Applebee's Grill + Bar — Restaurant in Ames

The waitress was nice. Didn't see her for a while but helpful and got everything that was asked of. Could tell she was new but very pleasant. However, the chicken broccoli Alfredo that my son and I got, was hot and cold, the noodles were crusty and crunchy but only some of them, it was very obvious two different batches of noodles. Some of the meal was super cold some was kind of warm none of it really seemed fresh. The steak that was ordered was supposed to be a medium 8 oz garlic sirloin but no garlic and definitely medium rare. When we told the waitress, she asked if we wanted it re-cooked, since we had already waited about 15 minutes to see her again we said no we would just like the meal taken care of, we don't want to wait anymore we've got kids we've already been waiting, she said she would talk to her manager and get it taken care of. She came back and said that the manager had given a discount, and we could pay on the little kiosk. Looked at the kiosk the discount was $5 off a $20 meal where the main meal was still on the plate and not even eaten but one bite and it was not a big bite either. Waitress asked if we wanted to talk to the manager and we said yes, the manager who should not even be in her position came over with an attitude hovering over my four-year-old asking what was wrong and what did we want, we told her the steak was supposed to be medium it was not and that the blood was all over the plate, and that 2 of our other meals were hot and cold but all we were asking for was to have his meal with the steak taken care of because it was just blood everywhere that is not medium and she said well what do you want me to do take off all their meals and yours what do you want, what not enough, we said we would just like his meal taken care of, she leaves and gets us a new ticket and comes back saying she's taken care of it and tosses the receipt on to the table, I picked up the receipt to look at it and hubs looks at me and says I don't appreciate her attitude, talking to me but the manager overheard turns around and comes back and says what do you want from me, do you want more, huh, what, and starts getting verbally aggressive all while standing and hovering over my four year old while she's getting louder and more verbally aggressive with us and all hubs repeated was I'm just saying your attitude isn't needed, then she starts to berate us and yelling what more do we want, I had to put my hand up and told her it's fine please leave, we will take care of the check. She then stomped off. The manager there has horrible and absolutely no customer service skills, I don't know if she was upset to be working on Easter, bad day, or what but she came over from the very beginning with an attitude and was very verbally hostile. And the fact that she came back to try to instigate a fight and with my children at the table and being verbally aggressive while standing and leaning over my 4-year-old just says that she should not be in her position. I know customer service isn't easy but still she was horrible. We weren't asking for a lot and 5 off a 20 meal when the main entree wasn't eaten at all and it wasn't remade. Plus, I'm sorry, her attitude with kids, especially young kids at the table, no....

I ordered the Bourbon Street steak Medium and it came out fairly well done. I eat steak almost any level of done except I don’t like it when it’s too well done. I prefer medium rare, but I know some places have different ways of cooking their steak so I usually order medium and it ends up being okay. I was just going to eat the steak but the server noticed my discomfort and asked me about it when she stopped at our table. I stated that I don’t want to make an issue but it was a little more well done than I prefer. She immediately took it and had them remake it. The second was not well done, but it was very, very rare in the middle. Again, I wasn’t upset. I know it can be difficult to make a steak to exact specifications, everyone has different ideas on what’s rare/medium/well done unless they specifically learn what those terms mean. And they might not train their cook staff on how to properly judge how done the steak is. I learned how to cook and judge a steak properly, but I know I’m going to Applebee’s, not a steakhouse, so I am not upset when it’s not my exact stated preference. I joked that they only seemed to know how to cook it either rare or well-done, but I do enjoy my steak rare to medium rare so the second steak wasn’t a big deal. I just had a bit of a laugh about it with my family.

I want to say that I wasn’t upset at all but they still went above and beyond to make it better. When the second steak came back really rare in the middle they comped our check by 10 dollars and gave us a free dessert. I thought that was really nice of them to remake my steak in the first place when they were already short staffed. Then they went above and beyond to help make sure we were satisfied customers.

I think our server said her name was Amy(? I am not good at remembering names), she talked to the manager on staff this evening about what happened and she came to talk to us. I think it was really nice of them to be so kind and patient with me. I don’t like to complain or cause issues, it’s not a problem if the steak isn’t to my exact preference and I would definitely eat here any time.

I ate here twice this weekend and the service was great both times. I assume that if I had mentioned the first time I ate here that my steak wasn’t exactly what I wanted, they probably would have tried to fix it, but I didn’t mind it because it wasn’t over cooked last time.

I hope they can work out whatever is causing their staffing issues because they all seem really nice. The staff here do seem to be having a rough go of things and I hope they can get more people in to reduce their stress and make their workload easier to handle. I’m sure it’s not easy to have to serve so many customers and make so much food while...

I've never been to a restaurant where the place is only half full at best but we had to wait to be seated because the kitchen has just taken a big order. Let us be seated and we could at least have a few drinks and maybe an appetizer, but to have to just sit there and wait to be seated with PLENTY of tables available is ridiculous! Then when we did get seated and they took our drink order our drinks sat at the end of the bar forever. Other waitresses would come get their orders and ours just sat there. Finally we could see another waitress ask the bartender whose drinks these were and she then brought them to us. My table actually joked when they finally brought our drinks maybe we should order the next round now so by the time we're done we'll have one waiting. We were finally able to place our order and once and can't complain about the food as it was all good thankfully. After the sour taste from the way our experience started out the good food made it better. But then before I left I went to the restroom and it was filthy with paper towels all over the floor and smelled terrible. And no busier than they were you thought someone would've had the time to go in and check that out and pick up a little. I understand a men's restroom doesn't always smell the best but with all the stuff on the floor it made it seem like no one had been in there awhile to clean it. I was very glad I waited until I was done eating before I went in there. Overall I know the next time we visit Ames this will definitely be in the back of our minds when we decide to eat somewhere. Better luck next...