Let me start by saying....I have had some crumby experiences at this Applebee's that have never made Yelp, but this was by far the worst, and worthy of a review.
There was never a point in our meal that we did not feel like a complete and total inconvenience to our server. We were never was given name or a smile. If "Sage" hadn't been on her name tag, we never would have known. The food looked like someone had slammed it onto the plate, was not even close to hot, and one of our orders was incorrect.
About 3/4 of the way through our meal, our server took an unannounced break, without any notice to us, and sat down in the dining room to eat within eyeshot of our table. We sat and waited for our check as we watched her eat her dinner. Seeing that another server was still on the floor, she could have easily given our check to the other server to give to us in her absence, had she been interested in making sure we are accommodated....which is a practice I've used 100 times in service.
Her manager came out of the kitchen at one point, completely disinterested in what was happening in the dining room, ate her meal at one of the bar tables nearby, and then disappeared again despite my attempts at making eye contact.
Some time after, our server got up from her congregational meal with her coworkers, disappeared into the kitchen for awhile, and came back out....only to disappear again. We were never spoken to. The manager reappeared to chat with other customers. I finally walked my bill to her and asked if she could please ring me up in the politest tone I could muster. She did not appear sober, but I'm not one to make assumptions. She said yes, then walked my check to the server, who eventually rang us up. We immediately placed our card on the check.
In the time it took for the check to be retrieved, the manager took a seat at the bar 5' away from us, and began to complain loudly to a bar patron about how annoying the holidays were and how much she hated Christmas music. Again, she did not appear sober. At all.
Our check was eventually picked up, cashed out, and we left. Even while sitting 5' away, the manager never checked back in with us, and instead continued to complain loudly to the patron tasked with listening to her continual gripes.
As someone previously employed as a restaurant general manager at another point in my life, I cannot even comprehend passing off a check that had to be walked up to me by a table, passing it off to a server again, and then never checking back with them after the fact.
I hardly EVER leave bad reviews as I worked in restaurants for some time and understand that bad days happen, but this was just ridiculous. Even for Applebee's. Even for this particular Applebee's. There was zero interest in customer service in any sense of the term. I think this was the final straw. It may be the neighborhood restaurant, but I will not be back. read more