't try either but if like to. The blonde brownie dessert also sounded pretty good too. read more

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When it's a little past 10 PM and all restaurants around are closed, these guys just saved me!!! Lol read more

Applebee's Grill + Bar - My new favorite low-calorie dish at the local Applebee's. - American Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

I find it interesting that when you order to go from her the people working at applebees on Merle Hay decide to put your cheesecake on the bottom of your order of hot food. I'm glad I checked because by the time they gave it to me it was already very soft. When asked why they did it, "because heat rises" first of all maybe with your hot desserts that's fine but when ordering cheesecake it should be in a seperate bag from the hot food. I also never received my cracker jacks so I'm glad I actually had some at home. On that note the cheesecake had more whip cream on it then cheesecake. I also ordered the 4-cheese mac and cheese. It seems like every time I go to Applebee's they don't serve the breadsticks with their pasta anymore if that's the case they need to update their picture. read more

Merl Hay location. I have not been here in a long time and the menu has changed. It was still overly huge and what a mess to try and read and navigate. According to other Yelp reviews it looks like it went downhill for a short time but is how a bit better. ***They use MSG in their food like its going out of style. See note at end*** The waitress was nice and was fairly on top of everything. We had a mudslide which I have always enjoyed from Applebees cause last I knew they were still using real ice cream which many places dont. We had an app, a starter, food before food.... Salsa Verde Nachos Choice of shredded brisket or pulled pork, spicy queso blanco, pico, fresh jalapenos. $10.99 This could have been a meal in its own. We all enjoyed the pulled pork but picked off the jalapenos. Then the main meals came out a little awhile later. I thought that it took them a little longer than they should have considering it was not that busy. Our meals came out all together: Bonus; One person noticed the nuts on her meal, and she cant eat the nuts, bummer: Plus: the waitress snagged it right up and said we could fix that no problem and disappeared back to the kitchen with it. The only bummer after that was how long we ate in front of her before she was able to bring the meal back out fixed.....and it was just a salad. We had Grilled Shrimp 'N Spinach Salad: Spinach, crisp bacon, roasted red peppers, red onions, toasted almonds and hot bacon vinaigrette topped with grilled shrimp. (This is the one we had to have the nuts removed.) Also at the table was a big burger FRANWHICH. This burger came with onion rings and fries and by purchasing it there was a donation made to a fundraiser. I had the 4-Cheese Mac & Cheese with Honey Pepper Chicken Tenders Honey pepper balances the richness of this dish by giving a sweet and savory flavor to our breaded chicken tenders. They're served atop a mound of our indulgent 4-Cheese Mac & Cheese loaded with Applewood smoked bacon. - This is a huge helping. I had to box up half of it. It was a little oily in the bottom of the bowl but nothing that couldn't be overlooked as the taste and the chicken and bacon made up for it. I am glad I only ate a small portion. Last but not least was Cedar Salmon A variety of spring vegetables sit atop steamed potatoes. Then it all meets rich, delicious salmon grilled with cedar seasoning, finished with a creamy white wine & lemon artichoke spread. This was also a great gluten free option. So the quality of the food was pretty good. I hadn't been there in a long time and was happy with the new choices of meals. Lots and lots of choices on an over sized menu. What a mess. It did seem to take a long time for us to get the correction on the salad just to remove the nuts. However it was a little busy and we all did enjoy our meals once we all had them. ****Only thing that we wish (all four of us) was that we knew what was in ALL our meals that gave us gas. I am guessing MSG. I am not shy to tell you that before we got our meals one of our guests was sharing that something always upset their stomach the last time they ate at this chain. Later that evening it was obvious that there was something that was in all our meals that gave us bloating and gas. So this might be something you want to keep in mind. A lot of what I am reading online says Applebees uses MSG in almost all their food. I don't think they will be on the top of my list to visit due to how upset all our stomachs were after this one visit. I can share that one of us made a run for the bathroom that night. ***** read more

Applebee's Grill + Bar - FRANWHICH - American Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

This place is OK, I go here sometimes. They are open late and that's a good thing there is not too many places in the area which offer dinning and alcohol after 10 pm. Food quality is hit or miss, I had some dishes here which were amazing and some which were barely eatable. I wouldn't recommend to order any cocktails here anything I got was small, expensive and watereddown, when I go I usually stick with domestic draft beer. read more

Great meal at Applebee's. Did the 2 for $27 and got the steak and the ribs. Ribs were very tender, wife liked the steak a lot. Rey reasonable price for a good meal. read more

The food is great and so is the Scenery. It's a great place to eat at night. They have great food you mush try theirs place out.

I was online for 45 min trying to order food. Too the point where I got so upset I called. I then was transferred to a manager who told me they had no idea about the online ordering. So I tried to order over the phone for them to tell me there all out of pasta sauce. How are you all out of every pasta sauce? And as a multi million or thousand dollar company shouldn't it be first priority to inform customers when things are gone. I won't be ordering from here anytime soon if it takes me this long to not even get food. It's ridiculous and definitely ruined my night. read more

The 2 for $20 is a good deal . The taco wonton chicken is good. But wait so long...... read more

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Food is average for Applebees... When you go there there are never enough booths to sit at and if you happen to get one, there is a very large chance that there is still food or napkins under the table that some child threw there while they had a hissy fit and no one bothered to clean it up or even try to hide it. You can often times find most of the servers hanging out in a corner talking to one another, talking to severs who are off duty, or a few of the male servers will come in drunk or high on a regular basis. When we moved here a year or two ago the service was good but since then it has drastically fallen and we prefer to go to the Jordan Creek location now if we go to Applebees. If you do go to the Merle Hay location best servers are Kari or Lindsey! read more

