Applebee's Grill + Bar — Restaurant in Bluefield

My husband and I had been driving for nearly 6 hours when we decided to stop for lunch. We had the choice between Bob Evans (which he wanted) or Applebee's (my choice). We chose wrong.

When we walked through the door of your restaurant, the first reaction to our arrival was the hostess, who huffed (loudly) and rolled her eyes as though we had interrupted her somehow. She seemed confused as to what to do with us and asked if we would mind sitting at a booth in the bar. We told her that was fine. The bar was nearly empty, with 4 people at the bar and only 2 booths occupied. She seated us at a dirty table with no menus. We sat for about 5 minutes until my husband finally went and asked for menus. I saw no server in the room but the bartender, who was busy texting. I also noticed a table where a couple had clearly been waiting for a while, as both of their cups were empty, at the end of the table, and they had no food.

That's when our server, an older black gentleman, came out. He was carrying food for the waiting table. Meanwhile, the hostess had seated two more tables. He was very pleasant - though clearly frazzled - and came back quickly with our drinks and drinks for the waiting table. While we waited for our food, I began to realize he seemed to be the ONLY one working in the place. At one point, a couple came in and must have waited at the door for nearly 5 minutes, with the hostess nowhere in sight. When our server saw them, he immediately sat them on the restaurant side, where other people were eating. I believe he was reprimanded by one of the other servers for doing this but, having been a server for 14 years, I could see he had enough to do.

We were both very disappointed in everything except our server. Next time, I'll let my husband choose...

Well i wanna start by saying this isn't the usual experience at Applebee's but on this occasion it started off great but when we got the food the presentation wasn't as good as normal,it looked like the food was thrown on the plate in a rush,i had the white cheddar alfredo with crispy chicken tenders covered in a sweet&spicy sauce with a side of loaded mashed potatoes and a bread stick,the alfredo noodles were over cooked not as bad as they could have been but still over cooked,the chicken looked like it had just barely gotten done and had very little sauce on them or rather one had some n another had little, the mashed potatoes were luke warm. Barring all of that it was still good enough to eat but i wouldn't want it any worse if that makes sense,the last thing that did bother me was dessert,me n my gf ordered two different desserts after i ordered mine my gf says "can i get the blondie?" our server then says "the sauce? ...ya want the sauce" so my gf thinking she means wants it on the blondie answers yes and we get my dessert with blondie sauce on it...that did upset me bc she assumed what gf was ordering instead of confirming for sure what she ordering or even clarifying what she was assuming, we did just decide to let it go bc we were ready to get home by that time but it wasn't the best experience this last time,the food was still good enough to eat but everything else was off,which isn't usually the case...

Ate at this Applebee's August 6th. Husband wanted a nice salad for dinner. I ordered a steak, green beans and a salad. When we were seated, we asked for a table. They were going to seat us across from a booth of people. We asked to sit at a table down aways and across from no one (trying to be sensible during covid). The restaurant was not busy, over half empty. Well, they served my salad and then didn't return for 45 minutes. We watched at least 5 tables of people come in and get served their appetizers and one group their food and we still sat there. My husband finally asked the manager and we were told that the appetizers are quicker to serve and that's why everyone has food before we have our meal. I ask you, how long to cook a steak and the green beans (which were just barely sautéed) and a Caesar salad? I seriously think it was retaliation for our asking to sit apart from others as we noticed everyone else who came in after us was seated next to the other seated persons in each section. It is sad that when they are not even busy, they don't have the desire to help keep their customers safe during a pandemic. The food was not enjoyable in such an atmosphere. We only tipped the waitress 15% instead of our usual 20% or more since she repeatedly asked us if everything was alright after my husband asked the manager about...