Applebee’s

Bf and I went last night, so we could use a gift certificate he got at work.
When we walked in, we waited for 10 minutes to be seated. While this isn’t a huge inconvenience, the restaurant was essentially empty. There were servers walking around, not doing any work related tasks, while we just stood there. We actually talked about whether or not we should seat ourselves, but my bf (maybe just being stubborn) asked that we keep waiting.
Once we finally sat, we waited again. When our server finally took our drink orders, she was so rude, my boyfriend was shocked. He worked for years in restaurants, so he’s touch critical in these situations.
After waiting longer than it should have taken (again, it was almost empty in the dining room) our drinks arrived. His Manhattan was served, but it was actually an Old Fashioned, with a giant, jagged-​cut orange slice in it.
When our dinner arrived, my cheeseburger didn’t have lettuce, tomato, onion, or pickle. Doesn’t that come on every restaurant burger? Maybe we’re crazy…
So, we finished dinner, the rude waitress never asked how our food was or if we would like dessert. Though I would have left it alone, my guy wanted to order the dessert I had mentioned before we ordered dinner.
After our dessert arrived, the manager came by our table and only said, «Awful, huh?» (We assume referring to the dessert we were eating.) We chuckled awkwardly but said nothing. I’m not sure why we thought that would be a red flag to the «manager» but he just walked away.
Food was as expected from an Applebee’s, service was downright disheartening. Can I give no stars? Maybe I can, but I pressed one star already…
Do not recommend. We will never return. At least we got $ 25 off this miserable meal.

We have not been to this location in over 5 years because of really poor service and bad food. Tonight we were on our way to the North Michigan Rd store although we pass this location. We decided after 5 years something had to change.
We were seated promptly and greeted by our server. She was friendly and told us about the specials.
We ordered 5 different appetizers. I will list them in the order of best to worst.
Sraracha Shrimp. Very tasty and not too hot.
Chicken Quesadilla. Lots of cheese.
Mozzarella Sticks. Your typical sticks but still good.
Pot stickers. Very odd to me they had been fried crispy. Would have been better steamed. Not fried.
Kobe-​style Meatballs. I did not care for the sauce or the texture of the meatball.
In all much improved service and food. They could do with a décor update. The carpet was stained and the restaurant had sorta that old grease smell. Replacing the carpet would probably eliminate that. Also replacing the red brick floor tile with an updated color would help brighten up an over all dull color pallet.

Typical Applebees. About as good as you’d expect. Service was good and staff are friendly. Food is the same at all the other Applebees. Food came out quickly and prepared appropriately. Went during the evening, dinning room was dead. Maybe a dozen tables or so. Definitely not busy.

I visited before work one evening, ordering off the new honey pepper menu. I got honey pepper chicken over Mac n cheese, for $ 11.99. The portion was small. Chicken strips were 3 inches long and about an inch wide. There were only 3 of these petite strips on the entrée. There was an equally petite bread stick on the plate. Very over-​priced and not a good value. Won’t be back.