Applebee's Grill + Bar — Restaurant in Flemington

Today was the absolute most horrible experience I had with this Applebee's. The bartender Drew was working at a nasty work station, didn't wipe up any of the spilled liquids off the counter. Didn't want to really serve anyone at the bar. A couple came in and sat directly in front of him and my friend and I watched how his body language was giving the sense that he didn't want to serve them. He also told the couple that they are sitting in a splash zone to justify why he hasn't wiped the counter up in front of them. The couple was just confused as we were about why he says they are sitting in a splash zone when I have neve been told that at ANY bar I been at such foolishness as this. We watcher as guests were coming in and was turned away because the restaurant had made an announcement that they were taking anymore guests because they were short staffed. Our food finally came out after waiting for a very long time. Drew (bartender) was a very sloppy working bartender that he made me not want to order another drink because of how he purposely was making them incorrect. Drew then purposely shakes glasses at the direction of the couple that he said was in a splash zone, my friend and I watched them get up and leave the restaurant without ordering anything. Not only was he a sloppy and nasty bartender but he had poor customer service skills to the point that we insisted on getting assistance from the bartender that was trying to leave because her shift was over. I tried to do the survey on the bottom of the receipt to inform of our visit but the survey would load and wasn't working. I WILL NEVER COME BACK TO THIS LOCATION AGAIN! Drew made this experience the worst ever and I hate the lack of customer service skills from associates that work in an industry that requires business from the general public. Go find a job that doesn't work with or around people if you don't want to provide customer service and keep your bar counter clean. That experience was...

I don't set my expectations too high, I mean its Applebee's... But when I order food that includes an appetizer I expect my appetizer to not be forgotten about and for it to be served before my dinner, not 5 mins after my dinner comes out and I have to mention it didn't arrive. I also expect not to have to sacrifice my drink to refill my childrens drinks because we never got refills nor were acknowledged after our drinks being brought out the first time and order being taken. Waitresses excuse was suddenly "we weren't in her section" yet she was the one who took our drink and dinner order and also brought our food out. Forgotten sides to my childrens meals as well as spoons for said sides, no silverware for the adult meals until after the food was brought out and I asked for it, the four cheese Mac and chicken tenders was literally a pool of watery sauce and served with a burnt breadstick that resembled a corn dog (no joke it was as dark brown as my childrens corn dogs). Menu says they serve baked potatoes as a side from 4-10pm daily, yet when I ordered that to go with my 8oz sirloin they didn't have any baked potates and I had to pick something else. When manager came over because I requested to talk to him I was informed that it was apparently "call out from applebees day" and that most of his waiters/waitresses as well as many cooks had called out tonight. While I understand being short staffed makes things hard, I still expect some sort of service and tonight there was a big lacking on that. Yes, most of my meal was comped, but it still does not excuse the fact that I brought a family of 6 to dinner to have a nice night out but instead had unsatisfied children as well as not being satisfied myself. Don't know if I will ever return to this location. I dont expect a 5 star service but I also expect to not have to tell them how to do their job and I'm not the only customer that complained about service... I witnessed 2 other tables...

ZERO STARS!!! We were sat in a timely manner with 6 adults and one child. It was veterans day so it was very busy. We ordered our drinks. Received them. Ordered our food. Very simple, no extravagant food. And it took an hour and a half to get our food out. They brought the wrong food to our table 3 times. The food was brought out one plate at a time. Cold. After receiving two plates the waitress came and checked on us, we responded we were still waiting on food and she responded with you don't have all your food... We ordered chicken parmesan and the noodles were half cooked and cold. I ordered chicken tenders, fries and cole slaw...it was one of the last plates brought out. The cole slaw was hot. Not warm hot. A friends hamburger bun was a rock. Did i mention our appetizer came out after our entree and it was also cold. Cold queso which was suppose to be hot and the chips were stale. It took TWO managers to come to the table and call back directly to the kitchen and tell them what we were missing. They brought out the 3 things we had already received. At this point it couldnt get worse right?....but we havent even had a refill at this point. Our table hasn't even been cleaned off. A friend we were eating with had to move cups and plates to another table so we had room. When we went to check out nothing had been discounted. They charged us for food we didn't order and dranks we never recieved. The tablet wasnt working on the table. The manager was friendly and tried to fix everything and all our problems but after so much i expected atleast a discount or the food to be free....tables who came in 20-30 minutes after us left before us. I understand being under staffed but they knew this day was coming so why werent...