First off I am a Chef and former server, i served tables for years and my boyfriend works in the restaurant business as well. My boyfriend and I visited the applebees restauarant in Five points west in birmingham alabama. After arriving our order was taken at the bar by a server and then placed. Since we ordered an appetizer and a salad I knew it would be quick since I had to take my medicine before bed so I went with something simple and quick and it was anything but. After waiting 25 minutes for a paradise salad and a queso dip with chili we asked the bartender if she could check on our order since the server who took the order was no where to be seen. She did and came back to say that they had to make some chili for the queso (why weren't we told this earlier) and that it would be only a little longer. After 45 minutes the bartender was asked again to check on our order, she did not come back right away so at the 50 minute mark my boyfriend decides to stop a manager whom had passed us on several occasions and never asked if we needed anything at all. Since I am a chef and I too have worked in the restaurant business as a manger i know that it is usually the job of the manager to do table checks and make sure the customers (guest) are taken care of. We had no drinks in front of us and definately no food and yet everytime he passed us he acted as if too busy to slow his pace and ask, only for him to go back to the server station and stand there. Anyway my boyfriend asked about our food and the manager with this you are annoying me with your questions look on his face asked what we had. He then went to the kitchen and not 25 seconds later came out with a bag with our food. He extended his hand to hand my boyfriend the bag while holding a conversation with another server as if to busy to say sorry about the wait or to even just look at us. I asked my boyfriend to check his and I would check my salad. And just as I figured my salad had been made within the previous hour when i placed my order and the lettuce was wilted, I asked my boyfriend to stop the manager and let him know (because at that point I hadnt taken my medicine still and started to feel sicker than I had before coming there) and the manager then decides to explain that the lettuce looked like that because of the dressing on the salad. Not to be rude, but I didn't get a damn culinary degree yesterday and even if i had it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that wilted lettuce doesn't happen due to being tossed in dressing, and besides that, I specifically asked for the dressing to be on the side. Well he then looks at me and rolls his eyes and as if he is really annoyed and says "so, you don't want the salad anymore." All he had to do was say let me make you a fresh salad the way you asked and the problem would have been taken care of, instead he treated me like i was an idiot who knew nothing of food and therefore I feel i will not be spending anymore of my money at this location. In all i waited 57 minutes at this restaurant to leave without any food. And on top of all of that the queso with chili that my we had supposedly been waiting on was cold. Get better managers ( or train them better) and service if you expect the hard working people of this city to spend their hard earned money in your restaurant. I personally never treat any of my customers in my store this way and if I did i wouldn't expect them to come back.