I came to Mount Vernon that four day weekend to celebrate two lives. The first lasted 97 years, the most positive energy you can imagine, and I will call her AJ. The second life celebrated was my own, an annual self-celebration by an everyday-self-centered man. The solo party began around 11 a.m. in the Doubletree parking lot across the street. Is there any truth to the idea that you cannot get a DUI drinking in a parked car if the keys are outside on the ground? Fortunately I did not find out. By the time I finished the second beer the edibles were starting to kick in pretty hard on an empty stomach. I next walked to BW3, enjoying a couple more beers and a street tacos app before returning to the sunny sidewalk that led to my ultimate destination at 105 Potomac Boulevard. I had read all the negative reviews. Melissa H., I understand your family waited 15 minutes to be seated, 30 minutes to get appetizers then 30 minutes to get your entrees. Landon M., your food took so long. Taaylor H., 30 minute wait for salad. Pamela H., your salads did not come out before the entrees. Rod H. had an extra 10 minutes over his promised 20 minute pickup time before his carryout order was ready. Savannah P. got unwrapped silverware brought to her in a bowl, Jaylee M. waited half an hour for a side of mayo. Gilbert L. had a 20 minute wait for drinks, 40 minutes for food, and 10 minutes for someone to take his money before giving up and paying at the bar. Megan H. did not get the birthday serenade her young daughter was expecting. KB never made it inside due to the cigarette smoking outside the restaurant. Bob P. had to ask for drink refills rather than having them brought to him unbidden. DS had to wait 5 minutes for a menu then 20 minutes for a bowl of soup. Kimberly B. got her free kids meals but never got the adult meals so left $2.00 after an hour and 20 minutes elapsed. Kelli G. walked out after no one seated her in the first 5 minutes. Melvin A. suffered not one but two overcooked steaks. Tish M. regretted not going to McDonald's after her takeout bacon cheeseburger turned out to be baconless and undercooked. After being told his favorite item was no longer on the 2 for $20 menu Nick F. only wanted one thing, no tomato on his pasta, but his wish was ignored. Bob Y. received no greeting from his server and was only comped his soft drink and cold artichoke dip after waiting over an hour and complaining to the manager. Michael P. got 1.333333 unchewable steaks and 0.666666 chewable steak for the price of 1 chewable steak. Ming S. was disappointed by the look of the cedar salmon. Doug D. felt that the boneless wings tasted microwaved. Abby M. was never offered a drink refill. Donna F. had to ask twice for a staff rendition of Happy Birthday and five times for a doggy bag. Barb K. waited 10 minutes to be served before realizing the next table over (that came in after her) was being helped first, which inspired a hasty exit. Sam B. was disturbed by offensive karaoke lyrics while trying to enjoy some pretzel sticks. Judy E. considered the grease level in the burger to be above an acceptable amount. Sonny S. had ringing ears from the slamming down of his plate on the table by the server. With these in mind I was prepared to wait, and would that be so bad? If I was back dining at the best pizzeria in Napoli or the most famous pho cafe in Ho Chi Minh City would I be counting the minutes? In Mount Vernon, Illinois I opted to seat myself at the bar. I saw people laughing, enjoying food and drinks on a Thursday afternoon. I thought to myself "We are too stuck in our minds on what is supposed to be instead of what is." So what if it took a while to place my order. I had Thursday, Friday, and Saturday to enjoy myself and reflect on AJ before her funeral Sunday. If it took 2 hours I can think of a million other things that would be worse than having to wait for someone to bring me something to put into my beak. It was at this moment Elton John on the speakers sang "and it's gonna be a long, long time" and I could not stop laughing. Maybe it was a long, long time, but my pretzel bites and double Bacardi and diet were just right. By the time I left that day to check in to the Doubletree across the street I knew that this restaurant in Mount Vernon, Illinois should be the first stop for anyone seeking true enlightenment. My journey is still just starting, but I will forever know where it began. On Sunday before AJ's funeral I came back for lunch, maybe a little sadder but the magic was still inside the Applebee's walls. I had the fried appetizer sampler and a cherry diet coke, in the same seat at the bar. On my last visit I had forgotten the gift card we received one Christmas, but this time I used it. When we first got the gift card I thought "Applebee's? Wow this person doesn't know us at all!" As it turned out they knew me all too well. 1. read more

