Applebee's/IHOP — Restaurant in Winnipeg

I don’t understand the rather high rating for this restaurant…

First off we were met at the door by a hostess that had a horrendous attitude. She was rude and equally dismissive. She gave us a dirty look, when we asked to sit in a booth. Can’t quite understand what prompted that but this is when we should have just turned around and left.

I had the Bourbon Street Chicken and Shrimp. If you’re expecting it to look anything like the picture in the menu, you can dream on. It’s absolutely nothing like the representation they would have you believe in the menu. It’s literally a quarter of a chicken breast. It was so over cooked and hard; I had to spit it out because no amount of chewing was going to get through that. The shrimp were about the size of a nickel, nothing special and a minuscule portion. My mashed potatoes were stone cold and were made to appear to make up half of my meal. They present them like there’s a lot but in reality it’s just a thin layer of potatoes smeared across the skillet. There were way more than enough of the onions and mushrooms but I don’t know if they were any good because I don’t like either. There were more mushrooms and onions on my plate than the proteins and this isn’t right. I wasn’t expecting not to be able to eat most of my meal. At a whopping $23.99, the meal was an embarrassing size. You should be ashamed of gouging people! It was presented to me and all I could think is where’s the chicken? Where’s the shrimp?! It was very disappointing and knew l’d leave hungry. My “chicken breast” was replaced but what was brought out to me was not a whole lot better. No offer of a discount and I had to explain to several people that the chicken was over cooked and I didn’t appreciate all the pomp and circumstance over it.

My partner had the Quesadilla Burger and it also looks absolutely nothing like its menu picture. The flavour was ok but it was just smashed hamburger meat in a tortilla. The fries were upgraded to a Waffle Poutine and it was laughable the size and lack of gravy, cheese and the actual fries. My partner left hungry.

Our waiter was ok but we seemed to get completely different service than others in the restaurant. I kept hearing about a punch card or deals that were never offered to us. Our waiter topped up one drink but never the other at the table.

We definitely will not be back because the value for our money...

We usually go to this location once a month sometimes only 2 of us, mostly with 3-4 ladies, and generally it's a good visit. And we love the cheap monthly drink specials! My friend and I had the worst experience this evening at the Regent Ave location. Tonight wasn't terribly busy and seemed to have adequate front of house staff, but multiple dirty tables all night long. We waited legit 10+ minutes after being seated. Never acknowledged, no nothing. So we moved ourselves and our menus to the bar instead. Nothin. We looking around, all wide eyed, clearly looking for service. Easily 5+ minutes and hostess and server realize the table we originally sat at no longer has 2 ladies seated there and then sees we moved. So a different server came and took our order. Drinks took forever. Food not terribly long, but arrived before cutlery and condiments. Messed up my "no crispy onions on top". I had no interest in waiting for a redo and wasn't gonna say anything. But server noticed me picking it off and said the kitchen must have messed up and she was gonna talk to the kitchen and her manager. Tacos were meh. Coleslaw was no good. My microwaved broccoli was dry and not buttered or seasoned. I never use salt and I had to use salt. There was no follow up of how we're doing except when the server brought us a drink that neither of us ordered! We asked for a to go box THREE times. The 3rd time, my friend had to walk up to a group of 3 workers to ask for the box. I gave my leftovers to my dad who eats anything, and he requested i never bring him food from that...

Update: You may be confused as to why I went back when I was so disappointed last time... others in my family enjoy it and my grandma wanted to take us all out for lunch and she really enjoys it there.

For my main I had the fish sandwich, fries, and Caesar salad. The fish sandwich itself was quite good. Fries were processed but it’s a chain so that’s to be expected. The Caesar salad tho..... it was by far THE WORST I’ve ever had. The dressing was incredibly sweet and acidic and was a very odd consistency... it did not stick to the lettuce just kinda slid off. The lettuce itself had a very chemically taste to it.

Our server was the guy with the hair (you’ll know who it is when you see him) and he was absolutely awesome! Very friendly and attentive!

I do not blame the Applebee’s cooks for the unpleasant food. It is completely out of their control. The real issue with Applebee’s is corporate where they come up with these awful recipes.

Original Review:

I was very disappointed. I ordered the buffalo chicken burger and the "crispy" chicken was soggy as all heck. Gross. The spinach dip was basically just microwaved and the tortilla chips with it was strange. I know that's the trendy thing to serve tortilla chips with spinach dip but I don't get it and I don't like it. It should be served with some sort of pita bread or...