Applebee's Grill + Bar — Restaurant in Garden City

I went to Chili’s a while back and although they were short staffed, everything was perfect. Everything thing here was good, but not as good as when I went to Chili’s.

They had full staffing, which has been a bit of a rarity as of late with any kind of a restaurant. But what was odd was that my server was one of the two bartenders.

The bartender/server was polite and nice, and she was pretty efficient. The restaurant was clean, which with a full staff one would expect. Interesting was that there was a Cowboys/Eagles game on during a Saturday night on all of the TV’s. It took me a moment, then I remembered that the college games were over what with the bowls having taken place last weekend. But then I saw that it was ESPN Monday Night Football, so I was a bit confused. But I digress.

My appetizer came, delivered by someone else. The food was fresh and tasty, and I had no complaints. But I waited for my main course a bit longer than I thought I should. Let me state that they were busy, about 85% capacity, so the wait was realistically right on time, it was more my own perception than anything wrong with them.

I got the Bourbon Street chicken and shrimp and swapped out the garlic mashed potatoes with cheesy broccoli. When it came the hot plate was sizzling and popping.

Everything looked great, but there were only 4 pieces of shrimp with a good sized piece of chicken. The broccoli looked good but seemed that the amount was a bit lacking. Keeping in mind that many of their main courses are in the neighborhood of $10, this is a $16 entree.

So the shrimp is tasty, well cooked and visibly seasoned. The chicken was also well cooked and visibly seasoned, but I know from personal experience with cooking my own chicken that it wasn’t juicy. And I tasted the seasoning but it was much more subtle than I felt that it should be. Bourbon Street is known for a bold flavor, and this didn’t have it. The broccoli, vibrant green, was a bit almost mushy and lacking the flavor that I expected.

Back to my server, she brought my drink, took my order, then didn’t bring me anything or check on me until I literally had taken my very first bite of my main course. She was moderately busy with the bar, there was a second bartender, but then she didn’t return until a while after I had finished my meal. She was nice and polite enough but she also had a septum and nostril piercing which may be a bit jarring to some.

Something that I noticed and didn’t think about until I was writing this review was that none of the staff were wearing masks. I am used to food service workers, vaccinated or not, wearing a mask while working. But not one person that worked that night wore a mask. This can be seen as good in terms of getting back to normalcy, and seen as not so good because of a perception that the staff don’t care about COVID.

Overall I had a good meal and the atmosphere was pretty good. I just felt that for the main course it could have been a bit better, a bit more substantial. I look forward to...

I've eaten at this Applebee's many times over last 10 years. Each time I go it gets better. The last 2 nights I got the best food! Listen to the staff they will help guide you to a great experience. The cook not only made a great plate he also was present helping the staff and keeping peoples spirits high through easy going appropriate humor. I liked that he came out so I could compliment his dutiful approach and detail orientated plate presentation. It was the best ribeye I've had in a long time!

Yesterday, Kim the barkeep kicked all the ass! Great drinks with prompt food and drink refills, with a personable approach to keep me from over spending on unnecessary things and keep me focused on quality and pacing my consumption.l, top rate job well rounded wonderful women.

Tonight I was in a mellow down mood and Bre (BRE!!!!!!) appeared before me like an angel guiding a wrecked and tired version of myself out of a downward spiral. Not only did she promptly bring my drinks, she raised my spirits and sha showed compassion for a challenging situation I'm currently facong. Also sharing a little of her own vulnerability in a very appropriate way reminding me we are all human and face many things as we ride the ride from surf to to shore. She is really a topnotch server. Shing on you diamond in the rough. I people watch alot and the way she takes each person or groups unspoken vibe and transforms it to a personable lovable experience is a 5 star with bonus stars and hearts. Applebee's is lucky to have her. I hope next I visit she is in a higher position sharing her kind hearted personable approach to customer service. It really is a Great restaurant with exceptional people and management seems vested in keeping things well organized and ran! Keep it up!

I'll eat here ever time I visit, infact It is good people like this that have me convinced I belong in Boyyyyzeeeee love this little city. I'm going to call it home now. ...

My husband and I were tempted by the 2 for $25.00 special that we kept seeing on the television commercials. We decided to eat at our Emerald St location today for our weekly date night. We were looking forward to finishing up the pre-season football game and visiting with each other. We placed our order and then waited. And waited. And waited. A different server brought out our appetizer and we still had no drinks. We looked at each other like, "oh no!!". Then drinks arrived with the excuse that the bartender fell behind. But we watched people who were sat after us get served drinks several minutes before us. Then the salads arrived. Then the entrees arrived. Everything was stacked up and finally my husband brought one of the servers over and asked him to look at our table. Do you see how the entrees are going to get cold while we finish our salads? He said he didn't know anything, that he was told to bring these out to us. He asked if we wanted to speak to the manager. Of course! The manager blamed it on "the system". He asked if we wanted the food to be heated up or remade. Blaming the system again, the coward of a manager walked away and we never saw him again, anywhere in the restaurant. Did we show up on everyone's first day? Our date night ruined, we asked for boxes to wrap it all up and go home and we had to ask for one more box and even a bag to bring it all home with us. Whatever happened to using your brain and just being present? Everyone avoided our table after that. I know they could have offered to bring another drink or offer anything except excuses, but they just avoided us, like we were the problem. We were kind and respectful and just expected the same in return. Our original server was the only one who apologized and it wasn't even his fault. Customer service is a thing...