Food was meh. Service was sooo slow, but plenty of staff. How does that work? Manager was no where to be seen.. we were there 1.5 hours. Long wait times. We accidentally spilt tea while sitting at the bar (10ft away from the host stand), we were handed a small stack of napkins to clean it up, they halfway wiped the bar down in front of us, but left this giant puddle of tea on the floor below us? Didn't even offer us more napkins. An abundance of staff around but had the attitude of "not my job, not my problem". 5 minutes later the host stood beside us and told another guy to make sure he cleans a table but a puddle and napkins on the floor with a sticky mess is fine? Lol. Mind you the restaurant was only half full. We asked for steak sauce, they brought an empty bottle. More people came in and they were out of main items on the menu... just CLOSE. read more

The food was very poor. My wife had breakfast and it was cold. My meal was okay, but very average. This is a huge mistake. They never should have combined their restaurants. The staff was just goofing off looking at their phones. As a former restaurant manager, I would have fired them all on the spot. read more

The wait staff were very friendly and prompt, and the wait time for food was reasonable. I was dining with my partner and two children. However, the cleanliness of the restaurant was concerning. There were flies everywhere, and at one point a small spider crawled across our table. I also couldn't help but notice that the floors were very dirty. We arrived about 20 minutes after opening, and considering the restaurant recently reopened after renovations, this was disappointing. read more

This place is horrendous. We placed an order for pick up at 1145. Got there to pick it up, order was not in the system. They said it might have been picked up bu AI and went to call center so no one prepared it. Placed the order again at 1215. They finally got it done at 1PM. Never again!!! Done waste your time here!! read more

We have been sitting here for about 45 min without getting our meals. Had to wait 10 min in the booth before the server talked to us. Wrong food delivered Food was cool to cold when it arrived read more

Just a truly pathetic restaurant. If you are desperate for comedy relief and horrible service you should check this place out. Website doesn't work. Online curbside doesn't work. Telephone doesn't work. They should seriously consider closing this location down and putting in a parking lot which would be of so much more service to the community. read more

Do yourself a favor and stay FAR A W A Y from this Applebees. Not sure if the entire restaurant staff is tweaking or if it was everyone's first day on the job, but all we wanted was 2 takeout salads after driving 14 hours and they completely fucked it from start to finish. Got there 5 mins early, the energy was chaotic from the start. couldn't even get the bartenders attention to ask about the order, they didn't even know there was a takeout order, waited an additional 30 mins only for the food to be wrong, they gave me someone else's order TWICE, told them to keep the food and asked for my money back and was told to call corporate tomorrow for a refund because they're closed for the night. I paid cash, didn't even get a receipt (probably because they pocketed the money) and the girl just walked off with no resolution. Essentially got robbed of my money and left with no food after wasting an hour at this shit show. I know it's an Applebees and that the expectation is already low but this place needs a serious intervention. read more

Slow service and mediocre food. The servers forgot my utensils twice. Won't be coming back.

The hostess was not rude but definitely had an attitude. We asked for a different table because they offered us a high top with my knee problems is problematic. She took us to a regular table but made sure she was not happy about it. The table was dirty but the waitress was very good she cleaned it right away. She was both knowledgeable and friendly. We order the impossible bowels I got the shrimp and Toni got the chicken we both agreed that they were amazing between the waitress and the food it was a positive experience and will be back read more

We had friendly service. This restaurant needs to be thoroughly cleaned and maintained. Starting with the parking lot strewn with trash and debris. Inside it didn't get much better. Food caked in the crease of the torn to shreds booth bottom. Food, debris, and bugs lining the window sills and make shift fixes to the over worn floors. It used to be so nice. It's very surprising they are able to carry the Applebees name with this type of neglect. read more

Ive never ate anything very good here. Not my choice of places to go to. I find it extremely overrated.