Food and service were both better then I expect out of an Applebees. I really hate that this is the first place that we at in Des Moines and would have rather gone to a non chain restaurant. If I were the driver this would have been the last place we went when there are a bunch of one of a kind places within a few miles. Being that I am not a fan of chains, I will stop my rant and say that if you like applebees style food then it was better then others that I have been to. read more

i love this place. i come here a lot with my family for a good dinner. every single time we have went, the food has been great and the service was quick. the waiters and waitresses were very kind. the boneless buffalo chicken wings are out of this world and the chicken quesadilla is very good. i would recommend this place if you are looking for a dinner with someone special read more

Herself was worn from running around for the last few days and Bro cancelled his birthday gathering, so she asked if we could eat at the Cook's Corner or Applebee's. We haven't been back to Applebee's for a few years and decided to give it a shot. Besides, it was early and there was plenty of parking even alongside Merle Hay Mall at Christmas. I ordered from the steak special. I got a lovely little 6 oz sirloin with the mushroom and onion topper and garlic mashed potatoes. The server wasn't certain if they could hold the bacon and cheddar, (I'm a purest) but the serving came delightfully unadulterated. However, my medium rare steak was seriously overcooked. It was dry and chewy. I also didn't actually encounter a mushroom in the topper. Herself ordered the pasta with spinach and artichoke (cavatappi) with chicken. It was very good but she couldn't finish it (big news) and would order it again. However, she only found a piece of artichoke. She was able to sneak in a brownie bite. Frankly, it was a perfect portion, I wish more restaurants offered these sweet little treats. The server was very pleasant, as were the other employees. Although we did have to ask for drink refills. read more

Great place to eat very good waiting staff.good food my favorite is Mexican though . But it's a good place to socialize get with friends etc. read more

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Food was good, service was great, although we did dine in around 9pm so it wasn't busy at all. We shared the 2 for $20 deal and the selections were on par with what i would expect for the price. Will come back again! read more

Not a huge fan of chains, It seems like every time I have eaten at Applebee's the past 10 years nothing is really good anymore. We were seated quickly, I ordered the 6oz Sirloin with horseradish gravy topping, it came with broccoli, some potato twists and I ordered their potato casserole that was topped with these little potato chip sticks, their was hardly any of the actual potato casserole in the dish and it didn't taste good at all, should have gone with the mashed potatoes. I ordered my steak rare and the waitress had me cut into it to be sure it looked good. It was cooked rare and it looked good, but was definitely a low quality sirloin, it was so chewy that I had to spit most of it out. My mom also ordered the 6oz sirloin cooked medium and didn't care for it either. The waitress seemed nice, wasn't very knowledgeable about happy hour items until she asked the kitchen. The food did come out pretty fast. I never got a drink refill so I shared my daughters water, she seemed to enjoy her chicken and Mott's Applesauce Pouch. I keep hoping to get a good meal here, oh well. The broccoli was pretty good. read more

Applebee's Grill + Bar - 6oz Sirloin with horseradish and gravy. Looks good but the steak was not. A bowl of those toothpick potato chips, yuck! - American Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

This place has gone down hill alot, horrible. I went to Applebees last night with my little family because I heard about $1 margaritas, when we first got seated everything was ok til our server came up. She was rude and just horrible. Not knowledgeable at all. She took our orders and when my boyfriend seen the manager we called for him to come over. I requested for a new server but we didn't even get one. He said that he would get us a new one but it was still the same rude chick. And she sure as he'll didn't deserve to be tipped. Food was great besides the service and I won't be returning to this Applebees. read more

The ribs are good but everything else lack taste. I wish they would not just steam the green beans.

August 2015 Update------- Well, well, looks like management got the message..the old menu is mostly back...portion sizes have increased to match the price...service was on the money...and the food was GREAT! Two for $20 menu can't be beat...get the ribs as a platter ($2more) and you get a fat portion of ribs...Chinese chicken salad is A+...as far as chain restaurant food goes, Applebee's is kicken-it! PS. Churro S'Mores are very odd...chocolate sauce is runny and weak.."Churro's" are more like cinnamon doughnuts. We ate the doughnuts, but couldn't stomach the chocolate. PSS. Onion Rings are not very good...very corporate...picture perfect rings and crust...definitely a frozen "food product"...big, thick rings, but onions inside were thin and tough...pretty flavorless...except for the salt... Original Review Below------- Portions have shrunk, prices have gone up, quality/taste has gone nowhere at best. A hamburger, fries and water will set you back $10...and it's mediocre...for $5 you can eat the same thing at Wendy's...and I think Wendy's has them beat.... This is what happens when you hire your staff based upon how little they're willing to work for, rather than how they will perform. Constant turnover of low paid, low skilled staff leads to no one really being good at what they do...the first step towards closing the doors on the business. read more

It's a chain. Good food and bartender was top notch! They Have a white brownie dessert which is light and flavorful. Good for a quick bite and can accommodate all pallets read more

New and approved menu is awesome. Tom T is by far best server there. We will definitely go back soon!

Always a fail safe place to grab a bite to eat. The staff often seems aloof at this location in particular for whatever reason, but years ago (10 or so) I remember having the best service ever up to that point in time. It's close to the mall and other stores on Merle Hay so that makes it even more convenient. Prices have seemed to go up in recent years but so has the quality of food, in my opinion. Love the spinach artichoke dip! Half price appetizers after 9 p.m. read more

It's Applebees. Not much different than any other Applebee's out there, but the service here was definitely a step above any of the other Applebee's I had been too. The 2 for $20 is a good deal and there are some other good values on the menu. The only problem is it's Applebees. A restaurant chain that just seems a little confused about what it is. read more