On Sunday, August 5, sometime between the hours of 10pm-11:30pm, my husband and I visited Applebee's in South Boston, VA. We were seated promptly, and after a couple of minutes a waitress came to our table to take our drink orders. She came back to take our food order, and the problems began. My husband ordered a crispy chicken salad as an app, with ranch dressing instead of honey mustard, and the brisket quesadilla as an entree. I wanted to order the 2 for $10, with a salad as a starter, and the spinach artichoke dip to come out as my entree. I asked what was on the garden salad. She was dumbfounded, and said she wasn't sure because she was new. To save her the embarrassment, I just ordered the Caesar, but asked for Italian dressing, which she wasn't sure if they had, so I asked for whatever vinaigrette they had.
After ordering, I went to use the ladies room. The waitress came back out while I was in the bathroom to ask my husband what I had ordered, because she forgot. She must have been doodling instead of writing the order down as it appeared.
About 15-20 minutes later, the food we requested as our entrees came out first. My spinach artichoke dip was fine, but my husband received the wrong food. He received some type of tacos and fries. He called her back to alert her that this isn't what he ordered. She took the food back, and then immediately brought our salads out (that we had requested as apps). She brought my husband honey mustard (instead of ranch) and brought me a bottle of oil and one of vinegar. I guess they had neither Italian dressing nor any type of vinaigrette whatsoever in the establishment. I decided to just use the oil and vinegar, and some salt and pepper on my salad. I tried to shake the salt and nothing was coming out. I unscrewed the top to see what was blocking it, only to find clumped up salt filled to the brim, and apparently the condensation had been there for quite some time, as rust had formed around the rim as well. The waitress happened to come back out with my husband's "quesadilla" and ranch dressing while I was sitting there stunned by the rusty salt. When I brought it to her attention, she muttered "what the fuck is that?" I understand her shock, but totally inappropriate to use that language.
Meanwhile, my husband looks inside the quesadilla, and they barely put any meat inside, and forgot to put the cheese. There was no pico de gallo, no lettuce, just a small ramekin of sour cream, and the "quesadilla". He sent it back, and nicely said that he was fine with just the salad; that he didn't want to order anything else.
We ate our salads, and my chips, and tried to enjoy the meal. The waitress came over and asked if everything was okay, and apologized for "whatever happened in the kitchen that ruined the meal." I couldn't hold my tongue, so I said, kindly, that it wasn't just the kitchen; that it all starts with her. She didn't write the orders down, had to come back and ask what I ordered, and then put the wrong order in for my husband. I told her that if she was unsure, she could have clarified both orders, instead of guessing, and I understand that mistakes happen, but sometimes you need to take responsibility for them instead of blaming the kitchen. She was visibly irritated, but I get that it needed to be said, so that she could learn from her mistakes. She left to go get our check. She dropped the check at the table without saying a word, and with an attitude, snatched my plate from in front of me, sending food flying all over me. She muttered an apology while walking away. I was livid! That was the icing on the cake. Apparently the manager saw what happened, because I heard her say to him "Seriously? I already said I'm sorry." Nobody came back to the table, nobody said anything, nothing. I signed the bill, DID NOT LEAVE A TIP, and we left.
This has to be, hands down, the WORST experience that I have ever had in a restaurant, EVER. I am still in disbelief almost 2 weeks later. read more