Against my better judgment wife wanted to go try there endless riblets first our server was fantastic very nice but the restaurant is very outdated and in desperate need of some repairs only 3 cars on lot at 5 pm our table was sticky and so were ones around us like old varnish sticky booth next to us had tears in seat carpet was dinghy and windows were just filthy food was ok but portions where small it was all you could eat but I had chicken fingers and got 3 small ones and reordered and got 3 more wife had riblets and they were cold so on reorder she had chicken. read more

This Applebee's just needs a good cleaning! The carpet is so stained and dirty. The steps are trashed and need a good broom. The toilets in the bathroom are filthy and the sinks aren't much better. We did not stay. I just hate to think with the kitchen looks like! read more

I have to say that the salad I ordered was just like the picture and the flavor was the best! Believe me I am not a fan of Applebee's myself but this time I have to give it to them. Everything in the strawberry chicken salad was fresh, fresh, fresh and flavorful. I would really order it again, hopefully other Applebee's will be as good as this one. The service was very good and fast. read more

Applebee's Grill + Bar - Strawberry balsamic chicken salad - American Near Me - Mount Vernon, Illinois

We got there at 9pm. Not many people were there....maybe 5 or 6 tables. It took quite awhile for someone to finally come to the table and take our order. When the food came it was cold. The flavor was fine. Bathroom was unkempt. Exterior lights don't all work. When we left all of the tables that were previously occupied hadn't been cleaned yet. There were 3 other tables with customers at that point. They did discount our meal, but we won't come back. read more

Went to two different Applebees on our road trip to Florida. In both cases the service was prompt and good. I was a little disappointed in the food selection. I seem to remember there were more options. However the food we did get was good. Applebees is our go to place when we are on the road. It' s fast, cheap, and the food is usually good. read more

I should have paid attention to the low rating. It was close to my hotel, so I tried it anyways. It was FREEZING inside. I went out to my car and put on a jacket, but I was still uncomfortable. I need to find another place to eat for the rest of the 2 weeks I will be in this town. read more

I would rather drink motor oil than go to this dog shit restaurant ever again. Food was cold and nasty and the waiter took an hour to give us the check after we were done eating. Miserable experience tbh. read more

Christina C was wonderful. She is the bartender and waited on us at a high top. Excellent service and food was great. If you normally like Applebee's this location will rival any you have visited. read more

Applebee's Grill + Bar - Bar area with high top tables. - American Near Me - Mount Vernon, Illinois

Traveled from GA to Neb, out of everywhere we ate in 9 days, this was absolutely the worst. Food was a 3, service a 0 (we counted 4 servers) They were not low on staff. Salmon was dry, garlicky beans were cold, riblets.. well, we honestly not sure what they were, but if we had said something, we probably would have NEVER seen our server the rest of the time. We had to get another server to find our server. Ordered a tall vodka(a double) and soda with a splash of cranberry came in the small rock glass 3/4 full, bartender couldn't make a tall because I asked for a splash of cranberry, umm.i sent it back and never seen waitress again. We should have known better to eat there, maybe 6 tables full at 8 pm, but after 9 hours on the road, we were hungry read more

Took over 10 minutes to even get our order took, once we got our food we got sick and the waitress was a bitch and deserves to be fired

Applebees in Mt.Vernon Illinois has went downhill. The are very slow, food wasn't up to par. It has been a long time since we've been there.

Went there for dinner around 6:30 PM or so. Not a lot of customers at that time. Our table was not very clean. Quite sticky. Took several minutes before a server showed up. Drinks arrived in a decent amount of time. However, our food took around 30 minutes to come out. Not much has changed at this Applebees. Ambiance is in line with most other Applebees read more

Our visit began with a very unfriendly hostess. Then we noticed the Carpet was disgusting. Full of tracked down grease. We stuck to it when we walked on it. Makes you wonder what the kitchen looks like. They also didn't know that you should bring the salads out before the meal. The salmon was way overdone. Will not stop at this Applebees again! read more

Applebee's Grill + Bar - Carpeting - American Near Me - Mount Vernon, Illinois

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Last visit, the place was very dirty appearing. We didn't stay to eat - needs updated!

Being a bit underdone is understandable, but this is RAW! My friend had to regurgitate it or his system in fear of getting a food born illness. This chicken patty was not a couple minutes off, it was barely heated up. read more

Applebee's Grill + Bar - A raw piece of chicken in a spicy chicken sandwich . - American Near Me - Mount Vernon, Illinois

Went to Applebees in Mt. Vernon, IL Sunday, 10/16/22 at approximately 6 pm The service was terrible and the food was worse!! Ordered 4-cheese mac n cheese with chicken strips. The chicken strips were good but I can tell you there's was no cheese anywhere close to the pasta so it was very bland!!!! Ordered white quesco with chips WITH DRINKS! Had to remind Jordan I had ordered it because still had not gotten it but mozzarella sticks were brought out! Tea was terrible! Getting refills was terrible. They were not busy enough for the service to have been so poor!! Don't know what the issue was with food but I won't be back! read more

