Applebee's Grill + Bar — Restaurant in Fort Dodge

If this was based on today only, it would be 5 stars... but ONLY because of the ladies mentioned in this post Ok, so, take this for what it's worth. We are regulars at this place due to great coupons. Sad but true. That said, the last cpl months the service* has been absolutely horrid. Like 3 couples there to eat, with 3 or 4 servers & still horrible service. Went to the bar to order drinks & refills... Fast forward to today... there was a young lady/hostess/MsFaith at the door & 1 server/waitress MsSara*... could not tell you how many cooks were in the back... but literally 2 people was all we witnessed for most of the time there today... MsFaith was seating folks, serving food, getting drinks, refils, clearing tables! She was a RockStar!!! & MsSara, doing her job, in and out of the kitchen, possibly making adult drinks, not positive, but we ordered some & didnt see anyone else behind the bar... these 2 young ladies kept everyone happy, glasses full without fail, & once we got our food, another young lady came out... Now, all that in mind, it was hands down the BEST service we have EVER had while dining there. We asked BoTH of these ladies over at same time & proceed to tell them about past experiences... and both at same time started to apologize. We had to stop them. We called them over for a compliment!!! & told them how much we appreciate all they were doing together today!!! We gave both a nice tip. MsFaith said no, but thank you, just helping out we didn't give her much choice! She was taking it no matter what. Only thing we wish we could have done was give them both a much much better tip. Can not say thank you enough to BoTH of these ladies. Both are absolutely some of the best servers we've ever had. & hands down the best that I have ever had in FtDodge! So, any of you that ready this. I strongly suggest asking for either of of these SuperRockStars!!! Thank you...

I was NOT pleased this time with my experience at Applebees. The waiter was nice and he tried, but overall I just was not impressed. We got seated decently quick after they hastily cleaned off the table. Well, I should say wipe off, because the table was left VERY wet when we sat down. The drinks came at a good time and we ordered within about 15 minutes. Then the wait came. I hate places that wait for everyone's food to be done to bring it out, but I never think of requesting mine ASAP. The appetizer was out in about 20 minutes, with the food probably 15 minutes after. My burger was OKAY, but you could tell it had been sitting there. The fries were just UNACCEPTABLE. Cold and chewy. I immediately asked for another set, which the waiter got right away. I was happy about that. :) Apparently paying at the table is commonplace with the tablet now, which I was unaware of. I had a coupon which they STILL have not applied to the bill as of yet (about 20 minutes ago). We are currently waiting on food to go ordered 30 minutes ago. We have been done with our food and just waiting now. Oops, finally done. Overall, meh. Need to...

"Holy poor service Batman!" It started bad and just kept getting worse. A 10 minute wait turned into a 30 minute wait. Then we are seated at a booth too small for 7 people. Lucky the big corner booth opens up just then and we are allowed to move. After getting the dirty looks and eye rolls from the man who seated us we get settled in. Few minutes later we place our drink orders and an appetizer. 10-15 minutes pass and our appetizer and drinks are delivered. But then our waitress decided we dont need to order our food for another 20 minutes. When we finally get our food order its 45 more minutes of watching other people come, sit down, and get their food ahead of us. We almost got to the point of just leaving when food finally arrives. Some plates look like they have been under a heat lamp so long the tops are all crusty. Other meals are badly under cooked. Something as simple as sending a very rare steak back to is a hassle. Waitress has to bring the manager over just to get a steak cooked longer. In the end we spent 2 1/2 hours there for our meal. We have never had such a bad time at Applebees...