Applebee's Grill + Bar — Restaurant in Altoona

I want to preface this review by stating the review is more about Applebee's as a company than about this location.

It feels odd writing a review about Applebee's. I feel that we all know what to expect here. There's one to ten of these in every city and suburb of America. They don't exactly strive for perfection but we think of them as an average ho-hum what you see is what you get, you've certainly done this once before, affair. I'm writing this because I was surprised by the visit and hoping my information might be useful to someone. This was my first visit to any of their restaurants in probably 10 years or so. We haven't made a pact to avoid this chain but just haven't needed to return with so many other great options that are a little more culinarily assertive. Someone other than myself chose this visit and while I wouldn't have picked it I was just a tiny bit excited. I imagined visiting the big A to be like reuniting with an old friend. Some 10 odd years ago when we lived within a mile from one we would stop in several times a year when a last minute decision was made to eat out.

The service was more or less what I expected. They were understaffed and it was painfully clear our server felt overwhelmed. There was a small mistake in order taking and some delays here and there. He was trying his best. No big deal. The service was acceptable and was in the area of not being noteworthy either way. The food is what really threw me off. I don't remember the food being so lame. I really expected mediocre food but what I tasted was beneath that expectation. I could tell that every single item was from a sysco or similarly labeled container. The tastes were all very bland. I imagine every hospital cafeteria shares the same recipes seen here involving all frozen food including sauces that are made in a factory and thawed onsite. My biggest surprise was the french fries I received by accident. They were honestly the most tasteless fries I have tried in a very long time. I don't think it was only the lack of salt. Something else was off like the type of cooking oil, or they were reheated, I really don't know. Fries are above acceptable about anywhere you go. Sure I have my favorites but nearly all of them are good unless they come from the grocery store to get baked in an oven. These were almost that boring and I can't completely figure out how. When I have a plate of fries sitting in front of me and I'm disinterested something is very wrong. I would describe the other food items in a similar way. You can just taste that they were made to be stored on a shelf for a long time instead of being made to taste great. I'm trying to think of the last time I had a meal from a restaurant with such disappointing flavor and I'm having a hard time finding a good comparison. The way the dining room was dominated by elderly was a sign I should have recognized. I thought it was because we were in Altoona however I was wrong. They have come because Applebee's is their neighborhood champion in the niche market of tasteless food.

If I were to be forced to return to the McDonald's of sit down restaurants I would order differently. Anything that normally takes a real recipe or a sauce or something freshly concocted - I would simply avoid. If a return visit happened I think I would attempt a steak or a hamburger. Keep it simple and avoid the packaged components that should have been prepped fresh onsite.

I'm a little sad that this reunion didn't live up to my enthusiasm. It's like meeting up with an old friend from high school and realizing you were better off going separate ways. Can't stay sad for too long. There are so many great places to eat around the Des Moines metro area. Unfortunately Altoona isn't...

Applebees in Altoona! Decided to use their curb side to go today. We order the chicken strip family meal for $39.99 that feeds a family of 6. It list what you get online but does not say the quantity of each item. I get it home and there are only 7 chicken strips! I call and ask how many it's supposed to come with it? The manager was very nice but also seemed confused as to what my order was because he still had the ticket that prints the food to the kitchen and it States i ordered 7 strips. I tell him I have my receipt and I ordered the chicken strip family meal that says it feeds 6, how can you feed 6 people with 7 chicken strips? He took my name, number, address (because I didnt want to come back) and was going to mail me coupons. Again, he was very polite but seemed confused. I decided to call the Ankeny Applebees and they tell me that you get 30 strips! I explain the situation to him and he assures me he will call Altoona and make sure they understand what people are supposed to get. 30 minutes later, I hear a knock at my door. The kitchen manager is at my door with 30 Fresh and Hot chicken strips and a $20 gift card!! He thanked me because they caught a glitch in the online ordering system that was not programmed correctly. They discovered all of their stores had been having the quantity of strips incorrectly print to the kitchen when the family meals were ordered. I could not believe the extent the staff went through today to make it right. They definitely went the extra mile and I am...

My friends and I decided to go to Applebees in Altoona for lunch. We got there around 12:30 and we were greeted and seated right away. That's the only good thing about our visit. After we were seated we waited 15 min before I asked the hostess about our waiter. She said she would go find him. Another 5 minutes went by before the hostess came by and asked if our waiter had been over. We told her no and she apologized and said she would let him know we were waiting. At this point we were talking about going somewhere else. Most of the lunch crowd was gone and they were not that busy. We had been waiting 25 min and nobody had even gotten our drinks. .our waiter Mario finally shows up and the hostess tells him we had been waiting awhile and that he should have come by and atleast gotten our drinks. His response was "Well I am very busy". He finally approaches our table and asks if we would like to order drinks. We told Mario we had been waiting for 30 min and his response was "I am very busy". We asked for a different server since his attitude was lousy. He didn't even apologize for having us wait 30 min to order drinks. We decided to go somewhere else and as we were walking out the manager finally comes over and apologized. However waiting over 30 min without even getting our drinks ordered is pretty ridiculous. If you plan on going to this establishment I wouldn't recommend sitting in...