Traveling on business. Been years since I have been to an Applebees. Will not go back. Place almost empty but took over 40 minutes to get food after the order. Drink was in styrofoam cup. Steak was supposed to be 8 oz. Used to do meat cutting. Steak was half that size. When I questioned the size they said steak was small but thick. It was not that thick. You can tell it was cut in half on site. Onions and mushrooms to come with steak, but heavy on onions. Steak was cooked to order, but side salad must have been near the freezer and cucumbers almost mushy. Waitress was nice but not spectacular service. Place was freezing as well. Not going back. Not worth the 30 bucks. read more

The food took so long and the orders were incorrect and the food tasted bad like the grill was dirty

First time here in in a year. Wait staff is kinda rude. Food subpar. Maybe a different waitress who didn't put her hand up when we asked for extra cheese. Or came back got drink refills would have helped. read more

Just a regular applbees you get the same here as any other applebees nothing stands out hot food on a road trip

Wanted Applebee's with the family - didn't want to bring my babies through cigarette smoke. SMH read more

Applebee's Grill + Bar - Two men smoking directly outside the entrance. - American Near Me - Mount Vernon, Illinois

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Had a quick and easy late night meal. The space wasn't too crowded and the service was very sweet. I'm vegetarian and they were very accommodating. Also they were playing great 60's and 70's rock music.. and it wasn't too loud so you could have a good conversation and relax. Thanks for taking care of me Applebee's read more

One star because this place is absolutely trash. Not only was the carpet greasy, the bathrooms where disgusting. Pee all over the seats and you can just see the laziness threw out the building. Theirs flies in the window seals, and ants on the table, every tables we moved to was sticky and dirty. and we could hear the manager screaming at the top of her lungs at her workers. I've never been to place like that before and we couldn't even enjoy our meal. We got the classic combo and it was cold when it got to the table and looked like it was sitting there for 30 minutes before someone brought it out. The servers do what they can but if the carpets look like that , you could only imagine what the kitchen looks like. They don't wear gloves, or wash their hands. The managers talk to their staff like there crap on the bottom of their shoe. (We could hear them from the dining room) And if they didn't like it "there's doors all over the place , so leave " managers provoke you and want to go outside to hash it out. Most unprofessional and unsupervised place we've ever been and we won't be returning. I think a phone call to corporate would be in order here. "Neighborhood bar and grill" what a joke. Summer bring your kids, some even waste your time unless you plan on waiting 30 minutes on a salad. read more

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Waited forever for cold food. Not worth it overpriced.

We are moving across country and pulled into a hotel for the night. Places a pick-up order online. We can usually count on consistency at Applebee's, however. My cup of tomato bisque, was mostly croutons and a bit of soup. My Caesar salad had a lot of "pink" salad...and no Caesar dressing. No utensils for me or my hubs. Too tired to walk back over. Please be mindful of these things, as most people coming through this restaurant are probably tired, and not wanting to come back to get things corrected. read more

Love the ever changing tasty menu. Stop by seeing that I was on restaurant row, but what made the stop was the online menu view. It was good to see some tasty choices. Had the 4 cheese mac n cheese with honey chicken, and it was good. Enjoyed great prompt service, good food, BEER, and sports on tv. The patrons are friendly and the place was busy. Wirth a stop if looking for a choice on restaurant row. read more

Not too bad a place to wash the dust outta your throat!! Good atmosphere and friendly staff!!!! Definitely a better place to eat than the three truck stops here!!! read more

Applebee's Grill + Bar - Bourbon chicken with shrimp and red potatoes. - American Near Me - Mount Vernon, Illinois

Walked in the door to the sound of women fighting in the kitchen. Cussing, rattling shelves, and a woman screening "you're not gonna talk about me bitch". Helga from dodgeball came from the kitchen with a red face and threw a salt and pepper shaker across the table (unoccupied). Waited for 10 minutes at the door to be walked past like we didn't exist. Typical Applebee's setting with dirty floors, tables needing bussed, and sticky syrup on the table. Bartenders had a serious case of RBF. Couldn't make a vodka sprite correctly if their life depended on it. Ordered a salad with no croutons and received a crouton salad topped with a piece of lettuce. Milkshake consisted of 50% milkshake and 50% of whipped topping. Pasta was cold and chicken tenders were old. Only positive I have was the steak was at least warm. read more