SUMMATION: Their cowboy burger was good, but their fish tacos were terrible. Bad to mediocre, slow "fast food," lacking fresh ingredients, and only pretending to be a "restaurant."
GENERAL: I have reviewed this place several times for TripAdvisor. After my review titled "The Donner Party" (1/5) we never returned except when others insisted (see History below).
NAME: Applebee's Mayagüez
CHAIN: Applebee's International, Inc., is an American company that develops, franchises, and operates the Applebee's Neighborhood Grill and Bar restaurant chain. They have 2019 restaurants in the continental United States, Puerto Rico, and 15 other countries. www.applebees.com
TITLE: "Donner Party, Revisited" [Yelp, my review #309, submitted 6 March 2015]
MY RATING: Poor (2/5)
TELEPHONE: (787) 625-1506
TAKE OUT: yes
HOURS OF OPERATION: 10:30 am-11 pm Monday-Thursday, 11 am-midnight Friday-Saturday, 11:30 am-10 pm Sunday
LOCALITY: Western Plaza Shopping Center, PR 2, km 180, Western Plaza Shopping), Barrio Sabenetas, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico 00680
LATITUDE, LONGITUDE: 18°14'56"N, 67°9'39"W
DIFFICULTY LOCATING: easy
DIRECTIONS: Off PR 2, turn west into the mall at the only entrance [1] across from McDonalds at the traffic light. Carefully take the first left [traffic is erratic and unpredictable]. You will see the sign for Applebees on your left. Infopáginas' map shows them in the incorrect location.
OCCASION: Friends that insisted to go there.
PARKING: ample and easy
AMBIANCE: McDonaldesk
AIR CONDITIONING: comfortable
GREETING: Courteous, no waiting, and escorted to a table
DÉCOR: Clean, modern dinner, tables and booths, paper napkins and no tablecloths.
DRINKS: Strawberry Daiquiris tasted good, but had very little alcohol.
BAR: full service
CUISINE: American
WAITSTAFF: good
ENTRÉE: Their cowboy burger was good and a generous size. However, their fish tacos were terrible.
SIDES: Their onion rings were large and okay.
SERVING TIME: Was rather quick and an improvement.
REVIEWS: rated Good, 3.4/5, 30 reviews (Tripadvisor); Good, 3.6/5 [2], 13 reviews (Google); Very Good, 4.2/5, 1246 ratings (FaceBook); Good, 6.6/10, 25 votes (FourSquare)
HISTORY: I was very pleased when this Applebee's opened a few years ago. At first their fried shrimp were good and other dishes were okay. Then the shrimp became bad (how can you ruin shrimp?) and their service worse. We had stopped going until we were invited in a party of 6. This time the restaurant was so bad, in all aspects, that it was comical. This was an historic moment (for me) since it forced me to send them a long list of complaints. After their platitudes in response, I was compelled to submit my first review to TripAdvisor apply titled "The Donner Party" [3]. Applebee's first store opened in Decatur, Georgia, 19 November 1980 (see Wikipedia for their corporate history).
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The designers of this mall were morons. They placed the entrance directly across from a street and 2 marginal roads entrances and exits. This makes for a ridiculous and dangerous fruit-basket-turnover. There should be at least 2 entrances to the plaza off PR 2 away from this congested intersection.
[2] Their math is faulty. They say "3.8" but it is actually 3.6. They seem to have "ratings" even if they call them "reviews."
[3] The Donner Party (1846-1847) was one of the most bizarre and spectacular tragedies in Californian history. read more