Applebee's Grill + Bar — Restaurant in Clarksburg

So, I'm going to preface this with the following: yes, I went to Applebee's. I know what sort of place Applebee's is. Had I had a typical Applebee's experience, I'd have rated 5 stars.

With the disclaimer out of the way, I'll get to the details, in chronological order. We arrived to a moderately busy restaurant, I'd estimate 70% of the tables were occupied. There were a decent handful of wait staff working. It took around 10 minutes for an acknowledgement from the host, and another 5-10 before we were seated (should have left at this stage). Upon seating, our waitress introduced herself and was very nice, she then took our drink orders. She returned with our drinks and rushed us through our meal order. We ordered the pretzels with beer cheese as an appetizer, a half rack of ribs with the 4 cheese Mac and cheese with bacon, and garlic mashed potatoes for one meal, and cedar salmon with maple mustard glaze with fries and broccoli.

The pretzels were served hot. The cheese was room temperature. No appetizer plates were provided. We tried our best to clean the pretzel salt from the table and not leave it to the poor folks bussing the table. The Dijon mustard was also spilled all over the place (not a huge deal, but worth a mention).

When the food was served, the salmon was very overcooked. The thin end of the filet was rock hard. The glaze was ice cold. The fries were decent and crispy. Some of the broccoli looked a bit sad, but nothing horrendous.

The ribs were as expected. The mashed potatoes were lukewarm at best. The bacon Mac and cheese (for which I paid an upcharge) included no bacon and consisted of what seemed to be Alfredo sauce and microwave melted shredded cheese served atop some very sad, soggy, and overcooked penne.

At the end of the meal, we asked for our check. We didn't dare find out what dessert would entail. It took around 20 minutes for us to receive our check. We paid, tipped (the waitress was fine overall, I don't think the waitstaff have any real direction or leadership) and left.

2 stars because nobody fell ill from the food.

I once read an article that said 'Millennials are killing Applebee's'. I wholeheartedly disagree; Applebee's is its...

Updated: The manager did contact me, and tried to resolve this misfortunate experience. We returned un announced about 1 month later and ordered the same meals. This experience would be a 5 star. I gave it a 4 star due to our first experience. Everyone can have a bad experience or day, it is how the management addresses the issue to correct. This manager did call and addressed the issue ASAP. WE will return to the Applebee's again. Our latest dining was good service, good food, and very pleasant. Thank you to Our server and the management. FIRST TRIP. We ordered 2 for 35.00 2 steak, mash potatoes, broccoli and an Appetizer.. I ordered French onion soup with the bread on the side. The waitress acknowledged she also like the soup served that way. The bread arrived in the soup. Out waitress said I told them not too, however she made no attempt to correct the situation. We asked if we could substitute for the broccoli. She said yes. I ordered it as is and substitute Mac and cheese for the broccoli. My husband wanted to substitute a salad for the broccoli, no French dressing available, a substitution for Coleslaw. I received the steak Mac and cheese and coleslaw .., I never ordered the coleslaw) no potatoes. My husband received a steak and coleslaw no potatoes. I also asked for a side of sour cream. We brought it to her attention. She has no idea why no potatoes for either of us.. At that point she walked away. No potatoes for either of us or the sour cream. 10 minutes later she return and asked if everything was OK. I responded no. We would have like the rest of our dinner. She said do you want me to go get you mash potatoes? As she was handing us our bill. At that point I said no.. please don't bother at this point. 45.00 later We paid the bill and left. No intention of...

The only thing that was not good was the service. We had a server that just did not come back around to ask us for more drink refills or if we need anything else. There were a couple of other servers and they didn't have any problem coming back around asking their people that they were waiting on and I just felt that our server could have done the same. For example I asked for a refill on my iced tea she said she would be right back around over 5 minutes later or so still no iced tea she came out of the back room carrying a dessert for another table. And I'm just kind of pointed to my iced tea cup and she said I'll be right back with around so after some more time past. I mentioned something about her forgetting and she said no she didn't forget but they were just so busy I looked around and they were not real busy there were tables that were empty she made the excuse that she was swamped but yet she was able to get the ice cream to the table after the fact that I asked her for the tea refill. So at the end of the meal I paid for the meal on the machine that they have at the table. And you could leave a tip there which I did not. I believe in tipping for good service and above this person did not give even good service. I myself have been in the industry of restaurants plus I am a licensed hairdresser. And if somebody did not give me a tip it was either they were not happy with my service or they just did not have the extra money to leave a tip which was fine. This person needs to work on their ability to do their job the best they could and I felt that they did...