My husband and I made the mistake of going to a local Applebee's for dinner last evening. We ordered our food and then waited an exorbitant length of time until our food arrived and my order was wrong. My husband was almost finished with his meal by the time my orange chicken bowl arrived. The quality of the food was less than mediocre but not nearly as disappointing as the arrival of the bill which included a mandatory 15% gratuity for our server. I probably would have given her a tip in any case as I know how hard these kids work; I do, however, resent having it tacked on automatically. The new CEO who had so much success in turning IHOP around needs to redouble her efforts with Applebee's or it is destined to be the next Bennigan's.

I am boycotting Applebee’s for its Ebonics branding of Get it together baby. Simply too urban for me. And NOT what I'm looking for in a family restaurant. Sykes voice over is simply to strong and thick of an Ebonics accent to the point of being a turn off. I can't believe marketing executives actually researched this and felt it was a good idea. Prepare for even softer sales this year Applebee’s. Ebonics isn't cool, its obnoxious, and couldn't be a bigger turn off for me to eat there. Hope many others agree and avoid supporting them.

I visited Applebee's in Federal, WA on 320th st. on Mother's Day (May 11, 2008). I had lunch there with my daughter. The manager (Chris) was there greeting guests, and handing out $10.00 gift certificates to all the moms. He continued to welcome guests and say happy mother's day to everyone seated around us, but never stopped at our table. After about 30 minutes, I decided to ask our waitress (Bianca) why I hadn't been offered a gift card or welcomed to the restaurant by the manager. She was confused and approached him to ask him. Once she addressed him with the issue he briefly stopped by our table, put the gift card down and said «I was making my rounds, Happy Mother's Day." and then walked away. He never apologized for ignoring us, never gave me eye contact, and never checked back with us like he did the other customers. After this happened I spent the next 10 minutes sitting there wondering if I had just been treated differently because I'm black. I felt VERY uncomfortable. On the following Monday, I called what I assumed was the corporate office and spoke to RIck Dobbins who told me that he is the "top dog" and that the issue couldn't go any further that him. His response to how I was treated was, «I don't know what to tell you, I guess I can talk to Chris and all my other managers about this. He never apologized, or acknowledged that this type of behaviour is unacceptable for representing this company. I recently moved here to WA from TX. Applebee's is on of the only restaurants here that I'm familiar with and enjoy. I am seriously considering never visiting Applebee's again. .

Tonight I had a steak dinner. To my surprise, I wasn't server bread or rolls. I asked for some and was told that they do not come with meals and that Applebees has decided that their patrons do not need bread products with their meals! I asked the manager about this and was told the same thing. I then called Applebees and talked with Customer Service (or lack of it!). The lady parrotted the same thing that I had already been told. No appologies, just that they do not serve bread! No I can understand if they do not want to serve everyone bread or rolls because of waste, but when someone buys a steak dinner and asks for break or rolls, I believe they should get them.
It appears to me that it is "Political Correctness" gone amock. Someone in the Applebees company decided that they do not believe that we need bread, so they are not going to offer it.
THERE ARE LOTS OF GOOD RESTAURANTS THAT WANT MY MONEY AND SERVE WHAT THE CUSTOMER WANTS, NOT JUST WHAT THEY WANT TO SERVE US. THEREFORE, I WILL NEVER VISIT A APPLEBEES RESTAURANT AGAIN!

My husband and I are frequent customers of your restaurant. On a recent visit we were shocked on the actions of the bartender and server. We chose to sit at the bar, the bartender was eating mashed potatoes, the server was eating a baked potato that he placed next to me while he was waiting on tables. The bartender went to get the server chips and cheese sauce, then he complained it wasn't hot because he was busy waiting on customers... and to end are wonderful dining experience, three of their friends showed up, where the server sat next to me was drinking a beer and talking about the wild night they had the night before. This is a family restaurant not a bar. This happen April 6 between 4:00 & 5:30. The manager at the time was standing there ignoring everything. We do visit your restaurant quit often, if this continues we will have to take our business else where.